The 1929 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 7th Grand Prix of Endurance that took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 15 and 16 June 1929.
In the most dominant display in the race to date, Bentley achieved a comprehensive victory taking the first four places on distance. Bentley director Woolf Barnato repeated his victory of the previous year, co-driven this time by fellow Bentley Boy Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin. They had led from start to finish, setting a new distance record and lap record.
The race was relatively quiet,Clarke 1998, p.59-61: Motor Jun18 1929Laban 2001, p.58 without serious incident, aside from a fuel fire burning Stutz driver Édouard Brisson. Half of the reduced field had retired by dawn on the Sunday and the Bentley team was able to stage a formation finish for its four finishers.
Regulations The international regulations remained unchanged. However, for its part, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) decreed that 2-seater cars could now be no bigger than 1000cc (either supercharged or not) and the 3-seat dispensation for 1500cc cars was removed after two years.Spurring 2015, p.290Clarke 1998, p.68-9: Light Car Jun21 1929 This year Shell petrol was the official fuel for all cars.Clarke 1998, p.65-7: Motor Jun18 1929
Residents of southern Le Mans city were successful in petitioning the council. A new by-pass road, the Rue de Circuit, was built 600 metres ahead of the Pontlieue hairpin at the edge of the city. It reduced the track length by 922 metres from to .
The road surface experiments continued on the track. The left-hand turn approaching Arnage was partially re-surfaced with bricks and named Indianapolis, after the famous American “Brickyard”. A new spectator area was opened between the two corners. Also, many roadside trees had their trunks painted white for visibility and all the corners were signposted.
The media centre was also enlarged to include six phone booths and a telegraph table.
Entries The global recession was hitting the auto-industry hard and only 26 cars made it to the start-line. For the first time French cars were in the minority with none in line for outright distance honours. It became a three-nation entry list with cars only from France, Great Britain and the United States. In lieu of a lack of direct manufacturer support, more privateer entries arrived. Supercharged engines were very popular with ten cars having ‘blown’ engines. Dunlop Tyres now shod all the cars in the field. Of the sixteen places open in the Biennial Cup final, thirteen were taken up.
Category Entries Classes Large-sized engines 14 / 12 over 2-litre Medium-sized engines 12 / 11 1.1 to 2-litre Small-sized engines 4 / 3 up to 1.1-litre Total entrants 30 / 26 Note: The first number is the number of entries, the second the number who started.
Belying its precarious financial position, defending winners Bentley arrived with a very strong five-car entry, led by the new Speed Six sport version of its 6½-litre tourer. The engine was developed by Harry Weslake using a magnesium-alloy (elektron) crankcase to reduce weight. It put out over 190 bhp and get to 185 kp/h (115 mph). The previous year's winner, and company director, Woolf Barnato would drive it with Henry “Tim” Birkin. Another Le Mans winner, Dudley Benjafield, was slated to drive the car, but he gave his place to Birkin believing he would have a better chance of winning.Spurring 2015, p.292-3
The remaining four cars were the reliable 4½-litre tourers, the chassis strengthened after the issues from the previous year.Clausager 1982, p.39 They were assigned to more of the “Bentley Boys”: Frank Clement / Jean Chassagne, Benjafield with Baron André d’Erlanger and Glen Kidston/Jack Dunfee. The fourth car, of Earl Howe/Bernard Rubin, had only a week earlier been used in a 24-hour record-breaking attempt at Montlhéry by Mary Petre and her husband Victor Bruce. The experienced driving squad was supported by Bertie Kensington-Moir, back from Lagonda as team manager, and Walter Hassan as lead mechanic.
After the close-fought duel the previous year, Stutz returned with three cars. The new Model M Blackhawk had a 5.3-litre engine capable of 155 bhp through a four-speed gearbox. The cars were entered by their European dealerships. British agent Warwick Wright had George Eyston/Dick Watney as drivers. Automobiles Elite, of Paris, hired Guy Bouriat and Philippe de Rothschild; while Paris-based American Charles Terres Weymann had grand-prix master Louis Chiron with the experienced Édouard Brisson. Their car was fitted with an optional Roots-supercharger.Spurring 2015, p.298-9
Like Stutz, Du Pont was in the American luxury car market. The new Model G had a big 5.3-litre Continental sidevalve engine. However, this was a two-seater tourer, and refused entry by the ACO under its new maximum engine-size rule. So, the company quickly fashioned four four-seater speedster models, however only one of the two entries was ready in time for the race. It would be driven by the first Americans at Le Mans – Charles Moran Jr. (a friend of E. Paul du Pont, who had raced in Europe the previous year) and Alfredo Luis Miranda (the Mexican-born New York dealer for DuPont).Spurring 2015, p.308-9
Once again, the Grand Garage St Didier entered two of their Chrysler Six's. The ‘75’ was the 1929 model, driven by team regular Henri Stoffel, this time along with French GP racer Robert Benoist. The ‘77’ was a preview of the 1930 model and manned by Cyril de Vere and Marcel Mongin.Spurring 2015, p.300
Invicta was an English firm founded in 1919. Offering a standard design in three wheelbase lengths, the 1928 LC (“large-chassis”) version featured the current 4.5-litre Meadows engine that put out 100 bhp. Cecil Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, a major in the Royal Marines, put in a privateer entry for the race.Spurring 2015, p.312-3
