Posted 28 June 2006 - 17:33
Many years ago I wrote (for 8W contest) the following about the
1906 French Grand Prix:
François Szisz with his driving mechanic Marteau won the First Grand Prix in 1906. Without question, Michelin had made the victory possible with the introduction of their new detachable wheel rims. But at the same time, the 33-year-old Szisz, at the top of his driving career, drove magnificently, took no chances and had developed a restrained driving style. His victory was not a coincidence! François Szisz with the unspeakable name, also called Ferenc in his native Hungary was born 1873. He came from Vienna to France in 1900 to work for the young successful car factory, founded two years earlier by the Renault brothers Louis, Marcel and Fernand in Billancourt. Louis and Marcel had started racing in 1899 with their tiny shaft-driven voiturettes, were victorious in many races, and had a thriving car production alongside. In 1901, their racing cars had 1-liter 8 hp engines and received their distinctive coal-shovel front. François Szisz was seen for the first time as riding mechanic with Louis Renault in the 1902 Paris–Vienna race with the Renault in the light-car class, equipped with a 3,758 cc 4-cylinder engine. After mixing with the leaders in the early part of the race, they lost several hours in Austria due to accident repairs and ended up in place 28. Marcel Renault, however, ran trouble free, was fastest of the light cars, won the whole race and triumphed over all the heavy cars in the process, a triumph of unprecedented magnitude. At that time, Szisz was chief of the test department at Billancourt.
At the 1903 Paris–Madrid race the Renault voiturettes advanced to 6.3-liter 30 hp engines. It could not be determined if Szisz was again riding mechanic with Louis or perhaps this time with Marcel or if he had missed that race entirely. Regardless, Louis Renault who had started in third position, brought his car home in second place overall. Only after taking the flag at the finish, did he learn about his brother Marcel’s death in a fatal accident and Louis withdrew all of his cars. This tragedy caused the stop of work-supported racing and Louis had decided that he would not himself race again. Renault’s only racing activity during 1904 was to built their first big racing car, a Renault 60 to the 1,000 kg formula for American W. Gould Brokaw. He entered it in the first Vanderbilt Cup race with Frenchman Maurice Bernin as driver but the car retired with propeller shaft problems. In 1905, Renault could no longer afford to stay out of major racing and built a new 12,970 cc 90 hp car. For the first time he had assigned Szisz, the Franco-Hungarian with the unspeakable name, to drive one of the three Renaults at the French eliminating trials for the 1905 Gordon–Bennett Race. Although Szisz was the fastest of the three Renault drivers, he could only hold fourth place after one lap and fell back to eleventh by half time. Despite overheating problems of the pump cooling system and tire troubles, Szisz nursed the Renault home into fifth place, displaying great driving skill, calm character and mechanical sensitivity. It was regrettable that he missed a place in the three car French team for the Gordon–Bennett Race proper. Later that year, the Franco-Hungarian appeared with their new 90 hp car at the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup race at Long Island. On the second lap, he had worked himself into second place. A leaking radiator, ignition and tire trouble eventually put him one lap down. At the end of the race after the fourth car had passed the finish, the disorderly crowd poured on the course with the battle still in progress and the race had to be called. Szisz in fifth position with the others behind him had to stop in the middle of the course and did not take the flag.
