Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Last week Hugues presented his coverage of the classics at Chantilly. But the editor decided to delete a number of photos from the selection in order to create a special, if short, article about Ballots. How often does one see a Ballot at an event? Rarely. So this is a special occasion, timed for not only the 100th anniversary of the Ballot marque, but the publication of Ballot by Daniel Cabart and Gautam Sen, published by Dalton Watson. The information below is taken from this fantastic new book.
Ballot Race Cars
Before WWI, Ballot supplied engines to many small manufacturers and also to Delage. When the war was over, Ballot decided to enter the 1919 Indy 500 and this car, the 5/8 LC Indianapolis, prepared in secret, set pole position driven by René Thomas. Another Ballot, chassis 1002 driven by Albert Guyot, finished fourth.
This is Ballot chassis number 1001, long thought to be chassis 1003. The error was discovered in 2018. This car finished 11th at Indy in 1919 driven by Rene Thomas.
If previously you have seen this car in the Collier collection with number 33, that was before they discovered that it was really number 31 at Indy.
The 4.8 Liter Ballot (they rounded it to 5 for the nomenclature) straight eight was descended from the Grand Prix Peugeots of 1913, with a double overhead camshaft and four valves per cylinder.
This Ballot 3/8 LC, chassis 1006, finished seventh at Indy in 1920 with Chassagne driving. Then it raced the 1921 ACF Grand Prix at Le Mans. Jules Goux later won the Italian Grand Prix with it.
The new 3 liter formula at Indy in 1920 forced Ballot and designer Ernest Henry to create a 3 liter version of the 5/8 LC. Though they failed to win at Indy, the 3/8 LCs were very succesful both in the U.S. and Europe.
Another example of the 3/8 LC from 1920, chassis 1008. After placing 5th at Indy in 1920 with Ralph De Palma, it stayed Stateside with De Palma, winning several events during the year.
Chassis 1008 then dominated the 1921 Indy 500 until a rod let go with a two lap lead at the halfway point. It eventually ended up in Spain, and was purchased by the Schlumpf brothers in 1963. It remains in the Cité de l’Automobile.
This is a 2LS Sport of 1922. The parts of this car were scattered between Holland and France. It was reconstituted with the help of Paul Frère and Jean de Dobbeleer.
The 2LS is part of the collection of Belgian André Plasch, who may have saved more Ballots than anyone else. The 2LS was designed by Ernest Henry and has a two liter four cylinder DOHC engine.
This 2-liter 4-cylinder 2LS of 1922 was ordered by Malcolm Campbell who had it clothed by Park Ward. It is chassis number 21 of perhaps fifty produced. Now with André Plasch.
Chassis 21 is one of the most original of six surviving 2LS Ballots, and has only 5 owners from new.
Road Cars
A 1924 2 LT/TS Scaphandrier Torpedo owned by André Plasch. This was a SOHC four cylinder, two liter engine and produced in series.
This 1924 2 LT has a torpedo sport body and owned by Francois Gaillard.
We think this is a1925 2 LTS. Readers?
Great to see these wonderful cars. It was a joy to get into their mechanical details in the course of writing my portion of the book. In addition to describing their engineering I also did a follow-up on their influence on Duesenberg, Bugatti, Sunbeam and Miller. As were there’s a look at the earliest straight-eights.
Pete,
How about mining the rest of the photos for an engine shot or two? I’d like to see how they compare with the Peugeots.
It’ll be easy to do with the ex-Lindley Bothwell L45 prominently on my computer’s desktop.
Rick
We’ll do all that and more in the forthcoming Ballot book review.
Pete
Yes the blue car is a 2 LTS .
The 1924 2 LT appears to be quite short in length !!
Eric
It’s really great to see these wonderful cars on display. In the early 60’s I worked for Bunny Phillips restoring (or what passed for it at the time) Bugattis. On many trips back and forth from Los Angeles to San Diego I often made time for a trip to the Cunningham Museum in Costa Mesa to visit his race cars. 1001 was always one of my favorites. It’s nice to see it in the proper livery. 1006 is VERY impressive because it appears to be unrestored and as such is a benchmark for “the way they were”. 1008 is a bit of a question mark having later wheels, what appears to be incorrect bodywork and the front axle appears to be assembled incorrectly. The tie rod should be behind the axle. The Ackermann steering geometry would be all wrong. I would be very surprised if the factory would be responsible for that.
A truly nice display.
Randy Reed