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[alessandro silva]

Posted by Hans Etzrodt in another thread:



The ALLGEMEINE AUTOMOBIL ZEITUNG (Wien) reported in # 22 of November 15, 1925 about the Paris meetings and the international sporting calendar. The calendar text began, ..." Further, the dates were determined of the following five Grandes Épreuves, which count towards the 1926 Automobile World Championship May 30 - Grand Prix of Indianapolis
June 27 - Grand Prix of the French Automobile Club (Miramas)
July 25 - Grand Prix of Europe, organized by the Royal Spanish Automobile Club (San Sebastian)
August 2 - Grand Prix of the Royal English Automobile Club (500-mile race on the Brooklands track)
September 5 - Grand Prix of Italy.
It might indeed be of interest when the term 'Grande Épreuve' appeared first.....

I would be interested too.
it should have begun earlier in the 20s when other - than French - national GPs started to be held.
It was not just a honorary title but it carried privileges such as no other international race the same date, reasonable spacing between Grandes Epreuves...... and what else?
I' d like to know also when the title was resumed after WWII. I found the term "Epreuves à priorité" for 1948, meaning that no other international race could be held on that day. Apparently each country had the right to a fixed number of Epreuves à priorité. I remember that there was discussion between British and French about this some pre-war year, but I could find the citation any more.

[Vitesse2]

My guess, unsupported by any detailed research, would be that the term was actually coined for the 1925 season to distinguish the four events which were to make up the first World Championship: Indianapolis and the Grands Prix of Belgium, France and Italy.

Pritchard and Davey's Encyclopaedia of Motor Racing defines Grande Épreuves as "those events which, because of long establishment, have priority in fixing the International Calendar".

Perhaps the two terms became synonymous?