Louis Chiron at the Monaco Grand Prix 1931

The Monaco Grand Prix has been held since 1929. Its 3.3-kilometer circuit runs through the street canyons of the city-state. Even back then, there were neither run-off zones nor gravel beds. It isn’t a permanent race course, but a race over what are actually public roads. The track goes up and down through tight curves. It wasn’t unusual for parts or even whole cars to end up in the harbor basin. Nowadays, at least, there are guard rails and special barriers to prevent bad accident outcomes. Nevertheless, this race is and remains a great challenge for cars and drivers. Bugatti has been involved from the very beginning. The very first Monte Carlo Grand Prix was won by William ‘Williams’ Charles Frederick Grover in a Bugatti Type 35B. Two years later, another works driver made history.

Organizer and driver of the Monaco GP

Louis Chiron, the namesake of today’s Bugatti supercar, was born in Monte Carlo on August 3, 1899 and therefore had Monegasque citizenship. He learned to drive a car at the age of 15. From 1925 he took an active part in motor racing, initially in a private Bugatti. His first successes in hill climbs came in 1927 and 1928. At the same time, he actively participated in the organisation of a Grand Prix in Monte Carlo together with the Automobile Club of Monaco. However, his role as organizer didn’t end there; he also wanted to compete himself. He took part in the third Grand Prix de Monaco in a Bugatti Type 51. Unlike today, there were no timed practice runs back then. Instead, the starting position of the 24 participants were determined by lot. In addition to Louis Chiron, another 15 drivers drove a Bugatti racing car, four of them in the factory team.

100 times around Monaco’s harbor basin

Today, the Monte Carlo Grand Prix usually runs over 78 laps or 260.286 kilometers of racing distance. Before World War 2, racing drivers could only smile wearily at this. Admittedly, the race course was around 150 meters shorter then than it is today, as some chicanes were missing. Nevertheless, the Grand Prix in 1931 was scheduled for 100 laps of 3.18 kilometers each. Louis Chiron initially stayed in the midfield. Together with his teammate Achille Varzi, he took the lead around lap 20 ahead of a pack of Maseratis. In the end, he crossed the finish line as the winner after three hours and 39 minutes of racing on April 19, 1931.

Type 51 was based on the successful Type 35

In the course of his racing career, Louis Chiron won numerous races. However, winning his home Grand Prix always remained the greatest success of his career. Until 2018, he was the only Monegasque to ever score points at his home race. He is also the oldest Grand Prix participant to date. In 1955, at the age of 55 years and 288 days, he drove his last race – the Monaco Grand Prix, of course. The race in 1931 was also exceptional for Bugatti, as the Type 51 driven by Chiron had only just been presented as a new racing car. It was based on the chassis of the Type 35, but Ettore Bugatti and his team had developed a new inline eight-cylinder engine with a displacement of 2.3 liters. It was capable of producing up to 190 hp. This was achieved with the assistance of a Roots supercharger. Two overhead camshafts were driven via spur gears at the front of the block. With an unladen weight of just 850 kilograms, the Type 51 could reach speeds of up to 230 kph (143 mph).

Images: Bugatti