Posts Tagged ‘Ballot 2LS’

Ballot 2LS Factory Racers…

Posted: January 29, 2022 in F1, Sports Racers
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Jules Goux, works Ballot 2LS awaits his turn to set off, Targa 1922 (BNF)

I knew little about E. Ballot et Cie two years ago. Then I tripped over a photograph of Ballot 5/8LC #1004 competing at Safety Beach on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula in 1928, my thirst for all things Ballot remains unquenched.

The purchase of that factory 4.8-litre straight-eight 1919 Indy 500 racer – #1004 was raced at The Brickyard by Louis Wagner – and a 2-litre, four-cylinder 2LS – #15 was raced by Jules Goux in the 1921 French Grand Prix – by Alan Cooper, and his Patron, Stephen Brown, is an amazing story.

Harold (Hal) Cooper, and to a much lesser extent Alan, raced the cars with great success in Victoria and New South Wales in the mid-late 1920s. I wrote about their exploits in The Automobile, why don’t you buy a copy, that would make me look good with that nice Editor chappy, Mr Rishton; Back Issue – May 2021 – The Automobile

Ernest Ballot with two of the four 5/8LC 1919 Indy 500 racers out front of his extravagant art deco factory. Albert Guyot at the wheel on the left, Rene Thomas at right (Ballot)
Jules Goux’ Italian GP winning 3/8LC surrounded by 2LS’ in various guises. October 1921 Paris Motor Show held at the Grand Palais, Champs Elysees (Ballot)

Ballot commenced business at 103-105 Boulevard Brune, Paris in 1904 producing a range of simple, side-valve, stationary marine and automotive engines.

A profitable war building Hispano-Suiza aero engines provided Ernest Ballot with the loot to build his own cars. As the conflict wound down, he engaged pioneer aviator and 1914 Indy winner, Rene Thomas and Ernest Henry, to build four cars to contest the 1919 Indy 500, to promote his brand.

Together with The Charlatans – racer/mechanics Paolo Zuccarelli, Georges Boillot and Jules Goux – Henry built the revolutionary twin-cam, four-valve, Grand Prix engines for Peugeot from 1912-1914, from which all GP engines to this day are derived.

With an engine design up-his-sleeve, four 5/8LC, 4816cc, twin-cam, four-valve 125bhp, straight-eight racers, using ladder frame chassis and a four-speed gearbox were built and shipped to the US. The Ballots were quick, but plagued by tyre and magneto troubles, Albert Guyot’s fourth place was the marques’ best result.

Jules Goux and riding mechanic during the 1921 French GP, Circuit de la Sarthe-Le Mans. This 2LS is chassis/engine number 15, the car was purchased by Stephen Brown and Alan Cooper from the factory while in Paris in 1922, then raced in Australia (BNF)
The Goux 2LS is fettled before a crowd of admirers, superb atmospheric shot. The fascination of the public with fast automobiles – French ones at that – leaps off the image (MotorSport)
Joe Boyer’s Duesenberg 183 (DNF conrod) #16 dices with the Goux 2LS in France, 1921 (MotorSport)

Ballot’s Rue Cormeilles design team next attacked work on the 2LS and another Indy/Grand Prix car, the 3-litre 3/8LC.

Henry’s 3/8LC, a 2973cc, 107bhp scaled down 5/8LC was a masterpiece, surely one of the sexiest racing cars ever, four were made. Jules Goux won the 1921 Italian GP aboard one on the Circuito della Fascia d’Oro, at Montchiari, Brescia that September.

A little earlier in July, the French Grand Prix was held, it was the first major European race post-war. Ballot entered three 3/8LCs and a 2-litre 2LS against the mighty eight-cylinder Duesenberg 183s. Over 30 laps of a 17.26km course, 517km, at Le Mans, Jimmy Murphy’s Duesenberg just beat De Palma’s 3/8LC with Jules Goux’ 2LS a staggering third ahead of many nominally faster 3-litre cars.

