1907 GRAND PRIX -

1 9 0 7

F 2 Felice Nazzaro
Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino
FIAT

R 1 Francois Szisz
Renault Frères
Renault

B2 Paul Baras
Société des Automobiles Brasier
Brasier

GRAND PRIX DE L'AUTOMOBILE CLUB DE FRANCE

Dieppe (F), 2 July, 1907 (Tuesday).
10 laps x 76.988 km (47.84 mi) = 769.88 km (478.40 mi)

No.	Driver	Entrant	Car	Engine

A 1	A. Pichat	Fabbrica d'Automobili Aquila	Aquila Italiana	9.9	S-4	DNA - Did not appear
B 1	Jules Barillier	Société des Automobiles Brasier	Brasier	12.0	S-4
B 2	Paul Baras	Société des Automobiles Brasier	Brasier	12.0	S-4
B 3	Paul Bablot	Société des Automobiles Brasier	Brasier	12.0	S-4
BC 1	Pierre Garcet	P. Garcet	Bayard-Clément	12.9	S-4
BC 2	Georges Alézy	G. Alézy	Bayard-Clément	12.9	S-4
BC 3	Elliott Shepard	E. F. Shepard	Bayard-Clément	12.9	S-4
C 1	"Collomb"	Sté Francaise des Auto Corre	Corre	10.6	S-4
D 1	René Hanriot	R. Hanriot	Darracq	15.3	S-4
D 2	Gustave Caillois	G. Caillois	Darracq	15.3	S-4
D 3	Victor Rigal	V. Rigal	Darracq	15.3	S-4
DM 1	Fréderic Dufaux	Marchand et Dufaux	Dufaux	14.7	S-8
F 1	Vincenzo Lancia	Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino	FIAT	16.2	S-4
F 2	Felice Nazzaro	Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino	FIAT	16.2	S-4
F 3	Louis Wagner	Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino	FIAT	16.2	S-4
GE 1	Émile Perpère	SA des Ateliers Germain	Germain	5.1	S-4
GE 2	François Degrais	SA des Ateliers Germain	Germain	5.1	S-4
GE 3	René Roch-Brault	SA des Ateliers Germain	Germain	5.1	S-4
GB 1	Louis Rigolly	Sté Gobron-Brillé	Gobron-Brillé	13.5	S-4
LD 1	Arthur Duray	De Dietrich et Cie	Lorraine-Dietrich	17.3	S-4
LD 2	Fernand Gabriel	De Dietrich et Cie	Lorraine-Dietrich	17.3	S-4
LD 3	Henri Rougier	De Dietrich et Cie	Lorraine-Dietrich	17.3	S-4
M 1	Camille Jenatzy	Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft	Mercedes	14.4	S-4
M 2	Otto Salzer	Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft	Mercedes	14.4	S-4
M 3	Victor Hémery	Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft	Mercedes	14.4	S-4
MB 1	Léon Pierron	SA Motobloc	Motobloc	12.0	S-4
MB 2	Henri Page	SA Motobloc	Motobloc	12.0	S-4
MB 3	Albert Courtade	SA Motobloc	Motobloc	12.0	S-4
P 1	Emile Stricker	Sté Générale d. Automobiles Porthos	Porthos	9.1	S-8
PL 1	George Heath	Société des Anciens Establissements	Panhard-Levassor	15.5	S-4
PL 2	Hubert Le Blon	Société des Anciens Establissements	Panhard-Levassor	15.5	S-4
PL 3	A. Dutemple	Société des Anciens Establissements	Panhard-Levassor	15.5	S-4
R 1	Ferenc Szisz	Renault Frères	Renault	12.8	S-4
R 2	Henri Farman	Renault Frères	Renault	12.8	S-4
R 3	Claude Richez	Renault Frères	Renault	12.8	S-4
W 1	Gregor Laxen	Weigel Motors Ltd.	Weigel	14.9	S-8
W 2	Pryce Harrison	Weigel Motors Ltd.	Weigel	14.9	S-8
WC 1	Walter Christie	Christie Front Drive Motor Co.	Christie	19.9	V-4

