AUSTRIA'S Trivia - Lap 7

[AUSTRIA]

Lap 7 - try a hard one

All questions about persons, who run their racing-cars in younger years, but the main reason, that the became well known, was something else. No, no, not Enzo Ferrari or Bernie Ecclestone ...

It will be much harder, and this time I am sure, you will not find out all the answers! If you have one, please give a short bio (five lines) or tell us a nice anecdote.

At least twenty years between the questions!
(Later note: Oops; I've changed the third question just a minute before posting and forgot this satetment; it is not valid !!!)
Here we go:

Question A)
The easiest: Two men, both the same first name, both lived and raced the same time. The one buildt a car factory, the other gave some series of races his name.

Question B)
Emile Darl'Mat - nothing else ...

Question C)
And a very special case: You all know Marcel Renault, director of the Renault usines in earliest days and killed in one of his own cars in the last town-to-town race from Paris to Madrid in 1903. Did you know, there was another Marcel Renault, also a racing-driver?

See you later ...




[This message has been edited by AUSTRIA (edited 13 May 2000).]

[TimD]

Lap 7 - Question A

Vincenzo?

as in Lancia (cars) and Florio (Targa Florio?)

[AUSTRIA]

Yeah Tim, you did it !

[Hans.ca]

Austria
A question re your Question A:
The Targa Florio was sponsored by a local Sherry maker Florio. Was Vincenzo Florio a member of that family?
Found out about this while doing some design work for a cement plant in Palermo.

[Gerard]

Yes, the Targa Florio was sponsored by Vincenzo Florio of Marsala in Italy.
The House Florio, the largest wine trade in Marsala was founded in 1832.

The famous Marsala wine was treated equal to Sherry and Madeira.

[AUSTRIA]

Thank you Gerard, I did not know that before.

But I wonder, what's the matter now with questions B) and C)

Tell me, was it to hard?

[Michael M]

Concerning Emile Darl'Mat I only know that some cars entered Le Mans (1937 type 302, 1938 type 402) had a wonderfully shaped streamlined body created by him. He had a Peugeot dealership in Paris, which as far I know is still existing today. That's all I know, sorry.

[Leo]

The cars Emile Darl'Mat entered for Le Mans were in fact rebuild Peugeots. He made a number of roadgoing cars, all based on Peugeots, with restyled bodies. Of course he tweaked the engines also, so I guess you could call him a 'tuner' .

Michael: the Dutch magazine Autovisie did an article about Darl'Matt some months ago. I'll see if I can find it.

[AUSTRIA]

Darl'Mat: After the war at least one car appeared in several formula 2 and even formula 1 events. It belonged to Cortanze, who mostly drove the car himself, or lent it to other drivers or shared the car with them. Look now, adding this to Michael's and Leo's replies - we have got a brief, but nice story. Maybe someone coming along, can add more details. By chance somebody has pictures ...


Marcel Renault: drove a BMW 328 sportscar in a voiturette race on 6.9.1946 in St. Cloud. Not very important, but fascinated me.

I did not expect anyone to find this out, so I give you here another opportunity to compete: The man's name is Charles Faroux!

[Michael M]

Charles Faroux:

Participated the "Coppa Floria" on 6.9.1908 at Bologna with a "Motobloc", did not finish.

He was te doyen of automotive journalists, the original leader of the genre, who ruled the profession from his seat at La Vie Automobile even before World War I.

The 24 hours of Le Mans was conceived in 1923 by him, who had long been concerned with the inadequacies of automotive electrical equipment of the day. Hence, he suggested to two colleagues, the idea of running a night race in order to stimulate the perfection of these accessories. The idea gained ready acceptance and support from Faroux’s two colleagues, Georges Durand, Secretary General of l’automobile club de l’ouest, and Emile Coquille, Managing Director of the French branch of the Rudge-Whitworth Wheel Company.
He was race director from 1923 up to 1956.

He was the official starter of the Monaco Grand Prix from the beginning, till Louis Chiron took over this honourable job.

For the Rallye Monte Carlo he donated the "Charles Faroux Cup" for best performance by three nominated cars.

