1932 24 Hours of Le Mans

Page Created 15/07/2020

24 Hours of Le Mans: 1932

Last Edit: 12/06/2024

The 1932 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 10th Grand Prix of Endurance that took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 18 and 19 June 1932. A significant year for the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) with the biggest changes to the circuit in the race's history. A new section bypassing Pontlieue suburb was built starting with a long right turn after the pits, going over a hill then down to the Esses, a left-right combination, before rejoining the Hunaudières straight at the new right-hand corner of Tertre Rouge. This shortened the track by almost 3 km down to 13.491 km (8.383 mi). The new track set the basis for the iconic layout and has remained essentially the same ever since aside from periodic deviations added to improve safety and surfacing. New viewing and camping areas on the ACO land increased the official capacity to around 60000 spectators. which also saw the start of an extensive new public entertainment “village”. There were also two footbridges built over the new section to allow pedestrian access to the infield (originally sponsored by Champion Sparkplugs)

In a watershed year for the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) there were a number of major changes happening all at once. It saw the end, after nine years, of the partnership with founding-sponsor Rudge-Whitworth, as money problems drastically affected the British wheel-parts company. The Cup was thus renamed the Biennial Cup of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest

Recognising the current trend to put bigger engines in popular runabout models, the 2-seater eligibility was extended from 1.0 up to include 1.5-litre cars as well. The ACO also removed the longstanding requirement for each car to carry ballast representing passengers was finally rescinded, greatly reducing the cars weight (180 kg for cars over 3-litres for example) and improving handling performance. The equivalence formula for supercharged engine capacity was adjusted slightly from 130% to 133%.

Given the tribulations that many teams had the previous year with tyre wear, to encourage tyre development, the ACO mandated that each car could only use seven new tyres in the race, including the four it started on The committee also awarded the fuel-supply contract to Société l’Économique, French agent for Esso/Standard Motor Oil. This was with a view to alternating the contract each year between them and Shell.

Where we have not had a model of the car as raced through the business I've added another example of the car as an illustration (where I have one)

Pos	Car	No.	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
1		8	R. Sommer (private entrant)	Raymond Sommer Luigi Chinetti	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 MM	Alfa Romeo 2.34L S8 supercharged	218
2	(example)	11	S.A. Alfa Romeo	Franco Cortese Giovanni Battista Guidotti	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 LM	Alfa Romeo 2.34L S8 supercharged	216
3	Still Looking	6	Arthur W. Fox	Brian Lewis, Baron Essendon Tim Rose-Richards	Talbot AV105	Talbot 3.0L S6	180
4	(example)	18	O. Siko (private entrant)	Odette Siko "Sabipa" (Louis Charavel)	Alfa Romeo 6C-1750 SS	Alfa Romeo 1746cc S8 supercharged	179
5	(example)	20	Aston Martin Ltd	Sammy Newsome Henken Widengren	Aston Martin 1½ Le Mans	Aston Martin 1495cc S4	174
6	Still Looking	23	J. Sébilleau (private entrant)	Jean Sébilleau Georges Delaroche	Bugatti Type 37	Bugatti 1496cc S4	172
7	(example)	21	Aston Martin Ltd.	Augustus "Bert" Bertelli Pat Driscoll	Aston Martin 1½ Le Mans	Aston Martin 1495cc S4	168
8	Still Looking	29	Équipe de l'Ours	Clément-Auguste Martin Auguste Bodoignet	Amilcar CO Spéciale Martin	Amilcar 1092cc S6	151
9	Still Looking	26	Roger Labric	Roger Labric Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Caban Spéciale	Ruby 1098cc S4	146
DNF	Still Looking	16	S. Czaykowski (private entrant)	Count Stanisław Czaykowski Ernest Friderich	Bugatti Type 40/55	Bugatti 2.26L S8 supercharged		180
DNF	Still Looking	28	J.-É. Vernet (private entrant)	Just-Émile Vernet Fernand Vallon	Salmson GS Spéciale	Salmson 1092cc S4		111
DNF		9	Earl Howe (private entrant)	Francis Curzon, Earl Howe Sir Henry Birkin	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 LM	Alfa Romeo 2.34L S8 supercharged		110
DNF	Still Looking	24	C. Druck (private entrant)	Charles Druck Lucien Virlouvet	Bugatti Type 40	Bugatti 1496cc S4 supercharged		98
DNF	(example)	32	F. Samuelson (private entrant)	Sir Francis Samuelson Norman Black	MG C-type Midget	MG 746cc S4		57
DNF	(example)	22	Aston Martin Ltd.	Kenneth Peacock Jack Bezzant	Aston Martin 1½ Le Mans	Aston Martin 1495cc S4		53
DNF	(example)	12	P.-L. Dreyfus (private entrant)	Pierre-Louis Dreyfus Antoine Schumann	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 LM	Alfa Romeo 2.34L S8 supercharged		25
DNF	Still Looking	15	G. Bouriat (private entrant)	Guy Bouriat Louis Chiron	Bugatti Type 40/55	Bugatti 2.26L S8 supercharged		23
DNF	(example)	10	S.A. Alfa Romeo	Ferdinando Minoia Carlo Canavesi	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 LM	Alfa Romeo 2.34L S8 supercharged		22
DNF	(example)	1	H. Stoffel (private entrant)	Marcel Foucret Paul Foucret	Mercedes-Benz SSK	Mercedes-Benz 7.1L S6 supercharged		22
DNF	(example)	3	É. Brisson (private entrant)	Édouard Brisson Joseph Cattaneo	Stutz Model M Blackhawk	Stutz 5.3L S8		19
DNF	(example)	14	Prince Dimitri Djordjadze (private entrant)	Attilio Marinoni Angelo Guatta	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 MM	Alfa Romeo 2.34L S8 supercharged		14
DNF	Still Looking	27	Roger Labric	Gustave Duverne Georges Boréal	BNC Type 527 Sport	Ruby 1093cc S4		9
DNF	Still Looking	30	J.L. Ford (private entrant)	John Ludovic Ford Maurice Baumer	Alta Sports	Alta 1074cc S4		6
DNF	Still Looking	25	J. Danne (private entrant)	Jean Danne Jacques Gergaud	Rally NCP	Salmson 1362cc S4		6
DNF	(example)	19	H. de la Sayette (private entrant)	Henri de la Sayette Charles Wolf	Citroën Type C4 Spéciale	Citroën 1539cc S4		3
DNF	(example)	5	J. Trévoux (private entrant)	Jean Trévoux "Mary" (Jean-Marie Brussin)	Bentley 4½ "Blower"	Bentley 4.4L S6 supercharged		1

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