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23/06/2011, 19:26
Story And Images By MURRAY HUBBARD
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There’s an old adage that goes something like, ‘if you want to make a small fortune in motor sport, you must first start with a large fortune.’ That wisdom might well have been written by, or about, brothers Charles and Frederic Dufaux.
They started the Dufaux car manufacturing company in 1904 with a view to winning the Gordon Bennett Cup. In that aim they did not succeed and by 1907 they ceased race car production - because of the expense - and turned to a more traditional way of making a quid: banking.
Their three years in motor sport were one hell of a ride. They had a simple goal of winning the Gordon Bennett race and their first car was also simple: a chassis, wheels, bucket seats, gearbox and engine ... a monster straight-eight that was 12,760 cc or 12.7 litres in capacity. Remarkably, that car still exists and is at the Musee Nationale de l’automobile, home of the Schlumpf Collection, in Mulhouse, France.
While we have called that engine a `monster’ it was a pup compared to the largest capacity powerplant built by the brothers: a 26,400 cc (26.4 litre) four cylinder engine. It was in this car that Frederic Dufaux saw the only track success in their short manufacturing/racing career, setting a world record on November 13, 1905 with a speed of 158 km/h.
It is worth a moment to digress from the fortunes of the Dufaux brothers to take a quick look at the Gordon Bennett Cup. The race was named after sponsor James Gordon Bennett jnr, owner of the New York Herald, an eccentric millionaire who sponsored the cup first in 1900.
There were six motor sport cups in all starting in 1900. These were long-distance races and an Australian, Selwyn Edge, won the 1902 race in a Napier. Perhaps the most pertinent point though is what the Gordon Bennett Cup led to in 1906. This was a motor racing event at the Circuit de la Sarthe, at Le Mans ... now the world’s oldest, and most significant, long distance car race.
Although the Dufaux brothers had their car ready for the 1904 race it was unable to start because of a broken wheel. There were reports the car was vandalised, or perhaps that might be sabotaged. It also missed the 1905 race. In 1906 the brothers continued to build race cars, some four cylinder, some straight eights. That same year four Dufaux cars competed in the Marchairez hillclimb.
Our featured car has a bore of 125 mm and stroke of 130 mm with two Solex carburettors supplying fuel and power run through a three speed gearbox. The Dufaux is one of many non-Bugatti vehicles to feature in this spectacular museum. |
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