This year, the Italians are celebrating the end of a long dry spell in the Le Mans 24 Hours – 85 years ago, it was the French. Not since 1926 had an azure car showed the utmost endurance. Then it was a Lorraine-Dietrich; in 1937, it was a Bugatti.
Driving a Type 57 grand tourer (nicknamed ‘The Tank’ for its new streamlined body), Jean-Pierre Wimille and Robert Benoist weren’t the favourites for victory; Raymond Sommer and Giovanni Battista Guidotti in the Alfa Romeo 8C were.