Ballot was a French manufacturer, initially of engines, that also made automobiles between 1919 and 1932. Ernest Ballot became well known as a designer of reliable engines. He helped

Ettore Bugatti Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti (15 September 1881 – 21 August 1947) was a Franco-Italian automobile designer and manufacturer. He received French citizenship in 1946 and is remembered as the founder and proprietor of the automobile manufacturing c ...

in developing his first engines.

Origins

Ernest Ballot and Julien Faivre founded their company at the Boulevard Brune in south-central Paris in 1905.Ernest Ballot's brother Albert was also involved early in the company's life. Ernest Ballot was a former naval officer, which explains the "anchor" that featured in the badges on the cars. Before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

the factory concentrated on marine and industrial engines, and from 1910 or 1911 they also offered automobile engines. The company was re-founded as Etablissements Ballot SA in 1910.

Sporting successes

There is little sign that Ernest Ballot himself took much interest in automobiles until December 1918. That was the month in which he had a significant conversation with René Thomas, a leading racing driver who had won the

1914 Indianapolis 500 The 4th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1914. René Thomas was the race winner, accompanied by riding mechanic Robert Laly. Background Race history The Indianapoli ...

race driving a

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 ...

. Ballot was persuaded to build four 4.8-litre cars that would carry the "Ballot" name and compete in the forthcoming

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

race, scheduled for 30 May 1919. Time seemed very short, but Ballot lost no time, notably recruiting the Swiss born engineer Ernest Henry who had already worked on preparing

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...

cars for their successful participation in the 1914 Indianapolis 500 race. Ballot's cars competed in the 1919 race, two of them finishing in 4th and 11th places. A Ballot vehicle driven by René Thomas also finished second in the 1919

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. Ballot was sufficiently encouraged to return the next year, and in the 1920 Indianapolis 500 race a Ballot driven by René Thomas finished in second place: Ballots also took fifth and seventh places.

Ralph DePalma Raffaele "Ralph" DePalma (occasionally spelt De Palma, December 19, 1882 – March 31, 1956) was an American racing driver who won the 1915 Indianapolis 500. His entry at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame estimates that he won about 2,0 ...

, an American national champion and winner of the 1915 Indianapolis 500, drove a Ballot to win the 1920 Elgin Trophy. More successes followed, on both sides of the Atlantic. DePalma finished second in the

1921 French Grand Prix The 1921 French Grand Prix (formally the XV Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France) was a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix motor race held at Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans on 25 July 1921. The race was held over 30 laps of the 17.26 km ...

and French driver

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finished third. Goux went on to win the inaugural

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at Brescia, Italy in 1921, driving a Ballot. Second place was taken by the team leader

Jean Chassagne Julien Jean Chassagne (26 July 1881 – 13 April 1947) was a pioneer submariner, aviator, and French racing driver active 1906–1930. Chassagne finished third in the 1913 French Grand Prix; won the Grand Prix Sunbeams 1921, 1922 TT, 1922 Touris ...

on a sister car; a year before, in 1920 Chassagne made the fastest BARC lap of the year at Brooklands on a 4.9-litre Ballot, coming again second. A Ballot with a straight-eight-cylinder 4.9-litre engine competed in the

Road cars

As well as racing engines, the company made a range of road engines which were fitted to their own production cars. The first of Ballot's own road cars was the 1921 2-litre Ballot 2-litre sports tourer. In 1923 the Ballot 2 LT and a sport version, Ballot 2 LTS followed.By the time of the 19th

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show () is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently takes place in Paris expo Porte de V ...

in October 1924, Ballot was established in the market place as a producer of expensive road going cars with spectacular performance. The 2-litre sports tourer again appeared on the manufacturer's stand at the show. The car still used a four cylinder overhead camshaft 1,994 cc engine, and it sat on a wheelbase. It was priced, in bare chassis form, at 33,000 francs: Ballot also listed a "Torpedo" bodied version at 46,000 francs. From 1927, eight-cylinder engines were used.

Final chapter

In 1931 the company was taken over by

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft engines, trucks and weapons. ...

. Swift decline followed: the last model was practically a Hispano-Suiza, and only the chassis was provided by Ballot. Ballot closed down in 1932.

Main models

* 2LS: sports car, 4-cylinder 1944 cc, twin-overhead-camshaft, 4-valves-per-cylinder engine * 2LT: tourer, single-cam variant of the 2LS * 2LTS: variant of the 2LT, with higher-tuned engine * RH: introduced in 1927 with 8-cylinder, single-overhead-cam, 2874 cc engine * RH3: 1929–1932, RH with 3049 cc engine. * HS26: model introduced after the Hispano-Suiza takeover, also known as the Hispano-Suiza Junior, 4580 cc six-cylinder engine

References

External links

Company history at RitzSite
* https://web.archive.org/web/20040821042643/http://vea.qc.ca/vea/marques1/ballot.htm

{{Automotive industry Car brands Vintage vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Paris Defunct companies of France