15 Giuseppe Morandi Officine Meccaniche SA OM 665 S

8 Renato Balestrero R. Balestrero OM 665 S

21 Anselmo Cesaroni A. Cesaroni Mercedes GP 1914

Morandi wins the Mugello Circuit with OM

14 Henry Segrave Sunbeam Motor Company Sunbeam DA 8420

13 Meo Costantini Automobiles Ettore Bugatti Bugatti T35

15 André Morel Automobiles Delage Delage 2LCV

Segrave wins the San Sebastian Grand Prix

The 1924 San Sebastian Grand Prix was a major formula libre race. From 21 entries only 14 cars started on a rain-soaked racetrack where Masetti (Mercedes) led the first four laps. Benoist (Delage) led lap 5 but crashed on the next lap when Masetti regained first place until he stopped to refuel on lap 14. Then Segrave (Sunbeam) took the lead which he lost on lap 19 due to a pit stop. When Masetti crashed on the following lap and Guinness (Sunbeam) who had crashed earlier, two great contenders had disappeared. After 20 laps Segrave led ahead of Costantini (Bugatti), the Delages of Divo and Morel ahead of Maserati (Diatto). During the last 15 laps, the battle was between Segrave, Divo and Costantini, whose Bugatti sprung a water leak. In between driving record laps, Costantini stopped often to refill the radiator. This allowed Segrave to have an easy win, followed by Costantini, Morel, Divo and the Bugattis of Vizcaya and Chassagne. Eight cars retired in the rain of which half crashed, causing the death of Thomas Barratt, riding mechanic of the severely injured Kenelm Lee Guinness.

The Automobile week of San Sebastian, which was organized by the Real Automóvil Club de Guipúzcoa, began on Monday, September 22 for motorcycles with the official title II Gran Premio de Motocicletas. On Wednesday, September 24 followed the II Gran Premio de Guipúzcoa de Turismos, for touring cars. The conclusion on Saturday, September 27 was the II Gran Premio de San Sebastian for racecars. The races were held on the 17.750 km Lasarte circuit, south of the Atlantic seaside resort of San Sebastian. The grand prix cars had to lap the course 35 times, a total of 621.250 km. It was a natural road circuit, winding counterclockwise through the foothills of the Pyrenees with a Macadam surface in a few places only, which was not free of dust. At the start and finish, between the villages of Lasarte and Oria, there were tram lines. The road then led through Andoain after 5 km, Urnieta at half distance, Hernani after 11 km, and Lasarte only 1.3 km before the start and finish. On the straights, beginning after km 5 and up to km 10.7, there were several opportunities to go full throttle. The winner would receive the Royal Trophy and 50,000 pesetas, second the San Sebastian Aéro Club Trophy and 20,000; third 10,000 and fourth 5,000 pesetas.

