grand prix tours 1923

Segrave wins the French Grand Prix with Sunbeam

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VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

1923 French Grand Prix at Tours Part 2

August 16, 2021 By pete

By Gijsbert-Paul Berk

From the VeloceToday Archives, July 2012

The circuit was a closed-off triangle of public roads, just north of the city of Tours. The starting line was situated just outside a small borough called La Noue-Guérinet, between the villages Neuillé-Pont-Pierre and La Membrolle on the Route Nationale 158. The numbers on the map above correspond to the photographs below. The 1923 Grand Prix of Tours was much tougher and much longer than today’s Grand Prix events. In order to finish, the participants had to cover a distance of 800 km (497 miles). As the ‘Circuit de la Touraine’ had a total length of 22.83 km, (14.1 miles) this meant 35 grueling laps. On the straights some of the cars reached speeds of nearly 200 km/h (125 mph). Around the circuit. 22 marshaling posts had been installed each of them equipped with a telephone in direct and permanent contact with the officials at race control in front of the grandstand.

Come with us as we take a lap around the 1923 French Grand Prix.

Photo 1: At the starting line. At one side were the tribunes and a grandstand for 4000 spectators. Note the direction of travel.

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Race information

• Date: 22 July 1923
• Start time: -
• Avg. speed winner: 22.38 km/h
• Race category: ME - Men Elite
• Distance: 343 km
• Points scale: GT.A.Stage
• Parcours type:
• ProfileScore:
• Vert. meters:
• Departure: Dunkerque
• Arrival: Paris
• Race ranking: 0
• Startlist quality score: 947
• Won how: ? - let us know!
• Avg. temperature:

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1923 Sunbeam GP

Sunbeam GP (1923)

Car: Sunbeam GP / Engine: 4 Cylinder In-Line / Maker: Sunbeam / Bore X Stroke: 67 X 94 mm / Year: 1923 / Capacity: 1,988 cc / Class: Grand Prix / Power: 102.1 bhp at 5,000 rpm / Wheelbase: 2,489 mm / Track: 1245 mm Front & Rear/ Top Speed: 108 mph / Notes: 3-Speed Manual Transmission

Established in 1899 and based in Wolverhampton UK, Sunbeam was known for its sturdy but unexciting line of cars. Things changed in 1909 when Louis Hervé Coatalen became chief engineer. Though Coatalen was French-born he had been employed by various car manufacturers in England since the turn of the century. During WWI he worked on British aircraft engines. Only one year after his arrival Coatalen created the 4.2 liter streamlined Brooklands racer dubbed the “Nautilus”. He drove it himself to a number of victories at the famous track. In 1913, Coatalen got his hands on one of the legendary DOHC Grand Prix Peugeots and in 1914 Sunbeam produced a race car very similar to the famous Peugeot. The first DOHC six was introduced by Sunbeam at Indy in 1916 and finished third. During the war Sunbeam produced aero engines based on their 1914 DOHC design.

After the war Sunbeam suffered from financial problems, partly from a slump in the motor industry, and partly from non-payment of some of the war contract work. Tragedy struck in 1919 when Joseph Christiaens, Head of the Experimental Department, was killed while road testing one of the company’s racing cars when a horse and cart came out of a side street causing him to swerve into a wall. His mechanic, Frank Bill, was so badly injured that he needed crutches for the rest of his life. As a result of his injuries the company gave him a permanent job as storekeeper. Financial problems continued to dog the company compelling them to merge with Darracq and British Talbot in 1920 to form the S.T.D. group with Coatalen in overall charge of engineering and brought in Ernest Henry who had worked previously for Peugeot and Ballot, to be in charge of engine design.

In the first decade of Grand Prix racing a British car has never won a race so in 1923 at the French Grand Prix at Tours Sunbeam was not considered one of the favorites. The Touraine circuit used that year consisted of fourteen winding, dusty and rather dangerous miles. The regulations were quite simple with limit of two litres, and a minimum weight of 630 kilos. The cream of international racing were represented—Sunbeam, Fiat, Deluge, Bugatti, RollandPilain and Voisin. the Fiats driven by Bordini, Salamano and Giaecone, were the favorites having won last year. Of course that may have been before Coatalen had lured Vincent Bertarione over from Fiat to replace the departed Ernerst Henry.

During the practice period most of the ears were found to be uncomfortably fast and rather tricky to handle on the highly cambered, narrow circuit. To make matters worse the edges of the road began to crumble and passing became a Very hazardous performance. The Fiat of Bordino put in the fastest practice lap at 83.6 mph Segrave lapped at 81 mph

The night before the race found Tours crowded with visitors with motor-ears parked everywhere. Early in the morning a never-ending. procession of cars made its way to the tribunes. On race day the sun shone bright with a slight breeze to ruffle the tricolor flags that bedecked the grandstand. There were 17 cars that lined up that day in pairs with three British and three Italian cars challenging the might of France. M. Rene de Knyff, President of the A.C.F., dropped the starting flag and the race was on.

