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1923 Chenard & Walcker Sport 3-Litre (Type U 15CV)
Country of Origin: France
Design Info: A rear wheel drive four-seat phaeton, conventional for the time. However, Chenard & Walcker cars until 1924 had an unusual drive arrangement, with the rear wheels attached to an unpowered “dead axle” and a second pair of half axles coming from the drivetrain to power the wheels, by way of a shaft-mounted gear interlocking with the toothed inner hubs.
Engine Info: A three-liter overhead cam inline-four.
Type: A production phaeton turned grand-prix winner, the Chenard & Walcker raced against Bugattis, Bentleys, and Excelsiors, amongst others, at the inaugaral 24 Hours of Le Mans.
History: In 1895 a French mechanic and bicycle maker named Ernest Chenard created and sold his first motorized tricycle to an English customer for enough money to make him consider starting a new business. Approached by another customer, a mining engineer named Henri Walcker, the two formed a partnership and started producing tricycle cars in 1899.
The pair built their first proper car in 1900 and by 1901 had several vehicles available for public sale. They found success with the market, partially thanks to orders for taxis in Paris, and became on of the largest French auto manufacturers of the time. Their cars remained largely similar in design through to the early post-World War I years, being regarded as somewhat old-fashioned by the early 20s.
However, that would change in 1922 with the introduction of a new model, the Type U. This car, equipped with an also brand new 3.0 liter engine, was a fully modern design from the company, but Chenard and Walcker did not intend to stop merely with this introduction. A new race was on the horizon, a competition highlighting endurance over speed. Most of the cars would have to have four seats, and carry ballast to represent passengers (60 kg per passenger seat), and cars which hadn’t completed a minimum distance at several intervals would be disqualified. The race was to be called the 24 Hours Grand Prix of Endurance, but unofficially it was called the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Chenard & Walcker entered the race with three cars and a great deal of preparation. Crews were well-acquainted with the maintenance and repairs that would be necessary for the race, with one of the cars being driven by two of the engineers that designed the car, André Lagache and René Léonard. A rainy race turned the country roads to mud, and disabled the electric headlights of many cars. Indeed, the first retirement from the race was caused by an accident in one car that lost its lights, and other cars in the race were forced to form convoys, as cars without lights followed closely behind cars with lights. This favored the Chenard & Walcker cars, who were equipped with additional spot lamps which remained functional through the night. By 5 am, the car piloted by Lagache and Léonard was two laps ahead of its competition.
The Chenard & Walcker cars managed a 1-2 finish, with the third car coming in 7th place, in a field of thirty entrants. The company leveraged this into other successes, chiefly by marketing “Le Mans” and “Racing Special” cars through the 20s, albeit often with significantly smaller and less powerful engines. Lagache and Léonard would also have success racing at Spa through the middle 20s. Unfortunately, this did not translate into long-term success. Despite becoming the fourth largest car manufacturer in France, the company never had enough capital to modernize, building cars by hand even as it was becoming prohibitively expensive. Finally the company went bankrupt in 1936, was purchased by a manufacturing company called Chausson, and eventually ceased production in 1940. The named lived on shortly after World War II in the form of a light van, but even this would eventually be rebranded as a Peugeot.
Why it’s cool/unique/significant:
It’s been 100 years since the first 24 Hours of Le Mans, and there can only be one first winner…although technically, since the inaugural race was meant to be only the first event of a three-race series called the Triennial Cup, there was no trophy or official winner for the race. Still, everyone remembers Le Mans, not the Triennial. Unfortunately, when thinking about Le Mans, we think about Porsche, Bugatti, Ferrari, Aston Martin…but not the winners of the first run. That should change.
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