Tour de France Automobile was a sports car race held on roads around France regularly (mostly annually) between 1899 and 1986.
Tour de France Automobile was a sports car race held on roads around France regularly (mostly annually) between 1899 and 1986.
The first edition in 1899 was won by René de Knyff driving a Panhard et Levassor at 30 mph (50 km/h). Organized by Le Matin , under the control of the Automobile Club de France , held July 16 to 24, in seven stages: Paris-Nancy; Nancy-Aix-les-Bains; Aix-les-Bains-Vichy; Vichy-Périgueux; Périgueux-Nantes; Nantes-Cabourg; Cabourg-Paris. Out of 49 starters, 21 vehicles finished. [1] The 1908 event was won by Clément-Bayard. [2]
The first event after the war took place in 1951, organised by the Automobile Club de Nice , and was won by Pierre Boncompagni "Pagnibon"/Barracquet in a 2.6-litre Ferrari 212 Export. [3] The event visited the La Turbie Hill Climb, near Nice.
The 1954 event was won by the 2.5 litre Gordini of Jacques Pollet and M. Gauthier, on the traditional Nice to Nice route. [4]
Scuderia Ferrari won eight times between 1951 and 1962. After the triumph of Alfonso de Portago in 1956, Olivier Gendebien won with partner Lucien Bianchi three times in a row (1957, 1958 and 1959).
The 1956 event was won by de Portago/Nelson in a Ferrari 250 2.9 with Moss/Houel (Mercedes 300 SL) in second place. [5]
In 1958 the British racing driver Peter Whitehead had a fatal accident on the tour driving a Jaguar with his half-brother Graham Whitehead, who was considered a reliable co-pilot in long-distance races. On September 21, 1958, after dark, Graham was driving when the car broke through a rotten bridge railing in Lasalle, Gard, near Nimes, and crashed into a ravine.
In the 1960s, French racing and rally driver Bernard Consten (fr: Bernard Consten) won the race five times, making it the record winner to this day. In the same decade, the stage race was also opened to sports prototypes, so that racing cars like the Ferrari 512 S, the Ford GT40 or the Matra MS650 drove hundreds of kilometres on public roads.
The 1960 Tour de France took place between September 15 and 23 that year. Starting at Nice it visited Mont Ventoux, Nurburgring, Spa, Montlhéry, Rouen and Le Mans with the finish at Clermont Ferrand. The event was won overall by the Ferrari 250 G.T. of Willy Mairesse/Georges Berger. The Jaguar 3.8 litre Mk. II of Bernard Consten/J. Renel won the Touring category with the BMW 700 coupé of Metternich/Hohenlohe winning the Index of Performance. [6]
Willy Mairesse won again in 1961 together with Georges Berger.
The last Ferrari victory was in 1964 with Lucien Bianchi/Georges Berger driving a Ferrari 250 GTO, entered by Ecurie Nationale Belge. [7] The event started at Lille, visiting Reims, Rouen, Le Mans, Clermont-Ferrand, Monza and Pau. The Touring car category was won by Peter Procter/Andrew Cowan in a Ford Mustang, [8] entered by Alan Mann Racing. [9] The A.C. Shelby Cobras of Maurice Trintignant, Bob Bondurant and André Simon all retired.
The 1980s saw the event incorporated into the European Rally Championship which saw an influx of new competitors. The last event was held in 1986.
The event was revived in 1992 for historic cars, now known as the Tour Auto. It is held in April and features both a competition and a regularity class. The format is a 5-day event combining about 2,500 km of roads, 4 or 5 circuit races and 6 to 8 hillclimbs. The start is always in Paris, whereas the finish alternates between various southern seaside towns like Biarritz, Cannes and Nice. Patrick Peter of Agence Peter is the organiser.
The winning cars over the years (since 1996 only pre '66 cars can win overall, even though cars up to 1974 are allowed) include the Ford Shelby Mustang 350GT, Ford GT40, AC Cobra 289, Lotus Elan, Ferrari Daytona Gr IV. Drivers who won the competition class include Jürgen Barth, Henri Pescarolo and Walter Röhrl.
Previous winners of the original Tour de France Automobile who have participated in the Historic Tour Auto include JC Andruet, Jean Ragnotti, Bernard Consten, Gérard Larousse, Johnny Rives.
Other famous entrants since 1992 were: Stirling Moss, Danny Sullivan, Phil Hill, Ari Vatanen, Emanuele Pirro, Eric Comas, Bobby Rahal, Rob Walton, Walter Röhrl, Jürgen Barth, Yannick Dalmas, Thierry Boutsen, Romain Dumas, Nick Mason, Olivier Panis.
Dutch racing driver Hans Hugenholtz won the competition class of the Patrick Peter organised event 7 times (1993-1999-2000-2001-2004-2006-2007), more than any other entrant, with a Ferrari Daytona Gr. IV, Shelby Mustang 350GT, Ford GT40 (twice) and a Lotus Elan (3 times).
The Ford GT40 is a high-performance endurance racing car designed and built by the Ford Motor Company. It grew out of the "Ford GT" project, an effort to compete in European long-distance sports car races, against Ferrari, who had won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race from 1960 to 1965. Ford succeeded with the GT40, winning the 1966 through 1969 races.
