french race cars

Graham Gauld Chronicles Henri Julien

April 7, 2025 By pete

Henri Julien in the garage behind his house in Gonfaron contemplates a rebuild of one of his first racing cars, the AGS Racer 500 ( Photo Gauld)

Story and photos by Graham Gauld

The village of Gonfaron in the Var section of Provence in the South of France is famous for two things: its Village des Tortues and the late owner of Automobiles Gonfaronnaises, Henri Julien. They are strange bedfellows because the Village des Tortues is a form of hospice and centre concerned with the care and breeding of tortoises.

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The Saga of the Caswell BNC Part 1

November 14, 2012 By pete

French Charm seeing the light of day after forty years. Photo by George Lymber.

French Charm

By Eric Davison

Getting involved in writing about old cars is something like a disease that is incurable. The symptoms keep on recurring. Case in point: Last year I was involved in helping my friend Phillipe Defechereux with the latest edition of his book about Watkins Glen in the period from 1948 to 1952. (Watkins Glen, The Street Years. 1948 – 1952. Dalton Watson)

The intention was to try to locate some of the cars that appeared at the Glen during those years and to tell where they are today. Unfortunately I had only a few months in which to work. To do a comprehensive job would take years and would make a pretty good book all by itself.

The famous cars were easy. Just about any car that Briggs Cunningham was involved with is in the Collier Museum in Florida. Talbot Lago Figoni coupes, while rare and wonderful, are easily traced. Poison Lil is a legend all by itself. Cars like 2.9 liter blown Alfas don’t disappear; they wind up in important collections. However it was the rare, unusual and not so famous cars that aroused my curiosity.

What's that car? Number 5 is George Caswell at Waktins Glen, 1948. The modified nose would make the car hard to identify. Behind him is the MG of Dean Bedford, Jr. Both cars would finish the Junoir Grand Prix. Photo by Harold Lance.

Gordini Transporter

April 25, 2012 By pete

By Roy Smith, historical images copyright Bob Dance

Our lead photo is of the Gordini Transporter Recreation, based on a Laffly chassis and it is actually a race car transporter, not a support truck. Sadly, the original vehicle, based on a Lancia 3RO 6.8 liter, no longer exists as we are given to understand, though many stories abound.

We thought it might be interesting to recall some of the highlights or maybe lowlights of one of the most recognisable racing car support vehicles to grace the paddocks of Europe’s racing circuits in the 1950s. [Read more…] about Gordini Transporter

Matra’s V12: Upholding the Honor of the French

May 4, 2011 By pete

The Matra MS12 V12, 1970. Photo by Brandes Elitch. To listen to the Matra V12, click on the photo.

By Brandes Elitch with photos and music by John Sexton

Matra has a wonderful history of building successful racing cars, but it is a name unknown to most Americans. The French love acronyms: Matra stands for Engins Mechanique Aviation-Traction, SA. It is an old company, founded in 1941 by Marcel Chassagny. It was and is an aerospace company and arms manufacturer for the French government.

In 1964, with absolutely no automotive racing experience, Chassagny tapped one of his engineers, Jean-Luc Lagardere, also without any automotive background, to create a new enterprise to build race cars: Matra Sports. He assembled a team, one of which, Andre Legan, summoned his friend Bernard Boyer by saying, “Bernard, on est chez les fous; il faut venir!” This could be translated as, “Everyone here is crazy; you must get over here!” Lagardere announced at the outset that within a few years, they would win both LeMans and a Formula One Championship – no wonder they thought him mad! But when it was all over, Matra had won at F-1 (1969, including the Constructors and Driver’s F1 World Championship) and captured the Manufacturer’s World Championship (1973 and 1974), and won LeMans in 1972, 1973, and 1974.

Rene Bonnet began producing the Djet with a 1108cc Renault engine in the rear, fiberglas body and four wheel disc brakes, but Matra took ownership in 1964 and continued to produce the Djet.

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