Then came the Grand Prix in 1906, the first recognized grand prix race. But preceding it, the annual Gordon Bennett Cup had taken place for six years. This truly international event had been the pinnacle in racing but the rules limited each country to be represented by only three cars. France alone had seven manufacturers of whom any could have been a winner and wanted a race where each factory could be represented by three cars. Because the French auto industry became frustrated with these car-restricting Gordon Bennett Cup regulations, they voiced their concern during the 1904 Salon, the Paris Motor Show. They asked the Automobile Club de France if they could organize a race of their own, called the Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France, unless the rules were changed. This event should be run simultaneously with the 1905 Gordon Bennett Cup where all competing firms would then have an equal chance. The ACF made a counter proposal, which triggered outrage, criticism and protests from all the competing Nations. Nothing else happened and the French postponed the Grand Prix until 1906. The French, British and Italian clubs did not challenge for the 1906 Gordon Bennett Cup race and this opened the way for the Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France. To ensure that the Grand Prix would be the most important event in Europe, the ACF decided on a much longer race than the Gordon Bennett cup, the Circuit des Ardennes, the Vanderbuilt Cup race or the Brescia race. The Grand Prix went anti-clockwise over 12 laps of the fast 103.18 km triangular Sarthe circuit outside Le Mans, run over two days a total of 1,238.16 km. Life was so easy going in 1906 that the organizers, L’Automobile-Club de l’Ouest, could choose Tuesday, 26 and Wednesday, 27 June for their great event. New wooden roads bypassed the little towns of Saint Calais and Vibraye so that the cars could be driven at full speed. After the race, it was found that these sections were dangerous because of the accidents that had taken place. Almost the entire circuit was tarred to keep the dust down. The ACF spent some £14,000 for circuit improvements but only £2,300 on the road surface, which had already deteriorated badly by 26 June because of the uncommonly high amount of traffic just before the race. The regulations were very much the same as in the previous years and the maximum weight limit of 1000 kg was retained plus 7 kg allowance for any car fitted with magneto ignition or engine-driven dynamo. While the Gordon Bennett regulations had not restricted the number of mechanics working on the cars during the race, the Grand Prix rules required for the first time that the driver and riding mechanic do all work alone including the time consuming tire changes. This was a pitiless rule since tire failures were occurring often and with conventional wheels, a tire change took up to 15 minutes of exhausting labor. Long before the event, the experts had agreed that the Grand Prix would be a tire race and that the winner would come from such car and driver, who would spend the least time with fitting new tires. The battle would be between Michelin, Dunlop, and Continental.
For the 1906 Grand Prix, François Szisz and his mechanic Marteau had one of the three 90 hp Renaults. These 1906 cars were not build on advances of their 1905 car but reverted back to old proven designs. The cars received a high-built conventional chassis, a new radiator and the troublesome water pump cooling system from the previous year was reverted to the conventional thermo-syphon system. The front was shaped back to a normal Renault type ‘coal-scuttle.’ All changes were made to improve the reliability of the cars. While the Renaults where still practicing with the unproven new all-metal wire spoke wheels, they reverted to wooden artillery wheels for the race, a safety precaution, since it was not expected that the new wire wheels were to stand up to fast cornering. Then very shortly before the race Renault changed the highly stressed rear wheels with detachable wheel rims developed by Michelin who had made them available just before the race. The detachable wheel rim was to be the decisive factor in the outcome of the race and was therefore the most significant change on the car. To change an entire wheel was not allowed under Grand Prix regulations. Because of the new wheels greater weight, adding an estimated 9kg for each wheel, only three manufacturers were able to use them. Fiat installed the new type on all four wheels, Renault and Clément-Bayard only on the rear wheels. Most cars had been completed for the race and were already close to the maximum allowable weight limit of 1007 kg. Therefore, it was impossible for them to remove weight and make use of the new rims. The tire situation until 1906 had been such that when a car came into the pits for a tire change, it was jacked up front and rear, a horde of mechanics equipped with knives would pounce over the worn tires to pull them down, tear away melted rubber from the rims, lever on new tires and tubes, pump them up and restart by hand cranking. With the new rules for 1906, the driver and riding mechanic were the only ones allowed to do all repairs and carry out the burdensome tire changes, which would take the better part of 15 minutes per wheel. In comparison, the new Michelin spare rims came already fitted with fully inflated tires and were simply placed on the wheels. After putting the car on jacks, the driver and mechanic had to remove only the 8 retaining nuts holding wedges, loosening the separate rim and pull the tire off the wooden-spoked artillery wheel. A new rim with inflated tire already attached was then slid onto the wheel and the eight wheel nuts tightened. It took about four minutes with only the mechanic and driver working to change two rear wheels. The use of the detachable wheel rims not only saved great amounts of time but also eased the amount of strenuous work for the crews. This was an enormous advantage during the tropical heat, which was to plague the first Grand Prix.
