The 1939 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 16th Grand Prix of Endurance. It took place at Circuit de la Sarthe on 17 and 18 June 1939. The race was won by a supercharged Bugatti Type 57, driver by works drivers Jean-Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron, setting a new distance record.
The race proved to be an even contest between the major French marques of Delahaye, Talbot, Bugatti and the smaller-engined Delage. Soon after the start, Louis Gérard got to the front in his Delage and held off all the others for 20 hours. In the evening and into the night, it was Robert Mazaud in his Delahaye and 2-time winner Luigi Chinetti in a Talbot that provided an exciting 3-way tussle for the lead, that ended when Mazaud's engine caught fire around 2am, and Mathieson had a tyre blow out that planted the Chinetti Talbot into the Tertre Rouge sandbank at breakfast time. The Bugatti had been maintaining a watching brief on these cars in fourth and gradually picked up its speed. When the Delage pitted with a misfiring engine with just over 3 hours to go, Wimille was able to make up the 2-lap deficit, sweep past into the lead, and then ease back to take the victory ahead of Gérard in the ailing Delage. Two brand new Lagonda V12s took third and fourth after a reliable run in their first race.
In a event run in good weather throughout, Mazaud had set a new lap rerecord, and four of the six class-winners set new distance records. The BMW works team had dominated their 2-litre class, running amongst the bigger 3-litre cars. Once again Amédée Gordini and José Scaron had shown great pace in their 1100cc SIMCA, and this time reliability got them to a clear class victory, finishing 10th overall, as well as convincingly winning the Index of Performance and Biennial Cup prizes.
Regulations and Organisation The German manufacturers had adapted very quickly to the new regulations of the AIACR and continued their dominance in Grand Prix racing. In response, the French association (ACF) promoted and enlarged their national championship running to its broader formula. Now comprising 11 races, there were 5 for sports cars (including Le Mans), 2 Grand Prix to AIACR rules, 3 voiturette races and a hill-climb event.Spurring 2017, p.316 The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) made no notable changes to its own regulations aside from its regular adjustment of the respective Index targets (as per the table below). For the first time, the ACO approached sponsors to offer prizemoney and a total of FF100,000 (equivalent to about £11.000) was provided in conjunction with three major sponsors. The newspaper Le Matin would pay FF1000 to the overall leader on each hour plus FF10000 to the winner of each class at the end of the race; MGF Insurance would award FF10000 to the winner of the Coupe Biennale. Finally, the Conférence des Assureurs offered prizes to the top six qualifiers in the Index competition including FF25000 to the winner.Williams 2023, p.95Clausager 1982, p.72Laban 2001, p.91 This year Esso was the fuel supplier with the equivalent four options available: its standard petrol, "Super-Esso" premium, 100% benzole and its ternary blend of the regular with benzole and ethanol. A new spectator bank was built along the first curve in anticipation of greater crowds. The final notable innovation was the first use of an electronic timing system. Provided by the ACF, it was a great improvement on manual stopwatch timing, especially at nighttime and in poor visibility.Bernard et al 2023, p.107
Engine size 1938Minimum distance 1939Minimum distanceSpurring 2017, p.360 Average speed Equivalent laps 6000cc+ 209.2 laps 5000cc 204.4 laps 4000cc 200.4 laps 3000cc 193.9 laps 2000cc 182.3 laps 1500cc 172.0 laps 1100cc 158.8 laps 750cc 140.2 laps
Entries With the ACF Championship recharging French motor-racing, there was a strong field present for the 4.5-litre regulations. with entries from teams with Delahaye, Talbot and Delage cars. The outlier was a single works-supported Bugatti, with a supercharged engine outside the French regulations. They would be up against a new Alfa Romeo and a return from the British Lagonda team. In the other classes, the Adler team was joined by their fellow German BMW works team. Amédée Gordini presented the biggest block with his modified Simca-Fiats for a strong attempt at the Index of Performance prize.Clausager 1982, pp.68-9
Thirteen entrants from the 15 finishers of the 1938 race arrived for the Coupe Bienniale. Category Entries Classes Large-sized engines 19 / 17 over 3-litre Medium-sized engines 16 / 13 1.5 to 3-litre Small-sized engines 12 / 12 up to 1.1-litre Total entrants 47 / 42 Note: The first number is the total entries, the second the number who started. Using the equivalent engine-size, with supercharged engines having the x1.65 conversion factor
Over 2-litre entries The semi-works Écurie Bleue of Laury and Lucy Schell had been broken up after their frustration and disappointment at being passed over for government funding for their Delahaye car-development.Spurring 2017, p.300 Venables 2009, p.90 However, the success of the reliable Delahaye 135 in the 1938 race saw eight privateers bring their cars to this year's race (although only one was in the Coupe Biennale). Leading them was Robert Mazaud with his car, lightened and modified after a major crash at Spa the year before. Lowered and fitted with aerodynamic cycle wings, he was also running it in Grand Prix races. His co-driver once again was Marcel Mongin.Spurring 2017, p.332 Three other drivers pooled resources and formed a new team, the Écurie Francia: Le Mans winner Eugène Chaboud had his trusty 3-year-old chassis, while Joseph Paul and Marcel Contet bought cars from the Écurie Bleue. Also lightened and lowered, they had been getting reasonable success in French rallying and racing.Spurring 2017, p.333 As they were running as a new team, last year's winner Chaboud was not eligible for the Coupe. Louis Villeneuve, who had finished 4th in 1938, carried the only Coupe entry for Delahaye, running his standard 135 CS. A young Rob Walker, a member of the Johnnie Walker whiskey family, had bought his ex-Bira Delahaye almost on a whim, for £400 from the London showroom in Park Lane. The agent, Count Doric Heyden, lodged his entry to Le Mans.Spurring 2017, pp.334-5Williams 2023, p.99 In contrast, Joseph Chotard was the owner of a well-known Parisian brothel, and had bought the Écurie Bleue car that had finished third in 1937. Crashed in practice at the Paris 12-hours race, it had been repaired in time for Le Mans.Spurring 2017, p.337 The final Delahaye was that of André Bellecroix, with Gaston Serraud as his co-driver, who had finished second the year before.
