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Le Mans Cars at Retromobile

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Where the legend began. It is with a Chenard & Walcker Sport 3 Litre of this type that André Lagache and René Léonard won the first edition of the French classic in 1923. Its four cylinder 3 Litre engine developed 95 bhp and allowed to reach 145 km per hour.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

For the first time since 2020, the Parisian show is back at full strength, again spread over three halls. With more than 1,700 vehicles on display, Retromobile continues the tradition that began in 1976. No less than 125,000 people visited the show making it the second highest attendance since its inception. As this year the 24 Hours of Le Mans celebrates its centenary, many exhibitors brought classic racing cars that took part in the famous race.

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Racing Matras in America

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matra racing Above: the late Gary Neuer driving the Matra Djet to a win at Santa Barbara.

1966 Matra/Bonnet Djet V S: On the Ground Floor with the French in America

By Al Axelrod

I was working away at my Beverly Hills foreign car/special interest shop in 1967 (where they had previously built the Reventlow Scarabs) when a neat little car came in the door and the owner said, “Hey, let’s go racing.” He went on to explain that he obtained the car from a Matra executive and that the company might come to the USA with their vehicles and, if so, I would be “their guy.”

You could say I was crazy to believe him. But, I was young at the time and remember thinking: “If I am a good race driver/mechanic/engineer/shop owner, they will call me up and put me on the factory team.”

The Djet was a very aerodynamic car that had the distinction of being one of the first mid-engine sports cars. Actually, DeTomaso claimed the same for his Vallelunga, but then he was always exaggerating so no one can be quite sure. And of course there was the Porsche 550 Spyder from years earlier. So let’s just say the Djet was the first production French mid-engine sports car.

Off to the races goes the Matra. But would it lead to fame and fortune?

The Djet was the product of a French engineering genius Rene Bonnet, who until the beginning of the 60s had been joined up with Charles Deutsch at the Panhard company. “D.B.” cars stands for Deutsch Bonnet. They had won the Index of Performance in the 24 hour race in 1954 and had won many other European events in their class.

At that time Matra was a firm specializing in machine tools, plastics and glass fiber composites. They would make the body and deliver it to Bonnet. Unfortunately Bonnet could not make his business profitable and went under after Deutsch went his own way.

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Davison’s Le Mans: Privileged in France

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Mary Davison with sons at the start of the 1972 Le Mans 24 Hours.

By Eric Davison
Be sure to listen to the Matra V-12, below!

The month of May is regarded by American racing fans as “Indy” month. In France and in most of Europe June belongs to Le Mans.

In January of 1972 we (me, my wife and two sons) were sent to France where I took up residence in the Paris office of McCann-Erickson Advertising as the resident guru on the General Motors/Opel business. It was a dream assignment. My wife, the lovely Mary, was ecstatic and our two sons ages 14 and 11were anxious to leave Michigan where we had returned after spending a couple of years in Mexico. They were up for another adventure. Plus, beyond all the joys of Paris, there was the sunshine of Saint Tropez, skiing in Chamonix, and to top it all off, there was Le Mans. And we were going!

It was easy to work my way into the good graces of my new GM associates. To most Europeans racing is a very important activity and when they found out that I was a rabid enthusiast, I was welcomed by Jean-Louis Maesen, the Opel Marketing Director and included in their Le Mans activity.

Jean-Louis Maesen and the new (at the time) Opel Commodore in Brittany. The occasion was the press introduction of what was the first competitive Opel.

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Vanhoolandt at Monaco

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While Graham Gauld brought us insights and personal stories from the pits at this year’s Historics, Hugues Vanhoolandt delivered his usual outstanding imagery from around the circuit. Below, twenty top shots for our readers.

Gordinis

Two early Gordinis. Number 16 is the very first Gordini single-seater,

Lancia Marino

The Lancia Marino, built by Marino Brandoli who drove it at the 1957 GP of Naples, Italy, here driven by ex-F1 driver Beppe Gabbiani. See Graham’s article for more information.

Tec Mec

Tec Mec 250F was the ultimate evolution of the Maserati 250F. But it was immediately outpaced by the rear engined cars, its only outing being the 1959 US Grand Prix.

Maserati A6gcm

The Maserati A6 GCM (M for monoposto) was not accepted that year at the Monaco Grand Prix as it was reserved for Sports Cars. But they took part in the F1 World Drivers Championship, and did very well.

Maserati

Julia De Baldanza battling at the ‘Swimming Pool’ corner with a Cooper T41.

Grid C commemorates the 1952 Monaco Grand Prix in which Ferraris took the five first places. Three 166 MM Touring barchettas like this one were at the start.

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Matra’s V12: Upholding the Honor of the French

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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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French at Le Mans by Vanhoolandt

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Still looking for the Pink Panther.

Last week Hugues Vanhoolandt displayed the Italian effort at this year’s Le Mans Classic, which everyone is saying gets better and better every year. For the 5th time, Le Mans Classic celebrated the greatest long distance race in the world. With more than 420 cars on the track, ranging from 1923 to 1979, it was close action from Saturday at 4 pm to Sunday same hour.With 96,000 spectators, Le Mans Classic proved to be one of the world’s greatest historic racing car event.

Photos and captions by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
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Elite from Essen

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In 1965 the Italian magazine Quattroruote had the idea for the Gran Sport 1750 replicar that was inspired by the 6C 1750 and based on the Giulia Spider platform.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

Techno-Classica Essen 2010

During the five days (April 7-11) of Techno-Classica in Essen (Germany), there are more classic, vintage and racing cars offered for sale under one roof than anywhere else in the world.
[Read more…] about Elite from Essen

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