Another street circuit victory for Trossi

The race was run in two heats plus a final with Trossi winning the first heat for Scuderia Ferrari from Falchetto (Maserati) while Straight (Maserati) won the second heat from Lehoux (Alfa Romeo). In the final Etancelin took the lead followed by Lehoux. The latter however hit a kerb and had to make a pit stop. After the first lap Etancelin held a 12 seconds lead over Trossi with Straight, Dreyfus and Falchetto following. Dreyfus pulled his Bugatti up to 2nd place and Straight passed Trossi as well. Soon however Trossi started to speed up and repassed both Straight and Dreyfus. As the race went on Etancelin's car developed serious brake problems. The French driver could only look on as first Trossi and then Straight passed. So in the end it was yet another victory for the Ferrari team.

The AC de Vichy organized with the help of the AC of Auvergne a big meeting including a rally, a concours d'elegance and the first and only Vichy Grand Prix race. The 2,357 km long circuit selected was circling the stadium at the north part of the city and passed on bridges over the Le Sichon river twice. The longest straight had a length of 482.1 m. The circuit had 7 sharp right-angle turns plus three fairly smooth curves. It was a circuit that put high demand on the gearboxes and brakes. The race was to be run in two 30 lap heats and a 60 lap final. Initially it was announced that the top four from each heat plus the fastest of the fifth positioned drivers would qualify for the final.       The prizes in the final were 50,000 fr, 20,000 fr, 15,000 fr and 8,000 fr for the top four finishers plus 3,000 fr for the fastest lap. 5,000 fr was to be awarded to the winner of each heat, but it was not possible to combine that prize with the prizes in the final.

Entries: As the race was run the same day as the German Grand Prix several of the top drivers were missing but Scuderia Ferrari, hoping for an victory and the prize money that followed, divided their efforts and entered two Tipo B3/P3s with Count Trossi and Marcel Lehoux as drivers. There were four Alfa Romeo Monzas in the race. Giuseppe Farina raced a Monza owned by Piero Dusio and Ecurie Braillard entered a Monza for José Scaron and a Maserati for Falchetto (see below). Mlle Hellé-Nice and Juan Zanelli also raced Monzas.       The Alfa Romeos were challenged by five Maserati 8CMs, Etancelin's light blue #3010, Sommer's two seater #3006, José de Villapadierna's yellow #3020, Whitney Straight's white-blue #3012 and Ecurie Braillard's #2009 for Benoît Falchetto. Gruppo Genovese San Giorgio entered an old Maserati 26M for Clement Biondetti.       After the unsuccessful French GP the demoralized Bugatti team were non starters both at the Marne and the German GPs but sent a single 2.8 litre T59 to Vichy to be raced by René Dreyfus. There were also six Bugatti T51 entries and Mme. Itier entered a T51A voiturette.

Practice: The practice sessions took place between 6 and 7:30 a.m. Thursday to Saturday. The Thursday session was delayed by heavy showers. Only four drivers took part with Lehoux being fastest with a time of 1m46.8s. Scuderia Ferrari's test driver Attilo Marinoni practiced Trossi's car during that session.       Fifteen drivers took part in the second session that was run in good weather. Lehoux was fastest again improving his time to 1m40.6s followed by Etancelin who did a 1m40.8s lap. Biondetti arrived too late to take part in the practice and de Villapadierna was still waiting for his car to arrive.       Rain interfered with the Saturday session but that did not hinder Etancelin from making the fastest practice lap setting a time of 1m40.2s, a tenth of a second faster than Lehoux. Gaupillat entered a corner too fast and his Bugatti made a spin and rolled over, fortunately ending up on its wheels again. Eonnet and Howe did not show up for the last session and the organizers were still waiting to hear something from Zanelli and Farina. A complete list of the times is seen below: Thursday Friday Saturday Etancelin (Maserati) - 1m40.8s 1m40.2s Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 1m48.6s 1m40.6s 1m40.3s Trossi* (Alfa Romeo) 1m53.0s 1m43.0s 1m41.1s Straight (Maserati) - 1m44.0s 1m42.3s Dreyfus (Bugatti) - 1m42.8s 1m43.2s Falchetto (Maserati) - 1m43.0s 1m43.6s Scaron (Alfa Romeo) - 1m46.0s 1m45.6s Brunet (Bugatti) - 1m48.4s 1m51.4s Biondetti (Maserati) - - 1m49.1s Delmo (Bugatti) - 2m07.6s 1m49.3s Veyron (Bugatti) - 1m51.8s 1m49.4s Sommer (Maserati) - - 1m51.0s Hellé-Nice (Alfa Romeo) 2m04.0s 1m51.0s 1m53.3s Rose-Itier (Bugatti) 2m04.0s 1m52.2s 1m58.7s Gaupillat (Bugatti) - 1m52.8s crash Villapadierna (Maserati) - - 1m52.8s Eonnet (Bugatti) - 1m55.0s - Howe (Bugatti) - 1m55.0s? - Zanelli (Alfa Romeo) - - - Farina (Alfa Romeo) - - - * Marioni raced Trossi's car during first practice.

