The 1933 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 11th Grand Prix of Endurance. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 17 and 18 June 1933. Up against five strong privateer entries from Alfa Romeo, the opposition looked fairly weak, mostly being of 1920s vintage. There was a strong British contingent in the smaller classes. The big drawcard was the presence of top European drivers Louis Chiron and Tazio Nuvolari. The current European champion was paired with one of the previous year's winners, Raymond Sommer.
From the start, the Italian cars set a strong pace. Sommer broke the track-record several times building a two-minute lead over the Alfas of Chiron, Lewis, Chinetti and Moll. He had lapped the rest of the field by the end of the second hour. Chiron was delayed by an intransigent starter unit, but his co-driver Franco Cortese drove hard to bring the car back up to second going into the night. Most of the other large-engine contenders had fallen away, allowing Odette Siko in a 1.8-litre supercharged Alfa Romeo to move up to fifth. The British teams of Aston Martin, Riley and MG filled out the back end of the top-10.
A processional first half of the race was turned on its head come the dawn on Sunday when Nuvolari brought the leading Alfa in with fender damage and a leaking fuel-tank. The two-lap lead they had built up was lost in the quarter-hour needed for repairs. The Chiron and Chinetti cars then swapped the lead for the next two hours in close, exciting racing. At 7am, a short rain-shower caused Odette Siko to have a serious accident on the fast approach to Indianapolis corner. The impact with trees caused the car to be destroyed, but the driver only sustained light injuries.
After avoiding driving during the night, Nuvolari was back in front by 9am. Soon after, Cortese crashed when a front wheel bearing collapsed. With the closest opposition gone, what could have been a simple run to the finish was anything but. When Sommer pitted the car at midday, their lead was again wiped with repairs to the radiator, brakes and worsening fuel-leak. Mechanics used chewing-gum to plug the crack. Nuvolari would then overtake the smooth-running Chinetti/Gunzberg car only to have to stop to check the fuel-tank and lose the lead again. By the time of the final stops, with an hour to go, the two cars were less than a minute apart. Going onto the last lap, the superior speed of Nuvolari's car allowed him to pass on the back straight, only to lose it again under braking at the Mulsanne corner. Then Chinetti missed a gear at Arnage and Nuvolari was through again. When Chinetti was baulked by slow traffic coming out of White House it gave Nuvolari the clear run to the flag, to win by just 400 meters. The margin of victory for this race was estimated at a 9.5 seconds difference, and remains one of the narrowest racing finishes at Le Mans – excluding the formation finishes of later years.
Third, eight laps back, was the British-entered Alfa Romeo of Lewis/Rose-Richards. The small 1.1-litre Riley of Peacock/van der Becke finished in fourth place. Their performance gave them a solid margin for winning the lucrative Index of Performance prize.
Regulations and Organisation After the major circuit changes in the previous year, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) continued with further improvements to the track. A yellow centre-line was painted down the Hunaudières Straight and reflective markers, forerunners of cat's eye reflectors, were put on the approach to all the corners to assist during night driving.Spurring 2017, p.120
A further addition to the facilities was from the city of Le Mans. A small chapel was built to allow spectators to attend mass on the Sunday morning.Clausager 1982, p.56
In line with the ACO's policy to alternate fuel supplier, this year the contract was with Shell, who offered four fuel choices: its regular fuel, a premium grade, 100% benzole and a 70/30 blend of the premium with benzole. The ACO also revised the equivalence factor for supercharged engines up to x1.4 from the x1.33 set the previous year. Finally, they also updated some of the class distance-targets, particularly for the smaller engines.
Engine size 1932Minimum distance 1933Minimum distance Average speed Equivalent laps 4000cc+ 192.7 laps 4000cc 185.3 laps 3000cc 172.3 laps 1500cc 148.2 laps 1000cc 135.3 laps 750cc 117.1 laps Spurring 2017, p.360
Entries The gradual economic recovery was signalled with a good initial list of 41 entries. However, a record thirteen entries were withdrawn before race-week.Clausager 1982, p.59-60 The ongoing struggles for the automotive industry were reflected by the fact that there were only four works teams present – a single French Tracta, as well three British Aston Martins, a Riley and a new Singer – none of which were of a pace to challenge for outright victory. This represented a vantage for the squadron of privateer Alfa Romeos.
From the finishers in the 1932 race there were eight cars eligible for the Biennial Cup. Three Italian Alfa Romeos squared up against two Aston Martins and a Riley from Great Britain, and a Lorraine-Dietrich and Amilcar from France.Spurring 2017, p.118-9
Category Entries Classes Large-sized engines 14 / 9 over 3-litre Medium-sized engines 14 / 9 1.1 to 3-litre Small-sized engines 13 / 11 up to 1.1-litre Total entrants 40 / 29 Note: The first number is the number of entries, the second the number who started.
