From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
THE FIRST GRAND PRIX: In a few weeks' time Renault Grand Prix drivers Fernando Alonzo and Giancarlo Fisicella will attempt to win the 2006 French Grand Prix. If either of them should do so, then they will complete a remarkable double for Renault. Exactly 100 years ago François Szisz, also driving a Renault racing car, was the winner of the very first Grand Prix.
The story of how the French Grand Prix of 1906, the world's first, came about is one of national pride. The series of international motor races for the Gordon Bennett Cup inaugurated in 1900, were contested by teams of three cars representing their country of origin. France, which was undoubtedly the centre of automobile production and had by far the largest motor industry, saw itself disadvantaged by this rule and saw no reason why it should be limited to just three cars representing the myriad of manufacturers within its borders.
As the running of the Gordon Bennett contest had been entrusted to the Automobile Club France (ACF) they simply abandoned the Gordon Bennett, and announced that in 1906 they would replace it with a new race, a Grand Prix, which would allow as many entries from each country as were available.
As a result France fielded 10 teams against two from Italy and one from Germany. A 60-mile circuit was found near the city of Le Mans, to be called the Circuit de la Sarthe, and the race was set to take place on June 26th and 27th. The race was to be run over six laps on both days and even before the start one technical innovation looked as if it might prove decisive. This was the Janate amovible , the detachable rim which was carried as a spare with a tyre mounted on it, inflated and ready to use. Most drivers had to cut off the old tyres with a knife, then fit the new tube and tyre by hand. The new system of detachable rims meant that the new tyre could be fitted in around two minutes, saving about 10 minutes per change. The Fiat cars had them on all rims and two of the Clement-Bayards and the Renaults had them on the rear wheels only. The first car was flagged away at 6am and the race soon settled into a pattern with the Renaults quickly moving up the field and Szisz taking the lead on lap three. The day was very hot and melting tar was a problem, sticking to the tyres and making tyre changes even more exhausting than usual. The one advantage of the melting tar was that it kept down the dust, always a problem on races over the roads of this time. At the finish of the first day's racing the Renault of Szisz was still in the lead, and a time gap of two and a half hours separated the first and 17th and last finisher.
Starting order for the second day's racing was determined by the previous day's finishing order. As things turned out, Szisz was not challenged for the lead and although troubled by a broken spring on his last lap he had a lead of over half an hour which gave him a good cushion to nurse his Renault over the final lap.
At the finish the far from large crowd cheered home the Austro-Hungarian driver who had once been a mechanic to Louis Renault. Nazarro came home second in his Fiat and Clement was third driving a Clement-Bayard. Clement was the only one of the leading drivers who could realistically have challenged Szisz for speed, the decisive difference between the two being that only the Renault had the detachable rims.
Should Renault also win the forthcoming French Grand Prix then Renault can rightly celebrate the longest association with the sport of Grand Prix racing of any manufacturer apart from Mercedes.