1914 Grand Prix de France

The world was at the edge of the huge turmoil that was to be World War I.

Just a few days before the 1914 Grand Prix de France, Archduke
Franz Ferdinand was felled by an assassin’s bullet in Sarajevo, so rumours of imminent war ran wild.

But near Lyon, France on July 4th 1914, there was only talk of French victory on the track, with Peugeot’s Georges Boillot, winner of the 1912 and 1913 Grands Prix, being favoured by the partisan crowd of over 300,000.

Mercedes showed up with an effective-looking team of 5 white cars (and one spare), and white-dressed mechanics and drivers, along with colour-coded containers (red, white and black) for fuel, water, and oil.

The Mercedes engineers had even made earlier visits to the circuit to test the cars and make the appropriate improvements.

Pen&ink and white paint markers on gray archival paper © Paul Chenard 2014

It was the first return of Mercedes to racing since they had won the 1908 race, which was still stingingly fresh in the minds of the French. Still, they expected a French win in a French car in their French race …

Of the 37 cars that started the race, only 11 finished. After 20 grueling laps totaling 752 kms, Mercedes took the top 3 places, with Jules Goux’s Peugeot coming in 4th. After 7 hours of racing, the brilliant Christian Lautenschlager, winner of 1908 event, earned the victory laurels yet again for Mercedes.

One mouth after the race, the world was plunged into World War I, and the race would disappear from the spectators’ memories …

Thirst for Speed – Sir Henry Segrave

Sir Henry Segrave was a quiet, intelligent man with a lust for speed.

It started in 1915 while he was home recovering from battle wounds that his father picked-up a 20hp two-seater Singer.

After the Great War, he drove a 1914 Opel in the first post-war Brooklands race, and got completely hooked.

An acquaintance of his was connected to the Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq automotive company, so he soon joined their team as a works driver.
Sir Henry Segrave racing a 1923 Sunbeam to win the French Grand Prix
Mobil "The Story of Grand Prix motor racing" card, art by Roy Nockolds

He was quite successful through the early to mid 1920’s with them, scoring some Grand Prix wins.

At this point, Sunbeam starting developing special cars aimed at achieving new land speed records. In 1926, he brought a V-12 Sunbeam to a new record of 152.33 mph.
Sir Henry Segrave reaching 203.79 mph
16"x 20" acrylic on canvas by Paul Chenard
For 1927, Segrave went for the ambitious goal of being the first to punch through the 200 mph barrier. In March of that year, driving the red twin-engine “1000HP” Sunbeam, he reached a world-record 203.79 mph on Daytona Beach Florida.

In March of 1929, he returned to Daytona Beach with the 930HP “Golden Arrow” and raised the record again to 231.44 mph.

For 1930, Segrave switched to power boats in an attempt to be the fastest man on water. Piloting Miss England II, he was trying to exceed a speed of 110mph when his boat tumbled and this courageous pioneer was killed at the age of 34.
Sir Henry Segrave in the 1000HP Sunbeam
Etched copper printing block, 7cm X 2.75cm (shown in reverse), circa ?

Grand Prix History Calendar for 2012

I’ve created a jewel case calendar featuring Grand Prix racing through the ages.

Starting with Philippe Étancelin’s win of the 1930 French Grand Prix de Pau, it wraps up with the famous Gilles Villeneuve/René Arnoux battle for second in the 1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon.

The calendar has a different illustration for each month, with illustration details on the back; it retails for $25 CDN plus shipping/handling. The calendar size is 5.59" x 4.98" x 0.36" (14.2cm x 12.7cm x 0.9cm).

The Holidays are just around the next turn!

Grand Prix de France 1934

The French Grand Prix in Montlhéry, just south of Paris, signaled the return of Rudolf Caracciola with the Mercedes Team, having spent the last fourteen months recovering from a serious accident.

Auto Union was present, along with the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeos and a couple of Maseratis. Tazio Nuvolari was invited to try the Bugatti Type 59 by Ettore Bugatti.

At race start, Louis Chiron driving for Scuderia Ferrari quickly took the lead from Caracciola, Luigi Fagioli (Mercedes) and Hans Stuck (Auto Union). Stuck than pushed hard past the Mercedes drivers to take the lead from Chiron.

Nuvolari experienced gearbox trouble in the Bugatti so he handed it off to Jean-Pierre Wimille. Fagioli was instructed to push harder to catch the lead cars.

The high pace of the race started taking it’s toll on the new German cars, and one by one they dropped out, Caracciola with fuel-feed problems, Fagioli with a broken brake-line, von Brauchitsch with supercharger woes, the persistent Stuck with engine problems, and Momberger with a steering break.

The other teams also dropped out, Bugatti with mostly engine and transmission issues, and Maserati with axle and engine breaks.

Trossi, Chiron and Varzi, race-ready for Scuderia Ferrari

Pen&ink, markers and pencil on white archival stock 12”x 9” (30.5cm x 22.9cm) © Paul Chenard 2010

Original sketch available, as is the limited edition.

This led to a clean sweep for the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeos with Chiron first, Varzi second and the Trossi/Moll duo third.

The 80,000 spectators were thrilled with Chiron’s win over the Germans teams. This win hid the fact that all the German cars, though still being very new, fell out of the race for fairly minor reasons, and that with better preparation, they would have clearly matched the opposition.

Philippe Étancelin – Private Racer

Philippe  “Phi-Phi” Étancelin was a French privateer racer who started racing in 1926, winning the Grand Prix de Reims. During his racing career, he drove Bugattis, Alfa Romeos, Maseratis, and Talbot-Lagos.

Born on December 28th, 1896 in Rouen (Normandy), he was a wool and down merchant through the Winter, and raced in the Summer. His wife Suzanne was his pit manager, giving him signals in French sign language.

In the illustration below, Étancelin is on his way to winning the French Grand Prix de Pau in 1930, driving his Bugatti Type 35C. He also won the race in 1936, driving his Maserati V8 R.I., one of only 4 produced!

Scratchboard 7”x 5” © Paul Chenard 2010

In 1934, he raced an Alfa Romeo with Luigi Chinetti in the 24 heures du Mans.

After he retired in 1953, the French government awarded him the Légion d'honneur for his contribution to the sport of automobile racing.

He passed away at the age of 85 years old in 1981. 

I want to personally thank André Étancelin for his help. Merci!