1923 24 Hours of Le Mans

The final regulations for the event were not completed by Charles Faroux and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) until February 1923. All cars had to be standard four-seater production models, except those under 1100cc which could be two-seaters where at least thirty cars had been built. The vehicle had to carry 60 kg lead ballast for each passenger space aside from the driver. A maximum of two drivers were allowed (but not riding together), and they alone could replenish the fluids (petrol, oil and water), although there was no minimum distance between refills as in later years. The fuel was to be supplied by the ACO. Engines had to be turned off at pit-stops, and only re-started with an onboard starter. None of the entered cars had window-wipers. There was an hors course rule such that every car had to meet a certain ratio of their minimum distance at the 6, 12, and 18-hour marks or face disqualification. The ratios were 80%, 85% and 90% respectively. The final minimum distances were on a sliding scale based on engine capacity that were kept deliberately lenient for the first race. The distances included the following: To encourage future entries and manufacturer commitment to the event, the sponsor, wheel supplier Rudge-Whitworth, put up a trophy for the manufacturer whose best-performing car had completed the furthest distance in 24 hours over three consecutive years. So, in effect, there was no prize for the individual race win. Curiously, the weekend chosen for the event was also when the French moved to "summer time" so clocks were moved forward an hour at 11 pm, therefore the race started at 4 pm Saturday but finished at 5 pm on Sunday. ==Track==

Automobile racing was well established in the Sarthe region, with races since 1906 with the very first French Grand Prix. The post-war circuit had hosted a number of races since 1920 and was in length. From the outskirts of Le Mans city, it ran on the main road southwards to the village of Mulsanne and back. The start/finish line was two-thirds of the back on the return leg on land rented for the event. The depôts (pits) consisted of wooden counters with canvas-roofed areas behind for each car. A race-control tower and two 44m wooden grandstands were built opposite the pits. A footbridge sponsored by Meyrel was built just after the start-line. The track was very narrow in places, including the country roads from Mulsanne to Arnage and from the start-line to Pontlieue hairpin. For the spectators’ comfort and entertainment through the event, cafés and a dancefloor with jazz-band were set up behind the stands. There was also an area for people to use radios to pick up classical music broadcast from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Generators provided power for the public address system and lighting around the spectator area, and a long scoreboard was manually maintained giving the cars’ positions and laps completed and target distance. Although most of the track was fenced from the spectators, the roads were not tar-sealed. Roading engineers were employed before the race to apply a temporary mixture of gravel, dirt and tar to the road surface. Acetylene floodlights from the army were set up at the tight corners of Pontlieue, Mulsanne and Arnage. ==Entries==