Heat 1: Both Zanelli and Farina appeared for the race. According to the newspapers Farina had been assigned to the first heat but for some reason he was moved to the second so there were nine competitors in the first heat and eleven in the second. Despite the fact that l'Auto claims it was a 3-3 grid a picture from the final shows a 2-2 grid and we here show a 2-2 grid for the heats as well as the road at the grid was quite narrow.

4 Trossi Alfa Romeo 1m41.1s 6 Etancelin Maserati 1m40.2s 28 Scaron Alfa Romeo 1m45.6s 30 Falchetto Maserati 1m43.0s 10 Veyron Bugatti 1m49.4s 22 Delmo Bugatti 1m49.3s 40 Gaupillat Bugatti 1m52.8s 24 Rose-Itier Bugatti 1m52.2s 20 Zanelli Alfa Romeo -

There was fear of rain when the first 30 lap heat was flagged away at 2 p.m. Only eight cars went away while Zanelli remained standing on the grid due to a transmission problem that forced him to immediately abandon the race. After the first lap the order was Trossi, Falchetto, Etancelin, Scaron, Delmo, Gaupillat, Itier, and Veyron. Trossi made the second lap in 1m42.3s.       As only the heat winner would be awarded a prize and as the finishing order would not affect the grid order in the final the competitors did not make a great effort to race each other but rather kept on to their positions making sure to keep themselves in the top five. Gaupillat retired his Bugatti after 7 laps. The first position exchange of the race came on the tenth lap when Etancelin passed Falchetto for second position. The race order after 10 laps looked like this: 1. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 17m26.8s (81.1 km/h) 2. Etancelin (Maserati) 18m09.8s 3. Falchetto (Maserati) 18m11.5s 4. Scaron (Alfa Romeo) 18m37.9s 5. Delmo (Bugatti) 19m24.4s 6. Itier (Bugatti) 19m46.8s 7. Veyron (Bugatti) 19m54.2s On the 14th lap Trossi improved the fastest lap time to 1m42.2s. On the 16th turn Delmo lost a wheel and crashed but the driver escaped unhurt. Veyron passed Itier for fifth position. During the twentieth round, Falchetto re-took second position from Etancelin. The situation after 20 laps was: 1. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 34m53.1s (81.1 km/h) 2. Falchetto (Maserati) 35m45.4s 3. Etancelin (Maserati) 35m50.5s 4. Scaron (Alfa Romeo) 36m59.4s 5. Veyron (Bugatti) 38m46.0s 6. Itier (Bugatti) 39m46.2s There were no position changes during the last ten laps. So Trossi won the heat while all the other drivers who took the flag except for Itier also qualified for the final.

Heat 2: After a 15 minutes interval the second heat started with 11 cars.

26 Straight Maserati 1m42.3s 2 Lehoux Alfa Romeo 1m40.3s 14 Brunet Bugatti 1m48.4s 8 Dreyfus Bugatti 1m42.8s 12 Sommer Maserati 1m51.0s 16 Biondetti Maserati 1m49.1s 24 Villapadierna Maserati 1m52.8s 36 Hellé-Nice Alfa Romeo 1m51.0s 18 Howe Bugatti 1m55.0s? 32 Eonnet Bugatti 1m55.0s 38 Farina Alfa Romeo -

As the cars were flagged away a heavy downpour hit the track. The spectators took protection while waiting for the final, so the second heat was mostly run for empty stands.       At the end of the first lap Straight held a huge lead while Lehoux behind him preferred to advance cautiously. Near the finish line Straight lost control of his Maserati and spun a full circle but had already opened up such a gap that he held on to his lead. Behind him followed Lehoux, Dreyfus, Howe, Brunet, Biondetti, Sommer, Farina de Villapadierna and Eonnet.       On the second lap Brunet passed Howe for fourth position. In the slippery conditions the speeds were naturally much slower than in the first heat. After four laps Sommer retired his Maserati. Straight's fifth lap with a time of 1m55.5s was the fastest of the race thus far. It was bettered by Lehoux on the 9th laps to 1m54.1s.       The race classification after 10 laps was as follows. 1. Straight (Maserati) 19m20.6s (73.1 km/h) 2. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 19m27.3s 3. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 19m36.0s 4. Brunet (Bugatti) 20m02.4s 5. Howe (Bugatti) 20m09.2s 6. Biondetti (Maserati) 20m10.9s 7. de Villapadierna (Maserati) 20m30.1s 8. Hellé-Nice (Alfa Romeo) 20m34.0s 9. Farina (Alfa Romeo) 21m20.8s 10. Eonnet (Bugatti) 22m05.6s Biondetti retired from the race. As the rain slowed down the lap times started to improve. Dreyfus went down to 1m54.3s on lap 12 and that time was improved on the next lap by Straight to 1m52.6 and then further by Lehoux to 1m51.7s on lap 15.       Lehoux was catching the leader. He made the 17th lap in 1m51.1s closing the gap to 2.8 seconds. Straight answered by increasing his speed, doing the 19th lap in 1m47.8s, but Lehoux answered immediately by doing the same lap in 1m45.8s. On the 20th lap Lehoux might have made some mistake as the gap suddenly was up to 7.3 seconds.       The race order after 20 laps looked like this: 1. Straight (Maserati) 38m09.9s (74.1 km/h) 2. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 38m17.2s 3. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 38m36.3s 4. Brunet (Bugatti) 39m49.9s 5. Howe (Bugatti) 40m12.8s 6. de Villapadierna (Maserati) 40m16.2s 7. Hellé-Nice (Alfa Romeo) 40m32.4s 8. Farina (Alfa Romeo) 41m08.0s 9. Eonnet (Bugatti) 43m20.7s Brunet retired his Bugatti after 23 laps. Lehoux closed in on Straight again and caught the leader on the 25th lap. For the rest of the race the two drivers were racing neck to neck but the American Maserati driver kept on to his lead, doing the 27th lap in 1m44.6s. On the last lap Lehoux made the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m44.5s but was unable to find a way past Straight, who took the victory of the race with a margin of 1.1 seconds. Bugatti drivers Dreyfus and Howe were third and fourth and de Villapadierna with his yellow Maserati also qualified for the final.

