1923 French Grand Prix at Tours Part 3

By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

From the VeloceToday Archives, August 2012

The race generated an immense amount of advance publicity. Numerous articles in the national and local newspapers and the sporting magazines created a great deal of curiosity and even greater expectations.

The Press
One of the reasons was that the editors of these publications were well aware of the growing interest of the French public in motorcars and motor racing. They properly reasoned that giving support to this great event would increase their circulations and advertising revenues.

Since the Armistice in1918, France was rapidly recovering from the austerity and misery of the war, despite the death of nearly 1.4 million French soldiers. During their service in the army or with the Red Cross units, men and women from all social classes had learned to drive and to understand the mechanical mysteries of motorbikes and cars. Now that the French economy was flourishing, many of them aspired to own one.