Philippe Étancelin
Philippe Étancelin | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Champ Car career | |||||||
1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 23rd (tie) (1936) | ||||||
First race | 1936 Vanderbilt Cup (Westbury) | ||||||
| |||||||
24 Hours of Le Mans career | |||||||
Years | 1934, 1938 | ||||||
Teams | Chinetti | ||||||
Best finish | 1st (1934) | ||||||
Class wins | 1 (1934) |
Philippe Jean Armand Étancelin (28 December 1896 – 13 October 1981) was a French
Biography
Born in
Étancelin's wife, Suzanne, served as his crew chief. Their three children were placed in a school in Rouen while the couple traveled to races around the world. Suzanne communicated with Étancelin through French sign language as he raced around the speedway.[citation needed] Suzanne told a reporter Étancelin bought a racing car to celebrate the birth of their second child, Jeanne Alice. He did not intend to race the car but merely use it for pleasure driving around the countryside. The couple once drove it up to a speed of 125 mph (201 km/h). After two years of recreational motoring, Étancelin decided to enter a race.[3]
Étancelin began racing a privateer Bugatti in 1926, entering local events and hillclimbs.[4] His first victory was the Grand Prix de la Marne at Reims in 1927,[4] the same year he recorded a third at the Coppa Florio in Saint-Brieuc.[4] He repeated his victory at Reims in 1929, ahead of Zenelli and friend Marcel Lehoux, making a Bugatti sweep of the podium.[4] Étancelin took a victory at the Grand Prix de la Baule and the Antibes Prix de Conseil General.[4]
Nicknamed "Phi Phi",[4] Étancelin also earned Bugatti a win at the 1930 Algerian Grand Prix, followed home by Lehoux. At the Formula Libre French Grand Prix, he defeated Henry Birkin's Bentley, and won the Grenoble Circuit de Dauphine, with a third at Lyons.[4]
Étancelin began the 1931 season in a Bugatti, placing behind
While Étancelin was a top privateer, he was consistently beaten by works teams in 1932, earning only one win, the Picardy Grand Prix at Peronne.[4]
In 1933, Étancelin's Alfa narrowly lost the 19th annual
The new
Étancelin's 1935 season was no better, with only a third at Tunis. He gave Rudolf Caracciola's Mercedes a tough fight at Monaco in the little 3.7 litre Maserati, but suffered brake fade and came fourth.[4] Driving a Maserati for the Subalpina team, he also had a spectacular accident at the Swiss Grand Prix in Bern, with his car upturned and in flames, but he did not suffer injuries.
Entering one of the new 4.4 liter Maseratis in 1936, he was outmatched by the German entrants, suffering retirements in nearly every contest. He won only the Pau Grand Prix, and that was "against modest opposition".
Étancelin stayed out of racing in 1937, returning in 1938 solely to share a new
Étancelin would enter the first motor race held in France postwar, failing to finish at the Bois de Boulogne in an Alfa.[4] He was not able to obtain one of the scarce new racers until 1948, when he purchased a 4½ litre Talbot, and put it second at the Albi Grand Prix, behind Luigi Villoresi in the Maserati.
His 1949 season saw second places at the
Étancelin participated in twelve World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 13 May 1950. He scored a total of three championship points. His fifth place in the 1950 Italian Grand Prix made him the oldest driver ever to score championship points, a record set in the very first World Championship season which still stands more than 70 years later.
In 1953, Étancelin ran third at the Rouen Grand Prix and at the 12 Hours of Casablanca, and decided to retire.[4] The government of France awarded him the Legion of Honour in recognition of his contribution to the sport of automobile racing that spanned four decades.
Étancelin retained an interest in racing, making occasional appearances in historic racing through 1974.[4]
He died at Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1981.
