Faster, page 32
“The victor is sitting”: Brauchitsch, Ohne Kampf Kein Siege, pp. 10–13.
René circled: L’Automobile sur la Côte d’Azur, May 1926; Evelyne Dreyfus, interview with the author, France, 2018.
The young Niçois: “René Dreyfus, le Driver Gentleman,” Auto Passion, n.d., Dreyfus Magazine Scrapbook, PPDF.
René turned the fuel-line: Ted West, in “Rising to Greatness” (Road and Track, March 1987), interviews Dreyfus about his 1926 hill climb career. It’s a superb article with great details, not only on what Dreyfus thought and felt, but also on the experiences (sounds, sights, smells) of that day. This scene, including the “blaaattt” and “rrrraapppp” of the Bugatti engine, draws on this article. Contemporaneous photos of René Dreyfus, PPDF, DBA.
“A racing Bugatti engine”: Purdy, The Kings of the Road, p. 23.
Considered the father: L’Automobile sur la Côte d’Azur, January 1932; Motor Sport, December 1951; Jellinek-Mercedes, My Father, Mr. Mercedes, p. 88.
alone against the clock: René Dreyfus, interview with Jean Paul Caron, 1973, PPRA.
five minutes, 26.4 seconds: L’Automobile sur la Côte d’Azur, May 1926.
Rousing congratulations: Road and Track, March 1987.
As a boy: Dreyfus and Kimes, My Two Lives, pp. 1–2.
On occasion, his father: “Maurice Dreyfus—The Other Half,” undated news clip, Personal Papers of Karl Ludvigsen, REVS.
War against Germany: Dreyfus and Kimes, My Two Lives, pp. 2–4.
René felt unmoored: “René Dreyfus, le Driver Gentleman,” Auto Passion, n.d., Dreyfus Magazine Scrapbook, PPDF.
“sporting young bloods”: Dreyfus and Kimes, My Two Lives, p. 4.
René entered: “Maurice Dreyfus—The Other Half,” undated, uncited article in Personal Papers of Karl Ludvigsen, REVS; Autosport, March 11, 1955; Sports Car Guide, September 1959.
By one calculation: Purdy, The Kings of the Road, p. 21.
Before the Great War: Alfred Wurmser, telephone interview with Jonathan Dupriez, 2018; Christian Schann, interview with Jonathan Dupriez, 2018.
“little box of speed”: King, The Brescia Bugatti, p. 30.
“marvel in the matter”: Ibid., pp. 64, 7.
“jar the back teeth”: Purdy, The Kings of the Road, p. 15.
“I suspect that”: King, The Brescia Bugatti, p. 97.
“nimble Brescia”: Dreyfus and Kimes, My Two Lives, p. 6.
The Dreyfus family: “René Dreyfus, le Driver Gentleman,” Auto Passion, n.d., Dreyfus Magazine Scrapbook, PPDF.
every young man in town: René Dreyfus, interview with Maurice Louche, PPML; Court, A History of Grand Prix Motor Racing, pp. 56–58; Daley, Cars at Speed, p. 142.
After his grandson’s 1926 triumph: Dreyfus and Kimes, My Two Lives, p. 6.
Over the next few years: Dreyfus race record, PPBK.
A half-dozen years: Road and Track, July 1962; Motor, April 17, 1934; Motor, August 22, 1933; Rao, Rudolf Caracciola, pp. 441–42.
“poised, handling his car”: Nolan, Men of Thunder, p. 126.
A series of win-place-or-shows: Dreyfus and Kimes, My Two Lives, pp. 6–8; Sports Car Guide, September 1959.
“child with a new and better toy”: Dreyfus and Kimes, My Two Lives, p. 16.
“Come on, we have some work”: Auto Age, August 1956; Sport Review’s Motorspeed, (no month) 1953, Dreyfus Magazine Scrapbook, PPDF; Pur Sang, Spring 1980; Moity, Grand Prix de Monaco, 1930/4–8.
the morning of the race: Sport Review’s Motorspeed, (no month) 1953.
