58 Louis Chiron
L. Chiron
Bugatti T35C

84 Edward Bret
E. Bret
Bugatti T35C

78 René Dreyfus
R. Dreyfus
Bugatti T37A

Louis Chiron wins the Riviera Circuit at Super-Cannes

2 Louis Chiron
L. Chiron
Bugatti T35B

6 "Williams"
W. Williams
Bugatti T35C

11 René Dreyfus
R. Dreyfus
Bugatti T37A

Louis Chiron wins the Antibes Grand Prix

The international Antibes Grand Prix at the Côte d'Azur attracted 29 entries but only 16 drivers appeared at the start. After the first lap Chiron held the lead but then dropped to the tail end of the field when he spun his Bugatti, which put Morel (Amilcar) to the front but he was very soon passed by Bret (Bugatti), who held the lead for 20 laps after which he encountered engine problems, leading to his early retirement. "Williams" (Bugatti) then moved into first place until lap 34 when Chiron had caught up and passed into the lead again which he held until the end of the 75 laps. Williams finished second with Dreyfus third in the smaller Bugatti, ahead of Moriceau (Amilcar), Signoret and Martinatti with their Salmsons, followed by Benoit Falchetto (Tony Special) while the other nine drivers retired.

The Circuit d'Antibes-Juan-les-Pins was organized by the Automobile Club d'Antibes-Juan-les-Pins with support by L'Auto and L'Eclaireur de Nice et du Sud-Est. The event comprised a race for motorcycles on Sunday April 8 and for cars on Easter-Monday. This race had been held for the first time in 1927, as a minor national event. The Commission Sportive decided on two classes, up to 1100 cc and over 1100 cc. The regulations allowed superchargers and the shape of the bodywork was free. At the Côte d'Azur east of Cannes lay Antibes and just to the south was the Garoupe road circuit. All drivers had to complete 75 laps through the La Garoupe pine forest along the 4.070 km Circuit du Cap d'Antibes, a total of 305.250 km. The race was managed by Charles Faroux from L'Auto, with Ernst Friderich from Nice as assistant manager.       The race was endowed with 150,000 francs in cash. Additional prizes were provided by L'Automobile Club de Nice et de la Côte d'Azur, which offered five prizes of 500 francs but not stating to whom. "Marachal" Spark Plugs offered 300 francs for the fastest lap during the last 10 laps. Mr. Octave Homberg announced two prizes each at 1000 francs for the 1100 cc cars and un-supercharged cars. The Sword Company "Monaco" offered 200 francs but did not say to whom.

Entries: Several drivers, who had raced at Esterel Plage on March 11 and at the Riviera Circuit the week before, appeared for this third race held at the Côte d'Azur. The 1100 cc category entries included teams from Salmson, BNC, Amilcar, Sima-Violet and Rovin. The category over 1100 cc had entries from the Bugatti drivers "Williams", "Sabipa" alias Louis Charaval of 1926 fame at Monza, the German Baron Hans von Trützschler, Edward Bret and Lois Chiron, who was the winner at Super-Cannes. Chiron expected to receive a new 2-liter Bugatti with which he was starting at the Circuit d'Antibes. But he then changed and raced his 2.3-liter car instead. A good fight between Chiron and Bret was expected. René Dreyfus, Jules Placier, Alfredo Cereseto from Italy, the unknown Simon and Prince Dimitri Djordjadze entered 1500 Bugattis and were opposed by the two 1500 Sima Violets. A complete list of entries can be found at the beginning of this report.

Practice: Friday was the last day of practice. A large crowd came to watch the final practice before the closing of the circuit. The Amilcar team with Morel, Martin and Moriceau, who had raced for the Talbot factory in 1927, were the first on the track. The three drivers ended up with some very quick laps. However, Morel did not beat his time from Thursday when he drove a lap in 3m14s. Bret completed a few laps on a motorcycle and also with a passenger car to study the circuit. The Italian Cereseto also put in some laps with his Bugatti. Later the BNC team and Salmson went out on the circuit to do their final practice laps. Weighing and scrutineering took place on Saturday at 2:00 PM at the harbor outside the Customs Office.

Race: After the motorcycle races on Sunday, the beautiful weather prevailed on Easter-Monday in the presence of a huge crowd. The location of the grandstands, which were 500 meters in length, was unique in the Garoupe pine forest and spectators had a great view of two hairpin bends and the two straights connecting the turns. The grandstands were packed long before the race. The crowd around the Antibes circuit was estimated at 50,000. The start of the race was planned for 11 in the morning but was postponed due to some delay before the 16 competitors lined up on the narrow starting grid two cars per row. Only the first five rows could be identified from a photograph provided by Robert Dick. The number 3 car of "Sabipa" did not start and its place on the starting grid was left vacant. The number 10 car also did not start.