Final: Initially it was announced that the top four from each heat plus the faster of the two fifth positioned would qualify for the final but possibly due to the rain in the second heat it was decided that the top five from each heat would take part. Despite the fact that Straight had won the second heat he was placed fourth on the grid. That would indicate that the practice times decided also the grid in the final. That would give the following grid (a picture from the grid shows only the positions of the top four plus Falchetto).

2 Lehoux Alfa Romeo 1m40.3s 6 Etancelin Maserati 1m40.2s 26 Straight Maserati 1m42.3s 4 Trossi Alfa Romeo 1m41.1s 30 Falchetto Maserati 1m43.0s 8 Dreyfus Bugatti 1m42.8s 10 Veyron Bugatti 1m49.4s 28 Scaron Alfa Romeo 1m45.6s 18 Howe Bugatti 1m55.0s? 24 Villapadierna Maserati 1m52.8s

The flag was dropped at 4:33 p.m. Etancelin immediately took the lead followed by Lehoux. But the latter overdid it in a corner, hit a kerb and bent his left rear wheel. So at the end of the lap Etancelin was already seven seconds in front of Trossi. Behind them followed Straight, Dreyfus, Falchetto, Scaron, Veyron, de Villapadierna and Howe while Lehoux stopped in the pit to change the wheel. He returned to the race in last position but set off at full speed determined to take in the lost time.       At the end of the second lap Etancelin had increased his lead to 12 seconds. Dreyfus with his Bugatti passed Straight and closed in on Trossi and at the beginning of the 4th lap, to the joy of the spectators, he managed to pass the Alfa Romeo on the short 200 meter straight in front of the grandstand to take over second position       Etancelin covered the 5th lap in 1m41.9s. That proved to be the fastest lap of the race. After eight laps he led Dreyfus by 18 seconds and two laps later the distance remained the same. De Villapadierna had retired his Maserati reducing the competitors to nine.       The race order after 10 laps: 1. Etancelin (Maserati) 17m13.9s (82.0 km/h) 2. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 17m31.6s 3. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 17m35.6s 4. Straight (Maserati) 17m49.8s 5. Scaron (Alfa Romeo) 18m05.8s Straight closed in on Trossi, who was unable to keep Dreyfus' pace, and on the 13th lap Straight passed the Alfa Romeo for third position. Further down Lehoux passed Falchetto moving up to 8th position.       After 15 laps Etancelin was leading Dreyfus by 16.4s, Straight by 43.3s and Trossi by 51.1s. Five laps later Etancelin's lead had increased to 20 seconds over Dreyfus while Trossi, urged by the pit to increase speed, started to close in on those in front of him       The situation after 20 laps looked like this. 1. Etancelin (Maserati) 34m37.6s (81.7 km/h) 2. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 34m57.6s 3. Straight (Maserati) 35m20.6s 4. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 35m23.1s 5. Scaron (Alfa Romeo) 36m12.1s 6. Veyron (Bugatti) 36m45.5s 7. Howe (Bugatti) 37m18.5s 8. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 37m19.4s 9. Falchetto (Maserati) 39m49.0s On the 21st lap, Lehoux passed Howe for seventh position. On the 23rd lap, Trossi passed Straight, resuming his third position and started to close in on Dreyfus. On the same lap Falchetto retired due to brake problems.       After 25 laps Etancelin still held a 18.6s lead but as seen in earlier races the Maserati brakes when pushed to their limits started to decline. Veyron retired his Bugatti so that only seven cars remained in the race.       On the 30th lap Trossi passed Dreyfus' Bugatti for second position. The gap to leading Etancelin had decreased to 14 seconds.       The order halfway through the race was as follows: 1. Etancelin (Maserati) 52m22.9s (81.0 km/h) 2. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 52m36.9s 3. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 52m40.7s 4. Straight (Maserati) 52m56.7s 5. Scaron (Alfa Romeo) 54m32.4s 6. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 55m03.7s 7. Howe (Bugatti) 55m50.3s The next laps were decisive for the race. Just as at the Montreux Grand Prix Etancelin was forced to go slower and slower as the brakes failed. After 33 laps his lead was down to just two seconds and on the 34th lap Trossi took over the lead of the race. On the 35th lap Straight passed a struggling Dreyfus for third position. Lehoux, keeping an even faster pace than his team mate Trossi, was closing in on Scaron and finally passed him for fifth position.       After 40 laps Trossi already held a 10.6 seconds lead over Etancelin and Straight was closing in on the latter.       The race order after 40 laps: 1. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 1h09m39.4s (81.2 km/h) 2. Etancelin (Maserati) 1h09m50s 3. Straight (Maserati) 1h10m08s 4. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 1h10m26s The magazine Le Matin tells that Lehoux attacked and passed Dreyfus on the 41st lap. While technically true, Lehoux gained no position as he was a lap down on the Bugatti driver.       Etancelin struggled more and more with his brakes and threw his arms up in despair as he passed his pit. On the 48th lap he had to see Straight, whose Maserati did not seem to have suffered from the same brake problems, pass him for second position. With ten laps to go Trossi held a 17.4s lead over Straight who however was closing in fast.       The race situation after 50 laps: 1. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 1h28m00.9s (80.3 km/h) 2. Straight (Maserati) 1h28m18.3s 3. Etancelin (Maserati) 1h28m30.2s 4. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 1h29m04.1s 5. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 1h30m16.6s 6. Scaron (Alfa Romeo) 1h30m43.8s During the last laps Straight reduced the gap to the leader to 5 seconds, but Trossi held on to take the victory for Scuderia Ferrari. Straight finished second and Etancelin managed to hold on to third position as Dreyfus also was struggling. As Lehoux finished fifth the crowd had already invaded the circuit and Scaron and Howe were flagged off without having done their last laps.

