1913 Grand Prix season

Grand Prix season February 2025 1913 Grand Prix season 1912 1914 The 1913 Grand Prix season consisted of Grand Prix races in Europe and the United States. Once again, the Peugeot works cars were the team to beat, continuing their success. This year the French Grand Prix was held in Amiens. The ACF introduced a fuel-economy formula for the race to discourage bigger-engined cars. Peugeot drivers Georges Boillot and Jules Goux claimed a 1-2 victory for the company after Zuccarelli had been killed in practice. In the United States, the growing expense of hosting the Vanderbilt Cup and American Grand Prize meant they were not held this year. So it was that the Indianapolis 500 became the premier American event this year. The Europeans crossed the Atlantic for the race and Goux had a comfortable 13-minute margin of victory for Peugeot ahead of Spencer Wishart’s new Mercer. Peugeot did not contest the Coupe de la Sarthe at Le Mans where Paul Bablot and Albert Guyot, in the new Delage Type Y, had a 1-2 victory themselves. However, with the new 3-litre EX-5 variant, Peugeot won the last major race of the year with Boillot and Goux finishing 1-2 at the Coupe des Voiturettes. By winning five of the fourteen races in the series, Earl Cooper in the new Stutz, was acclaimed as the AAA national champion for the year. Major races Sources:Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw1.htm 2019-07-08 2009-04-13 https://web.archive.org/web/20090413060254/http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw1.htm deadGEL Motorsport Information Page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1913/1913.html 2019-08-28 2008-04-21 https://web.archive.org/web/20080421010750/http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1913/1913.html deadRendall 1993, p.358Monkhouse 1953, p.232-79 Date Name Circuit RaceRegulations RaceDistance Winner’sTime Winning driver Winningconstructor Report 11/12 May Italy 1861 VIII Targa Florio(Giro di Sicilia) Sicily Targa Florio 980 km 19h 19m Italy 1861 Felice Nazzaro Nazzaro Tipo 2 Report 30 May United States 1912 III Indianapolis 500 Indianapolis AAA 500 miles 6h 35m FRA Jules Goux Peugeot L-76 Report 26 May RUS I Russian Grand Prix St Petersburg 2h 24m RUS Georgy Suvorin Benz 29/60 hp Report 15 Jun ESP 1874 RACE Grand Prix Guadarrama Tourer cars 303 km 3h 34m ESP 1874 Carlos de Salamanca Rolls-Royce Report 15 Jun FRA I Circuit de Provence Trets 300 km FRA Georges Boillot Peugeot EX-3 Report 12 Jul FRA XIII French Grand Prix Amiens ACF 920 km 7h 54m FRA Georges Boillot Peugeot EX-3 Report 5 Aug FRA III Grand Prix de France Le Mans Formula Libre 540 km 4h 22m FRA Paul Bablot Delage Type Y Report 5 Aug FRA II Coupe de la Sarthe Le Mans Voiturette 540 km 5h 48m ITA 1861 Jean Porporato Grégoire Report 13 Aug BEL II Grand Prix du RACB Spa Formula Libre . Derney Springuel Report 21 Sep FRA VIII Coupe des Voiturettes(Coupe de l’Auto) Boulogne Voiturette 625 km 6h 05m FRA Georges Boillot Peugeot EX-5 Report Technical The innovative Peugeot L-76 had appeared the previous year. Powered by a four-cylinder 7.6L engine with a twin-overhead camshaft, with four valves per cylinder developing 148 bhp.Rendall 1993, p.66 In March Jules Goux took one to Brooklands where he raised the record for the flying half-mile to 109.99 mph on.Rendall 1993, p.70-1Georgano 1971, p.566 The Peugeot engine was the first to use Dry-sump lubrication that would become standard as racing cars needed engines lowered to drop their centre of gravity.Cimarosti 1997, p.44-5 With the variety of racing regulations, Peugeot set about developing modified versions of the 7.6-litre engine. Cylinder inserts made it a 7.3-litre engine, while a 5.7-litre was made for the Grand Prix EX-3 model and a 3.0-litre voiturette version for the new EX-5.Venables 2009, p.30 The team also introduced wheels secured by winged wheel-nuts that allowed them to be hammered off far quicker in pit-stops than the old-style “artillery-wheels” of other teams. Season review thumb|300px|right|Nazzaro racing in the Targa Florio For the second year the Targa Florio was not held on the Madonie circuit, but as the Giro di Sicilia – going clockwise on the coastal roads around Sicily.Georgano 1971, p.145 This year, the cars would stop at Agrigento and be locked up overnight before resuming the race back to Palermo.Grand Prix Winners 1895–1949 http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw5.htm 2019-08-26 2007-09-30 https://web.archive.org/web/20070930012944/http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw5.htm dead A big field of 33 cars was at the Palazzo Villarosa for the start. At the end of the first day, it was Giovanni “Gigi” Marsaglia in an Aquila Italiana, who held a half-hour lead over Felice Nazzaro, the long-time works driver for FIAT, now driving a car of his own making.La Targa Florio http://www.targaflorio.info/08.htm 2019-08-26 In a curious incident, a driver following another car’s dust saw a child on the road. When he then