Monaco’s small population: Autocar, April 11, 1930.
“Think you’ve got a chance?”: Sport Review’s Motorspeed, (no month) 1953.
In his spotless overalls: Sports Car Guide, September 1959.
He and the other drivers: Automobile Quarterly, Summer 1967.
one last check of his car: This account of the overall race is drawn from a number of sources, most with first-person interviews of Dreyfus. Of particular note, I am indebted to Leif Snellman and his site on Grand Prix racing in the 1930s, where he has assembled a race-by-race account with meticulous care, drawing on a range of contemporaneous newspapers and magazines. See the 1930 Monaco Grand Prix entry at The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing (website), http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gp3002.htm#9. Other sources include: L’Intransigent, April 2–10; L’Auto, April 2–10; Auto Age, August 1956; Moity, Grand Prix de Monaco, 1930/4–8; Sports Car Graphic (Monaco Public Relations), PPRA; Road and Track, September 1980; Autocar, April 11, 1930; Motor Sport, May 1930.
“Don’t force too much”: Sport Review’s Motorspeed, (no month) 1953. Notable sources for dialogue and special details are noted separately.
At the line: Chakrabongse, Road Start Hat Trick, p. 38; Cohin, Historique de la Course Automobile, p. 112.
“multicolored serpent”: Court, A History of Grand Prix Motor Racing, p. 189.
At the top: Ibid., pp. 9–11; Daley, Cars at Speed, pp. 50–62; Hodges, The Monaco Grand Prix, pp. 8–13; Chakrabongse, Road Start Hat Trick, pp. 33–35.
“dive into a dull, stone-side ravine”: Lyndon, Grand Prix, p. 10.
“What a crescendo”: Motor, April 1930.
“the Devil’s course”: Brauchitsch, Ohne Kampf Kein Siege, p. 92.
He drove the Bugatti: Dreyfus, interview with Caron, 1973; Lyndon, Grand Prix, p. 11.
“He’s there! He’s there!”: Pur Sang, Spring 1980.
“Could Dreyfus do it?”: Motor Sport, May 1930.
“Be very careful”: Road and Track, September 1930.
Louis was in a rage: Tragatsch, Die Grossen Rennjahre 1919–1939, pp. 119–20.
Many celebrations: Dreyfus and Kimes, My Two Lives, p. 22.
“In magnificent style”: L’Auto, April 7, 1940.
Between his first-place prize: Moity, Grand Prix de Monaco, 1930/4–8.
The snubbing: Draft of a preface by René Dreyfus for Franco Zagari’s book on Maserati, November 1978, PPBK. This is a remarkable, extended version of the final preface that Dreyfus delivered for Orsini and Zagari, Maserati.
He returned heartbroken to Nice: Manuscript draft of Dreyfus memoir, PPBK; Ludvigsen, Classic Grand Prix Cars, p. 99.
Represented by the trident symbol: Ludvigsen, Classic Grand Prix Cars, p. 99.
“jumped about on its own suspension”: Ibid., p. 99.
at the ramshackle Maserati factory: Sport Review’s Motorspeed, (no month) 1953, Dreyfus Magazine Scrapbook, PPDF.
“What do you think”: Ibid.
a stultifyingly hot: Brauchitsch, Ohne Kampf Kein Siege, p. 7.
René took off: L’Auto, May 23, 1932; Autocar, May 27, 1932; Motor, May 24, 1932; see the 1932 Avusrennen entry at The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing (website), http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gp3206.htm#26.
Early on, René set: Old Cars, January 13, 1976.
“It’s over”: Dreyfus’s draft preface for Zagari’s book on Maserati.
Later at the hotel: Orsini and Zagari, Maserati, pp. 8–9; Motor, April 7, 1931; Ferrari, My Terrible Joys, p. 63.
“Lobkowicz. Brauchitsch”: Brauchitsch, Ohne Kampf Kein Siege, pp. 12–13.