Entries: A total of 21 cars were entered, four Sunbeams, four Delages, five Bugattis, two Mercedes, two Schmid, one Bignan, one Diatto, one Vauxhall and one BUC, which are all listed at the beginning of this report.       Sunbeam lowered the chassis for the 1924 season and fitted a 1,988 cc, 6-cylinder, blown engine, producing 138 hp at 5,500 rpm, bringing the top speed to 200 km/h. At the 1924 European Grand Prix in France, the cars showed superior speed but were held back with misfiring engines and Segrave finished fifth. But for San Sebastian in Spain, the cars used their old magnetos, correcting the misfiring problems. They entered only two official cars for Kenelm Lee Guinness and Major Henry Segrave while Argentinian Martin Alzaga in a 4.9-Liter Indianapolis type was independent, as was Ignacio Oliden in an older type.       Delage entered four of their 2LCV cars, which had last raced eight weeks earlier at the European Grand Prix where Divo finished second and Benoist third. The 12-cylinder cars produced 120 hp at 6000 rpm without supercharging. Drivers were Albert Divo, Robert Benoist, André Morel and René Thomas.       DMG had made two of their 1924 Targa Florio Mercedes available, repainted in white. These cars had a 1989 cc, supercharged 4-cyl engine, producing 150 hp at 4800 rpm. One car was driven by Count Giulio Masetti, the second by works driver Karl Sailer. Originally Christian Werner should have driven the second car, which he declined because of a damaged cylinder. This way Sailer was given the car.       For 1924 Bugatti had designed a new car, the Type 35, a 2.0-Liter, 8-cylinder, delivering 90 hp at 6,000 rpm. At the European Grand Prix (Lyon), they finished in seventh, eighth and tenth place while experiencing tire problems. At the San Sebastian Grand Prix in Spain, they entered five cars equipped with different tires for Pierre de Vizcaya, Meo Costantini, Jean Chassagne, Leoncio Garnier and Ogniben Alverà.       Diatto, whose withdrawal was thought probable, as reported by El Mundo Deportivo, but was taking part in practice with Alfieri Maserati. The car at San Sebastian was just like the one that ran at the May 25 Rabassada hill climb, where it made a very good impression. It was not a two-Liter, but the engine was very close to three-Liter, which was perfectly within the regulations in this Grand Prix. But according to Diatto records, Maserati drove a long wheelbase type 20 S, thus 1995 cc, unblown, producing 75 hp at 4500 rpm.

Practice: On Tuesday, September, 23 the morning practice was very busy with cars practicing on the Spanish Circuit. Everyone was out and turned some laps. Delage, Mercedes and Bugatti made an excellent impression. Lee Giunness and Segrave, who were familiar with the road, did not push their Sunbeams. The fight appeared to be very tight but two accidents happened. First, Oliden arrived too quickly in a bend, where his Sunbeam spun off colliding with a tree. Driver and mechanic escaped without injuries. Oliden's Sunbeam did not start, which was enforced by the official Sporting Commission. They decided to deny the start by declaring that the car, after the accident, could not be repaired with safety guarantees for a difficult race such as the San Sebastian Grand Prix. The decision of the Sporting Commission was justified, since the Sunbeam in question was an old type of three liters that in practice had suffered several problems, and its driver was not credited as being exceptional and whose nervousness could be fatal in a race as dangerous as the Grand Prix.       Things went less well for Alzaga on the wet circuit. The Argentinean had replaced his usual mechanic with the British Bowen, Sunbeam's official mechanic, to check the poor performance of the brakes on his #17 Sunbeam. The defect in the brake system had serious consequences in a crash for the driver, the racecar, and especially for the mechanic. In the bend which followed Hernani, the car hit the embankment, overturned and damaged the front. The seriously injured Alzaga was pulled from below the car and had to be transported to Biarritz, passed the French border. The mechanic Bowen with internal injuries was brought to the San Sebastian hospital where his condition caused concern. The accident was hard to explain, the turn was not bad and Alzaga was a good driver. No doubt this was caused by a defective brake system.       The winner of this race, Major Henry Segrave, in his Book, The Lure of Speed, described the circuit "which looked at first all right to the eye, but turned out to be in an abominably dangerous condition. The corners were supposed to be sanded so as to give the tyres a reasonably good grip. But the Spanish workmen, true to their condition of avoiding any unnecessary work, discovered that it was much easier to dig clay out of a neighboring field and sprinkled it on the road rather than go some little distance off and get the sand which they should have used. This nearly cost Guinness his life, and led to a crash in which his mechanic, Barrett, was instantly killed." At scrutineering the cars' weight was recorded as follows: 1 SCHMID (Giulio Foresti) kg 866 4 DELAGE (Albert Divo) 762 5 MERCEDES (Karl Sailer) 976 6 BUGATTI (Pierre de Vizczya) 744 8 DIATTO (Alfieri Maserati) 1014 9 SUNBEAN (Lee Guinness) 842 10 SCHMID (Jules Goux) 888 11 DELAGE (Robert Benoist) 776 12 MERCEDES (Giulio Masetti) 994 13 BUGATTI (Meo Costantini) 754 14 SUNBEAM (Henry Segrave) 862 15 DELAGE (André Morel) 776 16 BUGATTI (Jean Chassagne) 745 18 DELAGE (René Thomas) 770