hit a curbstone he was convinced he had hit the child. He stopped and fled the scene, catching a ferry from Messina to the mainland. Only sixteen cars started the second day. Marsaglia held his lead until near the end when engine issues stopped him. Nazzaro came through for the victory an hour ahead of the unlucky Marsaglia.Georgano 1971, p.268 thumb|300px|right|Bragg leading the rolling start of the Indy 500 With the Vanderbilt Cup and American Grand Prize not being held this year, it meant the Indianapolis 500 became the premier event in the United States. This year the maximum engine permitted was reduced from 600 to 450 cubic inches (7.4-litres).Grand Prix Winners 1895–1949 http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw5.htm 2019-08-26 2007-09-30 https://web.archive.org/web/20070930012944/http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw5.htm dead Carl Fisher, on the organising committee, sent an invitation to Peugeot to attend, and they accepted sending two cars (with engines modified down to 7.3 litres) with Goux and Paolo Zuccarelli. Other Europeans were drawn to the big money on offer: Isotta-Fraschini had three cars for Italian Vincenzo Trucco and Americans Teddy Tetzlaff and Harry Grant. Théodore Pilette, Belgian agent for Mercedes, ran a Mercedes as did Ralph Mulford. Albert Guyot raced a 4.5-litre Sunbeam. thumb|300px|right|Jules Goux More and more American drivers were moving to the specialised racing cars: Ralph DePalma and Spencer Wishart had moved from Mercedes to Mercer with Caleb Bragg. Stutz ran cars for Gil Andersen and Charlie Merz while Jack Tower had one of the three Masons from the Duesenberg brothers. During practice the Peugeots had problems adapting to the brick surface, burning through their tyres. Fisher suggested they work with local racer Johnny Aitken. Tower posted the fastest lap in practice, but in the random draw for grid positions started from the back row while Caleb Bragg drew the pole position. From the start rookie Robert Evans got his Mason into the lead. On the 51st lap Towers crashed, rolling his car. Towers suffered a broken leg and his mechanic broken ribs. DePalma and Zuccarelli both retired early with engine trouble. Goux won comfortably for Peugeot, with a 13-minute margin over Wishart’s Mercer and Merz third with in his Stutz. He was supposed to have consumed champagne during his pit-stops and arrived home in Paris to great fanfare. thumb|300px|right|Boillot in his Peugeot EX3. French GP The Grand Prix was held in July at a new venue: a 31 km circuit based at Amiens in Picardie where it was hoped the shorter circuit would attract more spectators in the industrial north-east. This year the French Automobile Club (ACF) organisers stipulated a fuel-economy formula. Cars would be issued sufficient fuel the 917 km race (29 laps) at an average of 20 L/100km. They also had to weigh between 800 and 1100 kg.Grand Prix Winners 1895–1949 http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw5.htm 2019-08-26 2007-09-30 https://web.archive.org/web/20070930012944/http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw5.htm dead With a maximum of three cars per team, the entry list was still strong enough that the ACF did not need to include a voiturette category this year. Peugeot arrived with the new model EX-3 with a 5.6-litre engine (115 bhp), to be driven by its three regular works drivers: Boillot, Goux and Zuccarelli. French entries also came from Th. Schneider and Mathis. Delage came with their fast, new Type Y (110 bhp) to be driven by Albert Guyot and Paul Bablot. Foreign entries came from Itala (Italy), Opel (4.0L, 88 bhp) (Germany), Excelsior (6.1L, 120 bhp) (Belgium) and Sunbeam (4.5L, 95 bhp) (Great Britain). Once again Théodore Pilette was rebuffed when he tried to enter a Mercedes team. The ACF demanded entries from manufacturers alone, not agents or privateers.Cimarosti 1997, p.46-7 Racing on public roads was dangerous. Itala engineer Guido Bigio and his mechanic had been killed in May while testing.Motorsport Memorial http://www.motorsportmemorial.org/focus.php?db=ct&n=3302 2019-08-26 Then during a Peugeot test to the west of Paris Zuccarelli had a terrible accident while travelling at 160 km/h on a long straight to Evreux. When a farm cart pulled out into the road his car had no chance to avoid it and hit it head-on and rolled. Zuccarelli was killed immediately; his mechanic and the farmer were severely injured. Boillot travelling close behind just managed to avoid the carnage.Motorsport Memorial http://www.motorsportmemorial.org/focus.php?db=ct&n=249 2019-08-26 The race itself was also full of incident. On the first lap, Moriondo rolled his Itala, but he and his mechanic, unhurt, were able to jump out and straighten the steering and change a wheel to resume the race. At the end of the first lap Boillot was leading from Goux then Jean Chassagne in the Sunbeam. Then when Boillot was delayed in the pits with ignition problems it was Guyot’s Delage that took