2. The Rainmaster
“an intoxicated giant”: Nixon, Kings of Nürburgring, p. 15.
Only René Dreyfus: Motor, July 6, 1932; see the 1932 Eifelrennen entry at The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing (website), http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/gp3207.htm#30.
A smooth, rational, and imperturbable: Rao, Rudolf Caracciola, pp. 498–500.
“Rudolf Caracciola”: Monkhouse, Grand Prix Racing, p. 43.
The band at the Kakadu nightclub: Caracciola, A Racing Car Driver’s World, pp. 2–8; Molter, Rudolf “Caratsch” Caracciola, p. 27. This scene—and accompanying dialogue—is mostly drawn from Caracciola’s memoir.
Just shy of six feet tall: Rao, Rudolf Caracciola, p. 9.
an unfettered appetite: Stuck and Burggaller, Motoring Sport, pp. 163–64.
The job they secured him: Molter, Rudolf “Caratsch” Caracciola, p. 27.
While competing: Alice Caracciola, “Memories of a Racing Driver’s Wife,” Automobile Quarterly, Summer 1968. This short memoir by Rudi’s wife provides one of the finest views into the interior life of the famed driver.
After a midnight motorcycle ride: Caracciola, A Racing Car Driver’s World,pp. 6–12, 21–26.
Later that same year: Ibid.; Molter, Rudolf “Caratsch” Caracciola, pp. 30–40.
“But I want to be a racing driver”: Road and Track, January 1961.
Back in Dresden: Nixon, Racing the Silver Arrows, p. 170.
Since starting at Mercedes: Molter, Rudolf “Caratsch” Caracciola, pp. 30–43.
Over the course of the next year: Nixon, Racing the Silver Arrows, p. 170.
The concept of a self-propelled vehicle: Laux, In First Gear, pp. 2–4.
In the 1770s: Locomotive Engineer’s Journal 25 (1991); Rolt, Horseless Carriage, pp. 19–22, 37.
Dozens of manufacturers across Europe: Daley, Cars at Speed, pp. 16–18; Ludvigsen, Mercedes-Benz Racing Cars, p. 8; Howe, Motor Racing, p. 17.
“waist down”: Birkin, Full Throttle, p. 10.
“Your cars are quite ugly”: Laux, In First Gear, p. 32.
“This is Paris”: Howe, Motor Racing, p. 19.
It was designed by Wilhelm Maybach: Ludvigsen, Mercedes-Benz Racing Cars, pp. 14–16.
Just before dawn: Doyle, Carlo Demand in Motion and Color, p. 32; Helck, Great Auto Races, pp. 185–89; Daley, Cars at Speed, pp. 24–25.
“Motor racing is unique”: Daley, Cars at Speed, p. 11.
Tragedy did: Autocar, July 30, 1921; Howe, Motor Racing, p. 22; Pomeroy, The Grand Prix Car, pp. 20–22.
In lashing rain: Caracciola, A Racing Car Driver’s World, p. 35.
A month earlier: Kimes, The Star and the Laurel, p. 198.
“with the rather pious hope”: Car and Driver, November 1985.
On the dark gray Sunday afternoon: Caracciola, A Racing Car Driver’s World,pp. 35–36; Das Auto, July 15, 1926.
“Quick, man”: Road and Track, January 1961.
Rudi roared out of the curve: Das Auto, July 15, 1926; “Mercedes beim Grossen Preis von Deutschland,” 652, DBA; Caracciola, A Racing Car Driver’s World,pp. 35–41; Neubauer, Speed Was My Life, pp. 5–6; Photographs, Grosser Preis von Deutschland, AVUS 1926, 93/652. DBA.
“Yes,” he said. “I must”: Caracciola, A Racing Car Driver’s World, p. 41.
Rudi was sitting at the breakfast table: Neubauer, Speed Was My Life, p. 16.
The Wall Street crash: Weitz, Weimar Germany, pp. 161–65.
The forty-five-year-old executive: Neue Deutsche Biographie, vol. 11, pp. 685–87.
