1929 24 Hours of Le Mans

7th 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race

The 1929 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 7th Grand Prix of Endurance that took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 15 and 16 June 1929. In the most dominant display in the race to date, Bentley achieved a comprehensive victory taking the first four places on distance. Bentley director Woolf Barnato repeated his victory of the previous year, co driven this time by fellow Bentley Boy Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin. They had led from start to finish, setting a new distance record and lap record. The race was relatively quiet, without serious incident, aside from a fuel fire burning Stutz driver Édouard Brisson. Half of the reduced field had retired by dawn on the Sunday and the Bentley team was able to stage a formation finish for its four finishers.

The international regulations remained unchanged. However, for its part, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) decreed that 2 seater cars could now be no bigger than 1000cc (either supercharged or not) and the 3 seat dispensation for 1500cc cars was removed after two years. This year Shell petrol was the official fuel for all cars. Residents of southern Le Mans city were successful in petitioning the council. A new by pass road, the Rue de Circuit, was built 600 metres ahead of the Pontlieue hairpin at the edge of the city. It reduced the track length by 922 metres from to
The remaining four cars were the reliable 4½ litre tourers, the chassis strengthened after the issues from the previous year. They were assigned to more of the “Bentley Boys”: Frank Clement / Jean Chassagne, Benjafield with Baron André d’Erlanger and Glen Kidston/Jack Dunfee. The fourth car, of Earl Howe/Bernard Rubin, had only a week earlier been used in a 24 hour record breaking attempt at Montlhéry by Mary Petre and her husband Victor Bruce. The experienced driving squad was supported by Bertie Kensington Moir, back from Lagonda as team manager, and Walter Hassan as lead mechanic. Like Stutz, Du Pont was in the American luxury car market. The new Model G had a big 5.3 litre Continental sidevalve engine. However, this was a two seater tourer, and refused entry by the ACO under its new maximum engine size rule. So, the company quickly fashioned four four seater speedster models, however only one of the two entries was ready in time for the race. It would be driven by the first Americans at Le Mans – Charles Moran Jr. (a friend of E. Paul du Pont, who had raced in Europe the previous year) and Alfredo Luis Miranda (the Mexican born New York dealer for DuPont). Once again, the Grand Garage St Didier entered two of their Chrysler Six's. The ‘75’ was the 1929 model, driven by team regular Henri Stoffel, this time along with French GP racer Robert Benoist. The ‘77’ was a preview of the 1930 model and manned by Cyril de Vere and Marcel Mongin. Invicta was an English firm founded in 1919. Offering a standard design in three wheelbase lengths, the 1928 LC (“large chassis”) version featured the current 4.5 litre Meadows engine that put out 100 bhp. Cecil Twisleton Wykeham Fiennes, a major in the Royal Marines, put in a privateer entry for the race. Similarly, Lea Francis was an English firm manufacturing since 1920. The S Type had arrived in 1927, with the Meadows 1.5 litre engine used in several English sports cars. Once fitted with a supercharger (as the S Type Hyper) it could reach 145 kp/h (90 mph) and became very popular with privateer drivers and Kaye Don won the RAC Tourist Trophy handicap. Enthused by this, gentleman racer Ken Peacock entered a car with Lea Francis distributor Sammy Newsome as his co pilot. The Lagonda works team had had a very disappointing season in 1928, with only one finish from seven entries in three races. However, a new team of Lagonda owners (PERR) and the company's main agents, Fox & Nichol, approached the company to prepare four cars for racing. Major revisions were made to the 2 Litre Speed, including lowering the chassis, uprating the engine and fitting a tougher gearbox and suspension, all combining to give it a top speed of 160 kp/h (100 mph). One was entered for Le Mans, driven by Tim Rose Richards and Brian Lewis, Baron Essendon. By contrast, the Alvis had been successful and returned with two of their new FA8/15 model. Still with front wheel drive, the 1.5 litre engine now had a Roots supercharger. Drivers were 1927 winner and journalist Sammy Davis with Leon Cushman and Cyril Paul with Bill Urquhart Dykes. SARA was the only other manufacturer apart from Bentley to have been at every Le Mans to date. Since the last race founder Auguste Tisserant had sold the license for his patented air cooled pushrod engine to Scottish entrepreneur H. E. Plaister's new company Scotsman Motors who intended to manufacture touring cars around the 1.5 and 1.8 litre engines. In a joint venture the companies entered a pair of four year old SARA SP 7s for SARA works driver Gaston Mottet along with three British drivers. The fourth car was a streamliner special. The unique Cozette engine had opposed pistons at each end of the cylinders powered by the supercharger pressure, thus dispensing with a cylinder head and crankcase. Bollack Netter and Co (BNC) had collapsed and been bought out by entrepreneur Charles de Ricou, who would also buy the struggling Rolland Pilain and Lombard companies. Two new models came to Le Mans: the four seater Acacias, with a supercharged 1.5 litre Meadows engine, and a pair of the BNC 527, with its small 1 litre Ruby engine. One of those was also took the entry in the Biennial Cup. Smallest car in the field was the D’Yrsan Grand Sport. After withdrawing its entries for the 1928 race, the company arrived this year. The low slung car had a patented independent front suspension and ran with a supercharged 749cc Ruby engine. A normally aspirated 1.1 litre entry was also submitted, but later withdrawn. After testing and a shake down run for the DuPont at the Montlhéry circuit, Moran was concerned about Miranda's lack of pace and decided to drive the whole event himself. Already there was a sizeable gap (over a kilometre) back to the Lagonda leading the smaller cars. The DuPont retired with a bent propshaft badly affecting its handling. Unlike most other teams who now used secured lead weights, the team had loaded their ballast as sandbags. These had broken through the floor and damaged the propshaft. The Lea Francis had moved up the order through the night to eighth and was running well when one of the shock absorbers broke. Despite a rough ride they made it to the finish. The leading two Bentleys had not missed a beat. In the mighty Speed Six, Tim Birkin had stamped an impressive new lap record, fully 46 seconds faster, helped by the slightly abbreviated track layout. They also broke the race distance record, covering over The Speed Six's performance was so strong that they also won all three major awards, becoming the biggest car to win the Index. Feeling very pleased with his consecutive victories, Barnato loaned Bentley another £25000. Although there were no official engine classes, the highest finishers in unofficial categories aligned with the Index targets are in Bold text. Class ** Team Drivers Chassis Engine Tyre Targetdistance* 1 8.0 1 Bentley Motors Ltd Woolf Barnato Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin Bentley Speed Six Bentley 6.6L S6 137 [B] 174 2 5.0 9 Bentley Motors Ltd Glen Kidston Jack Dunfee Bentley 4½ Litre Bentley 4.4L S4 135 167 3 5.0 10 Bentley Motors Ltd Dr Dudley Benjafield Baron André d'Erlanger Bentley 4½ Litre Bentley 4.4L S4 135 [B] 159 4 5.0 8 Bentley Motors Ltd Frank Clement Jean Chassagne Bentley 4½ Litre Bentley 4.4L S4 135 157 5 8.0 5 Automobiles Elite Paris Guy Bouriat Philippe de Rothschild Stutz Model M Blackhawk Stutz 5.3L S8 supercharged 136 153 6 5.0 14 Grand Garage Saint Didier Paris Robert Benoist Henri Stoffel Chrysler Six Series 75 Chrysler 4.1L S6 134 [B] 152 7 5.0 12 Grand Garage Saint Didier Paris Cyril de Vere Marcel Mongin Chrysler Six Series 77 Chrysler 4.1L S6 134 [B] 149 8 1.5 21 K. S. Peacock(private entrant) Kenneth Peacock Sammy Newsome Lea Francis S Type Hyper Meadows 1495cc S4 supercharged 128 136 9 1.1 26 SA des Automobiles Tracta Louis Balart Louis Debeugny Tracta Type A S. C. A. P. 985cc S4 supercharged 116 [B] 128 10 1.1 27 SA des Automobiles Tracta Jean Albert Grégoire Fernand Vallon Tracta Type A S. C. A. P. 985cc S4 supercharged 116 [B] 126

