Le Mans the Bentley & Alfa Years 1923-1939

£16.95

In this volume of the Le Mans history, so evocative because the reports of this famous 24-hour race are on-the-spot, topical accounts published in the leading motor journals at the time each race was recently concluded, we come to the exciting period when, for a full 24 hours, racing was at the pitch of that in other formulae, speeds those of pure racing cars, more or less, reaching some 200mph down the long Mulsanne straight. The course had changed somewhat, spectator interest and attendances had increased considerably, but in essence the race was the same, except that faster prototype cars had joined the former, and understandably more staid, production-type sports cars. This engenious marathon of a contest, intended to improve and publicise such cars, is quite unique, an institution as much approved of and spectated at by British motor-racing enthusiasts as by the French, in whose heartland it has taken place since 1923. With the Bentley victories of 1924 by John Duff and Frank Clement and from 1927 to 1930, with the great green cars coming home 1, 2, 3, 4 in the seventh race of the series, the interest Le Mans aroused here could be easily understood. Of course, this was not quite the first motor race of such an ambitious duration and it was copied, notably at Spa, where another 24-hour event for sports-type cars was started by 1924, although designated for touring cars until the sports-car title was adopted in 1949; the first of these Spa 24-hour races had been won by a Bignan, at 48.7 mph, compared to the winning Bentleys average speed at Le Mans that year of 53.78 mph. In this volume the later Le Mans engagements are fully described and illustrated. By this time the atmosphere and excitement was much enhanced by the speed of the racing, especially as this was pretty well mainFrametained all through the intense hours of darkness. So, some remarkable racing. The following of it by British enthusiasts had been maintained when a Lagonda won in 1935 and, after the break during the years of World War Two, by the Jaguar victory of Peters Walker and Whitehead in 1951, when they beat a French Talbot covering 2,243.8 miles at an average pace of 93.49 mph, followed home by other British-built cars. I remember how touched I was, having gone to the race with Denis Jenkinson in his Porsche, to be greeted at our hotel when we returned after the race by the French proprietor who met us with congratulations, having heard on his wireless that a Jaguar had won. This was a prelude to the inspiring later races. America became interested when Ford made its serious bid for outright success with the GT40s. This ever-appealing race survived the worst accident in motor racing history in 1955 when Mercedes-Benz would no doubt have pulled it off, had they not withdrawn their cars out of respect for the dead and injured spectators, allowing the Hawthorn/Bueb Jaguar first place, ahead of an Aston Martin and another Jaguar; with resumption the year following, and another Jaguar/Aston Martin finish. That is the lead-in to the significant duels and drama which bring the race up to date. The Porsche years, still prominent now, the long-drawn-out effort of Sir David Brown to achieve ultimate success for Aston Martin, the advent of the victorious, as ever, Mercedes-Benz from Germany, the welcome success of the Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar team, the countless Ferrari victories, Mazda intervention and more recently BMW and McLaren triumphs. This book covers the colourful vintage years of Le Mans with 43 articles & 17 race summaries by Anders Clausager, when Bentley and Alfa cars dominated the scene. 180 pages, over 300 illus. SB. SKU: LEMR23 ISBN: 9781855204652