The 1908 French Grand Prix was a

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

motor race held at

Dieppe Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...

on 7 July 1908.

Formula Changes

The race was run under a new formula agreed in Ostend in 1907. There was no fuel consumption limit, but the cars had a minimum weight of 1100 kilograms, and a maximum cylinder bore of 155 millimetres. This formula differed from the regulations in place for the American

Vanderbilt Cup The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. History An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County, New York, Nass ...

series, which discouraged American manufacturers from entering the race. Lewis Strang drove the single American entrant, the

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Flyer. D. Napier & Son cars were disqualified from the race due to their use of

Rudge-Whitworth Rudge Whitworth Cycles was a British bicycle, bicycle saddle, motorcycle and sports car wheel manufacturer that resulted from the merger of two bicycle manufacturers in 1894, Whitworth Cycle Company, Whitworth Cycle Co. of Birmingham, fou ...

center locking hubs, which the organizers believed were unsafe.

The Race

Christian Lautenschlager Mercedes 1908 French Grand Prix

Christian Lautenschlager Christian Friedrich Lautenschlager (13 April 1877 – 3 January 1954) was a German racing driver. Biography Born in the village of Magstadt, Kingdom of Württemberg, Germany near Stuttgart, Christian Lautenschlager was 14 years old when he ...

won the race in his Mercedes finishing nearly nine minutes ahead of Victor Hémery's Benz. Lautenschlager's average speed for the race was .

Otto Salzer Otto Salzer (4 April 1874 – 7 January 1944) was a German racing car driver, famous for his contributions to the success of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in Untertürkheim near Stuttgart, where he became team leader in 1903, previously having ...

set fastest lap in his Mercedes, with an average speed of over . The race was notable for tragic reasons. Henri Cissac's car lost a tyre and rolled, killing Cissac and Jules Schaube, his riding mechanic. This was the first fatal accident in Grand Prix history.

Classification

References

French Grand Prix

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

1908 in French motorsport July 1908 in Europe {{Autoracing-stub