“modern-day Falstaff”: Nixon, Racing the Silver Arrows, p. 188.
“There was only”: Neubauer, Speed Was My Life, p. 3.
Neubauer had always been: Road and Track, May 1958; Sports Car Illustrated, September 1956.
“It’s finished”: Neubauer, Speed Was My Life, p. 16.
After Rudi and Charly: Molter, Rudolf “Caratsch” Caracciola, p. 37.
On April 12, 1931: Howe, Motor Racing, pp. 194–97; Daley, Cars at Speed, p. 15.
He had charted out every mile: Neubauer, Speed Was My Life, p. 22.
In his Mercedes: Motorsport, May 1931.
Winner the previous year: Yates, Ferrari, p. 53.
“The Maestro”: Collection of profile articles on Nuvolari, Personal Papers of Karl Ludvigsen, REVS.
Dawn crested: Neubauer, Speed Was My Life, pp. 26–27.
Shortly after Rudi’s return: Caracciola, A Racing Car Driver’s World, pp. 160–63; Neubauer, Speed Was My Life, pp. 29–30; Stuck and Burggaller, Motoring Sport, pp. 162–63; Rao, Rudolf Caracciola, pp. 104–10. Like many of the firsthand accounts that relate to Hitler, the stories change, the impressions alter, depending on if they were written before or after the war. Of note here, the Stuck book, published prewar, relates an article from Caracciola that states how impressed he was, and what an honor it was, to be in the presence of Hitler. His later memoir has a very different tenor.
“All that serves”: Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 149.
When officials: Mommsen, The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy, p. 315.
“I’ve come to demonstrate it”: Caracciola, A Racing Car Driver’s World, p. 162.
Musclebound, with the slitted eyes: Time, June 1, 1936; Reuss, Hitler’s Motor Racing Battles, p. 57.
On leaving Munich: Stuck and Burggaller, Motoring Sport, p. 163. In fact, Caracciola wrote the meeting was “his most impressive experience.”
“I’ve got to drive”: Caracciola, A Racing Car Driver’s World, p. 56.
Winning was the only thing: Caracciola, Rennen, pp. 67–70.
“As light-footed”: Caracciola, A Racing Car Driver’s World, p. 57.
They were truly: Venables, First Among Champions, p. 71.
3. The Speed Queen and Old Gaulish Warrior
“So what if their car”: Le Journal, January 15–21, 1932. This is an incredible series of vivid accounts by Jacques Marsillac of his journey with Lucy and Laury Schell during the Monte Carlo Rally. All quoted dialogue comes from this account.
Launched in 1911: Louche, Le Rallye Monte Carlo, p. 34.
“There comes a moment”: News clip reprinted in Modern Boy’s Book of Racing Cars, 1938, Personal Papers of Anthony Blight.
For the 1932 Rally: Motor, January 12, 1932; L’Auto, January 10–21, 1932.
at five in the morning: Le Journal, January 15–21, 1932.
Their black Bugatti T44: Symons, Monte Carlo Rally, pp. 5–6.
A number of competitors: Motor, January 19, 1932.
The only child: Neubauer, Speed Was My Life, p. 86.
Her father: Marriage certificate of Celestine Roudet and Francis Patrick O’Reilly, January 12, 1896, and marriage certificate of Lucy O’Reilly and Selim Schell, August 30, 1917, both in Archives de Brunoy, France.
“While she grew up”: Blight, The French Sports Car Revolution, p. 86.
“I am American”: Paris Soir, May 1, 1938.
“When one is not French”: Weber, The Hollow Years, p. 87.
“His life seems”: Ibid.
“Even the most dangerously wounded soldiers”: Reading Eagle, May 17, 1915.
Two years later: Marriage certificate of Lucy O’Reilly and Selim Schell, August 30, 1917, Archives de Brunoy, France.
“Every day was like”: Quoted in When Paris Sizzled by Mary McAuliffe in the New York Times, October 14, 2016.
