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Post #1 Wed, Jul 5, 11:49 AM |
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Richard Owen
It's Your Birt - 2023
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Sale Title AUTOMOBILES DE COLLECTION LE MANS CLASSIC
Location Paris Sale Date Jul 08, 2006
Estimate 600,000 - 800,000 Euros
TALBOT-LAGO T26C
Year: 1950
Chassis No. 110051
Engine No. 45151
Engine: six cylinder in-line, inclined twin overhead camshafts operated by pushrods and rockers, twin spark, triple horizontal Zenith Carburettors, 4,482cc, 280bhp at 5,000rpm; Gearbox: four speed Wilson pre-selector; Suspension: front, independent by transverse leaf spring and solid top wishbones with hydraulic shock absorbers, rear, semi-elliptic leaf springs with hydraulic shock absorbers; Brakes: four wheel Lockheed hydraulic drum.
Coachwork: Deep Single seater Grand Prix Racing car, blue with light blue leather seating
Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead.
Edited by Richard Owen - Thu, Jul 6, 11:02 AM
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Post #2 Wed, Jul 5, 11:51 AM |
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Richard Owen
It's Your Birt - 2023
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Specific History
110051 was run by the works in 1950, its racing history is noted below.
In Spring 1951, in order to bring much needed funds to the business Anthony Lago sold all four of his definitive twinspark 4.5 Litre Grand Prix cars. 110051 was purchased by Georges Grignard, while the other three cars were sold to: Giraud-Cabantous (110052), Rosier (110053) and Ãtancelin (110054).
In the mid-1950s the car was used as a pace car for Jose Méffret in his unsuccessful attempt on the cycling speed record of 109mph, at Montlhèry.
Grignard kept the car for twenty years until selling it to Thomas 'Bob' Roberts in the U.K.
From Roberts the car passed to another well known British collector Robert Cooper in 1979.
It later passed to Peter Mullin and Jim Hull.
The car was purchased by the present owner in 1991.
It has therefore only had 5 owners from new.
Racing History - 110051
According to Pierre Abeillon's definitive reference work on these cars 'Talbot-Lago de Course', 110051 had the following racing history:
1950
The car debuted at the 1950 Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten, the fourth round of the World Championship, already dominated by Alfa Romeo and Ferrari. The car was entered by the works and driven by Louis Rosier, wearing race number 10. 10th fastest in qualifying, he brought the car home in 3rd place. Fangio winning in the Alfetta.
Two weeks later, the four works twin spark Talbot-Lagos were taken to the Belgian Grand Prix. Rosier would race 110051 again, now fitted with a square boxed air intake protruding from its bonnet. Sixth fastest in practice, he began the race on the 3rd line. After one lap, he held 8th place, then gradually started to rise through the ranks as first Ascari abandoned, then team mate Ãtancelin on the 15th lap, and Villoresi one lap later. When Sommer's T26C also failed on the 20th lap, this put him in 4th.When Farina began to experience problems with his transmission, Rosier quickly made ground on the Italian, who had already lost his second place to team-mate Sanesi. On the 34th and penultimate lap, he passed the struggling Alfa Romeo, to repeat his 3rd place finish of Switzerland and take a further 4 world championship points, his time, 2 hours, 49 minutes, 45 seconds.
A week after the excitement at Le Mans, when Rosier had won in the privately entered Grand Sport Two Seater T26C 110055, the works were back in action in the World Championship for the Grand Prix de L'ACF at Reims on 2nd July, 110051 now returned to its original tubular air-intake or 'bazooka' as they refer to it locally.
Once again the works fielded all four twin spark T26Cs. 110051 although starting from the third row of the grid suffered from overheating (as did GS 110058), retiring on the 11th lap.
A month later, 110051 was next campaigned at the Dutch Grand Prix, and although not part of the world championship, it was a day that heralded a fantastic winning streak for the next year.
4th in qualifying, and despite the Maseratis of the Argentineans being the favourites, Rosier bided his time holding this position. The 24th lap saw the departure of Fangio, then with the stops of Gonzales and Villoresi on the 28th, he rose to 2nd. When on the 37th lap, team mate Sommer retired, Rosier took command of the race. Calmly and carefully he maintained his lead to bring the Talbot-Lago home in 1st.
For the closing race of the World Championship at Monza, no works cars were fielded, Rosier driving his own car 110001, and taking 4th.
For the final race of the season, as Rosier had in 1949 when they raced in Buenos Aires, the works decided to take three of the twin spark T26Cs to the 500 miles of Rafaela, these being 110051, 110052 and 110054, driven respectively by none other than Fangio, Gonzales and Rosier.
Clearly reflecting the possible damage to the radiator that they might cause, each car wore an additional radiator grille cover to protect from crickets!
Wearing race number 2, Fangio was fastest in practice and despite being given a strong run in the closing stages of the race by Rosier, he held 1st Place.
1951 - All four twin spark T26Cs are sold by the works, 110051, is purchased by Georges Grignard in May 1951.
He commented at the time -
'As the factory was under bond when cars returned from the Argentine, they were stored in my garage in Puteaux, so I was one of the first that was aware of their sale, and had the choice, naturally I decided to choose the one that won the race with Fangio'
Grignard's debut race in 110051 was at the Course de Côte de Doullens on the 20th May, just after his purchase of the car. Shunning the Grand Prix de Paris on the same day, which he had won at Montlhèry the year before, but this year was run at Bagatelle he chose to campaign his new acquisition in this race orgainsed by the Automobile Club of Picardie. Though his competition was not quite as stiff as it might have been elsewhere, he still came 1st, beating the Giraud-Cabantous in T26C 110002 and Blanc in Grignard's own T26C 110006.