2 Chiron Bugatti 1 Bret Bugatti 4 Morel Amilcar - 5 Martin Amilcar 6 Williams Bugatti 7 Moriceau Amilcar 8 Trützschler Bugatti 9 Cereseto Bugatti -

The race-director Charles Faroux gave the last instructions to the drivers who then returned to their cars. Sixteen engines were started, began to fire up and rumble while Ernst Friderich screamed the count down at three minutes, again at two, then a minute. At 11:18 AM the cars started in a deafening roar with Chiron taking the immediate lead, followed by Morel and Bret.       Chiron completed the first lap in 3m25s, which represented an average of 71,475 km/h. He was thirty meters ahead of Morel in second place, followed by Bret, Dreyfus and Williams. When approaching the hairpin turn after the grandstands, Chiron arrived too fast and spun his Bugatti around losing several minutes. Many drivers passed him before he got going again. He next stopped for a few seconds at his pit to check his car over but now found himself at the very rear of the field and carried on at full speed. In the meantime, Morel had passed into the lead but not for long, because Bret had overtaken him by the end of the second lap.       On the third lap Bret was leading the race ahead of Morel and Williams, who passed into second. Behind them there followed Dreyfus, Trützschler, Cereseto, Martin, Moriceau, de Joncy, Falchetto, Martinatti, d'Havrincourt and the rest. Cereseto and Trützschler were having a good battle without any clear advantage for one or the other. By now Chiron who was near the end of the field had started his chase to catch up with the leaders. On lap four the Cannes driver Bret remarkably retained his leading position in front of Williams, Morel and Dreyfus who were having a close battle. The spectators were standing, observing the exciting spectacle which was taking place in front of them.       Before the fifth lap Dreyfus overtook Morel, who was having some sort of trouble. Chiron was working his way through the field and kept passing his competitors. On the ninth lap, while he was lapping a back-marker on the outside of a turn, Morel left the track and hit a rock. The damage to his Amilcar forced him to retire. Jourdan retired his Salmson on the road to the sea, while Carasso (BNC) and Martin (Amilcar) had also disappeared from the timekeeper's table. Ominously, Chiron was already up to seventh, but was still three minutes behind the leader, but had not been lapped. The field was down to 12 cars. Bret was leading with an average speed of 74.187 km/h. His average lap time for the first ten laps was 3m17.5s, with the field of 12 cars on the same lap in the following order after 10 laps: 1. Bret (Bugatti) 32m55s 2. Williams (Bugatti) 33m42s 3. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 34m05s 4. Cereseto (Bugatti) 34m37s 5. Trützschler (Bugatti) 34m42s 6. Moriceau (Amilcar) 35m19s 7. Chiron (Bugatti) 35m51s 8. De Joncy (BNC) 36m08s 9. Falchetto (Tony Special) 36m09s 10. Signoret (Salmson) 36m10s 11. Martinatti (Salmson) 36m11s 12. d'Havrincourt (Salmson) 36m12s The battle was between Bret, Williams Dreyfus and Chiron, the four Bugatti drivers. Bret continued to lead with a good advantage of about 50 seconds ahead of Williams and Dreyfus. Chiron continued to make up time, reducing the gap to the leading drivers. When Cereseto retired his Bugatti on the road to the sea, the field was down to 11 cars. On the fifteenth lap, Bret was still in command and had increased his lead ahead of Williams and Dreyfus, while Chiron had passed Trützschler and was in fourth position chasing after Dreyfus. Until the twentieth lap, there was no change in the order of the leading drivers, although Chiron was gaining on Bret, he only reduced the gap by 20 seconds between laps 10 and 20, an average of a mere two seconds per lap. With 55 laps left to run it looked as if he would be unable to catch Bret, whose average lap time for the last ten laps was 3m18.2s. The order after 20 laps was as follows: 1. Bret (Bugatti) 1h05m57s 2. Williams (Bugatti) 1h07m12s 3. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 1h07m50s 4. Chiron (Bugatti) 1h08m33s 1 lap behind 5. Trützschler (Bugatti) 1h10m01s 1 lap behind 6. Moriceau (Amilcar) 1h10m13s 1 lap behind 7. Falchetto (Tony Special) 1h11m10s 1 lap behind 8. De Joncy (BNC) 1h11m14s 1 lap behind 9. Signoret (Salmson) 1h12m03s 1 lap behind 10. Martinatti (Salmson) 1h12m26s 1 lap behind 11. d'Havrincourt (Salmson) 1h12m40s 2 laps behind On lap 23 Bret stopped at his pit to check the valves, but soon left again. In the meantime, Williams had inherited the lead. On his next lap Bret drove at a quicker pace which resulted in the fastest lap of the race in 3m05s, at an average speed of 79,174 km/h. But something was still wrong with his Bugatti because he stopped again at his pit. Bret drove another fast lap in 3m06s at an average of 78,774 km/h, but he then retired after his 28th lap, when he was already two laps down. Before the 30th lap, Chiron passed Dreyfus for second place and was now only 35 seconds behind Williams and reducing his lead by four or five seconds every lap. De Joncy, who led the 1100 cc category, broke his gearshift lever and retired from the race. Trützschler's Bugatti was no longer shown by the timekeepers' log. Signoret lost more time and was now over two laps behind. Williams was leading since lap 23 and his average lap time for the last ten laps was 3m20.3s. After 30 laps the field was in the following order: 1. Williams (Bugatti) 1h40m35s 2. Chiron (Bugatti) 1h41m10s 3. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 1h41m20s 4. Signoret (Salmson) 1h47m15s 2 lap behind 5. Moriceau (Amilcar) 1h48m08s 2 laps behind 6. Martinatti (Salmson) 1h49m03s 2 laps behind 7. Bret (Bugatti) 1h49m24s 2 laps behind 8. Falchetto (Tony Special) 1h50m26s 2 laps behind 9. d'Havrincourt (Salmson) 1h50m40s 3 laps behind Bret, who had stopped at the pits on lap 28, was unable to restart because of a valve problem that had stopped his splendid race. On lap 34, Chiron had caught up with Williams who resisted his attack, but eventually had to give in and the popular Chiron retook the lead after some exciting wheel to wheel racing. The public responded with an enthusiastic ovation. After 35 laps, Chiron had covered 142.45 kilometers in two hours. Dreyfus had fallen four minutes behind Williams. He might have had an off-course excursion or made a stop at his pit but this was nowhere reported. There were just seven cars left after d'Havrincourt retired his Salmson. At the end of 40 laps Chiron led the race with an average speed of 72.985 km/h, while his average lap time for his last ten laps was 3m15.8s. The order after 40 laps was as follows: 1. Chiron (Bugatti) 2h13m48s 2. Williams (Bugatti) 2h14m43s 3. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 2h18m29s 1 lap behind 4. Moriceau (Amilcar) 2h22m56s 2 laps behind 5. Signoret (Salmson) 2h23m36s 2 lap behind 6. Falchetto (Tony Special) 2h26m12s 4 laps behind 7. Martinatti (Salmson) 2h26m53s 4 laps behind 8. d'Havrincourt (Salmson) 2h42m30s 8 laps behind Louis Chiron continuously increased his lead. On lap 47 he was 2m7.2s ahead of Williams, all others were already lapped. Chiron's average lap time for his last ten laps had slowed by one second per lap to 3m16.8s. After 50 laps the field there were just seven cars left in the following order: 1. Chiron (Bugatti) 2h46m36s 2. Williams (Bugatti) 2h49m25s 3. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 2h53m35s 1 lap behind 4. Moriceau (Amilcar) 2h57m48s 3 laps behind 5. Signoret (Salmson) 2h59m55s 4 lap behind 6. Falchetto (Tony Special) 3h02m10s 5 laps behind 7. Martinatti (Salmson) 3h03m55s 6 laps behind On the 52nd lap, Chiron lapped Williams but a few circuits later made a refueling stop and Williams was able to un-lap himself. Chiron quickly left his pit and swiftly made up for the lost time. Williams was on the same lap, Dreyfus regained one lap, all the remaining cars had been lapped at least three times by Chiron. At the 60th lap, which was after 240.420 km, Chiron was first in 3h21m25s, when his average lap time had slowed to 3m28.9s caused by his pit stop. The field was in the following order after 60 laps: 1. Chiron (Bugatti) 3h21m25s 2. Williams (Bugatti) 3h24m12s 3. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 3h28m07s 1 lap behind 4. Moriceau (Amilcar) 3h34m28s 3 laps behind 5. Signoret (Salmson) 3h36m52s 4 laps behind 6. Martinatti (Salmson) 3h41m44s 5 laps behind 7. Falchetto (Tony Special) 3h42m10s 5 laps behind Chiron once more stopped briefly at his pit and lost time. Williams passed Chiron in his pit and un-lapped himself again. On lap 69 Chiron had made up the time lost during his stop to refuel and lapped Williams again. Chiron's average lap time for the last ten laps had increased to 3m18.1s. After 70 laps the order was: 1. Chiron (Bugatti) 3h54m26s 2. Williams (Bugatti) 3h57m47s 1 lap behind 3. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 4h02m09s 2 laps behind 4. Moriceau (Amilcar) 4h09m43s 4 laps behind 5. Signoret (Salmson) 4h13m45s 6 laps behind 6. Martinatti (Salmson) 4h19m05s 7 laps behind 7. Falchetto (Tony Special) no time Williams stopped at his pit on lap 72. There were no further changes in the positions and Chiron crossed the finishing line in triumph, greeted by a huge ovation. He had lapped Williams and Dreyfus twice and all others several times, maintaining his fast pace throughout the race. But the times suggest that Bret would have beaten him if he hadn't retired. Chiron covered the 305 km circuit in 4h10m43.4s ahead of his rival Williams who finished eight minutes later, Dreyfus in third place, who was a true revelation of the race, followed by Moriceau and Signoret. Classified in the very last places, without being given times or laps completed, were Martinatti and Falchetto. The two class winners and Dreyfus in the 1500 Bugatti were subject to a wild ovation from the crowd and performed a lap of honor in which the drivers were warmly acclaimed while the remaining drivers finished the race, completing the required 75 laps to be classified. The public invaded the track and Chiron was carried in triumph.