1927 24 Hours of Le Mans

5th 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race

The 1927 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 5th Grand Prix of Endurance, was a motor race which took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 18 and 19 June 1927. The race was one of the most remarkable and dramatic pre war Le Mans races. It is commonly remembered due to the infamous White House crash, a major accident that involved eight cars including all three of the widely tipped Bentley team's entries, and caused the retirement of two of them. The race was eventually won by the third which, although badly damaged, was able to be repaired by drivers Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis. It was Bentley's second victory in the endurance classic. In a race missing many major manufacturers, the three Bentleys had been comfortably leading from the start, putting a lap on the rest on the field. The accident occurred about 9.40pm, as night was falling and a drizzle had started. A 2 litre Th. Schneider had spun at the White House curves blocking the road when the lead Bentley, unsighted, hit it at speed. Davis was able to extricate his damaged car and get back to the pits, resuming the race after a half hour repair. The French Ariès of Jean Chassagne and Robert Laly, the only other large engined car in the race, had meanwhile taken the lead. They held it through a very wet night and into the Sunday, until stopped with less than two hours to go by a broken distributor. Davis and Benjafield had pushed their mishandling car hard all the way to take a lauded victory, in the end by a considerable 20 lap margin.

Once again the public roads were closed on Friday night from 10pm to 6am to allow private practice. On Saturday morning, the Tracta team drivers were all injured in a bad road accident en route to the track. Boussod misjudged a corner near Arnage and the car fell off the road into a ditch at 60 mph. While Boussod was badly shaken and Grégoire was bruised, the other two were in much worse shape: Bourcier had a crushed leg and Fenaille had a severe head injury, ending up in a coma. They were taken to hospital but Grégoire contrived to escape and made his way back to the track, determined to race for the sake of his new company. Appealing to race director Charles Faroux he put out a plea over the public address asking for a volunteer co driver. Lucien Lemesle, a local mechanic answered and Grégoire had just enough time to explain the peculiarities of his unusual car before the start of the race. Once again, the Bentley drivers' hood raising practice proved itself as their three cars were first away with Clement leading Benjafield and d'Erlanger away in a Bentley 1 2 3 in the opening laps. The speed of the 4 ½ litre was underlined by Clement when he broke the circuit record in only the second lap of the race. Over the following few laps he whittled this down still further, to only 8 minutes 46 seconds for the 10.7 mile (17.3 km) circuit. This early race performance was yet more remarkable as, at the time, the cars were required to run with their hoods erected for the first twenty laps (about three hours) of the race. De Marmier's Salmson could not be restarted after the first pit stops and was later disqualified for being push started. The first to arrive was the leader, Callingham, at high speed. Trying to avoid the car he slid off to the right into the roadside ditch at over 70 mph (110 kp/h), hitting with such force that the driver was thrown out into the middle of the road. George Duller arrived next, and seeing the danger, jumped over his steering wheel out of the car just before the impact. It slammed into Callingham's car, which rolled and left his on top of it. Subsequently, the other Schneider, one of the small Ariès and a SARA also suffered damage in the pile up. Duller had staggered off dazed to warn other drivers, before realising he was on the other side of the roadside hedge and couldn't be seen. The steering pulled to the right and the braking was not synchronised between the wheels. The SARA was also able to continue after repairs, but ran into mechanical troubles over the night and was disqualified at half time just three laps short of its 12 hour target distance. 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* Indexscore 1 3.0 3 Bentley Motors Limited Dudley Benjafield Sammy Davis Bentley 3 Litre Speed Bentley 3.0 S4 129 137 1.062 2 1.1 25 Société des Moteurs Salmson André de Victor Jean Hasley Salmson Grand Sport Salmson 1094cc S4 94 117 1.245 3 1.1 23 Société des Moteurs Salmson Georges Casse André Rousseau Salmson Grand Sport Salmson 1094cc S4 94 [B] 115 1.239 4 1.5 15 Société de ConstructionAutomobile Parisienne Lucien Desvaux Fernand Vallon S. C. A. P. Type O S. C. A. P. 1492cc S8 105 111 1.057 5 1.1 26 Établissements Henri Précloux Guy Bouriat Pierre Bussienne E. H. P. Type DS CIME 1094cc S4 94 [B] 109 1.160 6 1.1 21 Société des Applications àRefroidissements par Air André Marandet Gonzaque Lécureul SARA BDE SARA 1099cc S4 94 [B] 107 1.139 7 1.1 20 Société Anonyme desAutomobiles Tracta Jean Albert Grégoire Lucien Lemesle Tracta Gephi S. C. A. P. 1099cc S4 94 98 1.043 N/C** 1.5 16 Société de ConstructionAutomobile Parisienne Albert Clément Henri Guilbert S. C. A. P. Type O S. C. A. P. 1492cc S8 105 99

