Topic: Solved NIC#474 - 1932 Sphinx-Staub at the Bol d'Or

[nicanary]

Year and marque, for one point.

[nicanary]

Experts?

[nicanary]

Pros?

[Wendax]

French?

[nicanary]

French?

Oui.

[Allan L]

Looks just the sort of man and (tri)cyclecar that would have done the Boule d'Or in about 1932, but I have no clue who or what at present.
I just Googled 1932 cyclecar and there I find that it's Etienne Chéret dans le Sphinx-Staub cyclecar and it was at the 1932 Boule d'Or.
Staub was an engine manufacturer, if I remember.

ETA Bolster tells us of a Sphinx cyclecar designed by a M. Terrier which only lasted to 1925. May still be a connection.

[nicanary]

Looks just the sort of man and (tri)cyclecar that would have done the Boule d'Or in about 1932, but I have no clue who or what at present.
I just Googled 1932 cyclecar and there I find that it's Etienne Chéret dans le Sphinx-Staub cyclecar and it was at the 1932 Boule d'Or.
Staub was an engine manufacturer, if I remember.

Your hunch and perseverance paid off. That's exactly who and what it is -  he was a regular competitor in the Bol d'Or, and that year he won the 350cc class. If I recall correctly, he won his class in the motorcycle event, and immediately took his seat in the cyclecar and drove for another 24 hours!

A point to you.

[Wendax]

We had Monsieur Chéret twice before with different tricycles:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=29260
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=27101

[nicanary]

The 3 puzzles are a good indication of the development of the 3-wheeler over quite a short period of time. I can hardly believe that people drove those things for 23 hours on what were little more than country dirt roads.

[Allan L]

I was looking for something else and found this letter from Roland King-Farlow in the VSCC Bulletin for Winter 1971/2:

I have since discovered a bit more about the double Bol d'Or gentleman of whom I wrote previously. My source has been some articles written in Speed in 1935/37 by an alleged authority on motor racing history, but one who suffers from a bad memory.
In 1931 M. Chéret set off on Whit Saturday in the 24 hours for motor-bikes, and duly scored a win in his class. One hour later, possibly after a brief nap, he ventured out on a 350 c.c. Sphinx-Staub three-wheeler for another 24 hours of fun and games, single-handed as before. And again he won his class, though it must be admitted that nobody else entered.
The following year he had trouble. Having again scored his class-win in the motor-cycle 24 hours, he started off on the Sphinx-Staub but, somewhat ill advisedly albeit understandably, dropped off to sleep. Recovering consciousness in the ambulance tent, he asked passionately after the condition of his tri-car, and on being told it was apparently undamaged, he leapt up, scattered the first aid staff and marched back to the wreck. Having pushed it back on to the road he got in again and duly completed his second 24 hours.

And now I see that the F.I.A. or Jackie Stewart or somebody want to ban anybody from driving for more than 23½ minutes, or whatever it is.

[nicanary]

I was looking for something else and found this letter from Roland King-Farlow in the VSCC Bulletin for Winter 1971/2:

I have since discovered a bit more about the double Bol d'Or gentleman of whom I wrote previously. My source has been some articles written in Speed in 1935/37 by an alleged authority on motor racing history, but one who suffers from a bad memory.
In 1931 M. Chéret set off on Whit Saturday in the 24 hours for motor-bikes, and duly scored a win in his class. One hour later, possibly after a brief nap, he ventured out on a 350 c.c. Sphinx-Staub three-wheeler for another 24 hours of fun and games, single-handed as before. And again he won his class, though it must be admitted that nobody else entered.
The following year he had trouble. Having again scored his class-win in the motor-cycle 24 hours, he started off on the Sphinx-Staub but, somewhat ill advisedly albeit understandably, dropped off to sleep. Recovering consciousness in the ambulance tent, he asked passionately after the condition of his tri-car, and on being told it was apparently undamaged, he leapt up, scattered the first aid staff and marched back to the wreck. Having pushed it back on to the road he got in again and duly completed his second 24 hours.

And now I see that the F.I.A. or Jackie Stewart or somebody want to ban anybody from driving for more than 23½ minutes, or whatever it is.

Thanks for that extra info, Allan. You've hit the nail on the head. Much has been made of "Levegh", (probably) Luigi Chinetti and (possibly) Eddie Hall covering 24 hours on their own, but this man's stamina was extraordinary. I know a 350cc 3-wheeler isn't quite as fast as a Talbot-Lago, but it was so crude it must have been an engaging drive to say the least. A very tough man, living in a time when people were left to make their own decisions without the need for cotton-wool.

[Wendax]

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