Race: The huge stands were packed and large crowds gathered around the circuit. Despite the bad weather, Queen Maria Victoria and the Prince des Asturias from the royal family were present. The sky was covered by dark clouds and a rain shower had soaked the starting area, the road leading to the pits and grandstand. For the 10:00 AM start the 14 cars lined up on the starting grid two per row in numerical order.

1 Foresti Schmid 4 Divo Delage 5 Sailer Mercedes 6 Vizcaya Bugatti 8 Maserati Diatto 9 Guinness Sunbeam 10 Goux Schmid 11 Benoist Delage 12 Masetti Mercedes 13 Costantini Bugatti 14 Segrave Sunbeam 15 Morel Delage 16 Chassagne Bugatti 18 Thomas Delage

The signal for the rolling start was given at 10:05 AM. The pilot car was leading the pack in the turn ahead of the stands before giving free passage to the racers at the grandstand. Divo's Delage jumped into the lead, followed by Foresti's Schmid and Vizczya's Bugatti, both Schmid cars pulled behind them huge clouds of oil smoke from their sleeve-valve engines. On the first lap the loudspeaker announced that the order of passage through Baracaldo was Divo ahead of Maserati and Masetti, who passed in the same order at Hernani.       At the end of the first lap Masetti was in the lead after 11m15s at an average of 94.6 km/h ahead of Divo in 11m22s, Maserati 11m23s, Guinness 11m24s and Benoist 11m25s, almost together, followed in sixth place by Sailer in 11m39s, Morel and Segrave. After a pause appeared Thomas, Costantini, Vizcaya, Chassagne, Foresti and Goux. Vizcaya stopped at the pits.       After the second lap Masetti's time was 10m18s at an average of 103.4 km/h. His lead was 16 seconds to Guinness who had passed Maserati and Divo. The order in the field had now Maserati as third, followed by Divo, Benoist, Sailer, Segrave, Morel, Thomas, Costantini, Goux, Chassagne, Foresti and Vizcaya.       On the third lap Guinness shortened his gap to Masetti to only four seconds. Benoist covered the lap at 106.18 km/h and advanced to third place ahead of Maserati, Divo, and Sailer.       On the fourth lap Masetti was still leading, but now Benoist followed closely with his Delage and broke the lap record again at 106.7 km/h. Guinness followed in third place ahead of Maserati, Segrave, Divo, Thomas, Morel and Costantini. Sailer's Mercedes in sixth place spun off the slippery road and crashed into the border fencing where it retired with the field down to 13 cars. Somewhat separated from the first group were Goux, Foresti, Vizcaya and Chassagne. Vizcaya stopped again at the pits but continued.       On the fifth lap, Benoist passed Masetti for the lead, with this lap in 10m01s at 106.3 km/h average speed. In third place followed Guinness, ahead of Segrave, Maserati, Divo, Thomas, Morel, Costantini, Goux and Vizcaya. Foresti and Chassage, delayed with problems, had been lapped by the leader. Benoist's average lap time for the first five laps was 10m27s with the 13-car field in the following order after 5 laps: 1. Benoist (Delage) 52m14s 2. Masetti (Mercedes) 52m17s 3. Guinness (Sunbeam) 53m02s 4. Segrave (Sunbeam) 53m28s 5. Maserati (Diatto) 53m32s 6. Divo (Delage) 53m36s 7. Thomas (Delage) 54m30s 8. Morel (Delage) 54m40s 9. Costantini (Bugatti) 54m42s 10. Goux (Schmid) 1h00m59s 11. Vizcaya (Bugatti) 1h02m25s 12. Foresti (Schmid) 1h03m11s 1 lap behind 13. Chassagne (Bugatti) 1h05m27s 1 lap behind On lap six Benoist skidded off the course, crashed into a wall, breaking the front axle. Driver and mechanic were unharmed, but the race had lost a brilliant contender. Masetti found himself again in the lead. On lap six, Segrave broke the lap record at 107.9 km/h. The rain at various points of the circuit bothered the drivers.       