6 replies to this topic

[Seppi_0_917PA]

"Back in the 1920s there were not as many permanent racing facilities as there are today. There were fewer aerodromes as well and that meant that racers generally had to use road courses. Unless there a long beach - with nice hard sand..."

 

This article can be found beginning on page 38 of the free sample issue of Grand Prix + magazine: https://joesaward.fi...p159abdab14.pdf

I had never heard of these beach races before.

[taylov]

Check out Leif's wonderful website -  http://www.kolumbus....snellman/t1.htm

 

Tony

[Vitesse2]

Interesting to see something on La Baule in English.There's actually an error in the text on the 1938 and 1939 races though: the 1938 race was stopped after 40 of 50 laps, not 43. However, the abandoned 1939 race - a 'hare and hounds' sports car handicap - was due to be run over 43.

 

For those unaware of it there is a self-published book in French called La Baule Escoublac et l'Automobile by Gaël Archimbaud, which records the first use of the beach at La Baule for racing - by US troops awaiting repatriation in June 1919. At least one well-known US driver of the time - Paul Harvey, who had been hoping to compete in the first post-war Indy 500, but was still stuck in France - was among the competitors. It was also extensively reported in Stars & Stripes.

 

La Baule beach also saw the abortive test runs of René Stapp's LSR contender in 1932. It caught fire ...

 

[Tuboscocca]

"Back in the 1920s there were not as many permanent racing facilities as there are today. There were fewer aerodromes as well and that meant that racers generally had to use road courses. Unless there a long beach - with nice hard sand..."

 

This article can be found beginning on page 38 of the free sample issue of Grand Prix + magazine: https://joesaward.fi...p159abdab14.pdf

I had never heard of these beach races before.

..and a Formula 2 race in 1952. This time not on the beach, but on a nearby airport. Ferrari entered and won.

 

http://www.silhouet..../1952.html#baul

 

 

J-P Beltoise mentions this race( in his biography) , which he visited on his holidays, as the 'starting point' for his race-interest.

 

La Baule is still very fashionable

 

 

Michael

[robjohn]

Beach racing was popular in New Zealand too. One account says it began in 1912 and lists seven venues used into the late 1930s.
It appears to have been the main form of motor-racing (as distinct from hillclimbs and sprints) until dirt oval 'speedway' racing became widely popular in the mid-late 1930s. The beach races drew entries from Australia and from some New Zealand dealerships (importers).
I don't know the exact legal position, but it seems to have been near-impossible to close public roads for racing. There was apparently just one 'road race' meeting before WWII, on unsealed roads on the outskirts of Auckland in 1933.
Cars that raced on the beaches included Bugattis, Brooklands Vauxhalls, American Mercer and Miller racers, ex-TT and grand prix Sunbeams, one of the Parry Thomas Brooklands cars, a Stutz, Rileys, Austins (including the Ulster) and in the early years modified Model Ts.
Other marques in the records include Alvis, Fiat, Chrysler, Essex, Cadillac, Packard, Hudson, Buick and Wolseley, many of them modified or the basis for Kiwi specials.
Photos confirm there were plenty of outright racing cars.
Scott Thomson's 2006 book on Ron Roycroft, Up to Speed, has chapters on most of this period. An earlier book, Flat to the Boards, by Dick Messenger and Doug Wood, is said to cover pre-WWII motor racing in NZ comprehensively. Graham Vercoe's 1991 book Historic Racing Cars of New Zealand describes many of the significant machines.

Rob B

 

[Glengavel]

 

La Baule beach also saw the abortive test runs of René Stapp's LSR contender in 1932. It caught fire ...

 

 

Wow, that's, er...just...wow! Where does Muttley sit?

Edited by Glengavel, 19 January 2015 - 10:45.

[Vitesse2]

It did actually carry a riding mechanic! Note that it's road-registered - presumably French construction and use regulations specified the fitting of a spare wheel? Stapp actually drove the thing on the road all the way from Paris to La Baule which, given that it had three aero-engines and no conventional forward vision (just a periscope - that's why he's leaning out of the side!), must have been ... er ... challenging. It also had a Voisin engine, which was said to be used as a starter for the others - reportedly Bristol Jupiters, but possibly licence-built by Gnome-Rhône - but perhaps it also functioned to propel the beast on the road?