The international attention that had come with Bentley's win the previous year drew a much bigger list of entries. Of the 68 submitted, 55 arrived for scrutineering. But this included 15 cars from outside France. Sunbeam, AC and Austin joined Bentley from Great Britain, and there were teams from Italy (Diatto and OM) and the USA (Chrysler). There were also six different tyre companies represented at the race. •
Note: The first number is the number of arrivals, the second the number who started. After their distance victory the previous year,
Bentley returned with a full works car to support
John Duff’s privateer entry and carrying the “favourites” tag. Duff had the same car as last year. The works car had an uprated 3.3-litre engine and was driven by Bentley salesman Bertie Kensington-Moir and
Dudley Benjafield, a Harley St doctor and Bentley racer at
Brooklands. The smaller cars were inspired by the streamlined
Bugatti Type 32 ‘tank’. Designer Henri Toutée's advanced Z1 was a racing version of the upcoming Y8 tourer. It had a new 1.1-litre engine produced 50 bhp and had new steering and 4-wheel braking, making it very quick. They were assigned to Sénéchal/Loqueheux and Glaszmann/de Zúñiga. After coming very close to victory the previous year, La
Lorraine-Dietrich arrived with three of their B3-6 cars. The cars had been lightened, and the troublesome steel “artillery” wheels were replaced by Rudge-Whitworth wire ones. All three cars were now on
Englebert tyres. Last year's driver pairings were shuffled a bit:
Gérard de Courcelles and
André Rossignol stayed together, but Brisson was with Stalter and
Robert Bloch with the new Léon Saint-Paul.
Sunbeam were now ready for Le Mans and arrived with two cars. Founded in 1899, the company came to pre-war prominence with French designer
Louis Coatalen. Making aero-engines for
Bristol during the war, they had been forced to merge with
Talbot-Darracq in 1920, becoming STD. Already with a strong racing pedigree, with Land Speed Records for
Kenelm Lee Guinness and
Malcolm Campbell, they became the only British carmaker to win a Grand Prix in the first half of the twentieth century when
Sir Henry Segrave won the
1923 French Grand Prix. Coatalen developed the two cars for Le Mans from the current production 24/60 model. The 2.9-litre engine put out 90 bhp with a 4-speed gearbox. With 4-wheel braking, they also ran with Rapson tyres like the Bentleys. Segrave was perhaps the most well-known British racing driver, and was paired with
George Duller, while the second car had works drivers
Jean Chassagne and
Autocar journalist
Sammy Davis. Originally a British company, Talbot had been bought out by the British-owned, Paris-based Darracq company 1919, which then merged with Sunbeam the next year. Its production was relocated to Paris and it was two of the 1.5-litre Type C, first made in 1923, that were sent to Le Mans.
Ariès brought a newmodel to Le Mans this year. The Type S GP2 was lowered, with a shorter wheelbase and an improved 3-litre engine. This year company-owner
Baron Charles Petiet was able to procure the services of the great
Louis Wagner who had raced Darracq, FIAT and Mercedes before the war, and recently with the
Alfa Romeo works team.
Ariès also bought a pair of its smaller CC2 1100cc cars to compete for the 1924-5 Biennial Cup. The biggest car in the field was a
Sizaire-Berwick, in the Anglo-French company's only Le Mans appearance. Designed by Maurice Sizaire in Paris, the cars had originally been made in London. Financial struggles saw that factory bought by
Herbert Austin who put his own engines in the cars. The model at Le Mans had been built in France, its 4.5-litre engine putting out 65 bhp. Although big, it was also heavy and its performance lagged behind the new racing tourers. This year cars came from Italy for the first time, with two Italian teams.
Diatto was an old industrial firm and had built railway-stock in the 19th century, including carriages for the famous
Orient Express. It branched into cars in 1905 and had a solid pre-war racing pedigree. The works team was now run by
Alfieri and
Ernesto Maserati and four cars came to Le Mans. The Tipo 35 had a 3-litre engine putting out 75 bhp and capable of 135 kp/h (85 mph), while the pair of Tipo 30s had 55 bhp 2-litre engine.
Officine Meccaniche (OM) was a Milanese company that likewise building was founded, in 1899, building railway wagons. Car production started in 1918. The 665 “Superba” had come out five years later. It had a 2-litre engine, 4-speed gearbox and 4-wheel brakes. The model S was a short-wheelbase, racing version with
Pirelli tyres and an improved engine that put out 60 bhp capable of over 120 kp/h (75 mph); and it had performed well at the national level. Three cars came to Le Mans with Italian drivers including Grand Prix drivers
“Nando” Minoia and
Giulio Foresti. It was also the first race for an American team. The first Chrysler-badged car had only been unveiled in 1924. The
Chrysler Six Model B-70 had a 3.3-litre straight-6 engine that produced 70 bhp capable of over 110 kp/h (70 mph). Dwarfed by the production of
Ford and
General Motors in the US, Chrysler set out to outset its rivals in Europe. The French agent was Gustave Baehr's Grand Garage Saint-Didier in Paris, and it was they who entered two cars into the race. In the end there was only time to prepare one – for former Lorraine-Dietrich driver Henri Stoffel and Lucien Desvaux, ex-
Salmson. The other new British team to enter was
AC Cars. Originally making a 3-wheel delivery vehicle called an Auto Carrier, it was the post-war investment by famous British racer
Selwyn Edge, that got the new AC Six into production. The entry was raced by John Joyce and Victor Bruce (engaged to famous female racer
Mary Petre). Louis Reval had been in the automotive industry since the turn of the century. His company, Automobiles Reval, was only three years old. The latest iteration of his Type A had a 2.5-litre engine with a short-wheelbase Sports chassis and could reach 120 kp/h (75 mph). Automobiles Gendron (also known as GM) was originally an auto-parts manufacturer, but started making cars in 1922. Two of the long-wheelbase GC-2 1.5-litre tourers were entered. Company founder Marcel Gendron himself drove one car, with accomplished aircraft test-pilot Lucien Bossoutrot. Similarly, Henri Précloux was new to car-manufacturing, having opened
E.H.P. in 1921, making small-engined cars and cyclecars that were competitive racers. The D4 model was new for 1925, and the DT was a higher-specification variant with a 1.5-litre
CIME engine and 4-speed gearbox.
Rolland-Pilain had released two new models this year: the B25 road-car and a “Super Sport” version of the B23, and it was three of the latter that were at Le Mans. It had a longer wheelbase, “boat-tail” rear end and a more powerful 2-litre engine. The cars of Delalande/Chalamel and de Marguenet/Sire were entered in the Triennial Cup and with two cars, the team had a good chance in the Triennial field of seven.
Bignan were struggling financially and only sent a pair of their 2-litre cars, to contest both of the ongoing Cups. The distinctive cars now sported on a single large headlight in the top of the radiator grill. Regular team drivers Jean Martin and Jean Matthys had one car, while Henri Springuel drove with Pierre Clause SARA again had three entries, and this year bought along a pair of its new Type BDE. Still with the 32 bhp 1100cc engine, they could now get up to 100 kp/h (60 mph).
Amilcar arrived with a works-entry
CGS this year, to compete for the Triennial Cup. Team drivers were André Morel and Marius Mestivier. However, this year they were not the smallest car in the field.
Eric Gordon England, former Bristol test pilot, entered a 748cc Austin Seven. Built with his own patented ash and plywood bodywork design weighing only 9kg. He co-drove with Francis Samuelson. ==Practice==