These Deux Litres Sport were racers for the road, no more than 50, and perhaps as few as 20 were made. The 1986cc (69.9x130mm) 72bhp @ 3800rpm (safe to 4300rpm) engined cars were the first twin-cam 16-valve production road cars ever built.

This poster celebrates the win by Rene de Buck and Pierre Decroze aboard a 2LS in the September 1925 Gran Premio de Guipuzcoa (more usually known as the Spanish Touring Car GP). The pair completed the 1180.5km at an average speed of 98.4kmh. The race was part of the annual San Sebastian festival, the race, on the Lasarte road circuit, was held between the European and Spanish GPs

Other elements of an expensive cocktail included a channel section chassis, half elliptic springs front and rear located solid axles with one (two on some of the racers) Andre Hartford friction shock absorbers per wheel. Four-wheel drum brakes and a close-ratio gearbox completed an advanced package. There was also a catalogued modele de course with minimal doorless, wingless bodywork, a different bonnet and modified exhaust.

The more prosaic Ballots were the SOHC, 2-litre 2LT and 2LTS. The extensive competition activity was to build brand awareness of the marque generally, and specifically sell these normal road models aimed at a broader, albeit discerning market.

The 2LS first competed in the hands of Fernand Renard. He won his class and finished sixth outright at the Course de Cote a Gaillon (Gaillon hillclimb), near Rouen in October 1920.

Poor Renard – foreman of Ballot’s test department – died instantly when his 3/8LC collided with a truck which swerved into his path at Montrouge, Paris in February 1921. Testing Zenith carburettors, the experienced driver/riding mechanic was slated for a ’21 French Grand Prix drive, but it was sadly not to be.

Jules Goux, 2LS, French GP , Strasbourg, 1922 (BNF)
1922 French GP. Giulio Foresti, Ballot 2LS at left, and Pierre de Vizcaya, Bugatti T30 at right (BNF)
Foresti, 2LS French GP 1922 (BNF)
Foresti and his mechanic refuel their 2LS. Look carefully at this rare butt-shot, the attention to air-flow under the car is as considered as the rest of the body (MotorSport)

Etablissements Ballot entered two 2LS for Goux and Giulio Foresti in the April 1922 Targa Florio, the pair finished one-two in the 2-litre class. The outright winner was another works-Ballot driver, Count Giulio Masetti aboard a 1918 GP Mercedes 18/100.

In July, Ballot entered three 2LS in the Grand Prix De L’Automobile Club De France. From 1922-1925 major Grands Prix were run to a 2-litre formula. The race, centred on Strasbourg, comprised 60 laps of a 13.38km course, 803km in total.

Ballot and Bugatti (Type 30 straight-eight) competed for the Fugly Cup! Both companies presented aerodynamic, visually challenging machines with amazing cigar shaped bodies.

Felice Nazzaro won in a Fiat 804 2-litre straight-six. All three Ballots uncharacteristically failed with mechanical problems; Foresti after a piston broke on lap 44, Goux crashed on lap 33 and Masetti broke a rod on lap 18. The mechanical problems were thought to be a function of insufficient air getting to the radiator to cool the engine. The Bugatti T30s of Pierre de Vizcaya and Pierre Marco were second and third.

1922 French GP. 2LS streamliner radiator and front suspension detail. Note the sheet aluminium bulkhead supporting the radiator – its grille – and the ally body (BNF)
The Foresti 2LS, Targa 1922 (BNF)
Giulio Foresti at rest during the Targa Florio weekend, note the slab-tank on his ‘22 Targa 2LS. Foresti, a racer and Itala/Ballot dealer, came to Australia to deliver the Cooper brothers’ 5/8LC in 1925. He tested the car at Maroubra in the process of schooling the Coopers in its ways. Alan Cooper came close to killing himself and his mechanic in it days later in a monumental high-speed Maroubra rollover (BNF)
Jules Goux and mechanic at Targa, compare and contrast the bodies of the works-2LS in the various GPs contested in 1921-1922 (BNF)

Two Ballot 2LS were entered in the ’22 Italian GP at Monza but didn’t appear, into 1923 Ballot withdrew from more serious competition.

Dr Jean Haimovicci, a Romanian living in Paris, raced a 2LS at San Sebastian. “Very likely this entry received works support”, wrote Hans Etzrodt, the car appears to be one of the barrel-tank ’22 Targa cars. The doctor was third in the race taking five hours 19 minutes to complete the 445km on roads at Lasarte, south of magnificent San-Seb. Up-front was a pair of 2-litre Rolland-Pilain straight-eights driven by Albert Guyot and Gaston Delalande.

On the other side of The Channel, Malcolm Campbell won a race aboard a 2LS at Brooklands during the Whitsun or April meetings.

Malcolm Campbell, 2LS, at Brooklands during the BARC Easter meeting in 1923 (LAT)

Ballot spent a fortune on his race 5/8LC and 3/8LC GP/Indy 500 cars and the production 2LS. Despite an eye-watering price, these epochal 2-litre cars never came close to covering their development costs. Ernest went banzai! He created a marque instantly with his competition program, but his coffers were groaning as a consequence. So were his shareholders and bankers.

By 1928 Ballot’s range included the SOHC, 2.9-litre eight-cylinder RH, by 1931 the company had been acquired by Hispano-Suiza. Game over, but it was awfully sweet while it lasted.

The nautical theme of the Ballot logo dates back to Ernest Ballot’s beginnings in the French Navy, where he trained as an engineer. The Masetti 2LS with Ernest Ballot in the foreground, French GP 1922 (BNF)

Postscript…

What intrigues me, is what the chassis numbers of the works 2LS’ were/are? Was the car raced by Campbell in the UK a works racer, or a production modele de course?

It seems to me there were three (at least) works prepared and raced 2LS’. Sure, there were changes of bodywork from one event to the next, but my thesis is that the chassis’ used were probably the same throughout.

Those of you who have the voluminous, sumptuous and extravagant ‘Ballot’ by Daniel Cabart and Gautem Sen have a head start.

Do get in touch if you can assist; mark@bisset.com.au

The rear, most of it, of the Goux 2LS during the 1921 French GP weekend. The spare – look closely – is mounted vertically within the rear bodywork 3/8LC style (BNF)

Credits…

Hans Etzrodt and Kolumbus.fi, the libraries of Alistair McArthur, David Rapley, Bob King and Brian Lear. BNF-Bibliotheque Nationale de France, LAT, MotorSport, ‘Ballot’ Daniel Cabart and Gautam Sen, and the late David McKinney on The Nostalgia Forum

Tailpiece…

(BNF)

Let’s finish as we started, with the majesty of the 1922 Targa Florio, again it’s Jules Goux, 2LS.

Finito…

Living colour…

Posted: August 17, 2021 in Fotos
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I guess most of us have marvelled at technology which has recently allowed the colourisation of monochrome images from the earliest days of racing to more recent times.

Adam Gawliczek is one of the better practitioners of the art, his early stuff was a bit how’s-yer-father, but like everything, practice makes perfect.

I’ve chosen a few shots of Australian relevance, checkout Adam’s Facebook page Colorize Auto Moto archive, there is enough to keep you going for days.

Good ‘ole Adam slaps his watermark on the images to indicate his work (ok) but he is the usual intellectual property thief otherwise; no acknowledgement of the original photographer to respect his/her art anywhere. I recognise some as Getty Images material, some will be out of copyright of course, but it’s still good form oulde bean to acknowledge the snapper I reckon. Not saying I get it right all the time either. End of rant.