Nazzaro victorious with FIAT at the 1907 Grand Prix

by Hans Etzrodt

The Automobile Club de France held their 1907 Grand Prix on the 76.9 km long Dieppe Circuit for 38 cars entered. There were 9 teams from France, 2 from Italy, one each from America, Belgium, England, Germany, and Switzerland. The single starts were on a Tuesday at 6 a.m. with 1-minute intervals. Wagner (FIAT) led the first three laps. On the 4th lap he plunged into a ditch and was out. This gave Duray (Lorraine-Dietrich) the lead with Lancia (FIAT) 2nd until the 7th lap, when Nazzaro (FIAT) pushed ahead, passed Lancia to chase after the quick Duray. On the 8th lap a bearing seized on Duray's car and Nazzaro took the lead which he held until the end of lap ten when he won after 6h46m33s. Lancia retired on the last lap while Szisz (Renault) finished 2nd with Baras (Brasier) 3rd. Gabriel (De Dietrich) came 4th ahead of the two Darracqs driven by Rigal and Caillois. Barillier (Brasier) came 7th, Garcet (Bayard 8th, Shepard (Bayard) 9th and Hemery (Mercedes) 10th. There were 17 finishers and four stragglers. Commission Sportive, a group of nine small cars that raced concurrently with the Grand Prix cars, is not included in this report.

For the 1907 Grand Prix, the ACF introduced the fuel consumption formula; limited to 30-liter per 100 km - 9.4 mpg, and for each car 231-liter gasoline was issued. The weight limit and cylinder capacity were both abandoned. Re-introduction of national colors as used in the Gordon Bennett Cup races, Italian cars had to be now red; USA changed from red only to now red and white; English, green; French, blue; German, white; Belgian, yellow; Swiss, red, and yellow. Every factory had the right to enter three cars. Regulations did not allow replacing a wheel. Detachable wheel rims, introduced the year before, were now used on all cars equipped with wooden artillery wheels. Only Darracq used wire wheels.

Circuit:
After looking at various circuits, the ACF decided on one near Dieppe, called Circuit de la Seine-Inférieure. It was so known because of its situation in the French region's department la Seine-Inférieure. But it is also known as the Dieppe Circuit. The course was roughly triangular and almost flat, only 76.988 km in length, to be rounded in anti-clockwise rotation, covering 10 laps or 769.88 km distance. Starting just shortly before the road junction of N.25 and N.320, on the outskirts of Dieppe, around a left-hand hairpin or Fourche. Thereafter was a slight rise, then a 3 km straight. The course followed the river Eaulne south-eastwards through Envermeu to Londinières with a sharp left turn north over a railway, it continued along N.314, climbing through Fresnoy and descending to Sept-Meules, with a sharp dip to the bottom. Thereafter a climb before a long straight followed with a sharp descent to Eu where N.314 joined N.25. Following N.25 south-westwards the course led along a winding descent into Criel, followed by a 3 km climb to the top off the cliffs, with sight of the English Channel as the course then ran parallel to the sea, with the last 16 km stretch which allowed full speed until it reached the original starting point just before the Fourche outside Dieppe. For the upkeep of order on the circuit there were 700 gendarmes. 4,500 soldiers were stationed along the track, every 20 meters, as even more spectators were expected than in the previous year. Split pale fences were erected at every village through which the race passed to prevent animals and children running across the track. There were seven footbridges built at different points on the circuit. The course was tarred throughout.

Entries:
The entries consisted of 17 teams with a total of 38 cars, 9 teams from France, namely Brasier, Clément-Bayard, Corre, Darracq, Lorraine-Dietrich, Motobloc, Panhard-Levassor, Porthos, and Renault.
Aquila Italiana and FIAT from Italy, Christie from America, Germaine from Belgium, Weigel from England, Mercedes from Germany, and Marchand from Switzerland. Most of the drivers had raced at the 1906 Grand Prix but a few newcomers had arrived. The cars were numbered on a different system, each being given a letter on this occasion, the initials of the cars themselves, as well as a series number. This was intended to make identification easy for the spectators, but it ultimately proved more bewildering than the old method of 1906. A complete list is at the beginning of this report with remarks here for only a few entries. The cars showed little change compared with previous year's models but were slightly modified. Renault had sold their previous year's cars and built replicas for 1907. The Germains were equipped with the smallest engines on a stripped touring chassis and performed surprisingly well in the race. Marc Ceulemans stated, Germains driver Achille Émile Perpère was born in Foix in Ariègne, France on April 18, 1877. His calling first name was Émile. He started as mechanic for De Dion Bouton and Panhard, then came in Belgium as mechanic at Germains in 1897. So, he was French but lived and worked in Belgium. The American Christy was a front-wheel-drive car, which was the first time such a car was entered in a European race. The car had a very large V-4-cylinder engine, driving directly to the front axle through a variable speed gear. The car supposedly developed 135 hp, was very fast but the road holding was problematic. Aquila Italiana sent a car from Turin to Paris which on the way had a serious accident on June 27. The repair required hasty work before it was sent to Dieppe. To replace the damaged car in the accident, the factory sent another car to Paris, which had performed excellent in tests. The engineer Marquis Pallavicino of Aquila Italiana traveled from Turin to Paris. An Italian driver would take the wheel of the L'Aquila Italiana at the Grand Prix in the last moment to replace the Parisian representative A. Pichat. But the Aquila Italiana did not arrive in time, due to railway faults and therefore did not start, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. Marc Ceulemans stated that Pierre d'Hespel was first nominated to drive the number C1 Corre car and was replaced at last minute by "Collomb". This was not Joseph Collomb but the former riding mechanic of Barriaux, known as "Collomb". He used that pseudonym "Collomb" during his very long sport career.

