| 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 | Peugeot | ||
| Second | Fiat | ||
| Third | Sunbeam | ||
The 1912 French Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Dieppe on 25–26 June 1912.
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]
| 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 |
