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A French Day at Brooklands P1

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1926 Bugatti Type 37 GP, and the Brooklands Watch Company’s ‘Little Car Company’ baby Bugatti Type 35. The Type 37 was originally owned by Mr Smith, the chief engineer at Lever Brothers who, during the 1930s, carried out a very well-engineered conversion of the engine to twin magneto ignition.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

August 13, 2023. Popped up to Brooklands in Surrey last Sunday for Brooklands French Car Day.  I think it was a new event, it was certainly new to me. So said the website, ” French legends from our Collection will be on display around the Motoring Village, from all-conquering Bugattis to veteran Peugeots, Malcolm Campbell’s Lorraine Dietrich ‘Vieux Charles III’ to the British Grand Prix winning Delage; you will be able to get close to these amazing machines.”

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100th Anniversary of Le Mans Goes to Ferrari

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What a way to go! And below is Vanhoolandt’s superb report on this epic Le Mans, class by class.

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

On June 10-11 2023, the 24 Hours of Le Mans celebrated their 100th anniversary this year (but it was the 91st edition). It was necessary that this unique edition be so celebrated and that indeed was the case.

Thanks to new regulation, the top category of prototypes, called Hypercar, witnessed the return of the major manufacturers who had deserted the Sarthe classic as the cars complying with the previous regulations were too expensive to design and develop.

This has allowed the return of brands that have marked the history of the race such as Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot and Porsche and the arrival next year of Alpine, BMW and Lamborghini. Toyota had remained faithful to the 24 hours during this transition period between the two regulations, which allowed it to impose itself over the last five years. It was one of the favorites this year and therefore had a lot to lose if it failed. This is what happened, the Japanese brand being the victim of the loss of a car early in the race following an accident, and also of a late change of equivalence between the different cars, the controversial ‘Balance of Performance’.

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The FCA-Groupe PSA Giant Merger

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By Philippe Defechereux

Italian and French Automobile Makers to Become Strong Allies in North America

As our title confirms, the most momentous automobile news of the year was officially announced last December 18, during the height of the 2019 holiday season.

That is not long ago, but you might have been distracted by other merriments more attuned to year-end cravings, or coincident explosive geopolitical events. So if you missed it, or merely paid casual attention, here is the whole important story, along with its potentially significant implications, neatly packaged for you.

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Top Acrobatics: The Saga of the Disappearing Hardtop

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The French make Peugeot pioneered the retractable hardtop in the early 1930 ties by selling Éclipse bodies, made by coachbuilder Marcel Pourtout, on their 301 and 601 chassis. The concept of the Peugeot 402 Éclipse was also based on Georges Paulin’s patent. But this model, introduced in October 1935, was built in Peugeot’s own factory. Between 1936 and 1940 some 580 units were produced.

In the next three weeks, Gijsbert Paul Berk will detail the lives of three important Frenchman who had a tremendous influence on automobile design: Georges Paulin, Marcel Pourtout and Emile Darl’mat, the three Musketeers. Much of their combined work evolved around the development of the disappearing hardtop as conceived by Georges Paulin. To give us a further insight into how clever kinematics conquered the auto industry, Gijsbert-Paul sent us this history.

By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

In the previous decades nearly all the major car manufacturers have introduced retractable hardtops in their popular or premium convertible models.

Opel had them on the Tigra TwinTop, Ford on their Fiesta and Focus models, Renault provided a glass paneled ‘see through’ hard top on the Megane CC, Volvo on the C 70 and BMW on the type 4 cabriolet. There even exist Ferrari California and Ferrari 458 Italia Spider versions with a retractable top. [Read more…] about Top Acrobatics: The Saga of the Disappearing Hardtop

French Grand Prix of Lyon Revival

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REVIVING THE RACE OF THE CENTURY
99 years, 11 months ago, the Grand Prix of France was held at Lyon. The centenary of the event was held from May 2-4 and our young man in France, Tom Bromehead, gives us a brief of the original event and details of the Revival. [Ed.]

A cow taking risks and overtaking us in a blind corner. No animals were harmed in the maneuver.

Story and event color images by Thomas Bromehead

[Read more…] about French Grand Prix of Lyon Revival

Pikes Peak to Peugeot! In English and Italian

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Loeb and Peugeot exceeded all expectations at Pikes Peak.

By Roberto Motta
Photo courtesy by Peugeot Sport and Red Bull Motorsport

Other articles on the subject:
Peugeot Heads for the Hill

History of Peugeot at Pikes Peak

At the Peak with Bobby Unser

On June 30th, Sébastien Loeb and the 208 T16 Peugeot “Pikes Peak” shattered the record for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, with a staggering time of 8 minutes 13.878 seconds. Loeb, known by his fans as the “Cannibal”, devoured opponents along the 20 miles and 156 curves of the hill climb with an average speed of 145 kph. [Read more…] about Pikes Peak to Peugeot! In English and Italian

Lion in the Clouds; Peugeot at Pikes Peak, 1988-89

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Ari Vatanen takes the 405 T16 up the Peak to victory in 1988.

By Roberto Motta
Photo courtesy by Peugeot Sport

It’s been over 100 years since the epic victory at the Indy 500, and 25 years after the first victory at Pikes Peak. Now Peugeot returns to Colorado with only one goal: to win the famous Pikes Peak event once again. Previously, we described the new Mountain car. Here, we will put this in perspective and review the previous two wins at Pikes Peak.
[Read more…] about Lion in the Clouds; Peugeot at Pikes Peak, 1988-89

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.
[Read more…] about French at Le Mans by Vanhoolandt

Knight and Day

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The ups and downs of the sleeve valve engine

By Pete Vack

For the 1923 French GP, French car builder Gabriel Voisin and his ‘spiritual son’ André Lefebvre, entered four highly advanced race cars equipped with a 2 liter six cylinder Knight sleeve valve engine, which was a mainstay of his fabulous line of luxury cars. But what is a sleeve valve engine, who was Knight and why did Voisin choose such a layout, straight from the American heartland?
[Read more…] about Knight and Day

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