1931 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1931 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 9th Grand Prix of Endurance that took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 13 and 14 June 1931.
With the demise of Bentley, the favourite for an outright victory was split between the Bugatti and Alfa Romeo works teams, with a lone privateer Mercedes as an outside chance.
Coming up to the first refuelling stops, the rear tyre on Maurice Rost's Bugatti blew out at full speed on the Mulsanne Straight.
This was the first win at Le Mans for an Italian car, and in a record-breaking run, they claimed all three trophies – including the Index and Biennial Cup – and broke the 3000km distance for the first time.
This year there were no changes to the racing regulations of either the AIACR (forerunner of the FIA) Appendix C rules, nor those of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO).
This year, Paris-based Russian Valériani-Vladimir Tatarinoff, entered an SSK (Super Sports Kurz) on behalf of fellow émigré Count Boris Ivanowski.
[5] Along with his co-driver, Le Mans veteran Henri Stoffel, Ivanowski entered the car in both touring and Grand Prix races.
The team, managed by Bugatti's 22-year old son Jean, brought three short-wheelbase versions for their works drivers Louis Chiron / Achille Varzi and Albert Divo/Guy Bouriat, joined by Maurice Rost/Caberto Conelli.
[4] Other innovations were a new quick-change brake system, "pop-top" petrol caps, and oil-refill tubes in the bonnet all designed to speed up pitwork.
[8] Alongside the works team were three French privateer entries in smaller Bugattis, including wealthy Parisian bankers Pierre Louis-Dreyfus / Antoine Schumann who raced together under the pseudonyms "Ano-Nime"; and the women who charmed the media the previous year, Odette Siko and Marguerite Mareuse, returned.
It came in two styles: a short-wheelbase, 2-seater corto adapted for Grand Prix racing and narrow, tight circuits like the Mille Miglia; and a 4-seater lungo (long) version for the ACO regulations for touring cars.
Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin had given up his Blower Bentley project for the more reliable Alfa, and won his class first time up at the Irish Grand Prix the week before Le Mans.
The drivers were team-regulars Brian Lewis, Baron Essendon / Johnny Hindmarsh and Tim Rose-Richards / Owen Saunders-Davies.
[14] La Lorraine-Dietrich had not competed at Le Mans since 1926, after the company believed they were denied victory in the Biennial Cup by the ACO on a technicality.
The team's four B3-6 Le Mans specials had been mothballed until one was sold to Henri Trébor, who got the car a few days before the race after a factory refit.
Le Mans winner Sammy Davis was in hospital after a major accident at Brooklands at Easter so company engineer Augustus "Bert" Bertelli instead drove with Maurice Harvey.
[18] After a disappointing race for BNC the previous year, when the new car didn't even turn a wheel, the team returned with the tried and tested 527 Sport, also with a Ruby engine.
Sir Francis Samuelson returned with his regular co-driver Fred Kindell, while Lady Joan Chetwynd ran her husband's car along with fellow C-Type owner Henry Stisted.
Arthur Fox, in one of his Talbots, gave Alfa drivers Birkin, Howe and Campari a lift to London from Dublin where they had all been racing in the Irish Grand Prix meeting.
In practice, one of the cars blew a rear tyre, so team manager "Meo" Costantini directed the drivers to not go above 4000rpm to limit their top speed for the first six hours.
Parts were delayed coming from the factory in Milan, the mechanics worked through the night but by race morning only three of the cars were ready.
Special guests at the Saturday luncheon included Ferenc Szisz and Felice Nazzaro who had finished first and second respectively at that inaugural event.
ACO Club secretary, Georges Durand, had also served 25 years and was the honorary starter for the race on a hot, sunny Saturday afternoon.
[1][8] First away from the flagfall at 4pm were the two Chryslers, however their lead was short-lived and with the big cars' sluggish acceleration out of the Pontlieue corners,[14] they were overtaken by the works Bugattis of Chiron and Divo.
[8] Henri Stoffel wound up the Mercedes' supercharger and quickly blasted past all four of them into the lead– Chiron failed his breaking at Mulsanne on lap 3 trying to outbrake him and ended up down the escape road.
The driver managed to stop just in front of the barriers blocking the main road into Le Mans[11][27] Going into the night, Marinoni/Zehender were still leading.
Despite twenty minutes of repairs (using belts and straps to tie the tank in place) and three more laps, it was still dangerously loose, and the car had to be retired.
[9] Although the privateer Alfa had a sizeable lead over the Mercedes, they were not able to ease off, as the Talbot (in third) kept up the pressure for honours in the Index and Biennial Cup handicap competitions.
[22] In the end, the hard driving by Howe and Birkin gave them a comfortable seven-lap victory, and they were only the second crew to win all three prizes: outright distance, Index and the Coupe Bienniale.
[15] The remaining two Aston Martins had varying stories: Peacock & Newsome retired with less than two hours to go because of bodywork issues while the other, after the assorted delays, had to hurry on to make its target distance.