[Leo]

Some more on Darl'Mat:
Emile Darl'Mat (1892-1970) was for Peugeot what Amedee Gordini was for Simca or Carlo Abarth for Fiat. His Parisian dealership concentrated mainly on Peugeot, but he also sold La Buire and Panhard.
Darl'Mat's first sold equipment to improve the performance of the Peugeot 5CV in the early 1930's. Together with designers Marcel Portout and Georges Paulin, he created some restyled bodies as well.
Darl'Mat started thinking about a sportscar of his own, and in 1936 that became a reality. He based the car on the 1935 Peugeot 402 with 2 litre engine. The car was called 'Special Sport' and Charles de Cortanza took the 24h speed record with it on the Montlhery banking (end of 1936, 139.282 kph, 2 litre class).
Marcel Portout designed a two seater roadster body, for the new Peugeot 302 chassis, and the car was equipped with the 2 litre 402 engine (~55HP), thus creating the 302 DS (Darl'Mat Sport). First Darl'Mat sold the car himself, but Peugeot has so impressed, that they added the car to their own line-up in 1937.
Three 302 DS's took part in the 1937 24h du Mans(*) and all three finished (7th, 8th and 10th overall or 2nd, 3rd and 5th in class). The Peugeot engine had some 70 HP, and that was not enough to beat the class-winning Adler.
In october 1937 the car was renamed 402 DS (because of the changed chassis), and with this car Charles de Cortanze and Marcel Content took a class win at Le Mans (5th overall). The engine output was improved to 87 HP, mainly thanks to an experimental 'hemi' cylinder head.
A total of 105 cars (302 DS and 402 DS) were produced until 1938, when the production ended. Darl'Mat cars lived on into 1950's with selling tweaked Peugeot 203's and making special body accesories for that car.

(The magazine I referred to before (I found it ) has some pictures, which I will scan this coming weekend, and post them here).

(*)
1937 Le Mans Results:
1. Wimille/Benoist - Bugatti T57S
2. Paul/Mongin - Delahaye 135S
3. Dreyfus/Stoffel - Delahaye 135S
4. De Valence/Gerard - Delage D6
5. Skeffington/Murton-Neal - Aston Martin Ulster
6. Orsich/Sauerwein - Adler Trumpf
7. Pujol/Content - PEUGEOT 402 DS DARL'MAT
8. De Cortanze/Serre - PEUGEOT 402 DS DARL'MAT
9. Lohr/Von Guilleaume - Adler Trumpf
10. Porthault/Rigal - PEUGEOT 402 DS DARL'MAT

1938 Le Mans Result:
1. Chaboud/Tremoulet - Delahaye 135S
2. Serrraud/Giraud-Cabantous - Delahaye 135S
3. Prenant/Morel - Talbot Lago T150SS
4. Villeneuve/Biolay - Delahaye 135S
5. De Cortanze/Content - PEUGEOT 402 DS DARL'MAT
..
Did not finish:
-. Pujol/Rigal - PEUGEOT 402 DS DARL'MAT (18 laps)
-. Serre/Porthault - PEUGEOT 402 DS DARL'MAT (6 laps)

[AUSTRIA]

Hey man, that's what I call 'fantastic stuff'. Exactly, what I was looking for. I wondered, where did they come from, this 'specials' with Peugeot-engine, but could not find anything. Thanks, Leo! Now happily awaiting the pics ...

[AUSTRIA]

Let's count:

A)
TimD 1 point
hans.ca and Gerard sharing the point

B)
MichaelM 1 point
Leo 2 points

c)
MichaelM 4 points

P.S.: Sorry, I forgot the Tenth bonus point: hans.ca and Gerard will get it together; do you guess why ?

And now waiting for the promised pictures, Leo ...




[This message has been edited by AUSTRIA (edited 20 May 2000).]

[Leo]

The Darl'Mat pictures:

The first two pictures are from Le Mans, but I don't know if it's 1937 or 1938. The magazine also didn't name the driver in the second picture.

Then there are 4 pics of the road going version of the car. This is a Peugeot 402 DS.

All three Le Mans entries:




Rear:


Front:


Dashboard:


Engine: