One of my recent obsessions is Ballot cars. These short fanatical phases lead one into all sorts of tangents, the most recent involves Jules Goux, a works Ballot driver, and his victory at Indianapolis in 1913 aboard an epochal twin-cam, four-valve, dry-sump Peugeot L76.
His 6 hour 35.05 minute race was meritorious as a drive of restraint, the Peugeot’s tyres were not up to the particular challenges of Indy’s brick surface. With alternatives which fitted the French car’s Rudge-Whitworth wire wheels unavailable, local driver Johnny Aitken suggested running at a pace to suit the equipment may still be quick enough to win.
And so it was, Goux won with his mechanic Emil Begin by 13 minutes from Spencer Wishart’s Mercer 450, total time 6 hours 35.5 seconds. Ralph de Palma was third in another Mercer. The French duo won the Memorial Day classic in fine style, leading 138 of the 200 laps, with six pit stops at which the crew fortified themselves with swigs of champagne! See this Nostalgia Forum thread for discussion of that point; Jules Goux Indianapolis 500 1913 – The Nostalgia Forum – The Autosport Forums
The other Peugeot driven by Paolo Zuccarelli was out with bearing failure after 18 laps.
Georges Boillot’s success in the ground breaking Peugeot in the June 1912 Grand Prix de l’ACF (French Grand Prix), and Peugeot’s May 1913 Indy 500 win made the path of future racing cars clear; smaller, lighter machines powered by smaller, lighter, more efficient, higher revving engines than the the Edwardian behemoths than had gone before.
Checkout this piece of mine about the engine, including period articles about the car; 1912/13 Peugeot GP Car: Especially its Engines… | primotipo… and this superb article by Pete Brock about how rapid Les Charlatans/Peugeot technology transfer to other marques occurred; How the modern race engine was born | Articles | Classic Motorsports
Credits…
IMS-Indianapolis Motor Speedway archives, chuckstoyland.com
Tailpiece…
Jules Goux during a practice run, note Indy’s new pagoda administration building.
Finito…
primotipo... 