1935 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 1935 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 13th Grand Prix of Endurance. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 15 and 16 June 1935. The race was won by Johnny Hindmarsh and Luis Fontés in a British Lagonda, breaking the run of four consecutive Alfa Romeo victories. A record number of 58 starters included a record number of British cars, at 37, dominating the smaller classes. Another notable point of the entry was four all-female cars, and a Le Mans record of ten women competing.

A strong quartet of privateer Alfa Romeos, including previous winners Raymond Sommer, Earl Howe and Luigi Chinetti, were the favourites. Up against them for outright victory were five Bugattis, two Lagondas and a debut for French manufacturer Delahaye. Most of the race was run in poor weather with intermittent showers, though fortunately there were no serious accidents. Sommer initially had the lead for most of the first quarter of the race, until delayed by engine issues and, with his co-driver too sick to drive, he retired. The race then became a contest between the Hindmarsh/Fontés Lagonda and the Alfa Romeos charging back up the field after early delays. The big Bugatti of Roger Labric was also consistently running among them in the top-three.

Just after half-time, everything changed over the next hour, as successively Labric, Chinetti and then Howe all were forced out with engine or suspension issues. As a drizzly dawn broke, it was the Alfa of Pierre Louis-Dreyfus only a half-lap ahead of the Lagonda, and the lead continued to swap through the morning as the two cars pitted. When the Alfa lost two laps fixing a misfire late in the morning, it gave the British drivers a comfortable margin. However, with less than an hour to go, they were struck with their own engine problems. Forced to tour gently just to make the finish, Louis-Dreyfus passed them, which was mistakenly interpreted as going into the lead when, in fact, it had only got him back onto the lead lap. By the time, that error was picked up there was only ten minutes to run and Fontés made it home to win by a half-lap.

By dint of good reliability, the smaller British cars of Aston Martin and Riley had pushed into the top-five. The works Aston of Brackenbury/Martin took a fine third-place overall and won both the Index of Performance and Biennial Cup. British cars set new distance records in the 2-litre (MG), 1.5-litre (Aston Martin) and 1-litre classes (Singer). All three MGs of George Eyston's all-female team finished, virtually in formation, after running trouble-free to a careful schedule.