The entries comprised ten teams with 23 cars from France, two teams with six starters from Italy and one team with three cars from Germany. Napier, Wolseley and Locomobile did not enter, an open sign of hostility towards the French event by the British and the Americans. Two machines did not clear the scales since the teams were unable to bring these cars down to the 1007 kg maximum weight limit. The new regulations did not require that cars were painted in their national colors and while the Renaults came painted in flame-red, the Lorraine-Dietrichs were blue for France. The ACF had also cooked up a new numbering system for the cars to sever another link with the Gordon Bennett Cup races. Instead of the conventional consecutive numbering, each participating team received a number for all of their cars by drawing lots and a letter identified the individual cars of each team. The retired driver, Chevalier René de Knyff now with the ACF, started the Grand Prix at 6:00 a.m. when he sent away number 1A, Gabriel on Lorraine-Dietrich, followed at 90 second intervals next by number 2A, Lancia on Fiat, then 3A, Szisz on Renault and at 6:49:30 a.m. the last of the 32 cars, number 13C. The speeds were awesome and Vincenzo Lancia on Fiat was the first back at the finish closely followed by Paul Baras on Brasier who established what was to prove the fastest lap of the race at 118.092 km/h on his first circuit and was actually leading the race. Already on lap one Hanriot’s Darracq broke all its valves and De Bosch on Grégoire had to retire as well. Fernand Gabriel was forced to retire his Lorraine-Dietrich when he broke a radius rod and ran over it but was able to keep the swerving car on the road. Fabry took a corner too fast at Vibrae and his wheels collapsed causing him to topple over. He was buried under his Itala until the spectators had put the car right side up again. Baras with his foot flat on the accelerator had worked himself into the lead on the second lap, followed by “Pierry” on Brasier, Weillschott on Fiat and Szisz on Renault. Baron de Caters went out after an accident in his Itala. The Motor reported that after using up all his spare tires he tried to reach the pits on the rim with the result that he had damaged the wheel rim to such an extent that replacement tires could not be fitted and it was not allowed to change the whole wheel. A number of drivers were supposedly forced to retire because they had been racing on after tire failures, which could happen at high-speed tire blowouts. When Alessandro Cagno stopped with a stone-damaged radiator, all Italas were out after two laps racing. Wagner on Darracq also had given up since his engine had broken valves. The significance of the new detachable wheels became apparent when the Renault of Szisz took the lead after lap three. The two fast Brassiers of Barillier and Baras followed him, while Weillschott, Lancia and “Pierry” had fallen already back with tire trouble, doing time-consuming, conventional tire changes. After three laps, the hot sun was beating down from a cloudless sky and the thin asphalt layer had now softened and started to fall apart. The temperature eventually had climbed to 50 degrees Celsius in the sun. Whole sections were ripped off the road on acceleration and braking. With the continuous decay of the roads, flying sharp stones and lumps of asphalt, goggles were smashed and tires now needed non-stop changes. The drivers had a hard time keeping the cars on the pebble-strewn road and passing maneuvers were a tough act. The stop at the depot was not only to change tires but also to replace tar crusted goggles of mechanics and drivers and to have their bloodshot eyes treated. After three laps Salleron retired his Hotchkiss, which went over sideways in a corner, when a wire wheel collapsed. Touloubre went out with broken gearbox on his Clément-Bayard. Edmond in the second Renault could hardly see after flying stones had smashed his goggles and a glass splinter entered his eye. At the end of three laps, he pulled into the pits with unbearable eye pain from flying tar and received medical treatment at the first aid post. Since a relief driver was not allowed to take over until the second day, the half blind man went on but Vaseline put on his face, then melted in the heat and ran down in his almost blinded eye. As Edmond was unable to see the road and when he could no longer bear the pain in his eyes, he withdrew a few miles short of the finish on lap five. After four laps Le Blon on the other Hotchkiss went off the wooden course at St. Calais and seriously bent a rear wheel, which he could rebuild again in over three hours, using spokes borrowed from his teammate Salleron who had crashed nearby. Tart had to give up also after four laps with a broken frame on his Panhard. The next to disappear was Villemain on Clément-Bayard. Vincenzo Florio, founder of the Targa Florio that same year, had to retire his semi-official Mercedes after five laps. While driving at high speed a tire burst and came off the rim. By the time the car had been brought to a standstill, the rim was damaged to such an extent that a replacement tire could not be fitted. Because neither detachable wheel rims were used nor was it allowed to change the whole wheel, the Mercedes had to be retired. Weillschott lost his third place on lap five when his Fiat spun and rolled on a wooden board section around Vibraye and he had to retire. From the 32 cars at the start, only 17 finished the race in scorching summer heat on the first day. At the end of lap six, just before noon, Szisz in first place acknowledged the yellow flag after 5h45m30.4s. He was over 26 minutes ahead of Albert Clément in 6h11m40.6s with Nazzaro on the Fiat another 15 minutes behind. Immediately after passing the finish, the cars were pushed in a parc fermé, an area fenced and locked to prevent any unauthorized work or sabotage. At night three members of the ACF sporting commission stood watch with the help of a turning searchlight.
