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Lyon 1924 A.C.F. Grand Prix


Tours having proved less than triumphant to say the least, Gabriel Voisin decided to revert to contesting the Touring car class for the following year's Grand Prix in Lyon.
But since the C6's lack of success at Tours had nothing to do with its innovative concept and method of construction, he reapplied the same principles to the design of the 1924 cars. As in previous years, there were three Touring car classes to contest: voiturettes, light car and full-size cars.
 
The Voisin Team : Rougier, Lefèbvre, Gauderman, Morel and Piccioni
 

Engineers Bernard et Lefebvre constructed a team of five cars on similar principles: a little 10CV torpedo for the 400-1000 kg voiturette class, three 18CVs for the over 1400 kg class, and curiously, another 18CV in the 1000-1400 kg light car class (source: "Toutes les Voisin" by René Bellu).


The impressive dashboard of the C8 or C9

The famous magazine Omnia (#50 number) give us some precisions about the three classes: the first one is about the "voiturettes 2 seats", weighing at least 400 kg, the second one "voitures 4 seats" weighing at least 1000 kg and the third one more than 1400 kg. Then, it give some the following technical datas about the Voisin cars:

1st class
2 seats "voiturettes"
2nd class
4 seats "voitures légères"
3rd classe
5 seats "voitures"
Engine
Type
4-cylinder in-line sleeve valves engine
4-cylinder in-line sleeve valves engine
4-cylinder in-line sleeve valves engine
Displacement
1 995 cc
3 967 cc
3 967 cc
Bore and Stroke
76 x 110
95 x 140
95 x 140
Power
n.c.
n.c.
n.c.
Carburation
Solex carburettor
Solex carburettor
Solex carburettor
Cooling
n.c.
n.c.
n.c.
Ignition
Delco
Delco
Delco
Clutch
multi-disc
multi-disc
multi-disc
Transmission
To rear wheels
To rear wheels
To rear wheels
Gearbox
4 speed
4 speed
4 speed
 
Chassis
 
Suspensions
semi-elliptical springs
semi-elliptical springs
semi-elliptical springs
Shock-absorber
Hartford
Hartford
Hartford
Wheels
Rudge-Whithworth
Rudge-Whithworth
Rudge-Whithworth
Tyres
710 x 90
820 x 120
835 x 135
Track
1190 mm
1300 mm
1420 mm
Wheelbase
2000 mm
3000 mm
3000 mm
Weight
about 500 kg
about 1000 kg
about 1400 kg

It is interesting to note that the 4 seats "voiture légère" had a narrower track than the 5 seats "voitures", smallest tyres, and also 400 kg less. The 2 seats "voiturette" had a 2 liters engine that did'nt exist in the Voisin catalog, and when the "Laboratoire" was added, the engine was a 1550 cc, certainly from the C7...


The Voisin team consisted as follows :

Pilot
Class
Car number
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Lefèbvre
Voiturette
1
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Morel
Voiture légère
12
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Rougier
Voiture
32
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Gaudermen
Voiture
37
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Piccioni
Voiture
39
 
Lefèbvre during the weighing at the wheel of the 10CV - C10 type 'voiturette'
 

Morel at the same place, note that the #32 as the #1 was not equipped with discs wheels
 

Rougier going at the wheel of the #32
 

Piccioni at the weighing
 
For 1924, the Touring car race consisted of two separate sessions. The first was an 8-hour endurance race in which the voiturettes had to complete 19 laps (439.75km), the light cars 21 laps (486,04 km) and the full-size cars, 25 laps (578.6km). The seconde part was a 300km speed trial over 13 laps of the 23,15km course.

The team got off to a poor start when Lefebvre had to abandon the endurance race, and Rougier (driving #32), because he changed his carburettor "for money", was plagued by carburetion problems that cost him half an hour of repairs before he crashed. The remaining three cars, however, were creditably placed.


Rougier's #32 after his crash.

 

Class
Classification - Make- Pilot
****
****
'Voiturettes'
N.A.
****
****
Light cars
1 - Lacharnay-Cottin-Desgouttes
****
****
2 - Colas - Cottin-Desgouttes
****
****
3 - X - Georges Irat
****
****
4 - Morel - Voisin
****
****
Full-size cars
1 - Dauvergne - Peugeot
****
****
2 - Gauderman - Voisin
****
****
3 - Piccioni - Voisin


Morel in one of the GPACF curve (photo : Histoire mondiale de l'automobile)

 
Partial success though it undoubtedly was, the outcome persuaded Gabriel Voisin to abandon circuit racing in favour of concentrating his efforts on world speed records instead.
Thanks to http://cottindesgouttes.free.fr/ for the Cottin-Desgouttes winner picture.

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