Is this the weirdest selection of record-breakers ever?
Following on from last year’s memorable Group B rally car display on the main walkway bridge connecting the halls at Retromobile in Paris, the organisers of the Montlhery-based historic competition event, Les Grandes Heures Automobiles (LGHA), staged another special feature display for 2018.
Gathered were over a dozen significant speed and endurance record-breaking cars and motorcycles to illustrate the long history of the Linas-Montlhéry Autodrome, the banked ‘world of records’ circuit, just south of Paris.
Pre-war Montlhéry record-breaking cars that form part of the extensive LGHA display include the imposing 7-litre 1927 Voisin des Records, as well as the huge 1934 Panhard et Levassor 35CV, an 8-litre, 290bhp cylindrical missile, which achieved an average speed of 132 mph for an hour. The famous Montlhéry 1933 Citroen ‘Petite Rosalie’ and 1953 2CV Bardot ‘barquette’ are also shown.
Record-beating ex-Montlhery Peugeots include a special Darl’mat-bodied 1953 402 DS, plus the recent EX1 electric prototype from 2010. A standard 49cc Peugeot 104 moped, which covered 1,257 kilometres in 24 hours at Montlhéry, at an average speed of 32 mph, ridden by the father and son team of George and Phillipe (the latter being just 12-years old at the time, and going on to win the two-wheeled 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours Moto) are also shown, as is Sebastian Loeb’s ex-Pikes Peak and LGHA Peugeot 208 Turbo 16.
A number of ex-Montlhéry record-breaking motorcycles also join LGHA’s Retromobile line-up, including a 1934 Peugeot 515 (2,000 km and 3,000 km international records), 1977 Yamaha TZ 750 OW31, 1978 Kawasaki 125 and 15-national records-breaking 1975 Kawasaki side-car combo.
Photography by Tom Shaxson