Pos Class ** No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Tyre Targetdistance* Laps ReasonDNF 8.0 6 Col Warwick Wright(private entrant) Capt George Eyston Dick Watney Stutz Model M Blackhawk Stutz 5.3L S8 supercharged 136 [B] 104 Fuel tank(15 hr)DNF 1.5 20 Bollack, Netter et Cie Lucien Desvaux Auguste Garalp B. N. C. Acacias Meadows 1496cc S4 supercharged 128 88 Transmission(17 hr)DNF 5.0 7 C. W. Fiennes(private entrant) Maj Cecil Twisleton Wykeham Fiennes Arthur Owen Saunders Davies Invicta LC 4½ Litre Meadows 4.5L S6 135 78 Engine(12 hr)DNF 2.0 19 Société des Applications àRefroidissements par Air W. R. Hutchinson R. F. Turner S. A. R. A. SP7 S. A. R. A. 1806cc S6 127 73 ? (13 hr)DNF 1.1 25 SA des Automobiles Tracta Maurice Benoist Lucien Lemesle Tracta Type A S. C. A. P. 993cc S4 supercharged 116 70 Electrics(8 hr)DNF 8.0 4 Société de CarrosserieWeymann Édouard Brisson Louis Chiron Stutz Model M Blackhawk Stutz 5.3L S8 supercharged 137 65 Fire/clutch(13 hr)DNF 1.1 24 SA des Automobiles Tracta Roger Bourcier Tribaudot Tracta Spéciale Cozette 999cc S4(2 Stroke) supercharged 119 [B] 43 Engine(12 hr)DNF 2.0 16 Fox & Nicholl / PERR Tim Rose Richards Brian Lewis, Baron Essendon Lagonda 2 Litre Speed Lagonda 1954cc S4 128 [B] 29 Engine/Fire(6 hr)DNF 1.1 29 Bollack, Netter et Cie Jean Lajeune Maurice Faure B. N. C. Type 527 Ruby 995cc S4 117 24 Engine(5 hr)DNF 2.0 18 Société des Applications àRefroidissements par Air Gaston Mottet Douglas Hawkes S. A. R. A. SP7 S. A. R. A. 1806cc S6 127 22 Engine(7 hr)DNF 1.5 22 Alvis Car and Engineering Co Cyril Paul Bill Urquhart Dykes Alvis FA8/15 Alvis 1484cc S4supercharged 128 [B] 21 Engine(3 hr)DNF 8.0 2 Du Pont Motor Co. Charles Moran Jr. Alfredo Miranda Jr Du Pont Model G Speedster Continental 5.3L S8 136 20 Transmission(2 hr)DNF 1.1 30 Bollack, Netter et Cie Michel Doré Jean Treunet B. N. C. Type 527 Ruby 995cc S4 117 [B] 15 Engine(4 hr)DNF 750 31 Cyclecars D’Yrsan Trillaud Henri Lachner D’Yrsan Grand Sport Ruby 749cc S4 108 9 Engine(2 hr)DNF 5.0 11 Bentley Motors Ltd Bernard Rubin Francis Curzon, Earl Howe Bentley 4½ Litre Bentley 4.4L S4 135 7 Electrics(3 hr)Sources:
Note *: [B]= car also entered in the 1928 9 Biennial Cup. Note **: There were no official class divisions for this race. These are unofficial categories (used in subsequent years) related to the Index targets.