Gaupillat's crash casts a shadow over an exciting race

The event included two heats and a final. In the first heat Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) held an early lead but after suffering from a gearbox problem he had to settle for second position behind Etancelin (Maserati).       Chiron (Alfa Romeo) led the second heat from start to finish with Zehender (Maserati) second. Gaupillat lost control of his Bugatti and crashed with fatal results. Mays retired the new ERA in its first continental appearance.       The final developed into a fight between Lehoux and Etancelin. The former took the start followed by Chiron but the Alfa driver made a mistake at Saint Aubyn and hit the bank hard. Etancelin followed the leading Lehoux closely and was soon by only to be repassed almost immediately. The top duo continued to swap places until the 23rd lap when Lehoux had to make a pit stop for new plugs leaving the Maserati driver in front with a two minutes lead. So Etancelin took the victory followed by Lehoux and Howe.

The Dieppe event was organized by the Comité du cicuit de Dieppe, l'Automobile-Club de l'Ouest and the Dieppe motorcycle club and was supported by the newspapers Le Matin and Journal de Rouen. The event included apart from the grand prix also a rally, a motorcycle race and a concours d'elegance.       TheGrand Prix de Dieppe, one of two Grand Prix races held in France on that day, was run in two heats plus a final with the top five finishers from each heat. A minimum distance of 13 laps was also demanded for a driver to be classified in the heats and 26 laps for a classification in the final.       Prizes provided were 40,000 fr, 25,000, 15,000, 10,000 and 5,000 for the top five finishers in the final.

Entries: The race was run the same day as the Coppa Ciano and the Albi Grand Prix. Just as at the week before Scuderia Ferrari had to divide their efforts with Varzi, Moll, Barbieri and Aldrighetti racing at Livorno while two Tipo B/P3s were sent to Dieppe for Louis Chiron and Marcel Lehoux. José Scaron raced Raymond Sommer's Alfa Romeo Monza while Mlle "Hellé-Nice" raced a Monza entered by Marcel Lehoux.       Philippe Etancelin raced his blue Maserati 8CM. Two yellow Maseratis 8CM were entered by Conte de Villapadierna for himself and for Goffredo Zehender while Gruppo Genovese San Giorgio entered a Maserati 26M for Clemente Biondetti.       The Whitney Straight team with Hugh Hamilton was racing at Albi but there were a lot of British drivers who took the short trip across the Channel to Dieppe. Most interesting was the prototype ERA (R1A), making its first continental appearance with Raymond Mays as driver. Clifton Penn-Huges entered an Alfa Romeo Monza. Frederick Clifford entered an Alfa Romeo Monza as well. It was the Abecassis' car that Vasco Sameiro had raced at Mannin Moar, but the car had been sent to Italy for an upgrade and possibly did not get ready in time. In the end Clifford would race a 2 litre Bugatti (probably a T35C) bought according to The Motor "from Hellé-Nice on the eve of the race".       John Ford entered a M.G. K3 Magnette with a Zoller supercharger while Earl Howe entered his 8-cylinder Maserati. There were three British Bugatti T51s, Tim Rose-Richards with #51145, Lindsay Eccles with #51150 and Chris Staniland with T.A.S.O. Mathieson's #51148.       There were several French Bugatti T51 entries as well: Jean Delorme (#51149), Jean Gaupillat (#51130), and Robert Eonnet and Robert Cazaux entered a T35B (#4847) converted to T51.