After lap seven, Masetti lead at 105 km/h average race speed ahead of Segrave who had passed Guinness, followed by Divo, Maserati, Thomas, Morel, Costantini and Chassagne, who stopped the Bugatti to change four wheels in 2m20s. His Bugatti appeared to suffer the same tire defects as experienced at Lyon.       The order on the eighth lap remained, except Divo and Maserati exchanged positions. Foresti (Schmid) retired on lap 8 but since he was one lap down, he completed only six laps.       On lap nine there was no change. On lap ten during the rain, Masetti held the lead at 104.4 km/h average race speed, followed by Segrave, Guinness, Maserati, Divo, Costantini and Morel. The latter stopped at the pits to refuel and replace a front wheel. Masetti's average lap time for the last five laps was 10m05s with the 11-car field in the following order after 10 laps: 1. Masetti (Mercedes) 1h42m41s 2. Segrave (Sunbeam) 1h43m20s 3. Guinness (Sunbeam) 1h43m38s 4. Maserati (Diatto) 1h43m45s 5. Divo (Delage) 1h44m45s 6. Costantini (Bugatti) 1h45m53s 7. Morel (Delage) 1h47m26s 8. Thomas (Delage) 1h53m43s 1 lap behind 9. Vizcaya (Bugatti) 1h58m14s 1 lap behind 10. Goux (Schmid) 2h00m02 1 lap behind 11. Chassagne (Bugatti) 2h07m30 2 laps behind On lap 11 Guinness stopped on the circuit to change all spark plugs. When he resumed on the rain-soaked road his race ended disastrously. The Spanish workmen were told before the race to sand some of the corners to reduce skidding, but found it much easier to use clay from nearby fields and sprinkled it on the road. When it rained this made the turns very slippery, with the clay forming in ruts. Guinness front wheels caught in these and the Sunbeam skidded off the slippery road, hitting the left bank, bounced back across the track, overturned three times before hitting a stonewall on the right. Guinness and Barratt were ejected out of the car, plunging down into a steep, 15-meter deep, railroad cutting; the overturning car followed them. Thomas Barratt, the riding mechanic of Lee Guinness, had replaced the injured Bill Perkins. Barratt was killed instantly while Guinness suffered serious head and leg injuries with a broken arm, intense trauma and vomiting blood, which put an end to his racing career. Both were transferred to the hospital.       The order on lap 12 was Masetti, Segrave, Divo, Maserati and Costantini. Maserati's Diatto slowed down. Benoist, who had retired on the sixth lap, reached the stands on foot and received a standing ovation. Thomas retired at the pits with magneto trouble. As he was one lap down, he completed only 10 laps.       On lap fourteen the leader Masetti stopped at the pits to refuel and was passed by Segrave and Divo. In fourth place was Costantini, the best of the Bugatti, who was doing a magnificent race. Goux and Vizcaya were already one lap down and Chassagne was even further behind. Segrave's average lap time for the last five laps was 10m07s with the 9-car field in the following order after 15 laps: 1. Segrave (Sunbeam) 2h33m54 2. Divo (Delage) 2h35m53s 3. Masetti (Mercedes) 2h36m41s 4. Costantini (Bugatti) 2h36m54s 5. Maserati (Diatto) 2h37m39s 6. Morel (Delage) 2h44m54s 1 lap behind 7. Vizcaya (Bugatti) 2h52m50s 1 lap behind 8. Goux (Schmid) 2h57m26s 2 laps behind 9. Chassagne (Bugatti) 3h03m05s 2 laps behind During laps 16 and 17 the positions remained in the order Segrave, Divo and Masetti. Costantini in fourth place gained ground by breaking the lap record in 9m42s, at an average speed of 109.8 km/h and was close to Masetti. Goux (Schmid) retired on lap 16. He was two laps behind and thus completed only 13 laps.       