The next race for Grignard was on 15th July at the Course cte de Cran d'Escalles, which he comprehensively won, being first in qualifying against the 4 litre Talbot of Fayen, Maserati 4CL of Judet and Berte's 'Berte Spéciale'.
Although entered at Albi in August 1951, Grignard did not start the race. The car not being raced again until the Autumn, when it was run at the Spanish Grand Prix on 28th October, the last race in the World Championship that year. Sadly, this was not to be a successful day for him, with a retirement on the 23rd lap of 70, and 7th and 9th positions being all that the Talbots of Rosier and Ãtancelin could manage.
Despite the change from Formula 1 to Formula 2 for 1952 - 110051 continued to have an active racing career in Grignard's hands for the next 4 years, with results as follows:
1952
9th March - Course de Cte Lapize - Race No. 1, lost class to Mike Poberejsky
27th April - Coupe de Printemps - Race No. 70, 1st Place
1st June - GP d'Albi - Race No. 36, factory supported, Abandoned when the car left the track on the 5th lap.
21st September - Coupe d'Automne - Race No. 134, 2nd Place
1953
31st May - Coupe de Paris - Race No. 4, 2nd
21st June - Course de Cte d'Ars - Race No. 18 - 1st Place
28th June - GP de Rouen - Race No. 28 - 6th Place
27th September - Course de Cte de Châtellerault - 2nd Place
1954
25th April - Coupe de Paris - Race No. 4 - Entered but did not race.
20th June - Course de Cte d'Ars - 1st Place
19th September - Coupe d'Automne - Race No. 31, Driven by Fayen - 2nd ace 1955 6th March - Course de Cte Lapize - Race No. 12 - 1st Place ace 1955 6th March - Course de Cte Lapize - Race No. 12 - 1st Place ace 1955 6th March - Course de Cte Lapize - Race No. 12 - 1st Place ace 1955 6th March - Course de Cte Lapize - Race No. 12 - 1st
1955
6th March - Course de Cte Lapize - Race No. 12 - 1st Place
17th April - Coupe de Paris - Race No. 41, Driven by Fayen - Did not finish
1956
29th April - Prix de Paris - Race No. 83, entered by Grignard, retired - the last European race for a 4.5 Litre Talbot.
Beyond this active racing career, the car was stored with Grignard.
Its historic racing career began in 1971, after its acquisition by T.A. 'Bob' Roberts, it was later raced by Martin Dean at the AvD Nüburgring Historic GP in 1980 for owner Robert Cooper, and was run at Paul Ricard in 1982, after which all of its racing for a decade was in the U.S.A. with Jim Hull. Hull's use of 110051, included campaigning at Laguna Seca in 1985, 1986, 1990 and 1991 and at Palm Springs in 1987.
In the present ownership, the Talbot has never been actively campaigned.
The car is cosmetically tidy, though shows minor chips to leading edges from removal of bodywork over the years, while mechanically in the last year it has undergone a thorough and exhaustive rebuild with Neil Davies Racing in the U.K. The remit for this work was to return the car to running order and to a high standard 'without compromise'. In achieving this task, the engine proved to be complete and in good order, though various ancillaries, including fuel lines, oil tank plumbing and throttle linkage were all re-manufactured. A new fuel tank and water radiator was made to replicate the originals. The suspension components were crack tested and completely overhauled as was the entire braking system. Separately the gearbox has been checked and where necessary various bearings replaced.
The car was tested with a 'shake-down' at Mallory Park and signed off in September 2005, it has been unused since except for preventative maintenance, while the vendor reports that there are no known faults and detailed invoices for the work above are available for inspection.
Of a planned run of 20 Talbot-Lago cars, production of the single seaters ran to just fourteen cars, two of the original 6 plug cars becoming later generation twin spark plug variants, a further handful of sportscars would follow, but numerically just two second generation T26Cs were ever built, making this car incredibly rare.
110051, can be credited with assisting Louis Rosier to his French Championship win in 1950, as well as the only two World Championship podiums that the marque recorded, and 8 World Championship points in 1950, more than any other Talbot-Lago, the car therefore represents a very significant part in the story of the Suresnes manufacturer.
In addition to its fabulous racing history and lengthy career, it does today offer eligibility to many of the most popular races on the historic scene, such as the Goodwood Revival meeting, and Laguna Seca historic races, where it has previously been seen in action.
Christie's proudly offers this exceptional Grand Prix car from the heyday of the Talbot-Lagos, with a plethora of race wins to its name including one at the hands of to many the greatest racing driver of all time, Juan-Manuel Fangio.
Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead.
Edited by Richard Owen - Wed, Jul 5, 11:51 AM
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Post #3 Wed, Jul 5, 11:00 PM |
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killer filler
Senior Member - 341
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thanx for all the info!!!!! i really needed it!!! yahoo!
....riiiiight
Holy WallClimb Batman!!
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Post #4 Sun, Jul 9, 12:59 AM |
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Richard Owen
It's Your Birt - 2023
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Sold for 1,100,250 EUR including buyer's premium.
It took 15 minutes, after a fierce telephone battle, for auctioneer Emmanuelle Vidal to knock down for 1,100,250 in the middle of a round of applause, the magnificent French Talbot-Lago T26C (lot 125).
Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead.
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Post #5 Sat, Jul 22, 4:33 AM |
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nishav
Supercar Messiah - 8590
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*whistles*
thats alot of euro.
"well...sort of lovish but not really. It's more like I'm taking that lovely butterfly cliche...and raping it. With explosives." - Ashurii
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Posted: Today |
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Superbot
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Posted: Today |
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