On the morning of the second day, a well-trained carthorse dragged the racing cars from the parc fermé to the starting line. The grandstand had visibly emptied and a great part of the spectators had left for good the evening before because the outcome of the race seemed to be predictable. Most of the personnel of the already retired cars also stayed away. The cars were started in their finishing order of the previous day and at the time intervals, they had finished. The count had started at midnight, so as Szisz had taken 5h45m30.4s on the first day, he was to start at that precise time in the morning. He was followed by Clément, who had taken 6h11m40.6s the previous day and started at that exact time 6:11:40.6 a.m. Therefore, the exact total running time of any competitor could be told by looking at the watches. Two additional mechanics had permission to restart the engine of each car and Szisz headed straight to his pits where he spent the next 12 minutes to fit new tires and top up the essential fluids. It was clear that Szisz, who had run like clockwork the first day, had to finish first unless something unforeseen would happen to him. The battle for second place lay between Clément, Nazzaro and Shepard. The Brasier team had still all three cars in the race but they were too far behind to have a chance for the first places. When Szisz completed his first lap, eleven cars were still waiting at the start to be sent off. The advantage of Szisz was so great that he could take the race easy and remain in the lead for the rest of the race. When Jenatzy’s Mercedes started the race at 8:07 a.m. and Rougiers’s Lorraine-Dietrich at 8:15 a.m., the leaders Szisz and Clémant had already each completed two laps. The rules allowed changing drivers on the second day. So, Jenatzy who had bravely finished the first day with inflamed eyes injured by tar and dust was replaced by Burton. The 25-year-old Vincenco Lancia, favorite before the race, who had fallen back the first day with repeated repairs to his Fiat’s cooling system, wanted to change with his reserve driver and when he arrived at the pits the reserve could not be found. Lancia was not prepared for that and now had to drive the race in his ordinary suit, as he had no time to change. Szisz, suffering badly from tar-spangled dust, received medical treatment and was determined to stay ahead on the second day. The road surface had become appalling, full of loose stones, rubble and potholes, torn up by the cars on the first day. The corners had changed to groves of loose pebbles through which the cars had to snake their way. This was made worse by some drivers’ cornering technique, for with only the rear-wheel brakes they skidded the backs of these heavy cars through the corners. The intense heat and sharp stones played havoc with the rubber tires. The retirements began when Teste on Panhard crashed spectacularly caused by a broken suspension mount. After hitting a bump, he lost his steering, hit a tree and broke his leg. From all the accidents, this was the only one with some serious consequences. Hémery broke a valve on the last Darracq, the same fate experienced by the other two cars of the team. Rigolly had to give up when the radiator of his Gobron-Brillié started to leak, punctured by flying stones. American Elliot Shepard crashed the last Hotchkiss when one of its wire wheels collapsed. Richez crashed on the ninth lap. The luckless Rougier on the De Dietrich, who had changed with his mechanic 14 tires the first day, retired on the last lap of the second day. The reason given differed. Some said he was totally worn down after unending tire changes, was too exhausted to drive any longer and just gave up. Others report he stopped with a damaged engine. Another source stated that he retired because of problems with the wheel rims. Burton who had taken over Jenatzy’s car lost more time by non-stop tire changes and wanted to give up because a stone had seriously injured his eye but he could be convinced to finish the race. Szisz also had to change 19 tires but with the detachable rims, this had been no problem for him. The time gaps between the drivers on the second day were too big and the only interesting part was the battle between Clément and Nazzaro for second place. On the next to the last lap Szisz broke a rear spring on his Renault but kept going at slightly reduced pace to complete the 1238.16 km in 12h14m07s at an average speed of 101.196 km/h. There was very little applause because the grandstand had been very much deserted by the tired spectators in the tropical heat. Nazzaro, 32m19.4s behind, came second with his Fiat and Albert Clément on Clément-Bayard followed only 3m20.4s behind him, despite his exhausting work of changing his tires the traditional way. Gerald Rose wrote, “Clément must have driven magnificently to have come so close to the leaders, as he lost about ten minutes by every tire change.” Barillier on Brasier and Lancia on the second Fiat were fourth and fifth respectively. American George Heath on Panhard was sixth after 14h47m45.0s. The Mercedes drivers Burton in tenth and Mariaux in eleventh place straggled in four hours after Szisz had finished his race and many spectators had already gone home by that time. The first two cars were equipped with detachable rims and 21-year-old Albert Clément, after an impressive drive, would have been the obvious winner, had he listened to his father’s advise to mount the new Michelin rims as were fitted to the other Clément-Bayards. Only 11 cars out of the 32 finished the grueling long race but Renault was delighted with their success in the Grand Prix because commercial competition was becoming strong. The factory decided to manufacture smaller versions of their victorious car and by doing so, was able to reap a good profit. The arrival of the detachable wheel rim also influenced all designers and forced each of them to carry out a weight reduction of about 50 kg on their 1,000 kg cars. This alone enabled them to install the heavier detachable rims on all four wheels and install a strong carrier to hold two complete rear spare wheels.