Practice:
There were specific practice times but announcements of those were less important. Weeks before anybody could test their car around the circuit.

Gerald Rose in A Record of MOTOR RACING, p270-273 > To win the big annual French race is a task not accomplished without some trouble, and as soon as the Dieppe course had been decided upon, several manufactures rented villas or near it, and erected workshops and garages. Throughout practicing, that was carried out on old racing cars, two sad accidents happened. Albert Clément, one of the favorites for this race, was making a final round of the course, and took the curve at Saint-Martin-en-Campagne too fast. It is a perfectly open bend, hardly to be noticed except when taken at a very high speed, and presumably Clément's pace was too great; his car dashed off the road into a heap of stones, and he was killed almost instantly. Gauderman, who accompanied him, was thrown clear and escaped unhurt. Shortly afterwards, Marius Pin, a new Darracq driver, was killed in a collision with a cart, and these fatalities raised a crusade in the French press against the race; but it was soon seen that the A.C.F. was doing the best for the safety of all concerned and the agitation speedily died down.

Due to the tragic death off Albert Clément during practice, SA de Ets Clément-Bayard Company did not enter officially, according to W.F Bradley, as the racecars were sold to independent drivers, namely Pierre Garcet, Georges Alézy, the mechanic of Albert Clément, and American Elliott Shepard. Likewise, but for different reasons, A. Darracq & Co did not take part officially, as was claimed by Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung. The independent Darracq drivers were René Hanriot, Gustave Caillois and Victor Rigal. The second Renault driver was Edmond who had become sick and was replaced by Henri Farman, who the day before the race, in the last hour, drove with a Renault around the circuit, which he had not known before as the Renault was new to him. Count d'Hespel had a small accident with his Corre car, which was repaired for the race and "Collomb" was to drive the car in place of d'Hespel.

Scrutineering:
Scrutineering took place the day before the race on Monday the 1. July from nine in the morning until late afternoon, during rain all day. The usual weighing of the cars had been done away with and instead each car had to line up to receive the exact amount of 231 liter of fuel. Each vehicle was run over a pit where it was examined by officials from left and right, from above and below for any secret hidden in the fuel tanks. The carburetors were sealed, the fuel lines, fuel connections and rivets also received lead seals. There were cars with up to 30 lead seals. The loss or missing of a lead seal would result in disqualification at arrival, so the lead pieces were guarded like pure gold. Only then the main fuel tank was filled up from the filling apparatus, which was most scientifically constructed and compensated for difference in temperature, so that every car should get precisely the same amount of 231-liter fuel and was sealed. Any fuel left over was then filled into cans which were sealed and inscribed with the car's number. The contents which had to last to complete the ten laps or 770 km. The cars then passed to another inspection pit to assure proper fitting of all lead seals after which the vehicles were locked up for the night in an enclosure guarded by the military.

Race:
Half an hour before the start the stands were overfilled. Most drivers changed their two non-slip tires and replaced them with smooth ones since the weather had changed overnight and was now wonderful with dry roads. All cars which had passed scrutineering appeared for the start except the A 1 Aquila Italiana driven by the French Pichat who also had not appeared at scrutineering, since the car was damaged in transit to Dieppe. The starting order had been decided by ballot. At six in the morning, a canon was fired to announce the start. The cars were sent away at 1-minute intervals. The first car of Lancia started only one minute later at 6:01 and the last driver, Bablot, left at 6h38m.

6:00