1912 French Grand Prix

The 1912 French Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Dieppe on 25–26 June 1912.

Georges Boillot celebrating his win at the 1912 French Grand Prix

1912 French Grand Prix
Race details
Date	25–26 June 1912
Official name	Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France
Location	Dieppe, France
Course	Public roads
Course length	76.989 km (47.840 miles)
Distance	20 laps, 1539.778 km (956.800 miles)
Fastest lap
Driver	David Bruce-Brown	Fiat S74
Time	36:32.0
Podium
First	Georges Boillot	Peugeot
Second	Louis Wagner	Fiat
Third	Victor Rigal	Sunbeam

The Race

The race was run over two days with the drivers completing ten laps on each day and their times being aggregated to produce the winner (similar to a modern rally race). Coupe de l'Auto cars competed alongside Grand Prix cars. The coupe cars were limited to 3 litre engines. The only restriction on the Grand Prix cars was that cars must be no wider than 1.75 metres.^[1] Riding mechanic Jean Bassignano was killed in a lap 3 crash when his driver Léon Collinet put a wheel off and flipped. 47 cars started the race at 30 second intervals, with Victor Rigal's Sunbeam the first to start.

Victor Hémery, driving a Lorraine-Dietrich, was the first to complete a lap, but David Bruce-Brown's Fiat led on time after lap one and retained the lead overnight, more than two minutes ahead of Georges Boillot's Peugeot. Louis Wagner was third at the halfway stage. During the second day, Bruce-Brown was disqualified for refuelling away from the pits on lap 15, giving Boillot a comfortable victory by over thirteen minutes from Wagner.^[2]

The Sunbeams performed extremely well in the Coupe de l'Auto race, with Rigal finishing in first place, Resta second, and Medinger third. Due to their astonishing speed they were also placed in third, fourth, and fifth places in the Grand Prix itself, beating many, much more powerful machines. Rigal averaged 65.35 m.p.h. over the 956 miles, only 3 m.p.h. less than Boillot in his 7.6 litre Peugeot.^[3]

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/Retired
1	22	Georges Boillot	Peugeot	20	13:58:02.6
2	23	Louis Wagner	Fiat S74		+13:05.8
3	3	Victor Rigal	Sunbeam		+40:33.4
4	17	Dario Resta	Sunbeam		+41:49.2
5	52	Emile Medinger	Sunbeam		+2:01:38.8
6	50	Josef Christiaens	Excelsior		+2:25:36.2
7	20	René Croquet	Th. Schneider		+3:33:36.6
8	30	"Anford"/ Pilain	Rolland-Pilain		+3:51:29.4
9	36	Richard Wyse	Arrol-Johnston		+4:09:16.6
10	40	Arthur Duray	Alcyon		+4:30:53.0
11	32	Paul Vonlatum	Vinot-Deguignand		+5:07:57.4
12	12	Dragutin Esser	Mathis		+5:20:02.4
13	29	Cyril de Vere	Cote		+6:59:03.4
14	28	James Reid	Arrol-Johnston	19	+1 Lap
Ret	33	Percy Lambert	Vauxhall	18	Radiator
Ret	55	A. Crossman	Arrol-Johnston	17	Radiator
Ret	7	Georges Sizaire	Sizaire-Naudin	17	Lost a wheel
Ret	14	Pierre Garcet	Calthorpe	16	Engine
Ret	27	Page	Alcyon	16	Crash
Ret	51	John Hancock	Vauxhall	15	Engine
Ret	38	Thomas Schweitzer	Sizaire-Naudin	10	Engine
Ret	21	Eugène Renaux	Gregoire	10	Withdrawn
Ret	24	Mario Romano	Gregoire	10	Withdrawn
Ret	34	René Hanriot	Lorraine-Dietrich	10	Fire
Ret	18	Philippe de Marne	Gregoire	8	Steering
Ret	4	Barriaux	Alcyon	8	Engine
Ret	56	Lucien Molon	Vinot-Deguignand	7	No oil
Ret	47	René Thomas	Lion-Peugeot L3	7	Engine
Ret	19	Louis Naudin	Sizaire-Naudin	7
Ret	16	Gustave Caillois	Sunbeam	7	Engine
Ret	45	Paul Zuccarelli	Peugeot L-76	7	Ignition
Ret	31	Paul Bablot	Lorraine-Dietrich	7	Engine
Ret	25	Frank Rollason	Singer	6	Engine
Ret	39	Bramwell Heywood	Singer	5	Crash
Ret	26	L G Hornsted	Calthorpe	5	Gearbox
Ret	9	René Champoiseau	Th. Schneider	4
Ret	8	Léon Molon	Vinot-Deguignand	3	No oil
Ret	54	William Watson	Vauxhall	2	Engine
Ret	10	Léon Collinet	Gregoire	2	Crash
Ret	41	Fernand Gabriel	Cote	1	Universal joint
Ret	57	Stefan Heim	Lorraine-Dietrich	1	Engine
Ret	11	Victor Hémery	Lorraine-Dietrich	1	Engine
Ret	49	Albert Guyot	Rolland-Pilain	1	Engine
DQ	37	David Bruce-Brown	Fiat S74	15	Refuelling away from pits
DQ	42	Ralph DePalma	Fiat S74	7	Work away from pits
DQ	13	Jules Goux	Peugeot L-76	3	Refuelling away from pits
DQ	43	Fred Burgess	Calthorpe	1	Too slow

Grand Prix Race
Previous race: None	1912 Grand Prix season Grandes Épreuves	Next race: None
Previous race: 1908 French Grand Prix	French Grand Prix	Next race: 1913 French Grand Prix

References

1. Higham, Peter (1995). The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. Guinness Publishing. p. 194. ISBN 0-85112-642-1.
2. Rendall, Ivan (1995). The Chequered Flag. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. pp. 66–69. ISBN 0-297-83550-5.
3. "Sunbeam cars".