After their Grand Prix success, Renault did not enter in other events that year and for 1907, they raced only in the Grand Prix where they appeared with three replicas of previous year’s models which had been sold. The cars were capable of doing 160 km/h but Szisz restrained himself because of the fuel consumption rules in place that year. By doing so, he finished second, only seven minutes behind Nazzaro’s Fiat. After the race the cars were checked and while Szisz had 30¼ liters fuel left in his Renault, Nazzaro was down to 11¼ liters. There was of course speculation to the effect that Szisz might have won had he not worried so much about his fuel. At the 1908 Grand Prix, Szisz was still the Renault strong man but the cars did not figure among the leaders and he was forced out on lap two with a damaged rim after lying in third place. Later the same year at the American Grand Prize at Savannah, two Renaults were entered for François Szisz and American Lewis Strang. Szisz worked himself up to second place by lap three but retired on lap six with broken wheel bearings while in sixth position. The Grand Prize had marked his last drive for Renault, who withdrew from racing with the other manufacturers at the end of 1908. Renault was not to race again on GP level until over sixty years later. Szisz had disappeared until the 1914 Grand Prix where he drove an Alda but never got better than driving in midfield, when he had to change a rear tire of his Alda by the roadside. Breckheimer on his Opel arrived at full speed, invisible through the dust cloud, and accidentally struck the unfortunate Szisz who was laboring with his back turned against the oncoming car. The Alda from Szisz, afterwards driven by his lightly injured mechanic, rolled into the pits on lap 11 with the slightly injured Szisz who also had broken his arm. Despite his condition, 18 days later, Szisz won at a minor 357.3 km French road race near Rochefort on the Anjou circuit. He drove a 12-liter Lorraine-Dietrich and came first after 3h31m06s averaging 104.6 km/h. He said that the course was just as difficult as that used for the Grand Prix. Szisz vanished from sight until he made a grand appearance on his ninety-fifth birthday. His controversial statements at that time puzzled motor journalists. Only later did they find out that it was not Ferenc Szisz but his younger brother who had fooled them and just wanted to share part of Ferenc’s glory. There are statements to the effect that the little stocky Szisz, at age 97, had died June 1970 in Tiszaszentimre, Hungary or could it just as well have been his brother? And what was the fate of the winning 1906 Renault grand prix car? In the early Twenties, the car was supposedly seen again and somebody established its later course. But in 1924, when Szisz intended to purchase the car, which had brought him so much luck, no trail was to be found. The car had been formerly sold for a lot, immediately after the race, to an Englishman after it had been overhauled thoroughly because it did not just win the race but had also served the whole Renault team as a training car. Well, the Englishman drove one year later against a tree and broke his neck. The state attorney confiscated the car and nothing more was heard from it. Then came World War II and all cars were requisitioned. Out of a garage, somewhere, the Renault was pulled out and it now had to do war duty. It came to a fighter Squadron, where it served for express-vacation-trips from the front to Paris. The war over, the worthy Renault was auctioned where it went for 5,500 franc and received a four-seat body. One could see it a few times at Paris surroundings and then it disappeared unobtrusively.
Sources/References:
Beaulieu, Lord Montagu of, THE GORDON BENNETT RACES, London, 1963
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Sorry chaps, but this is not going to be there very long.
) There's a picture in Mathieson taken from further back in the crowd and on that you can actually pick out what appears to be the photographer who took this one!
