1914 Grand Prix season
The Vanderbilt Cup and the American Grand Prize were held again after a year’s abeyance, this time raced at Santa Monica, California.
French cars dominated the race taking the top four places with victory going to René Thomas in a Delage.
Held in the shadow of political crisis in Europe, it was hailed as the greatest race to date, after an epic battle between the Peugeot and Mercedes.
After Georges Boillot had engine problems on the last lap, it left the German team with a dominating 1-2-3 finish, led by Christian Lautenschlager who had won the race before, in 1908.
[5] Hoping to minimise the impact of the big-engined cars of foreign manufacturers, the ACF changed its regulations again for the first time to impose a maximum engine size[6] – of 4.5-litres, along with an allowable weight range of 800-1100kg (excluding fluids and tools).
[7] Despite a better top-end speed from the Peugeot’s streamlined rear-end,[12] the Mercedes’ lower centre-of-gravity and better road-holding gave it an edge over the French cars.
[10] The Vanderbilt Cup and American Grand Prize were revived this year and once again held as a combined meeting, this time on an 8-mile road circuit at Santa Monica, California.
Peugeot sent its new EX-5 with regular team drivers Georges Boillot and Jules Goux (returning 1913 winner) along with a 3-litre EX-3 for Belgian Arthur Duray.
As his mechanic was escaping the wreck Joe Dawson had to take drastic avoiding action and rolled his Marmon in an accident that ended his career.
In the end it was dominant victory for René Thomas and Delage, who led for over half the race winning with over a 6-minute, four-lap margin from Arthur Duray in the 3-litre Peugeot.
On 4 July at the Sioux City race, Eddie Rickenbacker had scored the first victory for Fred Duesenberg’s new team (formerly Mason).
It ran from Les Ronzières to Givors, then along the bank of the Gier (a tributary of the Rhône) to Châteauneuf before taking an undulating 15km straight back to a steep downhill right-left and a hairpin to complete the lap.
[12] New French company Alva convinced Ferenc Szisz, winner of the inaugural Grand Prix in 1906, out of retirement to lead their team.
Five of the six 18/100 cars built were entered with a strong team of drivers led by Christian Lautenschlager, victor in 1908, along with Otto Salzer, Mercedes director Max Sailer,[19] French veteran Louis Wagner and Belgian agent Théodore Pilette.
From Italy came FIAT (including veteran Alessandro Cagno), Felice Nazzaro’s own team and a single entry from Aquila Italiana.
Great Britain was represented by Sunbeam (Resta, Lee Guinness and Chassagne) and Vauxhall who included American Ralph DePalma in their squad.
Now down to three cylinders,[24] Boillot kept pushing regardless but on the last lap his engine expired leaving Mercedes, after seven hours, to take a crushing 1-2-3 victory with Lautenschlager repeating his 1908 win ahead of Wagner and Salzer.
[18] The French crowd was silent, with Goux’s fourth place nearly ten minutes back ahead of Resta’s Sunbeam being scant consolation.
Georges Boillot was initially the personal driver for Marshal Joffre,[25] but then transferred to the French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) as a fighter pilot.
Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross eight times and Medal of Honor (in 1930), he survived the war to take up racing again.