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Engine ReasonDNS 1.5 23 Alvis Car and Engineering Company Sammy Davis Leon Cushman Alvis FA8/15 Alvis 1484cc S4supercharged Engine [B]DNA 8.0 3 Du Pont Motor Co. Sidney Cotton Millicent Cotton Du Pont Model G Speedster Continental 5.3L S8 Did not arriveDNA 4.0 15 Compagnie Maryland Paris Oakland All American Six Oakland 3.5L S6 Did not arriveDNA 2.0 17 Fox & Nicholl / PERR
Lagonda 2 Litre Speed Lagonda 1954cc S4 Did not arriveDNA 1.1 28 Cyclecars D’Yrsan D’Yrsan Grand Sport Ruby 1097cc S4 Did not arrive

Pos Class Team Drivers Chassis 1929 IndexResult 1 8.0 1 Bentley Motors Ltd Woolf Barnato Henry “Tim” Birkin Bentley Speed Six 1.270 2 5.0 10 Bentley Motors Ltd Dr Dudley Benjafield Baron André d'Erlanger Bentley 4½ Litre 1.177 3 5.0 14 Grand Garage Saint Didier Paris Robert Benoist Henri Stoffel Chrysler Six Series 75 1.134 4 5.0 12 Grand Garage Saint Didier Paris Cyril de Vere Marcel Mongin Chrysler Six Series 77 1.112 5 1.1 26 SA des Automobiles Tracta Louis Balart Louis Debeugny Tracta Type A 1.076 6 1.1 27 SA des Automobiles Tracta Jean Albert Grégoire Fernand Vallon Tracta Type A 1.059

Pos Class Team Drivers Chassis Indexresult 1 8.0 1 Bentley Motors Ltd Woolf Barnato Henry “Tim” Birkin Bentley Speed Six 1.270 2 5.0 9 Bentley Motors Ltd Glen Kidston Jack Dunfee Bentley 4½ Litre 1.237 3 5.0 10 Bentley Motors Ltd Dr Dudley Benjafield Baron André d'Erlanger Bentley 4½ Litre 1.177 4 5.0 8 Bentley Motors Ltd Frank Clement Jean Chassagne Bentley 4½ Litre 1.163 5 5.0 14 Grand Garage Saint Didier Paris Robert Benoist Henri Stoffel Chrysler Six Series 75 1.134 6 8.0 5 Automobiles Elite Paris Guy Bouriat Philippe de Rothschild Stutz Model M Blackhawk 1.125 7 5.0 12 Grand Garage Saint Didier Paris Cyril de Vere Marcel Mongin Chrysler Six Series 77 1.112 8 1.5 21 K. S. Peacock(private entrant) Kenneth Peacock Sammy Newsome Lea Francis S Type Hyper 1.106 9 1.1 26 SA des Automobiles Tracta Louis Balart Louis Debeugny Tracta Type A 1.076 10 1.1 27 SA des Automobiles Tracta Jean Albert Grégoire Fernand Vallon Tracta Type A 1.059
Note: Only the top ten positions are included in this set of standings.