Practice: There were practice sessions on Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 7 a.m. but the practice times did not affect the grid order.       Lehoux was fastest during Friday with a time of 3m36s, followed by Etancelin 3m38s. Howe, Rose- Richards, Mays, Eccles, Penn-Hughes, Mays, Ford, Staniland, Biondetti, Zehender, Villapadierna, Delorme, Gaupillat, Eonnet and Hellé-Nice also took part in the first practice.       Around 3 o'clock on Friday night a violent storm hit Dieppe and continued until around 4:30. As potential spectators were frightened off by fear of a new downpour at Saturday, the second practice was watched by only a small audience. The best Friday times were not beaten. Chiron, who had arrived during the night, was fastest with a time of 3m43.2s. The times for the other drivers were: Lehoux 3m45.1s, Zehender 4m03.2s, Howe 4m02.7s, Rose-Richards 4m16s, Eonnet 4m03s, Ford 4m07s, Delorme 4m23s, Villapadierna 4m30s and Hellé-Nice 4m35s. Etancelin, satisfied with his Maserati's Friday performance, did not take part in the Saturday practice.

Heat 1: The Dieppe races had a history of rainy weather but Sunday came with a bright sky, a beautiful sun and hot temperatures. By 9 a.m. both stands holding 3000 persons and the other spectator areas were already packed with spectators.       The grid order for the two heats was decided by ballot. The first one hour heat consisted of cars with even numbers but #27 Eccles was added to this heat as tenth driver. The grid looked like this.

2 Etancelin Maserati 4 Lehoux Alfa Romeo 24 Villapadierna Maserati 20 Ford MG 26 Staniland Bugatti 8 Penn-Hughes Alfa Romeo 16 Eonnet Bugatti 27 Eccles Bugatti 6 Scaron Alfa Romeo 10 Clifford Bugatti (Note 1)

At exactly 9:30 a.m. the director of the race, Charles Faroux dropped the flag and the heat was on its way with Lehoux taking the lead. While trying to pass Villapadierna on the downhill left and bend after Val Gosset, Eccles clipped the right hand bank of the road. The Bugatti turned sideways and then rolled over several times. The front axle and wheels and the radiator and bonnet were torn right off the car, which ended up as a total wreck in a cornfield far from the road. Eccles, who lay on the road after having been thrown off, had luckily used a crash helmet that saved him from serious damage. He tried to avoid the following cars by crawling up the steep bank and luckily a nearby commissaire seized his arm and pulled him up to safety. Eccles walked away with only a cut lip and a few bruises.       At the end of the first lap, Lehoux held a five seconds lead over Etancelin. Behind them followed Penn-Hughes, Staniland, Scaron, Villapadierna, Eonnet, Clifford and Ford. Eonnet spun his Bugatti at Maison Blance but was able to continue.       On the second lap Ford had to retire as he went wide at Saint Aubin sur Scie and rammed the straw bales so hard that he was unable to extract his M.G.       At the end of the third lap Lehoux made a fast pit stop to tell the Scuderia Ferrari pit crew that he had lost third gear, a familiar P3 problem. He was sent out again to try to qualify for the final but without any hope for a heat victory. Etancelin now held a 16 seconds lead and he increased it to 19 seconds after five laps and 23 seconds after seven laps. By then he had already lapped Eonnet and Clifford. Meanwhile Staniland had passed Penn-Hughes for third position.       Etancelin had made seven laps in 26m33s (128.9 km/h) and his eighth lap was the fastest of the heat with a time of 3m44.2s (130.9 km/h). After nine laps he held a 31s lead over Lehoux with Staniland in third position a further 39 s behind.       Etancelin made 10 laps in 38m12.4s (128.0 km/h). He then seems to have slowed down a bit as, after 13 laps, the gap to Lehoux was reduced to 21s despite Lehoux' gearbox trouble, while Staniland now was 1m10s behind Lehoux. Further back Penn-Hughes and Scaron were for two laps fighting wheel to wheel for fourth position.       The one hour mark went by before Etancelin had finished his 16th laps so the cars were flagged off with Etancelin 800 meters in front of Lehoux with Staniland, Penn-Hughes and Scaron also making it to the final.       Villapadierna was classified as 6th while Clifford and Eonnet, who were running to the end, were not classified in accordance with the 13 laps minimum rule.