Since the 1922 season despatch of competitors in pairs was abandoned and Strasbourg spectators were the first to witness a mass start Grand Prix. Rene Thomas in a Delage who was in the front row went into the lead but was soon passed by Bordini’s Fiat.The race was fast and furious and the tricky condition of the course made the drivers’ job all the more difficult. Salamano slid across the road at Semblancay and was narrowly missed by Friedrich’s Bugatti, arriving round the corner. After the first lap it was Bordini in the lead followed by the Sunbeam of Guinness. By the fifth lap the first two positions remained unchanged but now Fiats occupied third and fourth. Disaster struck the lead Fiat which came to a stop with a hole in it’s crankcase. A British Sunbeam was now in the lead.

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Oil on canvas, signed lower right, entitled and dated lower centre Image size:  32½ x 25 inches (82.5 x 63.5 cm) Hand made frame Art deco style frame £5,000

Please scroll down for more information and a framed image.

This painting depicts the 1923 French Grand Prix, held at Tours on 2 July 2023.

This race is notable as the first international Grand Prix to be won by an English driver or an English car, John Seagrave driving a Sunbeam. In this painting we see the turn on the course at Membrolle. The race also featured several innovative new technologies, including the first appearance of both supercharging and V12 engines in Grand Prix racing.

The large solid looking car is the Bugatti ‘Tank’, one of the great iconic motors of all time.

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Moscow Metro Tour

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Moscow metro private tours.

• 2-hour tour $87:  10 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with hotel pick-up and drop-off
• 3-hour tour $137:  20 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with Russian lunch in beautifully-decorated Metro Diner + hotel pick-up and drop off. 
• Metro pass is included in the price of both tours.

Highlight of Metro Tour

• Visit 10 must-see stations of Moscow metro on 2-hr tour and 20 Metro stations on 3-hr tour, including grand Komsomolskaya station with its distinctive Baroque décor, aristocratic Mayakovskaya station with Soviet mosaics, legendary Revolution Square station with 72 bronze sculptures and more!
• Explore Museum of Moscow Metro and learn a ton of technical and historical facts;
• Listen to the secrets about the Metro-2, a secret line supposedly used by the government and KGB;
• Experience a selection of most striking features of Moscow Metro hidden from most tourists and even locals;
• Discover the underground treasure of Russian Soviet past – from mosaics to bronzes, paintings, marble arches, stained glass and even paleontological elements;
• Learn fun stories and myths about Coffee Ring, Zodiac signs of Moscow Metro and more;
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• Enjoy panoramic views of Sparrow Hills from Luzhniki Metro Bridge – MetroMost, the only station of Moscow Metro located over water and the highest station above ground level;
• If lucky, catch a unique «Aquarelle Train» – a wheeled picture gallery, brightly painted with images of peony, chrysanthemums, daisies, sunflowers and each car unit is unique;
• Become an expert at navigating the legendary Moscow Metro system;
• Have fun time with a very friendly local;
• + Atmospheric Metro lunch in Moscow’s the only Metro Diner (included in a 3-hr tour)

Hotel Pick-up

Metro stations:.

Komsomolskaya

Novoslobodskaya

Prospekt Mira

Belorusskaya

Mayakovskaya

Novokuznetskaya

Revolution Square

Sparrow Hills

+ for 3-hour tour

Victory Park

Slavic Boulevard

Vystavochnaya

Dostoevskaya

Elektrozavodskaya

Partizanskaya

Museum of Moscow Metro

• Drop-off  at your hotel, Novodevichy Convent, Sparrow Hills or any place you wish
• + Russian lunch  in Metro Diner with artistic metro-style interior for 3-hour tour

Fun facts from our Moscow Metro Tours:

From the very first days of its existence, the Moscow Metro was the object of civil defense, used as a bomb shelter, and designed as a defense for a possible attack on the Soviet Union.

At a depth of 50 to 120 meters lies the second, the coded system of Metro-2 of Moscow subway, which is equipped with everything you need, from food storage to the nuclear button.

According to some sources, the total length of Metro-2 reaches over 150 kilometers.

The Museum was opened on Sportivnaya metro station on November 6, 1967. It features the most interesting models of trains and stations.

Coffee Ring

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According to some astrologers, each of the 12 stops of the Moscow Ring Line corresponds to a particular sign of the zodiac and divides the city into astrological sector.

Astrologers believe that being in a particular zadiac sector of Moscow for a long time, you attract certain energy and events into your life.

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Red marble walls of some of the Metro stations hide in themselves petrified inhabitants of ancient seas. Try and find some!

• Every day each car in  Moscow metro passes  more than 600 km, which is the distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
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• + A friend in Moscow.
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