Motorsports career results
Notable career wins
- Algerian Grand Prix 1930
- Grand Prix de la Baule 1929
- Grand Prix du Comminges 1929, 1931
- Dauphiné Circuit 1930, 1931
- French Grand Prix 1930
- Grand Prix de Dieppe 1931
- Grand Prix de la Marne 1929, 1933
- Pau Grand Prix 1930, 1936
- Grand Prix de Picardie 1932, 1933
- Grand Prix de Reims 1927, 1929
- Circuit d'Esterel Plage 1931
- 24 hours of Le Mans1934
European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | EDC | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1931 | M. Lehoux | T51
|
Bugatti 2.3 L8 | ITA Ret |
FRA Ret |
BEL | 24th | 21 | ||||
1932 | M. Lehoux | Alfa Romeo Monza | Alfa Romeo 2.3 L8 | ITA | FRA Ret |
GER | 16th | 21 | ||||
1935 | Scuderia Subalpina | Maserati 6C-34 | L6
|
MON 4 |
FRA | BEL | SUI Ret |
13th | 46 | |||
L6
|
GER Ret |
|||||||||||
Maserati V8RI | V8
|
ITA Ret |
ESP | |||||||||
1936 | P. Etancelin | Maserati V8RI | V8
|
MON Ret |
GER | SUI Ret |
ITA | 18th | 28 | |||
1938 | Talbot Darracq
|
Talbot T150C
|
L6
|
FRA Ret |
GER | SUI | ITA | 24th | 29 | |||
1939 | Automobiles Talbot-Darracq
|
Talbot MD
|
L6
|
BEL | FRA 4 |
GER | SUI | 16th | 28 | |||
Source:[9]
|
Post-WWII Grandes Épreuves results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1948 | Philippe Étancelin | Talbot-Lago T26C | Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 | MON | SUI | FRA Ret |
ITA 8 |
|
1949 | Philippe Étancelin | Talbot-Lago T26C | Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 | GBR 5 |
SUI 4 |
FRA Ret |
ITA 2 | |
Automobiles Talbot-Darracq
|
BEL Ret |
|||||||
Source:[10]
|
FIA World Drivers' Championship results
(key)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | WDC | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1950 | Philippe Étancelin | Talbot-Lago T26C | Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 | GBR 8 |
MON Ret |
500 | SUI Ret |
ITA 5 |
18th | 3 | |||
Automobiles Talbot-Darracq
|
Talbot-Lago T26C-DA | BEL Ret |
|||||||||||
Philippe Étancelin | FRA 5† |
||||||||||||
1951 | Philippe Étancelin | Talbot-Lago T26C-DA | L6
|
SUI 10 |
500 | BEL Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR | GER Ret |
ITA | ESP 8 |
NC | 0 |
1952 | Escuderia Bandeirantes | Maserati A6GCM | L6
|
SUI | 500 | BEL | FRA 8 |
GBR | GER | NED | ITA | NC | 0 |
Source:[11]
|
† Indicates shared drive with Eugène Chaboud
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1934 | Luigi Chinetti | Luigi Chinetti | Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 | 3.0 | 213 | 1st | 1st |
1938 | Luigi Chinetti | Luigi Chinetti | Talbot T26
|
5.0 | 66 | DNF | DNF |
Source:[12]
|
References
- ^ "Motorsport Memorial - Philippe Étancelin". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- Washington Post, October 12, 1936, p.X15.
- ^ a b "Vite! Vite! To Victory, Or-", Edwardsville, Illinois Intelligencer, March 13, 1939, p.5.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Twite, Mike. "Etancelin: Twenty Years Behind the Wheel", in Northey, Tom, general editor. The World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 6, p616.
- ^ a b c "Campari Wins Paris Auto Race", The New York Times, June 12, 1933, p.22.
- ^ "Wins Grand Prix", Olean, New York Times Herald, March 2, 1936, p.13.
- ^ "Nuvolari Tops Qualifiers for Auto Race", Washington Post, October 8, 1936, p.X19.
- ^ "Philippe Etancelin". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ "THE GOLDEN ERA – OF GRAND PRIX RACING". kolumbus.fi. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
- ^ "Philippe Étancelin – Biography". MotorSportMagazine. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ "Philippe Étancelin – Involvement". StatsF1. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
- ^ "All Results of Philippe Étancelin". racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 24 August 2018.