For this first endurance trial there were 37 entries, all submitted by the manufacturers rather than individual drivers. Only the 2-car Avions Voisin team were late scratchings. With the cars all painted in their national racing colours, there was a predominance of French blue cars except for a single green Bentley from Great Britain and two Belgian Excelsiors in yellow. The cars were assigned their numbers in the order of their engine size. Many of the car models were co-identified with the French CV-system of automotive horsepower tax. The biggest-engined cars in the field were the 5.3-litre Excelsiors, luxury car-makers from Belgium founded in 1903. Success in racing and sales to the Belgian royal family established the company. The 1922 Adex C had a straight-six engine putting out 130 bhp and could reach 145 km/h (90 mph), however its hefty weight impeded its acceleration rate. It had perhaps the first anti-roll bar suspension running on Belgian Englebert tyres. Works drivers, Belgians Nicolas Caerels and André Dills, were pre-war veteran riding mechanics from Grand Prix and Indianapolis. Lorraine-Dietrich had been founded as a locomotive manufacturer in 1884 in Alsace-Lorraine, moving to automobiles in 1896 entering the early inter-city road-races. At war's-end the factories but soon resumed car production. The B3-6 appeared in 1922 with a straight-6 engine and 3-speed gearbox and three body-style variants were sent to Le Mans under competition director Maurice Leroux. The fastest was the lightened Torpédo bodystyle, capable of almost 145 km/h (90 mph). Delage was another famous French car company with a strong pre-war motor-racing pedigree already, including winning the 1914 Indianapolis 500, and quickly resumed racing after the war with its big 5- and 6-litre racing cars. The DE raced at Le Mans was a 1-off special of the current popular production model fitted with its engine modified to carry an overhead-valve cylinder head. It was raced by new works driver Paul Torchy and test driver Belbeu. Chenard-Walcker was a major Parisian automotive company, established in 1899 and one of the city's biggest suppliers of taxis. They had a close relationship with coachbuilding company FAR who built their bodywork, led by André Lagache and Raymond Glaszmann (both keen racers). Lucien Chenard, son of the founder, had set up a works racing team in 1921 with the company test-driver René Léonard. Active in post-war racing they sent a trio of cars with the latest Torpédo bodystyle from FAR. Two had the new U3 3-litre engine that put out 90 bhp, driven by Léonard with Lagache, and Glaszmann with Fernand Bachmann. The third car, with a less powerful U2 engine was run by Bachmann's brother Raoul with veteran Christian Dauvergne. It ran special long-endurance tyres, designed by Lionel Rapson, convincing Duff he could get away without the weight of carrying a spare wheel. Ford had a major automotive plant at Bordeaux producing around cars per year by 1923. Charles Montier was Ford's agent in France and a skilled engineer who specialised in building high-performance specials. His Le Mans entry was based on the abundant Ford Model T with his own engine design and sturdier mechanical parts. Racing his own car, he also added two rear seats hanging over the back of the rear axle to comply with the ACO regulations. Brasier had a strong racing heritage in the pre-war inter-city races, winning the last two Gordon Bennett Cups in 1904 and 1905. The brand-new TB4 model had a 2062cc engine, 4-speed gearbox and Rudge wheels. In contrast, Marius Berliet had little racing experience and saw Le Mans as a good opportunity to raise his company's profile. His Lyon-based factory had made huge numbers of trucks during the war. Two of the new VH model were at Le Mans, with 2617cc engines, 4-speed gearboxes, and again, Rudge wire-wheels. Corre La Licorne had grown from the company originally founded by former professional cyclist Jean-Marie Corre. Its cars had raced with moderate success before the war. Two models arrived for the race. The popular B7 tourer with a 2-litre Ballot engine and the new V14 with smaller 1.4-litre SCAP engine. In a similar fashion, Vinot-Deguingand had started building bicycles in 1898 before moving onto voiturettes and then automobiles, raced for the Parisian company by the brothers Léon and Lucien Molon. One of the new BP models, with an 1847cc engine, was brought to Le Mans, again to be driven by the Molon brothers. Jacques Bignan was a Parisian engineer who expanded and founded his own automobile company in 1918. It was initially subcontracted by Automobiles Grégoire to build cars for British importer Malcolm Campbell. Two of their successful 11CV cars were entered, one with a special Desmodromic valve engine developed by French race-driver Albert Guyot and engineer Némorin Causan. The complex valve-system gave the 2-litre engine 75 bhp instead of 70 bhp but had a far better acceleration curve. It was driven by Paul Gros and Baron de Tornaco. Georges Irat was a decorated French pilot from the war who moved from being a foreign-car importer in Paris to setting up his own company in 1921 with Maurice Gaultier, an engine designer from Delage. Two of the latest Torpédo-bodied versions of their Type A were entered. The 1995cc engine put out about 50 bhp. Salmson had been formed in 1890 as a pump and compressor-manufacturer. After being one of the earliest makers of air engines (in 1908), it had been an important French aircraft manufacturer during the war. In 1919, it converted its Paris factories to car and cyclecar production. The works racing team, formed in 1921, had been dominant in the small-engine classes led by former fighter pilot Robert Benoist. Lucien Desvaux, Benoist and Georges Casse had just finished 1–2–3 at the single-driver 24-hour Bol d’Or cyclecar race the weekend before Le Mans. Two VAL-3 voiturettes were entered for Desvaux / Casse and the other regular team driver Luis Ramon Bueno, who drove with Maurice Benoist (Robert's brother). Bugatti was still a small company, yet to achieve its great fame. Recently relocated back to Molsheim when the Alsace was ceded to France after the war, Ettore Bugatti was still only producing small touring cars. The two T22 "Brescia Bugattis" were privately owned, fitted with the new 1495cc engine capable of 95 km/h (50 mph). However the cars were heavy and further stymied by the 180kg of required passenger-ballast to be carried for a 4-seat car. SARA was a new Parisian company, only formed a year earlier to build cars based around the pioneering new pressurised air-cooling system of August Tisserant. The new ATS 2-seater model had the only French 4-cylinder air-cooled engine, and produced 30 bhp and two cars were entered. French financier and company co-owner François Piazzoli drove a lightened version without running boards. Amilcar was another new Parisian company formed in 1921 producing small-engined cars and cyclecars. Their CC model won Europe's first 24-hour event at the 1922 Bol d’Or, beating Salmson. An entry to Le Mans was filed at the behest of privateer owners Maurice Boutmy and Jérôme Marcandanti to race the new CV model. The 1004cc engine produced just 18 bhp. But as a 2-seater it was also given the smallest target distance of just 48 laps. ==Practice==