Carroll Hall Shelby was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur. Shelby is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company, which he modified during the late 1960s and early 2000s. He established Shelby American in 1962 to manufacture and market performance vehicles. His autobiography, The Carroll Shelby Story, was published in 1967. As a race car driver, his highlight was as a co-driver of the winning 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans entry.
The Shelby Daytona Coupe is an American sports-coupé. It is related to the Shelby Cobra roadster, loosely based on its chassis and drive-train developed and built as an advanced evolution. It was engineered and purpose built for auto racing, specifically to take on Ferrari and its 250 GTO in the GT class. The original project had six Shelby Daytona Coupes built for racing purposes between 1964 and 1965, as Carroll Shelby was reassigned to the Ford GT40 project to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, again to beat Ferrari in the highest level prototype class. With the Shelby Daytona, Shelby became the first American constructor to win a title on the international scene in the FIA International Championship for GT Manufacturers in 1965. In 2014, the first Cobra Daytona Coupe became the first vehicle recorded under a U.S. federal program for documenting historically important national treasures.
Robert Paul Hawkins was an Australian motor racing driver. The son of a racing motorcyclist-turned-church minister, Hawkins was a capable single-seater driver but really made his mark as an outstanding sports car competitor driving Ford GT40s and Lola T70s. In 1969 Hawkins was included in the FIA list of graded drivers, an elite group of 27 drivers who by their achievements were rated the best in the world.
Ludovico Scarfiotti was a Formula One and sports car driver from Italy. Just prior to entering Formula One, he won the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans for Ferrari. He later participated in 12 World Championship Formula One grands prix, and many non-championship races. He won one World Championship race, and scored a total of 17 championship points. A motor sports competitor for a decade, Scarfiotti won the 1962 and 1965 European Hillclimb Championship. He was proclaimed Italy's best driver in both 1962 and 1965.
Michael Johnson Parkes was a British racing driver, from England. Parkes was born into an automotive background as his father John, was Chairman of the Alvis Group.
Ferrari is an Italian company which has produced sports cars since 1947, but traces its roots back to 1929 when Enzo Ferrari formed the Scuderia Ferrari racing team.
The 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 36th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 28 and 29 September 1968 on the Circuit de la Sarthe, in Le Mans, France.
The 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 35th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 10 and 11 June 1967. It was also the seventh round of the 1967 World Sportscar Championship.
Kenneth Henry Jarvis Miles was a British sports car racing engineer and driver best known for his motorsport career in the US and with American teams on the international scene. He is an inductee to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
The 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 34th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 18 and 19 June 1966. It was also the seventh round of the 1966 World Sportscar Championship season. This was the first overall win at Le Mans for the Ford GT40 as well as the first win for an American constructor in a major European race since Jimmy Murphy's triumph with Duesenberg at the 1921 French Grand Prix. It was also the debut Le Mans start for two significant drivers: Henri Pescarolo, who went on to set the record for the most starts at Le Mans; and Jacky Ickx, whose record of six Le Mans victories stood until beaten by Tom Kristensen in 2005.
The 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 33rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 19 and 20 June 1965. It was also the twelfth round of the World Sportscar Championship.
Shelby American, Inc. is an American high performance automobile company founded by driver Carroll Shelby. The Shelby American name has been used by several legally distinct corporations founded by Shelby since his original shop in Venice, California began operation in 1962. The current iteration is a wholly owned subsidiary of Carroll Shelby International, Inc., a holding company formed in 2003. Carroll Shelby International's other wholly owned subsidiary is Carroll Shelby Licensing, which licenses the name and trademarks associated with Shelby to other companies. Shelby American was the first automobile manufacturer in the state of Nevada. Shelby American manufactures component automobiles, including replicas of the small-block and large-block AC Cobras, the Shelby GT350 and the GT500 Super Snake. Since 2005, Shelby American has released new models each year.
The 1968 World Sportscar Championship season was the 16th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing and featured the 1968 International Championship for Makes and the 1968 International Cup for GT Cars. The former was contested by Group 6 Sports Prototypes, Group 4 Sports Cars and Group 3 Grand Touring Cars and the later by Group 3 Grand Touring Cars only. The two titles were decided over a ten race series which ran from 3 February 1968 to 29 September 1968, but one race was only worth half points, and only the five best results were counted.
Alan Mann Racing was a British motor racing team organised by Alan Mann, who was a part-time racing driver and team manager. The team ran a substantial part of the Ford works racing effort in Europe from 1964 to 1969, when it ceased operations. It was based in Byfleet, Surrey, near the Brooklands race circuit.
Roy Pierpoint was a British racing driver who drove in saloons and sports cars.
Peter Harry Sutcliffe, a British textile manufacturer from Huddersfield, was active in sports car racing until 1967. Between 1959 and 1967 he won the 1964 Prix de Paris at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, and the 1965 Pietermaritzburg 3 hours. He raced in Aston Martins, Jaguar D-Type and E types, Shelby Cobra Daytona, Ford GT40s and works Ferrari 330P4s.
This article documents the events that occurred in motorsports in the 1960s.
The 1956 Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance powered by Amoco took place on 24 March, on the Sebring International Raceway,. It was the second round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. For the sixth running of the event, was a sign to many in the automotive community that this race had become North America's premier sports car race, and from an international standpoint second only to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 1000 Kilometres of Paris was an endurance race, mainly for sports cars, which was held at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry in France from 1956 to 1995.