At the end of 1932, the new government-appointed CEO of Alfa Romeo, Ugo Gobbato, had withdrawn the works team from racing.Spurring 2017, p.122-3 The privateers ensured a strong presence, and the marque was the best represented in the entry list, with 9 cars. The winners of the previous year, Raymond Sommer and Luigi Chinetti, were the organisers for Alfa racing in France. This year they were in separate cars: Sommer ran the Mille Miglia 4-seater version, again fitted with an oversized fuel tank that would allow 27 laps between refills. He scored a coup getting the current European Champion, Tazio Nuvolari, as his co-driver. Released from Scuderia Ferrari for the event, he had won the Mille Miglia earlier in the year and also came with support from Pirelli tyres. Chinetti, meanwhile, was hired by wealthy Russian émigré Philippe de Gunzberg to prepare and co-drive his corto 8C. A keen amateur racer, de Gunzberg raced under the pseudonym of "Philippe Varent". Chinetti was offered a bonus 60000 francs if they won the race. Louis Chiron was also back, with an 8C-2300 Le Mans, with a 4-seater lungo (long) touring body. This year he had formed a new racing team with Rudolf Caracciola. But the German ace had broken his leg at Monaco early in the season and for Le Mans Chiron was joined by former works driver Franco Cortese who had finished second at the Mille Miglia.
There were three British Alfa entries, though only one arrived (Earl Howe, had cut his eye the week before at the French Grand Prix). With Talbot also withdrawing from motorsport, this year Arthur Fox entered an 8C tourer for his regular drivers Brian Lewis, Baron Essendon and Tim Rose-Richards.Spurring 2017, p.124-5 The other 8C was entered by wealthy Parisian banker, Pierre Louis-Dreyfus. He had crashed this car in last year's race, but it had been repaired and recently been sold to the up-and-coming star, French-Algerian Guy Moll. He was joined by his compatriot, former Amilcar driver Guy Cloitre, as his co-driver.
Two, smaller, 6-cylinder Alfa Romeos were also entered, running in the 3-litre class. Miss Odette Siko made headlines the previous year finishing fourth, and she returned with Louis Charavel as her co-driver. They again ran their 1768cc supercharged SS model, while in a slightly smaller 1742cc GS saloon version was fellow Frenchman André Rousseau.Spurring 2017, p.131-2
Alfa Romeo's competition for outright honours was expected to come from Bugatti. Six cars were entered but only two arrived for scrutineering. Guy Bouriat entered one of the former works Type 50 with its big 5-litre supercharged straight-8 engine. He was killed a month before Le Mans in the Picardy Grand Prix. So, his regular co-driver, Pierre Bussienne, was joined by another former E.H.P. works driver, Marie Desprez.Spurring 2017, p.133 The other was the first sports-car race for the new, unsupercharged 1.5-litre Type 51A. It was entered by the Polish émigré Count Stanisław Czaykowski, a regular Grand Prix racer in Bugattis and he teamed up with Jean Gaupillat, another privateer Bugatti driver.
The biggest car in the race was an unexpected entry – the Duesenberg Model J was one of the most exclusive cars in the world. In 1932 the supercharged Model SJ was unveiled. The mighty 6.9-litre straight-8 twin-cam engine was based on the very successful racing engine, and with supercharging it put out 320bhp with a top speed of 215kp/h (135mph). Only 36 were built, including one sold to Prince Nicholas von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen who was an exiled member of the Romanian royal family. He got the Parisian luxury-car dealer Joseph Cattaneo as a co-driver and to prepare the car. This included more suitable bodywork for racing. Cattaneo had twice previously been entered as the co-driver in Édouard Brisson's Stutz but each time the car was retired before he got to drive.Spurring 2017, p.140-1
The other two large cars in the field were returning veterans of the 1920s. Racing journalist Roger Labric came back with the Lorraine-Dietrich he had entered two years earlier, this time driving it himself, using the Biennial Cup entry he had earned finishing in a small Caban. Meanwhile, rally specialist Jean Trévoux repaired his supercharged "Blower" Bentley that he had crashed early in the 1932 race. He was partnered by fellow French rally-driver Louis Gas.
Frenchman Jean Danne returned with his Rally NCP, but this time replaced the 1.4-litre Salmson normally-aspirated engine with a supercharged 1.3-litre version.Spurring 2017, p.126-7 The equivalence factor put him in the 2-litre class whose sole other entry was the SARA SP7 Spéciale. That privateer effort took the 1927 SP7 model and gave it modified bodywork and a slightly bigger 1.8-litre engine. The team also got former SARA-team regulars Gaston Mottet and André Marandet as their drivers.Spurring 2017, p.135
The supercharging equivalence and a 1.0-litre lower limit meant the 1.5-litre class was a crowded affair. Aston Martin had been bought out by shipping millionaire Sir Arthur Sutherland, giving it financial security. The works team arrived with three cars including a pair of the two-door 'Le Mans' variant to contest the Biennial Cup. Technical Director and designer "Bert" Bertelli ran with former Le Mans winner and "Autocar" journalist Sammy Davis, while the other car had team regulars Pat Driscoll and Clifton Penn-Hughes. The 4-seater International that had won its class, finishing fifth the previous year, had been sold to "Mort" Morris-Goodall, who ran it as a works car with Elsie "Bill" Wisdom.Spurring 2017, p.128-9
The English manufacturer Riley made its first appearance at le Mans this year. It had already achieved considerable success in the British endurance handicap races with the Riley Nine "Brooklands" roadster. The advanced 1.1-litre twin-cam engine put out 50 bhp. Three cars were prepared for Le Mans though only two arrived. The first was a works entry driven by Ken Peacock and "Bill" van der Becke, while Le Mans regular Jean Sébilleau had a French privateer entry.