The first shot above is Doug Whiteford on the way to winning his second Australian Grand Prix at Bathurst in 1952, car is the first of his two Talbot Lago T26C’s. The trees are a bit euro-green rather than Oz blue-green but let’s not get too pernickety, I think Byron Gunther took this shot. ‘Fill Her Up Matey’: Talbot-Lago T26C, Melbourne 1957… | primotipo…

From Stephen Dalton pointing out that Motor Manual had a crack at hand colouring this photograph in the mid-fifties

The shot above is of a 1.5-litre, straight-eight Grand Prix Talbot Darracq 700 taking shape in the Suresnes, Paris, factory in 1926, read about ‘Australias’ example here; ‘Australia’s’ Talbot Darracq 700: 1926/7 GP car… | primotipo…

TD 700 chassis #3 was brought to Australia by Jack Day in May 1949.

Two of the more exciting cars raced in Australia during the 1920s and 1930s were the 2-litre Ballot 2LS and 4.8-litre straight-eight 5/8 LC raced by Alan and Harold Cooper (and later others) in New South Wales and Victoria. The shot above shows Jules Goux’ 2LS during the French Grand Prix weekend at Le Mans in July 1921.

He finished an amazing third in the 2-litre, DOHC, 16-valve Ernest Henry designed machine behind Jimmy Murphy’s Duesenberg and Ralph de Palma’s 3/8 LC Ballot – both 3-litre cars; I’m not suggesting this 2LS came to Australia.

Peter Whitehead had a several successful visits to Australia in the thirties and fifties including a win in the ’38 AGP at Bathurst in his ERA B-Type, and the South Pacific Trophy at Gnoo Blas in a Ferrari 500/625 in 1955.

This beautiful shot shows Peter on his way to third place in his supercharged Ferrari 125 V12 during the 1951 GP International de Rouen.

Chassis #114 was sold to Aussie, Dick Cobden, and raced by him for a bit, fitted with a Chev V8, it was an early acquisition by Tom Wheatcroft’s Donington Collection. 1955 South Pacific Championship, Gnoo Blas… | primotipo…

Lex Davison (in blue above) beside his Aston Martin DBR4 3-litre in the Longford paddock during the 1961 March long-weekend.

He was fifth in the Longford Trophy won by Roy Salvadori’s Cooper T51 Climax. One of Adam’s earlier efforts, the colour of the racer isn’t close nor is the Holden behind, but better than nothing.

See here for the DBR4; Lex’ Aston Martin DBR4/250’s… | primotipo…

One of the more exotic cars to reach these shores in the fifties was Bira’s Maserati 4CLT-48 Osca 4.45-litre V12 – quite a mouthful.

He brought it as a spare for his Maserati 250F on his Summer of ’55 NZ-Oz Tour. Both were tired shit-heaps, poor Alf Harvey bought the Maser, he had a couple of runs in it between bouts of complex mechanical carnage. I’d love to see a decent shot of that car in action in Australia if any of you has one.

The photograph of the Thai Prince is on the Richmond Trophy grid at Goodwood in 1951. He won the 12 lap race from two ERA B-Types of Brian Shawe and Duncan Hamilton #28. Car #34, another ERA, isn’t listed on either of the results sites I use.

(Twitter)

Another regretful purchase was Jack Brabham’s acquisition of Peter Whitehead’s Cooper T24 Alta (above) when he arrived in England in 1955. He was later to say he would have been far better to have taken his highly-developed Cooper T23 Bristol with him from Australia.

The shot above shows Whitehead at Goodwood in April 1954 – he only completed a lap of the Lavant Cup before throttle problems intervened. More on the Cooper Bristol here; The Cooper T23, its Bristol/BMW engine and Spaceframe chassis… | primotipo…

Credits…

Photographers unknown, Stephen Dalton Collection

Tailpiece…

French derriere to finish. Louis Wagner’s Ballot 3/8 LC at Le Mans during the 1921 French GP weekend – seventh. One of the most beautiful racing cars ever built.

Finito…