In a way Étancelin was 70 years before his time. His trademark was to have his cap turned back to front and even when helmets became compulsory in the 50s Étancelin continued with the habit. He wore the cap over the helmet!
Philippe Étancelin was born in Rouen, 28 December 1896. Known to his friends as “Phi-Phi” he started racing in 1926 entering a Bugatti in French hill climbs and speed trials. In 1927 he started circuit racing and achieved his first major victory at the Grand Prix de la Marne at Reims and followed it up with a third place at the Coppa Florio at St. Briac. He did not race in 1928 but in 1929 he made a successful comeback, again winning the Marne Grand Prix and also proving victorious at the Comminges, La Baule and Antibes GPs.
The car Étancelin raced, the Bugatti T35C, belonged to the T35 Bugatti family and was built on more or less the same chassis that had first been introduced at Lyons 1924. The T35C was a supercharged 2-litre model equipped with a Roots compressor to give some 125 bhp. Here is a list of the various Bugatti variants:
The original 1924 model:
Type 35: 60*88 mm = 1991cc
The 1925-’26 model:
Type 35: 52*88 mm = 1495cc
The voiturette model:
Type 35: 51.3*66 mm = 1091cc
The detuned production model known as the “Tecla”:
Type 35A: 60*88 mm = 1991cc
The long stroke 2.3 litre “Targa Florio” model:
Type 35T: 60*100 mm = 2262cc
The supercharged variant of the 35T model:
Type 35B: 60*100 mm = 2262cc supercharged
The 2-litre supercharged model:
Type 35C: 60*88 mm = 1991cc supercharged
The 4-cylinder engine model:
Type 37: 69*100 mm = 1496cc 4 cylinder
The supercharged variant of T37:
Type 37A: 69*100 mm = 1496cc supercharged 4 cylinder
The short-stroke model:
Type 39: 60*66 mm = 1493cc
The supercharged variant of T39:
Type 39A: 60*66 mm = 1493cc supercharged
The d.o.c. 2 valves/cyl model:
Type 51: 60*88 mm = 1991cc supercharged
The long-stroke variant of the d.o.c. T51:
Type 51-1: 60*100 mm = 2262cc supercharged
The short-stroke variant of the d.o.c. T51:
Type 51A: 60*66 mm = 1493cc supercharged
(All with 8-cylinder engines unless noted otherwise)
The first major race of the 1930 season was the Monaco Grand Prix on April 6. This was only the second Grand Prix to be raced on the track, “Williams” having won the first Monaco GP the year before. There were 18 entries including 12 Bugattis and two Maseratis. The 2.3 litre Bugatti T35Bs were raced by René Dreyfus, Marcel Lehoux, Italian driver Zehender, Chilean driver Zanelli and Belgian driver Bouriano. The 2-litre T35Cs were raced by works drivers Chiron, “Williams” and Bouriat and privateers Étancelin, Stuber and Burggaller. Michel Doré had a 1.5-litre Bugatti T37A. Works Maseratis were raced by Borzacchini and Archangeli, the former with the big 4-litre “Sedici Cilindri”, not exactly an ideal car for Monaco, and the latter in a 2-litre Tipo 26B. The rest of the field consisted of Stuck’s Austro-Daimler, Biondetti’s Talbot, Bobby Bowes’ Frazer Nash and finally Count Max d’Arco in a Mercedes SSK, a car even less suitable for the Monaco track than the Maserati 16-cylinder machine.
This was the era before qualifying for positions and the ballot put Borzacchini, Bowes and “Williams” in the front row. However British gentleman driver Bowes had already come to the conclusion that Grand Prix racing wasn’t for him after all and became a non-starter. The race turned into a duel between the Bugatti drivers. Borzacchini held fourth place for some time before both he and Archangeli had to retire because of technical troubles. Chiron dominated the race to the cheers of the home crowd until lap 83 when he had to made a lengthy pit stop to change plugs. The Bugatti team was unaware that the rather unknown privateer René Dreyfus had added an extra tank to his Bugatti and was on a non-stop strategy. Now Dreyfus managed to close in on the leader and as Chiron continued to have problems with a jammed pedal the French privateer passed the works car with 10 laps to go and went on to take a sensational victory, 21.8 seconds in front of Chiron. All six finishers were racing Bugattis, Étancelin wasn’t among them, however.
In 1930 Étancelin instead won the handicap Algerian GP race and Circuit de Dauphine in Grenoble but his greatest achievement that year was the victory in the French Grand Prix at Pau.
For 1931 several privateers bought the new Bugatti T51 but Étancelin preferred to wait for the Alfa Romeo “Monza” to arrive. In the meantime he raced his Bugatti T35C together with his old friend and rival Marcel Lehoux in the 10-hour Formula Libre races of the era. He showed great form at the Italian and French GPs before having to retire. Once he received the new “Monza” he went on to beat the Bugattis, winning the Marne, Circuit de Dauphine and the Comminges GP at St. Gaudens.
The end of the 1931 season had been a triumph but with the world economy in serious trouble and no places available in the works teams Étancelin had to continue as privateer in 1932. His only victory that year was the Grand Prix de Picardie at Péronne. Next year proved more successful as he again was victorious in Péronne and also in the Marne Grand Prix. He finished second in the Nimes GP and was after a great fight beaten by Campari’s Maserati at the French Grand Prix.
For the 1934 750kg formula Étancelin bought one of the 1933 3-litre Maserati 8CMs and had to make some rebuilding to make it comply with the new minimum width requirement. With that car he won the Dieppe Grand Prix and was second in the Casablanca, Montreux and Nice GPs. Together with Luigi Chinetti he also took a victory at the Le Mans 24h race in an Alfa Romeo.
In 1935 Étancelin joined Scuderia Subalpina racing a Maserati 6C-34, but his best result was only a 4th place at Monaco. At the Marne GP the Maserati V-8RI made its debut in the hands of Étancelin. He continued to race that car in 1936 but except for a victory at the Pau Grand Prix the season was without success.
After a temporary retirement “Phi-Phi” was back in 1938, racing for Anthony Lago’s Talbot team. He managed to finish third at the 1939 Pau GP, outclassed by the Mercedes-Benz duo of Lang and von Brauchitsch, and he was fourth at the French GP, this time beaten by Müller’s and Meier’s Auto Unions and his own team mate Le Bègue.
Étancelin took part in the first post-war race, the 1946 Coupe des Prisonniers, in which he raced an Alfa Romeo. In 1948 he was able to buy a Talbot-Lago T26C and with it he was second at Albi and in 1949 he won the Grand Prix de Paris and was second at Marseilles, Monza and Brno. At the beginning of the World Championship in 1950 Étancelin was already 53 years old but he still continued. He took part in 12 Formula 1 Championship races, achieving 3 points in 1950 from finishing 5th at Reims (shared drive) and Monza. With the new GP rules for 1952 his Talbot-Lago was no longer usable for the championship races and Étancelin did not compete so often. He finally retired after the 1953 season.
He continued to show his interest in the sport appearing occasionally in the pits of the GPs or at historic car races. One of his last appearances was at Monaco where he was invited into the seat of the Turbo Renault. Étancelin died on 13 October 1981 at the age of 84.
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