Race report – 1923 Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France

A Grand Spectacle at Tours: The Fiats Reign Supreme in a Test of Mettle and Machine!

Hark, ye followers of the fastest sport! From the heart of France, at the formidable Circuit of Tours, we bring tidings of the second thrilling contest in the nascent Golden Era Championship! Twenty one valiant automobiles, and their equally valiant drivers, embarked upon a gruelling 17-lap journey, stretching nigh on two and a half hours, a true test of endurance and nerve.

The Tours circuit, a veritable giant triangle with its very long straights interspersed with twisty sections through the towns, presented a unique challenge. It was, by all accounts, a track that would definitely favor cars of a higher top speed nature, allowing machines to fully stretch their legs. However, lurking beneath the seemingly straightforward layout were perils aplenty. Concerns were raised pre-race regarding overheating engine wear and gearbox wear, factors that would prove critical as the contest wore on.

The morning commenced with a chilly morning and light mist, but as the practice session drew to a close, a bit of rain began to fall, with a forecast promising potentially thunderstorms, adding a dynamic and unpredictable element to the proceedings.

The starting grid, a spectacle in itself with its short interval standing start — each driver rolling off with a one to two-second gap – saw Ramen Grosjean in his Bugatti Type 32 on pole, flanked by Kai Syvertsen in a C6, and FJQ Megías in third. Pre-race whispers had firmly placed the Fiat 805 405s as the pretty dominant factor in this race, despite their unreliable engine, inefficient cooling, weak gearbox, and prodigious fuel thirsty nature, consuming some 36 litres per 100km compared to the usual 10 litres or less. The Sunbeam, notably the most reliable vehicle on the grid, was expected to be a solid performer. Delages, though agile fast cars with good gearing, carried some reliability issues of its own in the engine department. The Bugatti, nimble in low-speed corners, possessed a smaller fuel tank and poor radiator, making engine cooling a concern, and could become unstable at higher speeds due to generating some lift. The Voisin C6 was noted as the slowest car of the 1923 pack, while the Rolland-Pilain A22 driven by Haley Smith was, regrettably, deemed to have all the cons and not too many of the pros.

As the flag dropped, the Fiat of Eetu Nurmi, true to prognostication, asserted its dominance early, making massive gains now on the straights and opening a pretty significant gap to the rest of the pack within the very first lap. Meanwhile, Matanjah, in a Delage, also broke away early to establish a lead. However, the early stages were not without incident. Grosjean’s Bugatti headed slightly off course after missing a braking point. Zan Darling, in the number six Bugatti, likewise made a similar mistake, ending up facing in very much the wrong direction after initial contact, narrowly avoided by Haley Smith. Kai Syvertsen, too, suffered an early setback, dropping from second to eighth after a little bit of mistake and contact with one of the Bugattis.

The race unfolded as a strategic chess match. The Fiat drivers, while possessing raw speed, faced the ever-present dilemma of fuel consumption and overheating. Indeed, Markus Peltonen, piloting his Fiat, was observed to pull over at the side of the track at one point, likely to cool off the engine, a testament to the lots of facets of this race to manage. Paul Von Rosen, in his Delage, confirmed the need to manage your engine, particularly in hotter climes.

Mid-race saw captivating duels. Joni Lindholm in his Delage, and Esa Mikkola in the Sunbeam, engaged in a protracted battle with A. Hyytiäinen’s Bugatti, displaying the balanced performance of these machines. The changing weather, from blue skies to wet weather, presented a new challenge, altering breaking points, grip levels, and visibility. Pooling water on the tracks and spray kicking up added to the treacherous conditions, yet, remarkably, the weather hasn’t really caught anyone out too bad.

As the race progressed, pit stops became a defining feature. Nurmi, the dominant leader, made a topping off of the tank pit stop on Lap 10, emerging still in P1 by a good margin. Other drivers, like Markus Peltonen and Anssi Hyytiäinen, also took to the pits, often resulting in significant loss of time and positions. Paul von Rosen, in a Delage, who had made a phenomenal climb from P19 to P2, endured a quite a lengthy Pit Stop, dropping them back to P7, their hard work being a little bit undone.

In the dying laps, with the rain has finally stopped and the track starting to to dry out, the pace intensified. Nurmi, despite a slight mistake and misjudged breaking point on the final lap, completed an absolutely tremendous solid victory, setting a blistering final lap of 8 minutes 44.607 seconds. Markus Peltonen, in the other Fiat, secured a strong second place, just a whisker behind with a fastest lap of 8 minutes 44.736 seconds. Paul Von Rosen, in a Delage, clinched a well-deserved third, a fantastic race for the agile and fast car.

Alas, not all reached the chequered flag. A few dnfs, including possibly Kai Syvertsen and Grosjean. Notably, Paul Von Rosen, the third-place finisher, revealed in a post-race interview that he had managed to complete the entire race without a single pit stop for fuel or tyres, a testament to the Delage’s more mileage, even though it had some reliability issues on the engine department.

The 1923 Grand Prix at Tours proved to be a masterful display of engineering prowess, driving skill, and strategic foresight, setting the stage for future thrilling contests in the Golden Era Championship! The championship now rolls onward, with Round Three set to unfold in Spain on the 12th of April.

The final results were:

Race broadcast: