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The 1924 French Grand Prix, officially named the XVIII Grand Prix de l'A.C.F., was a Grand Prix motor race held at
Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
on 3 August 1924 and the designated European Grand Prix of the 1924 season. The race took place over 35 laps of a shortened (now 23.15 km) version of the circuit used in
1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...
for a total distance of 810.09 km.


Entries

The 1924 race attracted one of the largest entries of all the French Grands Prix of the 1920s with 22 entries.
Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a lightbeam, beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of light scatter ...
entered three cars to defend their
1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...
win, these being improved versions of the 1923 cars now with
supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement (engine), displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically ...
s as well as modified bodywork and new four-speed gearboxes. They were to be driven by an all British team consisting of 1923 winner
Henry Segrave Sir Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave (22 September 1896 – 13 June 1930) was an early British pioneer in land speed and water speed records. Segrave, who set three land and one water record, was the first person to hold both titles simultaneou ...
,
Kenelm Lee Guinness Kenelm Edward Lee Guinness MBE (14 August 1887 – 10 April 1937) was a British racing driver of the 1910s and 1920s mostly associated with Sunbeam racing cars. He set a new Land Speed Record in 1922. Also an automotive engineer, he invented ...
and newcomer to the team
Dario Resta Dario Raoul Resta (17 August 1882 – 3 September 1924), was a British racing driver. He is best remembered for his successes racing Championship Car, Indy cars in the United States. The 1916 AAA Championship Car season, 1916 American National ...
.
Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...
also returned with similar cars to 1923, however with revised superchargers, the team with four cars being led by
Felice Nazzaro Felice Nazzaro (4 December 1881 – 21 March 1940) was an Italian racecar driver, a native of Turin. He won the Kaiserpreis in 1907 as well as the French Grand Prix in 1907 and 1922 and Targa Florio in 1907, and 1913. His European wins in 1907 r ...
.
Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...
made their French Grand Prix debut with their new Alfa Romeo P2s, with four entries to be driven by Antonio Ascari, Giuseppe Campari and Louis Wagner, while
Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; ; 18 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italian racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of Scuderia Ferrari in Grand Prix motor racing, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobile marque. Under h ...
did not start as he fell ill. The Alfa Romeos, like the Sunbeams and Fiats, were fitted with
Roots-type supercharger The Roots blower is a Pump#Positive-displacement pumps, positive displacement lobe pump which operates by pumping a fluid with a pair of meshing lobes resembling a set of stretched gears. Fluid is trapped in pockets surrounding the lobes and ca ...
s. Three
Delage Delage is a French luxury automobile and racecar company founded in 1905 by Louis Delâge in Levallois-Perret near Paris; it was acquired by Delahaye in 1935 and ceased operation in 1953. On 7 November 2019, the association "Les Amis de Dela ...
s were entered, development from the 1923 cars having continued. Although they were tested with superchargers these were not used due to reliability concerns.
Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French automotive industry, manufacturer of high performance vehicle, high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German Empire, German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the ...
entered six cars in what was the debut of the highly successful Bugatti T35, however they were uncompetitive in 1924 due to their underpowered, naturally aspirated engines. Two cars based on the 1923
Rolland-Pilain Rolland-Pilain was a French car maker formally established on 4 November 1905 at 95, rue Victor-Hugo in Tours by François Rolland and Émile Pilain. The partners Rolland was already a successful businessman locally who had made a fortune in ...
s were entered, now rebuilt as Schmids. Giulio Foresti crashed in practice leaving
Jules Goux Jules Eugène Goux (6 April 1885 – 6 March 1965) was a French racing driver and Grand Prix motor racing champion. He was notable for being the first European driver to win the Indianapolis 500. Biography Influenced by the Gordon Bennett Cu ...
as the only starter for the team. Finally an American
Miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...
was entered by
Louis Zborowski Louis Vorow Zborowski (20 February 1895 – 19 October 1924) was a British racing driver and automobile engineer, best known for creating a series of aero-engined racing cars known as the "Chitty-Bang-Bangs", which provided the inspiration for ...
, the first private entry ever to be accepted for the French Grand Prix.


Race

At the rolling start Segrave took the lead from the front row which he shared with
Albert Divo Albert Divo (24 January 1895, in Paris – 19 September 1966, in Morsang-sur-Orge, Essonne, France) was a Grand Prix motor racing driver. He was born in Paris, France. In 1895, Divo competed in the International Tourist Trophy endurance race ...
's Delage, while Ascari immediately came through from the second row into second place. At the end of the first lap Segrave had a small lead over Ascari, Guinness, Campari and Pietro Bordino (in a Fiat). They were then followed by Divo, Resta, Cesare Pastore (Fiat), Robert Benoist (Delage) and René Thomas (Delage). On the second lap, Bordino was able to overtake Campari, Guinness and Ascari to move into second place, and near the end of his third lap was able to take first place with Segrave making a pitstop for new plugs dropping him from second to 17th place. For the next few laps Ascari was able to keep up with Bordino, while Guinness had to defend his third place from Campari. Wagner had moved up to fifth place with the rest of the field struggling behind. On lap nine Bordino overshot a corner due to fading brakes, giving the lead to Ascari. Although Bordino retook the lead on the next lap he was forced to pit a few laps later to repair his brakes, putting him out of the race, eventually retiring after 17 laps. Ascari made a scheduled pitstop for fuel and tyres on lap 16, allowing Guinness into a small lead over Campari. On the next lap, however, Guinness blew a tyre forcing a wheel change dropping him to second. Segrave, who was a lap down, had to stop for a new riding mechanic as his had been hit by the tread of Guinness' blown tyre. The order after 17 laps was Campari with nearly a minute over Guinness and Divo, Ascari another two minutes behind in fourth, followed by Benoist, Wagner and Segrave in seventh and just over a lap behind Campari, the rest of the field now some way behind. Ascari quickly moved back up through the field and into first place on lap 20. On the following lap Guinness retired with engine failure giving Alfa Romeo first, second and fifth places, with the Delages in third, fourth and sixth. Over the next few laps the two leading Alfa Romeos stayed close together with Campari taking the lead during lap 27 only for Ascari to retake before the lap was over. Divo in the best placed Delage, was pushing, making up some time but not enough to worry the Italians. Segrave was the fastest driver on the track, moving up to sixth place and on the 29th lap setting the fastest lap of the race, 11 minutes 19 seconds. On the 32nd lap Ascari began to slow, being passed first by Campari, then a lap later by Divo. Finally with just one lap to go Ascari pulled into the pits. Ascari and his mechanic tried desperately to make the engine restart but the damage was terminal. Mechanic Ramponi attempted to push the car over the line but collapsed, so the Alfa Romeo was a non-finisher. Campari won the race by just over a minute from Divo with Benoist another ten minutes behind in third.


Classification


References

{{Grand Prix race report , Name_of_race =
French Grand Prix The French Grand Prix (), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championship. It is one of the oldest ...
, Year_of_race = 1924 , Previous_race_in_season = 1924 Indianapolis 500 , Next_race_in_season = 1924 Italian Grand Prix , Previous_year's_race = 1923 French Grand Prix , Next_year's_race = 1925 French Grand Prix , Previous_designated_European_Grand_Prix = 1923 Italian Grand Prix , Next_designated_European_Grand_Prix = 1925 Belgian Grand Prix French Grand Prix
French Grand Prix The French Grand Prix (), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championship. It is one of the oldest ...
European Grand Prix 1924 in French motorsport