Final: A 250cc, 350cc and 500cc motor cycle race now followed while there was a lunch pause for the car racing teams until three o'clock. However, there was not much rest for the Scuderia Ferrari mechanics as they made a gearbox change on Lehoux's car.       As the time for the two hour long final approached the stands were full. After the Citroen Rosalie VI had made a few laps, the start of the final was given to the ten competitors at 3:15 p.m.

4 Lehoux Alfa Romeo 2 Etancelin Maserati 1 Chiron Alfa Romeo 26 Staniland Bugatti 6 Scaron Alfa Romeo 8 Penn-Hughes Alfa Romeo 7 Howe Maserati 5 Zehender Maserati 19 Hellé-Nice Alfa Romeo 9 Rose-Richards Bugatti (Note 1)

All drivers were moving forward before the start so the start attempt was aborted followed by a new attempt. This time Zehender stalled his Maserati at the start but the other nine competitors got away with Chiron leading but he was soon overtaken by Lehoux.       The road was made very slippery by the tar that melted due to the heat. At St Aubin sur Scie Chiron made a mistake while trying to avoid Etancelin's Maserati, went wide and hit a bank rather heavily.       At the end of the first lap Lehoux led, followed by Etancelin, Staniland, Penn-Hughes, Scaron, Howe, Rose-Richards, Chiron and Hellé-Nice. Chiron made a fast pit stop to check the car. Zehender was finally able to join the race one lap behind the rest of the field.       On the second lap Howe passed Scaron for fifth position. Lehoux and Etancelin were pulling away from the rest of the field. After three laps the gap between them was 3 seconds while third positioned Staniland had already lost 32 s to the leader.       On the fifth lap Etancelin in his fast Maserati passed Lehoux on the straight for the lead only to lose it again during braking for Val Gosset. But Etancelin almost immediately passed the Alfa Romeo again to lead by five seconds after five laps.       At the end of the sixth lap however Lehoux went past the Maserati at Maison Blanche.       Staniland made a long stop at the pits and finally decided to call it a day due to supercharger trouble on his Bugatti. On the next lap Howe passed Penn-Hughes for third position.       Chiron drove his Alfa Romeo to the pits to retire. The left rear shock absorber brackets were broken. After the race Chiron pointed out that the shock absorber was not damaged in his first lap incident but failed due to material fatigue. On the same lap, Zehender abandoned his Maserati at Val Gosset due to brake failure.       After nine laps Etancelin was leading Lehoux by six seconds. Far behind the duo followed the British trio of Howe, Penn-Hughes and Rose-Richards racing close together.       The great fight for the lead continued with Lehoux back at the top on lap 11 with Etancelin following closely. On this circuit Etancelin had the upper hand as the Maserati had higher top speed and he could pass the Alfa Romeo as he pleased on the straights.       Rose-Richards passed Penn-Hughes for fourth position. After 14 laps the British trio was 2m30s behind the leader with Scaron 3m04s behind, while Hellé-Nice was struggling and had lost two laps.       After one hour racing Etancelin took over the lead again but was unable to open up any gap to Lehoux. Far behind them Rose-Richards continued his advance, passing Howe for third position.       After 17 laps Lehoux had passed Etancelin again and the race continued behind them as well by the British drivers, who were keeping the same speed as the leading duo.       Howe reclaimed his third position from Rose-Richards on the 18th laps and the latter had to see Penn-Hughes getting past as well on the next lap. Howe was 2m32s behind the leader after 18 laps. He opened up a six second gap to Penn-Hughes on lap 21 and increased it to eight seconds on the next lap.       On the 23rd lap the race was more or less decided as Lehoux made a lengthy pit stop to change plugs. After 24 laps he was 2m34s behind Etancelin. Lehoux took up the hopeless chase on Etancelin who had slowed down the pace and Lehoux managed to reduce the gap to less than 2 minutes. Behind them Rose-Richards had managed to get his Bugatti up to speed again. He had passed Penn-Hughes for fourth position and was nine seconds behind Howe.       After two hours the race was over and Etancelin took the chequered flag, the only driver to have made 30 laps. So Etancelin made up for his frustrating defeat at Vichy the week before by taking a fine victory over the Scuderia Ferrari team. He was followed by Lehoux, Howe, Rose-Richards, Penn-Hughes and Scaron with Hellé-Nice being a lap behind the others. And for once, thanks to the careful measures taken by the organizers, the track was not invaded by the spectators!

Veyron continues to dominate the voiturette class

The flag was dropped late and Seaman (MG) making his race debut stalled at the start with a boiling engine. Veyron (Bugatti) took the lead of the race but had halfway through the race made a pit stop whereby Léoz Abad (Bugatti) took over the lead. Veyron chased down the Spaniard to eventually take the victory from Léoz Abad with Durand (Bugatti) third.

