1932 24 Hours of Le Mans
A new section bypassing Pontlieue suburb was built starting with a long right turn after the pits, going over a hill then down to the Esses, a left-right combination, before rejoining the Hunaudières straight at the new right-hand corner of Tertre Rouge.
First Minoia went off at the same place, taking Brisson's Stutz with him, then Marinoni smacked the Bentley trying to make up for an hour lost digging himself out from the Arnage sandbank after another excursion.
As the main race ran down to a predictable finish, it was only on the Sunday afternoon that the Aston Martin of "Bert" Bertelli / Pat Driscoll got enough reliability to pull out a sufficient gap to claim the Biennial Cup.
In a remarkable drive he had been at the wheel for over twenty hours, and during the Sunday, the exhaust pipe had broken that left it pumping its noxious fumes into the cockpit.
[3] The suburban growth of the city of Le Mans caused the second major change: residents’ complaints had already forced the removal of the Pontlieue hairpin in 1929.
So, in 1931 the ACO acquired 75 hectares of land beyond the start-finish straight and set about constructing a completely new section of track to bypass the transit into the city's southern suburbs.
[1] Bounded by earth banking and wattle fencing, the new section started with a sweeping right-hand turn after the finish-line, cresting a low hill before dropping into a technical left-right series of corners (the Esses).
There were also two footbridges built over the new section to allow pedestrian access to the infield[4] (originally sponsored by Champion Sparkplugs[3]) The reduced track also demanded an overhaul of all the lap-distance scaling needed for the Index of Performance and the restrictions on fluid replenishment.
Recognising the current trend to put bigger engines in popular runabout models, the 2-seater eligibility was extended from 1.0 up to include 1.5-litre cars as well.
The team to beat was undoubtedly Alfa Romeo, currently dominating Grand Prix racing, and the marque was the best represented in the entry list with 7 cars.
[7] Alfa Romeo's dominance in the racing year had started with victory in the Mille Miglia for the works team, and then in the Targa Florio for the works-supported Scuderia Ferrari.
The Alfa test-driver, Attilio Marinoni, was seconded to the customer car of Georgian-exile Prince Dmitri Djordjadze, with Mille Miglia specialist Angelo Guatta as his co-driver.
[9] Earl Francis Howe, winner in the previous year's race, had one of the brand new cars, once again running it with former Bentley-Boy, Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin.
[10] Raymond Sommer, rising star of French motor-racing, had spied a short-wheelbase Mille Miglia corto 8C on display at the Paris Salon.
The car was fitted with two small rear seats, an oversize fueltank, streamlined fairings and an externally-mounted exhaust (to reduce engine temperatures).
[12] They were run by Guy Bouriat with Louis Chiron, and Russian émigré Count Stanisław Czaykowski with French veteran Ernest Friderich (who had won the voiturette race here in 1920 for Bugatti).
[21](See the photograph of the scoreboard below for evidence of car #19) Yves Giraud-Cabantous and Roger Labric came back this year to contest the Biennial Cup in their small voiturettes.
[1] The extensive work on modifying and preparing Sommer's Alfa Romeo in time meant long hours on race week and left Chinetti quite exhausted.
[2] The pre-race ceremonies included Englishmen George Eyston and John Cobb showed off their Land speed record cars.
Finally a minute's silence was held to commemorate André Boillot, a top French driver of the post-war period, who had been killed at a hill-climb event just a fortnight earlier.
Trévoux was thrown clear but suffered a broken wrist and two significant dents in his tin crash helmet, which undoubtedly saved his life.
[2] Meanwhile, team-mates Cortese and Minoia were racing very hard, passing and repassing, cutting each other off, shaking fists at the other[2] – much to the exasperation of team manager Aldo Giovannini who had told all the Alfa drivers not to exceed 5100rpm to preserve their cars.
[8][27] Then Marinoni, in his haste to make up time, smacked the static Bentley hard when he got off-road when foolishly lapping a slower car in the bends.
[7][27] With four derelict cars now parked at White House, memories were evoked of the epic crash in the 1927 race but fortunately the daylight allowed the road to be cleared eventually.
Further back were the smaller Aston Martins of Newsome and Bertelli with Samuelson now up to seventh, and only fifteen cars, in total, left running heading towards dusk.
[8] Just after midnight, the MG was stopped by a bolt breaking on the fuel tank which led to it splitting,[25] and the third Aston Martin also retired when a rocker arm broke.
[18] Hopes amongst the local crowd for a possible French victory were dashed, however soon after noon when the Bugatti stopped at Arnage with a broken piston from a detached oil line, having made back three laps.
Bertelli's Aston had developed a water leak and its front fenders worked loose, while the Talbot lost more time in the afternoon replacing a valve-spring.
They would be away for two decades until returning in the 1950s For finishing third in three consecutive races, the ACO awarded Arthur Fox a special gold medal, perhaps compensating for the Talbot's tribulations.
[18] This year was arguably one of the most dominant displays by a single manufacturer – with Alfa Romeo winning every major European racing prize in 1932.