The births of her children: Road and Track, February 1957; Adatto and Meredith, Delahaye Styling and Design, p. 113.
A defining characteristic: Tragatsch, Die Grossen Rennjahre 1919–1939, pp. 84–86.
Lucy followed: Bouzanquet, Fast Ladies, pp. 11–30.
In 1927, Lucy signed up for her first race: Brochure for Journée Féminine de L’Automobile, 1927, Personal Papers of Maurice Phillipe, REVS.
By the early 1930s: Blight, The French Sports Car Revolution, p. 87; April 1, 1930, Automobilia; February 25, 1929, La Vie Automobile; January 20–23, 1931, L’Auto.
Before one race: Le Journal, May 30, 1929.
“looking for trouble”: Symons, Monte Carlo Rally, p. 4.
The pop-pop of flashbulbs: Le Journal, January 15–21, 1932. As before, all dialogue was sourced from the Marsillac series. In addition, the author benefited from accounts in Motorsport, February 1932; Autocar, January 12, 1932; Motor, January 1932; and L’Auto, January 10–23, 1932.
“nationalist leader”: Le Journal, January 19, 1932.
The tall, distinguished man: Mays, Split Seconds, pp. 105–10; Automobile Quarterly, July 1999; Delahaye Club Bulletin, Winter 2014.
“Monsieur Charles”: Delahaye Club Bulletin, September 1987.
“The thirties were doom-laden”: Blight, The French Sports Car Revolution, p. 15.
Weiffenbach may not have feared: La Vie Automobile, March 10, 1931.
Bumbling politicians: Weber, The Hollow Years, p. 5.
The Great Depression: Malino and Wasserstein, The Jews in Modern France, p. 50.
Madame Marguerite Desmarais: Automobile Quarterly, Summer 1967; Bradley, Ettore Bugatti, p. 60; Marc-Antoine, Delahaye 135, pp. 11–13. The scene with Marguerite Desmarais was well documented by Pierre Peigney. The presence of Weiffenbach at the meeting was excluded. However, given the nature of the conversation and the fact that he was on the Delahaye board at the time (and its long-running leader), it is questionable that the family would have conducted this meeting without his input, particularly since he was leading the charge for mass production.
“Midrange touring cars”: Delahaye Club Bulletin, Winter 2014.
Unlike other early French manufacturers: Delahaye Club Bulletin, January 2016.
The two-cylinder engine: Beadle, Delahaye, p. 5; Motorsport, October 1936.
At its debut: Mays, Split Seconds, pp. 13–18; Laux, In First Gear, p. 59; La Locomotion Automobile, vol. 2, 1895.
The 1896 race: Motorsport, October 1936; Helck, Great Auto Races, p. 11.
Late the following year: Mays, Split Seconds, pp. 18–23.
The company blossomed: The 3.5 Litre Delahaye Type 135 (profile publications), PPRA.
“Solid as a Delahaye”: Torque, January–February 1984.
Following his instinct: Jolly, Delahaye: Sport et Prestige, pp. 8–15.
He was a no-nonsense leader: L’Auto, October 2, 1936.
“The typical product”: Draft of “The 1936 Delahaye Type 135 Competition,” Personal Papers of Karl Ludvigsen, REVS.
“provincial notary”: Jolly, Delahaye: Sport et Prestige, p. 6.
“a Benzedrine tablet”: Beadle, Delahaye: Road Test Portfolio, p. 72.
“Charles,” he said: Adatto and Meredith, Delahaye Styling, p. 213; Dorizon, Peigney, and Dauliac, Delahaye, p. 33.
“from the shadows”: Blight, The French Sports Car Revolution, p. 57.
The sun was shining brightly at Montlhéry: Ibid., p. 80.
The strange vehicle: Automobile, March 1985.
The “son of a truck” engine: Torque, January 1984; Omnia, April 1935.
Wearing a black cloth helmet: Mays, Split Seconds, pp. 107–13; Marc-Antoine, Delahaye 135, pp. 14–16.