July 22nd was a busy day for motor racing as there were the Coppa Ciano in Italy and two Grand Prix races in France plus two voiturette races after a break for seven weeks, all on the same day! The race for the 1500cc voiturette class was 18 laps for a distance of 160.4 km.

Entries: The clash of races meant that the entry lists suffered quite a bit. The best known driver in the field was Pierre Veyron with his 8-cylinder Bugatti T51A. He was also to take part in the main race with another Bugatti. Spanish driver Genaro Léoz-Abad or possibly his brother E. Léoz , (E. standing for Enaro or Erano) raced a Bugatti T37A.       Whitney Straight had sold his M.G. to a young man he had met at the Cambridge University Automobile club named Richard "Dick" Seaman (or rather it was Seaman's mother who had bought the car for him). Seaman had earlier taken part only in small events at Brooklands and Donington with a Bugatti and this was his first "real" race.       The rest of the competitors were local French drivers in 4-cylinder T37A Bugattis, Salmsons and other cars.

Race: The event started in the morning with two races for 175cc/250cc and 350cc/500c motorcycles. Then it was time for the 1500 cc voiturettes.

18 Boucly Salmson 4m34s 4 Durand Bugati 4m28s 28 Seaman MG 4m19s 6 Rey Bugatti 5m25s Rest of grid unknown.

At 2:40 p.m. the flag was to be lowered by race director O. Lery but he let the cars stand on the grid so long that some engines started to overheat. When the flag finally was dropped Seaman stalled his boiling engine. Bystanders immediately rushed to the M.G. and gave a push-start and Seaman went away to chase the rest of the field led by Veyron, who was closely followed by Léoz-Abad.       Vaginez made the first lap in 4m10s. He was closely followed by Léoz-Abad and Durand. Rey made a pit stop to fix a carburation problem. After the second lap Veyron still lead with Léoz-Abad 100m behind. Boucly had passed Durand for third position. Vagniez stopped to change spark plugs. Seaman made long pit stop rejoining the race two laps behind the leader.       Veyron made the first five laps in 20m45s (128.8 km/h) with with Léoz-Abad 11s and 45s Boucly behind. Léoz-Abad mad a 4m05s lap (130.9 km/h) lap closing in on the leader but then made a mistake at Saint-Juéry falling back again. Durand passed Boucly at Montplaisir for third position.       On the seventh lap Saint-Jean retired his Amilcar because of a broken supercharger. Seaman, whose car did not go well after overheating, retired as well as did Vagniez. Seaman's misfortunes were not over as he was informed that he had been given a 100 francs fine for the push start.       After eight laps Veyron was leading over Léoz-Abad with Durand and Boucly following far behind.       Veyron's engine was not running well and on the ninth lap he made a pit stop to change a spark plug, giving over the lead to Léoz-Abad. Once away again Veyron took up the chase on the Spaniard. After 12 laps the gap was 36 seconds between them. They were followed by Durand, de Saugé and Rey while Boucly retired his Salmson. After 13 laps the gap between Léoz-Abad and Veyron was 29 seconds and Léoz-Abad signalled the pit he was in trouble. Leaking oil made it hard to use the accelerator. On the next lap it was down to 11 seconds. Veyron caught Léoz-Abad as he passed the stands at the end of the 15th lap and took over the lead at Saint Juéry. Veyron went on to win by 16.4 seconds over Léoz-Abad with Durand third, de Saugé fourth and Ray fifth.

Featherstonhaugh wins for Whitney Straight

Hamilton racing for Whitney Straight took the lead of the race followed by Sommer, Falchetto and Featherstonhaugh, all four in Maseratis. Sommer fell back because of brake trouble, Falchetto had to retire and when Hamilton had to make a pit stop due to engine trouble Featherstonhaugh, another Whitney Straight driver, went on to win the race from Hamilton with Veron (Bugatti) third.

The Grand Prix de l'Albigeois race, organized by Moto Camping Club Albigeois (M.C.C.A), was for the second time raced on the narrow triangular road circuit in southern France The pits and the start were located on the shortest of the straights, the one closest to Albi. The race distance was 30 laps on the 8.911 km circuit for a total of 267.3 km.

Entries: As the race clashed with both Coppa Ciano and the Dieppe the quality of the entry list suffered a bit (Paul Sheldon calls it "the second division") but Team Whitney Straight entered two white-blue cars with Hugh Hamilton racing the 8CM Maserati (#3016) while Rupert "Buddy" Featherstonhaugh (the name is pronounced something like "Fanshaw"), making his first continental race, raced the old 2.5 litre 26M car. Ecurie Braillard entered their two Maserati 8CM cars for Louis Braillard and Benoit Falchetto while Raymond Sommer raced his own 8CM. Juan Zanelli entered his own yellow-blue Alfa Romeo Monza.       The rest of the field consisted of Bugattis of different models including five T51s raced by Veyron (works car #51155 or #51156), Robert Brunet (#51132), André Delom competing under the pseudonym "Delmo" (#51133), Jean Rolland and Spaniard Genaro Léoz Abad (#51153). The name of the latter and his brother is at bit of mystery. The correct name might have been Lehoz with Leóz being a spelling used by the French.       Robert Cazaux was entered for Albi but instead raced Jean Cattaneo's T51 at Dieppe so Cattaneo must have raced a T35B or T35C at Albi (if Cattaneo had used his T51A he would have entered it in the voiturette race). Robert Blondiaux, Clément-Auguste Martin and Michel Roumani also raced Bugattis.