Pos Class*** No Team Drivers Chassis Engine Tyre Targetdistance* Laps Reason DNF 2.0 4 Société des Automobiles Ariès Robert Laly Jean Chassagne Ariès Type S GP2 Surbaisée Ariès 3.0L S4 129 122 Engine(23 hr) DNF 2.0 8 Fabrique Automobilede St Ouen Raymond Leroy Pierre Mesnel Fasto A3 Sport Fasto 1996cc S4 117 96 Engine(20 hr) DNF 2.0 10 Fabrique Automobilede St Ouen Michel Doré Roger Hellot Fasto A3 Sport Fasto 1996cc S4 117 75 Engine(morning) DNF 2.0 9 Fabrique Automobilede St Ouen Frédéric Thelusson Brosseau Fasto A3 Sport Fasto 1996cc S4 117 72 Electrics(dawn) DSQ 1.5 14 Société des Applications àRefroidissements par Air Gaston Mottet Emile Maret SARA SP7 SARA 1498cc S6 106 50 Insufficient distance (12 hr) DNF 1.1 22 Société des Applications àRefroidissements par Air Henri Armand Gaston Duval SARA BDE SARA 1099cc S4 94 [B] 42 Transmission(10 hr) DNF 5.0 1 Bentley Motors Limited Frank Clement Leslie Callingham Bentley 4½ Litre Bentley 4.4L S4 132 35 Accident(6 hr) DNF 3.0 2 Bentley Motors Limited Baron André d'Erlanger George Duller Bentley 3 Litre Speed Bentley 3.0 S4 129 34 Accident(6 hr) DNF 2.0 12 Automobiles Th. Schneider SA Jacques Chanterelle René Schiltz Th. Schneider 25 SP 'Le Mans' Th. Schneider 1954cc S4 117 34 Withdrawn(7 hr) DNF 2.0 11 Automobiles Th. Schneider SA Robert Poirier Pierre Tabourin Th. Schneider 25 SP 'Le Mans' Th. Schneider 1954cc S4 117 [B] 26 Accident(6 hr) DSQ 1.1 29 Société des Automobiles Ariès Fernand Gabriel Louis Paris Ariès CC2 Super Ariès 1088cc S4 94 23 Insufficient distance (6 hr) DSQ 1.1 24 Société des Moteurs Salmson Lionel de Marmier Pierre Goutte Salmson Grand Sport Salmson 1094cc S4 94 21 Push started (4 hr) DSQ 1.1 28 Société des Automobiles Ariès Arthur Duray Roger Delano Ariès CC4 Ariès 1088cc S4 94 [B] 16 Insufficient distance (6 hr) DNF 1.1 27 Établissements Henri Précloux Henri de Costier Hilaire Gaignard E. H. P. Type DS CIME 1094cc S4 94 8 Radiator (2 hr)Sources:
Note *: [B]= car also entered in the 1926 7 Biennial Cup. Note **: Not Classified because did not meet target distance. 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 Reason DNS 1.1 17 Automobiles Gendron& Cie Marcel Michelot Lucien Bossoutrot GM GC3 Sport CIME 1099cc S4 Fatal Accident in practice DNS 1.1 18 Automobiles Gendron& Cie Marcel Gendron GM GC3 Sport CIME 1099cc S4 Withdrawn DNS 1.1 19 SA des Automobiles Tracta Pierre Fenaille Etienne Boussod Tracta Gephi S. C. A. P. 1099cc S4 Accident en route to circuit DNA 2.0 5 Établissements AutomobilesRolland et Pilain SA Rolland Pilain C23 Rolland Pilain 1997cc S4 Did not arrive DNA 2.0 6 Établissements AutomobilesRolland et Pilain SA Rolland Pilain C23 Rolland Pilain 1997cc S4 Did not arrive DNA 2.0 7 Établissements AutomobilesRolland et Pilain SA Rolland Pilain C23 Rolland Pilain 1997cc S4 Did not arrive

Pos Class Team Drivers Chassis 1927 IndexResult 1 1.1 23 Société des Moteurs Salmson Georges Casse André Rousseau Salmson Grand Sport 1.239 2 1.1 26 Établissements Henri Précloux Guy Bouriat Pierre Bussienne E. H. P. Type DS 1.160 3 1.1 21 Société des Applications àRefroidissements par Air André Marandet Gonzaque Lécureul SARA BDE 1.139

Pos Class Team Drivers Chassis IndexResult 1 1.1 25 Société des Moteurs Salmson André de Victor Jean Hasley Salmson Grand Sport 1.245 2 1.1 23 Société des Moteurs Salmson Georges Casse André Rousseau Salmson Grand Sport 1.239 3 1.1 26 Établissements Henri Précloux Guy Bouriat Pierre Bussienne E. H. P. Type DS 1.160 4 1.1 21 Société des Applications àRefroidissements par Air André Marandet Gonzaque Lécureul SARA BDE 1.139 5 3.0 3 Bentley Motors Limited Dudley Benjafield Sammy Davis Bentley 3 Litre Speed 1.062 6 1.5 15 Société des ConstructionAutomobile Parisienne Lucien Desvaux Fernand Vallon S. C. A. P. Type O 1.057 7 1.1 20 SA des Automobiles Tracta Jean Albert Grégoire Lucien Lemesle Tracta Gephi 1.043