Christian Lautenschlager, winner of the French Grand Prix
The French Grand Prix was in Lyon, this time with a maximum engine size of 4.5-litres. Held in the shadow of political crisis in Europe, it was hailed as the greatest race to date, after an epic battle between the Peugeot and Mercedes. After Georges Boillot had engine problems on the last lap, it left the German team with a dominating 1-2-3 finish, led by Christian Lautenschlager who had won the race before, in 1908.
It proved to be the last major race before war overtook Europe in August 1914.
The three main American races all ran to different regulations: the Vanderbilt Cupâs engine limits were 301 â 600 cu in, Indianapolis had a maximum engine size of 450 cu in, while the Grand Prize had an open formula.[5]
Hoping to minimise the impact of the big-engined cars of foreign manufacturers, the ACF changed its regulations again for the first time to impose a maximum engine size[6] â of 4.5-litres, along with an allowable weight range of 800-1100kg (excluding fluids and tools). This tended to favour those companies that had invested in voiturette racing, Peugeot, Delage and Sunbeam.[7] There was also an entry limit of five cars per manufacturer.[8]
For this, Peugeot unveiled its new EX-5 from Ernest Henry, with a twin-overhead cam 4.5-litre four-cylinder engine. Both the Delages and Peugeots had four-wheel brakes for the first time, along with FIAT.[9] In response, the Mercedes 18/100 GP, designed by Paul Daimler, developed 115bhp. The 4.5-litre engine had four valves per cylinder and a single overhead camshaft.[10][11] Gone was the chain-drive, instead a lighter live rear-axle was used. However, they did persist with rear brakes only.[7] Despite a better top-end speed from the Peugeotâs streamlined rear-end,[12] the Mercedesâ lower centre-of-gravity and better road-holding gave it an edge over the French cars.[10]
The Vanderbilt Cup and American Grand Prize were revived this year and once again held as a combined meeting, this time on an 8-mile road circuit at Santa Monica, California. The press touted the Cup as a grudge match between rivals Ralph DePalma and Barney Oldfield. DePalma had walked out from his role as team leader at Mercer when they hired Oldfield without asking him first.[6] DePalma retrieved the Mercedes with which he had won the 1912 race. From the start Oldfieldâs teammate Eddie Pullen took the lead until he lost a wheel. Then Oldfield and DePalma ran wheel to wheel until DePalma sold a dummy on stopping for a tyre change. Oldfield took the bait and pitted, allowing the older Mercedes to race onto victory.[6]
DePalma taking the flag at the Vanderbilt Cup
Two days later, 250000 spectators and most of the same cars returned for the Grand Prize. Spencer Wishart led in his Mercer for most of the first half of the race until stopped by engine problems. DePalma took over but this time his engine gave out as well. Pullen got to the front and carried on to win â his Mercer being the first American car to win the Grand Prize delighting the crowd.[6]
Boillot was the fastest in the elimination trials, setting a lap record of 99.9mph.[6] Second was team-mate Goux with Tetzlaff third. In a big surprise, Ralph DePalma failed to qualify in his privateer Mercedes. In the random draw it was Chassagneâs Sunbeam that got the pole position, while Boillot got the second-to-last position of the 30 qualifiers.
Thomasâs Delage, winning car of the Indianapolis 500
After another dozen rounds at eight other circuits, the AAA national championship would be unofficially awarded to Ralph DePalma. On 4 July at the Sioux City race, Eddie Rickenbacker had scored the first victory for Fred Duesenbergâs new team (formerly Mason).[9] Sadly, top driver Spencer Wishart, second at the previous yearâs Indianapolis race, was killed when his Mercer crashed during the Elgin Trophy races.[9]
Two other racing events returned, both last held in 1908. The Coppa Florio was won that year by Felice Nazzaro in a FIAT. This time it ran over three laps on the Madonie course in Sicily. It was won again by Nazzaro, this time in his own car repeating his triumph from the 1913 Targa Florio.[15] Second was Ernesto Ceirano in his companyâs SCAT. Six weeks later the Targa Florio again ran as the Giro di Sicilia around the coastal roads of Sicily. A two-day event, this time it stopped overnight in Syracuse. Ceirano won in 17 hours, at a record speed of 62km/h and a comfortable 2-hour margin.[16]
Similarly, the RAC Tourist Trophy was held after a hiatus of six years. Raced on the Isle of Man, it was staged over two days with eight laps on each day, and for the first time offered a cash prize â the considerable sum of £1000. Kenelm Lee Guinness, of the famous brewing family, won in a 3.4-litre Sunbeam from a pair of Belgian Minervas.[17]
On 28 June, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire was assassinated in Sarajevo. By co-incidence, one of the royal chauffeurs was former Mercedes works-driver Otto Merz. A week later, the French Grand Prix was held under an increasingly tense political situation across Europe. The city of Lyon promised large subsidies[6] and the race was held on a 38km road circuit to the south of the city. It ran from Les Ronzières to Givors, then along the bank of the Gier (a tributary of the Rhône) to Châteauneuf before taking an undulating 15km straight back to a steep downhill right-left and a hairpin to complete the lap.[18][11]
Sailer setting the pace in his Mercedes at the Grand Prix
Race-day was hot and fine, and about 300,000 spectators lined the roads.[9] The cars started the 20-lap race in pairs in numerical order, at 30-second intervals. First away were Szisz and Jörns,[20][21] but Boillot was the first to arrive back at the finish-line. However, Sailer was ahead on elapsed-time and from the beginning he forced the pace, drawing Boillot into a speed-contest to try and break the Peugeot.[9][20] On the sixth lap though his Mercedes stopped with engine problems letting Boillot take over the lead. By the 11th lap, just after the halfway mark, Wagner had passed Goux then Lautenschlager to move into second.[18] Szisz had pulled over to replace a wheel, when he was struck by an Opel, that broke his arm.[22][23]
At the three-quarter mark, Lautenschlager retook second place and started closing on the Peugeot only two and a half minutes ahead. In an epic drive under relentless pressure, Boillot pushed his car to its limit but to no avail. On the eighteenth lap the German took the lead and set about building the gap. Now down to three cylinders,[24] Boillot kept pushing regardless but on the last lap his engine expired leaving Mercedes, after seven hours, to take a crushing 1-2-3 victory with Lautenschlager repeating his 1908 win ahead of Wagner and Salzer.[18] The French crowd was silent, with Gouxâs fourth place nearly ten minutes back ahead of Restaâs Sunbeam being scant consolation. With his 25000 franc prizemoney, Lautenschlager was able to build himself a house.[18][9]
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IX Vanderbilt Cup
Coppa Florio
René Thomas
II Russian Grand Prix
Willy Scholl
Tourist Trophy
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