Race: After the voiturette race it was time for the unlimited class. Unfortunately no details about the practice sessions are known but the 15 cars were lined up on the grid according to their practice times with Hamilton on pole position.

26 Hamilton Maserati 12 Sommer Maserati 18 Braillard Maserati 34 Featherstonhaugh Maserati 30 Falchetto Maserati 22 "Delmo" Bugatti 10 Veyron Bugatti 32 Zanelli Alfa Romeo 40 Rolland Bugatti 38 Leóz Abad Bugatti 48 Blondiaux Bugatti 44 Cattaneo Bugatti 42 Brunet Bugatti 52 Martin Bugatti 50 Roumani Bugatti

At 4:30 p.m. race director O. Lery dropped the flag. Hamilton made the best start to cover the standing lap in 2m42s. At the end of the first lap he had already managed to open up a gap to Sommer in second position. They were followed by Falchetto, Braillard and Featherstonhaugh.       On the second lap Braillard made pit stop to change sparking plugs. Brunet also made a stop but returned to the race almost immediately.       Falchetto took over second position from Sommer, who started to suffer from brake trouble. Falchetto however was unable to do anything against Hamilton, who was opening up his lead by every lap. After 5 laps the race order was: 1. Hamilton (Maserati) 18m19s (145.8 km/h) 2. Falchetto (Maserati) 18m52s 3. Sommer (Maserati) 19m17s 4. Featherstonhaugh (Maserati) 5. Veyron (Bugatti) 6. Zanelli (Alfa Romeo) 7. Léoz (Bugatti) 8. "Delmo" (Bugatti) 9. Cattaneo (Bugatti) 10. Rolland (Bugatti) 11. Brunet (Maserati) 12. Blondiaux (Bugatti) 13. Braillard (Maserati) 14. Martin (Bugatt) On the sixth lap Martin retired after having spun his Bugatti at Saint Juéry. On the eighth lap Rolland called it a day as well with a broken oil pump on his Bugatti. Featherstonhaugh had passed Sommer and had closed in on Falchetto, who was driving wildly to keep his place. After 10 laps the race order was: 1. Hamilton (Maserati) 36m41s (145.8 km/h) 2. Falchetto (Maserati) 3. Featherstonhaugh (Maserati) 4. Sommer (Maserati) 5. Veyron (Bugatti) 6. Zanelli (Alfa Romeo) 7. Léoz (Bugatti) 8. Cattaneo (Bugatti) 9. Brunet (Maserati) 10. "Delmo" (Bugatti) 11. Blondiaux (Bugatti) 12. Braillard (Maserati) 13. Roumani (Bugatti) On the 11th lap Falchetto had to stop his Maserati due to mechanical problems leaving the two Whitney Straight Maseratis in the top positions.       On the 14th lap race leader Hamilton had made a pit stop with the car running on seven cylinders. Instead of spending time on long and possibly fruitless repairs it was decided that Hamilton should try to take the car to the finish in current condition. So Hamilton returned to the race in third position behind his team-mate Featherstonhaugh and Sommer.       After 15 laps, halfway through the race, the situation looked like this: 1. Featherstonhaugh (Maserati) 56m44s? 2. Sommer (Maserati) 58m46s? 3. Hamilton (Maserati) 4. Veyron (Bugatti) 5. Zanelli (Alfa Romeo) 6. Léoz (Bugatti) 7. Braillard (Maserati) 8. Brunet (Maserati) 9. "Delmo" (Bugatti) 10. Roumani (Bugatti) 11. Blondiaux (Bugatti) Sommer broke the lap record with a time of 3m35s (149.2 km/h) but Featherstonhaugh, now well in front, was driving fast and consistently, making five consecutive laps with times between 3m36s and 3m37s to keep on to his two minutes lead.       Sommer made a pit stop in an attempt to cure a brake problem but after discussing with his mechanic he decided to carry on racing using his hand brake only. He eventually dropped to fourth position behind Hamilton and Veyron.       Near the end of the race Roumani lost control of his Bugatti in the curve after the pits and crashed through a fence but walked away from the incident without any injury. Leóz Abad's Bugatti lost a wheel at Saint Juéry but the driver was able to stop without crashing.       After 20 laps Featherstonhaugh took the chequered flag as winner of the race. Hamilton finished second with his troublesome engine almost 1 ½ minute behind his team-mate while the rest of the field had been lapped. Veyron finished third, Sommer struggled to the finish in fourth position and Zanelli was fifth.