On Lap 18 the order changed to Segrave, Divo and Costantini who had passed Masetti. Divo stopped at the pits to refuel and started lap 19 in fourth place. Maserati stopped for a repair and lost one lap.       At the beginning of lap 19 the leader Segrave and second Costantini stopped at the pits to refuel. Segrave also changed rear wheels. The time lost in these operations changed the positions on lap 19, with Masetti in the lead ahead of Segrave, Costantini and Divo.       At the end of lap 20 it was expected that Masetti would be the first but instead Segrave appeared in the lead followed by Costantini. According to Segrave who followed Masetti's Mercedes in the lead, "Masetti had left the road clear into a field and crumpled up into a wall. One of his brake cables had locked in its guide, thus seizing the front wheel and rendering the car unmanageable." Segrave's average lap time for the last five laps was 11m02s with the 7-car field in the following order after 20 laps: 1. Segrave (Sunbeam) 3h29m06s 2. Costantini (Bugatti) 3h29m10s 3. Divo (Delage) 3h30m10s 4. Morel (Delage) 3h36m00s 5. Maserati (Diatto) 3h41m00s 1 lap behind 6. Vizcaya (Bugatti) 3h49m26s 1 lap behind 7. Chassagne (Bugatti) 4h01m06s 2 laps behind There were no changes until lap 23, when Costantini experienced difficulties with the radiator of his Bugatti and Divo moved to second position. But Costantini soon regained second place. Segrave's average lap time for the last five laps was 10m06s, with the times of the 7-car field as follows after 25 laps: 1. Segrave (Sunbeam) 4h19m38s 2. Costantini (Bugatti) 4h20m10s 3. Divo (Delage) 4h24m48s 4. Morel (Delage) 4h25m53s 5. Maserati (Diatto) 4h32m17s 1 lap behind 6. Vizcaya (Bugatti) 4h44m02s 2 laps behind 7. Chassagne (Bugatti) 4h59m19s 3 laps behind On lap 26 the order remained the same. Costantini was beating the lap record at 110.9 km/h average speed. On lap 28 Maserati retired with broken transmission but he completed only 26 laps as he had been one lap down. On lap 29, Costantini again broke the lap record in 9m16s, at 114.9 km/h average speed. Soon he stopped again at the pits to pour water in his leaking radiator. On this lap, Divo, stopped at the pits. Segrave's average lap time for the last five laps was 10m00s. The 6-car field was in the following order after 30 laps: 1. Segrave (Sunbeam) 5h09m36s 2. Costantini (Bugatti) 5h13m56s 3. Morel (Delage) 5h14m58s 4. Divo (Delage) 5h15m58s 5. Vizcaya (Bugatti) 5h37m30s 2 laps behind 6. Chassagne (Bugatti) 5h53m28s 4 laps behind Up to lap 33 there were no changes in the order. Costantini was pushing with great determination and established a new lap record in 9m15.2s at 115.093 km/h average speed. Divo ended this lap with a boiling radiator, stopped at the pits and was forced to carry a drum of water with him. On lap 34 Segrave was leading ahead of Costantini, who on lap 33 had reduced the Sunbeam's lead by 1m03s. But there was no possibility of the Bugatti taking first place as Costantini was forced again to fill water into the radiator.       On lap 35 the end of the race was near and Segrave's victory was taken for granted. His green Sunbeam was acclaimed by the public at the end before the stands. In second place finished Costantini, who was also applauded by the public. His fastest laps, which far beat those of all other drivers, demonstrated what this racer could have done if the damage of his radiator had not affected him adversely. Costantini's time was only 1m25s more than that of the race winner. In third place finished Morel (Delage), followed by Divo (Delage) and the Bugattis of Vizcaya and Chassagne.