Similarly, Lea-Francis was an English firm manufacturing since 1920. The S-Type had arrived in 1927, with the Meadows 1.5-litre engine used in several English sports cars. Once fitted with a supercharger (as the S-Type Hyper) it could reach 145 kp/h (90 mph) and became very popular with privateer drivers and Kaye Don won the RAC Tourist Trophy handicap. Enthused by this, gentleman racer Ken Peacock entered a car with Lea-Francis distributor Sammy Newsome as his co-pilot.Spurring 2015, p.302-3
The Lagonda works team had had a very disappointing season in 1928, with only one finish from seven entries in three races. However, a new team of Lagonda-owners (PERR) and the company's main agents, Fox & Nichol, approached the company to prepare four cars for racing. Major revisions were made to the 2-Litre Speed, including lowering the chassis, uprating the engine and fitting a tougher gearbox and suspension, all combining to give it a top speed of 160 kp/h (100 mph). One was entered for Le Mans, driven by Tim Rose-Richards and Brian Lewis, Baron Essendon.Spurring 2015, p.315 By contrast, the Alvis had been successful and returned with two of their new FA8/15 model. Still with front-wheel drive, the 1.5-litre engine now had a Roots supercharger. Drivers were 1927-winner and journalist Sammy Davis with Leon Cushman and Cyril Paul with Bill Urquhart-Dykes.Spurring 2015, p.317
SARA was the only other manufacturer apart from Bentley to have been at every Le Mans to date. Since the last race founder Auguste Tisserant had sold the license for his patented air-cooled pushrod engine to Scottish entrepreneur H.E. Plaister's new company Scotsman Motors who intended to manufacture touring cars around the 1.5 and 1.8-litre engines. In a joint-venture the companies entered a pair of four-year-old SARA SP-7s for SARA works driver Gaston Mottet along with three British drivers.Spurring 2015, p.318
The success of Tracta’s patented front-wheel drive system had attracted considerable investment from Charles Terres Weymann, which helped to allow the team to enter four cars to the race. The new regulations meant their two-seater Type A could only have a 1-litre engine, but each SCAP engine was fitted with a Cozette supercharger. Once again, owner Jean-Albert Grégoire drove one of his cars. Lucien Lemesle, the mechanic in the crowd who had volunteered to help Grégoire in the debacle that was their 1927 race, returned as a co-driver to Maurice Benoist.Spurring 2015, p.305 The fourth car was a streamliner special. The unique Cozette engine had opposed pistons at each end of the cylinders powered by the supercharger pressure, thus dispensing with a cylinder head and crankcase. Grégoire prudently assigned his head mechanic Tribaudot, who had assembled the engine, to co-drive Roger Bourcier (given the rule that only the drivers could work on the car during the race). Its distinctive engine easily made it the loudest, and smokiest, car in the race.Spurring 2015, p.306
Bollack Netter and Co (BNC) had collapsed and been bought out by entrepreneur Charles de Ricou, who would also buy the struggling Rolland Pilain and Lombard companies. Two new models came to Le Mans: the four-seater Acacias, with a supercharged 1.5-litre Meadows engine, and a pair of the BNC 527, with its small 1-litre Ruby engine. One of those was also took the entry in the Biennial Cup.Spurring 2015, p.310-1
Smallest car in the field was the D’Yrsan Grand Sport. After withdrawing its entries for the 1928 race, the company arrived this year. The low-slung car had a patented independent front suspension and ran with a supercharged 749cc Ruby engine. A normally-aspirated 1.1-litre entry was also submitted, but later withdrawn.
Practice The British teams got to the track at the start of the week, to familiarise themselves with the circuit and the new layout in unofficial practices (with the roads still for public use).Spurring 2015, p.295-7 After testing and a shake-down run for the DuPont at the Montlhéry circuit, Moran was concerned about Miranda's lack of pace and decided to drive the whole event himself.
Race Start
Once again, the race began under grey clouds and drizzling rain. First away were the DuPont and the Lagonda but Birkin, in the big Bentley Speed Six, was in the lead under the Dunlop bridge. Left at the line was the D’Yrsan with Trillaud losing seven minutes pushing the car up the road trying to get his engine fired (technically a disqualification offense). At the end of the first lap Birkin had already set a new lap record of 7m57s, from a standing start. The other Bentleys of Clement, Kidston and Benjafield were in formation behind, chased by the Stutzes of Bouriat and Eyston. Howe was next, though he soon moved up as the rain stopped to join his teammates, with Benoist and Mongin in their Chryslers and Moran's DuPont making up the top ten.Spurring 2015, p.289 Already there was a sizeable gap (over a kilometre) back to the Lagonda leading the smaller cars.
After three-quarters of an hour, Earl Howe was in the pits, his progress stymied by electrical issues. Replacing the sparkplugs and the magneto took an hour but was ultimately unsuccessful.Clarke 1998, p.62-4: Motor Jun18 1929 The DuPont retired with a bent propshaft badly affecting its handling. Unlike most other teams who now used secured lead weights, the team had loaded their ballast as sandbags. These had broken through the floor and damaged the propshaft. With their twenty lap minimum done, the other cars started making their first pit stops for driver changes and refuelling. The well-drilled Bentley drivers were in and out in 3minutes. Alarmingly, fuel spilled onto the hot exhaust of Brisson's Stutz which quickly burst into flames. Brisson was burnt and had to be taken to hospital. After extended repairs to the car, Grand Prix driver Louis Chiron resolved to carry on driving solo.