The roaring twenties an era of economic prosperity the years when the sky was the limit. People started dancing on Jazz music, the fashion become more exciting and modern. People started enjoying life in a modern way, as we have today. The era that evolved motorsport to a new standard, professional and serious. Car manufacturers started in both the States, Australia and Europe investing serious money in motorsport. Via this platform, they were able to show the world what their cars could do. Grand Prix driving would never be the same again after World War I. The sport had more flair, more passion and became an elite sport. Time to see which unraced cars 1924 brought us.
As the 1924 Grand Prix season happened 101 years ago, the information regarding unraced Grand Prix Cars, stillborn projects and so on is hard to find. The information in old Magazines and newspapers is just a little to complete the big picture. Neither are there really books from that era. Same goes for the race reports. The search now is mostly on entry reports and the books I own from Grand Prix and Voiturette Racing. Therefore, it could be I miss some projects, if this is the case let me know.
Bébé Peugeot
An interesting and out of place car if my information on it is correct. There were two of these cars on the entry list for the 1924 I Course de l’Autodrome Cyclecars held the 13th of July 1924 at Miramas.
The first Bébé (Type 69) dates back from 1904 when it was first shown to the world in Paris. The second version of the car the Type BP1 appeared for the first time on the Motorshow in Paris in 1914. This car was Ettore Bugatti initially for the German company Wanderer and later also produced under license by Peugeot.
The production was discontinued in 1916. Yet, 8 years later, two of assumable Type BP1 has appeared on the entry list in Miramas. It is unsure from this point if there was “another” Bébé car or that it was a heavily modified one, or just an 8-year-old car that was chosen.
The car with number 6 was to be driver by Charovin, while car numer 2 was to be driven by Gaston Ducreux. Charovin never appeared, Ducreux did appear however, there is an odd story around it. The start-time for the race was changed for the 750cc class and he was not notified. Therefore, Ducreux his car did not start.
I did do some more research. However, the cars do not appear in any other race in 1924, neither in other series nor in hill-climbs (for what I could uncover now). So it could be that a Bugatti designed Peugeot was to be raced with, sadly it never happened.
Duval
A Duval car was on the entry list for the I Course de l’Autodrome Cyclecars held the 13th of July 1924. This was probably a car designed by Charles Duval. There is not much more info available.