The other big entry came from Talbot. The new single-seater MC90 and two-seat MD90 for the AIACR regulations were proving not as competitive as promised against the might of the German machines, and the new engines (a V16 4.5-litre and a supercharged 3.0-litre) were still in development. Venables 2009, p.91 Luigi Chinetti was running a nominal works team, with strong factory support, and brought four cars to the race. So, the current 3-litre straight-6 was further developed to now put out 230 bhp and the T150 Course sports cars were fitted with those engines for Le Mans. Chinetti had lined up regular drivers Philippe Étancelin, René Le Bègue and René Carrière in his squad. However, in May, Carrière crashed his MD90 heavily at the Eifelrennen breaking his leg and ending his career; and with Étancelin unavailable in June, Chinetti found himself short of drivers for his four entries. He, himself, took the lead car, with Brit T.A.S.O. Mathieson, who had run a privateer Talbot the year before. Le Bègue would race with Pierre Bouillin, who had bought his Talbot off Le Bègue two years previously. André Morel, who had finished 3rd the previous year, led the other car.Spurring 2017, pp.337-8 Chinetti once again also supported the entry of two 4-litre Super Sports coupés, styled by the Parisian coachbuilding company Figoni et Falaschi. He fitted one with a new works 4.5-litre engine, but when the licence of British amateur C.F. Shrubsall was questioned by the ACO during practice due to his erratic driving,Williams 2023, p.97 the car was taken over by Parisian banker Pierre Louis-Dreyfus (who had finished second in 1936, racing under his pseudonym "Heldé") and his good friend, Antoine Schumann. The pair had raced together in the 1931 and ’32 races.Spurring 2017, p.340Clarke 1998, p.175: Motor Sport July 1939 The other was a brand-new chassis prepared specially for the race for Duke Philippe de Massa and entered by Mathieson. Aside from the works team, there were also two other private entrants. Raoul Forestier had bought the ex-“Raph” car that had burst into flames at the 1938 race. Le Mans winner Jean Trémoulet had his entry to the Biennale and entered the car as Forester's co-driver. Earlier in the year at Pau, Trémoulet had raced the overly-complex French SEFAC in its second, and final, GP start.
Raymond Sommer entered another sleek works-prepared Alfa Romeo coupé. Pulling back from a Grand Prix program, the focus of the company was instead put into sports car racing, and this was a racing version of the new 6C-2500 Super Sport road car, styled by Carrozzeria Touring in Milan. The 2.5-litre Tipo 256 engine was designed by Vittorio Jano and was a DOHC straight-six. In race-trim it was tuned up to 120 bhp and seven short-wheelbase Corsa chassis were built.Spurring 2017, pp.345-6 Italian leader Benito Mussolini had banned all Italian drivers from competing overseas, (in response to League of Nations sanctions), so Sommer was without a works co-driver this year.Williams 2023, p.96 He approached the young English-educated, Siamese royal Birabongse Bhanudej, who raced under the name of "Prince Bira". Already a regular Grand Prix racer, he had come to Le Mans as a spectator in 1935 with his royal cousin. Being a track on public roads, he had discretely joined the night practice by driving his open-top Bently onto the circuit at the Tertre Rouge corner and completed several high-speed laps before, just as quietly, pulling off the circuit before being noticed by the officials.
Bugatti returned to Le Mans after the works team entered no major sports-car races in 1938. A one-off special was prepared by Jean Bugatti and entered by the team's lead-driver Jean-Pierre Wimille. The ACO regulations allowed for supercharged engines, albeit with a sizeable x1.65 equivalence penalty.Spurring 2017, pp.318-20 The one-off Type 57C was based on the chassis of the luxury tourer, fitted with a 3250cc straight-4 engine. With a supercharger, and fine-tuned by the factory, it put out around 200 bhp. A streamlined magnesium-alley bodyshell had a minimal windscreen for the driver and an angled spotlight recessed on the right-hand side to better illuminate the apex of the corners. Wimille had Bugatti voiturette works-driver Pierre Veyron as his co-driver, who had not raced for two years.