the lead. Boillot drove hard and retook the lead only to be sidelined by a burst radiator hose. On the ninth lap Guyot had a tyre blow out. In his eagerness, his mechanic jumped out but was run over by the Delage. Guyot slowly toured back to the pits to get him medical attention before rejoining the race. In the latter part of the race, the Sunbeam of Kenelm Lee Guinness crashed into a stream, killing a spectator. After nearly eight hours, it was Boillot who won consecutive Grand Prix, becoming a national hero. Three minutes back was Goux for a superb Peugeot 1-2, with Chassagne ten minutes behind in third. Bablot was fourth in the Delage with his unfortunate teammate Guyot a minute back in fifth. Boillot’s Peugeot accomplished a comfortable fuel economy of 17 litres/100 km and Goux did 18. thumb|300px|right| Théodore Pilette, Mercedes In August, the AC de la Sarthe et de l’OuestSpurring 2015, p.21(forerunner of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest) ran its event.Le Mans: Before the 24, bigMoneyracing.com http://www.bigmoneyracing.com/bigmoney/lemans/lemanspre.shtml https://web.archive.org/web/20081120132606/http://www.bigmoneyracing.com/bigmoney/lemans/lemanspre.shtml 2008-11-20 dead 2009-04-13 On the Saturday was the inaugural Cyclecar grand prix for the newly formed Union Motocycliste de France (UMF).Spurring 2015, p.23 The next day was the Coupe de le Sarthe, run concurrently with voiturettes. Pilette entered four Mercedes cars for himself and the three works drivers. Peugeot was not present so it became a contest between the German cars and the French Delage and Th.Schneider teams. Honours went to Delage with a 1-2 victory for Bablot and Guyot, ahead of Pilette and veteran Otto Salzer in their Mercedes – the last chain-drive cars in A Grand Prix-level event. The voiturette class was won by Jean Porporato in a Grégoire. Peugeot returned with their 3-litre EX-5 derivatives for the Coupe des Voiturettes held at Boulogne. Only Guyot was present for Delage, while three cars were entered for Sunbeam. When Dario Resta and Chassagne both retired with rear-axle failures on their Sunbeams in the first half of the race, it proved to be an easy victory for Boillot. He had nearly a ten-minute margin over teammate Goux with Lee Guinness close behind in third.GEL Motorsport Information Page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1912/1912.html 2019-08-28 2011-09-28 https://web.archive.org/web/20110928031122/http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/1912/1912.html dead This year’s AAA national championship was run over fourteen races at nine tracks. Earl Cooper, driving the new Stutz, won five of the races at four of the rounds and was second at another to be proclaimed the unofficial National Champion for the year.MotorSport magazine https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/database/championships/indycars/1913-aaa-national-championship 2019-08-28 Citations 30em References Cimarosti, Adriano (1997) The Complete History of Grand Prix Motor Racing London: Aurum Press Ltd 1-85410-500-0 Georgano, Nick (1971) The Encyclopaedia of Motor Sport London: Ebury Press Ltd 0-7181-0955-4 Higham, Peter (1995) The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing London: Guinness Publishing 0-85112-642-1 Legate, Trevor (2006) 100 years of Grand Prix Kent: Touchstone Books Ltd 0-9551-0201-4 Ludvigsen, Karl (2008) Racing Colours - Italian Racing Red Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing Ltd 0-7110-3331-5 Monkhouse, George (1953) Grand Prix Racing Facts and Figures London: G.T. Foulis & Co Ltd Rendall, Ivan (1991) The Power and The Glory – A Century of Motor Racing London: BBC Books 0-563-36093-3 Rendall, Ivan (1993) The Chequered Flag – 100 years of Motor Racing London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd 0-297-83220-4 Venables, David (2009) Racing Colours - French Racing Blue Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing Ltd 978-0-7110-3369-6 External links 1913 in auto racing Grand Prix Winners 1895–1949 : Part 1 (1895–1916) https://web.archive.org/web/20090413060254/http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw1.htm 2009-04-13  – list of the races and winners. Retrieved 28 Aug 2019 Grand Prix Winners 1895–1949 : History https://web.archive.org/web/20070930012944/http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gpw5.htm 2007-09-30  – Hans Etzrodt’s description of the annual regulations, and changes. Retrieved 7 Jun 2019 GEL Motorsport Information Page  - Darren Galpan’s list of the races, entrants and results. Retrieved 28 Aug 2019 Motorsport Memorial – motor-racing deaths by year. Retrieved 28 Aug 2019 La Targa Florio – race report and pictures of the Targa Florio. Retrieved 28 Aug 2019 Grand Prix History – history of the Targa Florio race. Retrieved 7 Jul 2019 MotorSport magazine – race results of AAA championship. Retrieved 28 Aug 2019 Category:Grand Prix seasons Category:1913 in motorsport Category:1913 in American motorsport