Lago's Le Mans legend

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The 1930s and ’40s was the age of make-do-and-mend. Many were the Rolls-Royces which, when they ceased to be quite the height of fashion, were reborn as shooting brakes or breakdown lorries. As for Grand Prix cars, when they were no longer quite cutting-edge in that particular discipline, many of them went on to enjoy a new lease of life as sports-car racers.

Talbot-Lagos, like this 4½-litre Grand Sport, built in 1939, were no strangers to such a metamorphosis. Chassis 110059 made its début at the 1939 French Grand Prix, entered by Écurie France and driven by Raymond Mays, with driving duties taken over postwar by Louis Chiron, who won the 1947 French Grand Prix and finished second in 1948.

It was not until 1951, when it was 12 years old, that it was deemed truly past Grands Prix and was converted to T26 GS specification for that year’s Le Mans. Its driver for the race was also its new owner, the lesser-known Guy Mairesse. Running as a privateer against Talbot works drivers including Fangio and Gonz­ález, he outran the whole field bar one brand-new C-type Jaguar to finish an outstanding second. After taking victory at Montlhéry later in the year, Mairesse sold 110059 to Jean Blanc, who campaigned it vigorously throughout the 1952 season.

Under race conditions, these Talbot-Lagos exhibited extraordinary stamina and, when matched with a driver of equal fitness, they were truly formidable, says Mick Walsh in the July issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling, Photographs by Tim Scott/Fluid Images

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