With no official practice session, some teams (including La Lorraine, Chenard-Walcker and Bignan) arrived earlier in the week before Friday scrutineering to learn the track. For the standing start, the cars were lined up on the front straight two-by-two with engines off. Pictures show them in numerical order, although the "Autocar" review of the time says it was in the order their entries were received by the ACO. Salmson's race engineer Émile Petit was furious when he arrived at the track to find company director André Lombard had changed the cars’ electrics to a new supplier. ==Race==

Start The early summertime start of the first 24 Hours of Le Mans at 4 pm began just after a hailstorm, in cold rain and wind. The honour to drop the flag to start the race fell to Monsieur Carpé, the ACO chief timekeeper. The big Belgian Excelsiors were overtaken from the start by Robert Bloch's Lorraine-Dietrich. What was supposed to be an "endurance trial" soon became a race along the narrow country roads. It was perhaps surprising then that throughout the rain that lasted the first four hours, Convoys would form as those cars followed ones with functioning lights. The Chenard drivers were equipped with hand-operated acetylene spotlamps to help with their main lights. Later in the night, the Bentley had a very near miss avoiding Paul Gros’ Bignan that had burst a tyre approaching Mulsanne corner. Both cars braked hard and swerved onto the grass, ending up only inches apart. Finish and post-race It took two and a half hours to get the Bentley back and repaired with a cork in the hole. Similarly, the leading Bugatti apparently covered an impossible number of laps on Sunday afternoon (to complete 40 laps in the same time as the leader only managed 32), credited for laps at the expense of the delayed Pichard/Marie team car. The Georges-Irat team had requested the ACO to monitor their fuel consumption through the race, and officials came back with figures of for their best-finishing car. Delage also would not return for over a decade, choosing instead to concentrate on a new Grand Prix racing team. ==Official results==

Finishers Results taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACO Although there were no official engine classes, the highest finishers in unofficial categories aligned with the Index targets are in Bold text. • Note: confusion exists over which cars were numbered as what. Did not finish Did not start Interim Coupe Triennale Rudge-Whitworth positions • Note: Only the top ten positions are included in this set of standings. Footnotes Highest finisher in class • Note: setting a new class distance record. With no official class divisions, these are the highest finishers in unofficial categories aligned with the Index targets. Statistics Taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACO • Fastest Lap – F. Clement, No. 8 Bentley 3-litre – 9:39secs; • Longest Distance – • Greatest Average Speedon Distance – ;Citations ==References==