page_title: 1928 24 Hours of Le Mans
section_title: Entries
hierarchical_section_title: 1928 24 Hours of Le Mans / Entries
caption_attribution_description: English: A 1928 Bentley 4½ Litre at the 2014 Lime Rock Concours d'Élegance, belonging to Roger Noble of Connecticut since 1958. Originally a Harrison-bodied convertible, s/n PM3272 received a 2/3 seater rebodying in 1957 and later a full Le Mans spec conversion. Engine number FT3201, originally sold to a "WOOD C H". Plate number YX&#160;550.
context_page_description: The 1928 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 6th Grand Prix of Endurance that took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 16 and 17 June 1928.
  Bentley director Woolf Barnato and Australian-born Bernard Rubin in a Bentley 4½ Litre gave the company back-to-back victories after a race-long duel with the Stutz of Édouard Brisson and Robert Bloch. In the process they won the inaugural prize for overall distance.
  The big publicity from the previous year's race and the White House crash raised manufacturer interest and several British and American companies brought teams to the race. In fact foreign cars outnumbered French ones for the first time. The race started at a record pace, but after two of the Bentleys and the Ariès retired early, it became a one-on-one duel between the Bentley and the Stutz. They traded positions through the night and into the next morning. Going into the final hours the British car was suffering from water leaks and overheating, while the American car was losing its gears. Both teams drove as hard as they dared, and in the end the distance between the two was barely a lap, and both cars exceeded the previous record overall distance.
context_section_description: After the previous year's short entry list, the ACO was gratified to have a far healthier entry list this year. No doubt motivated by the excitement of 1927, and a prize for an overall winner, there were more cars in the large-engine classes, although Ariès was still the only French manufacturer in that category. Indeed, foreign cars outnumbered French cars for the first time, including new entries from Lagonda, Alvis and Aston Martin from Great Britain, Alfa Romeo and Itala from Italy and Stutz from the USA. After the tough race the previous year, there were only six entries eligible for the 1927-28 Biennial Cup, with Salmson taking only one of its two available spots.
  Note: The first number is the number of entries, the second the number who started.
  Defending distance winners Bentley arrived with a four-car entry (one kept back for spare parts) and were strong favourites to win the inaugural distance prize. The cars were all 4½-litre tourers, two of them with racing chassis designed by Vanden Plas. The engine put out 130 bhp making them capable of a top speed of 165 kp/h (105 mph). Company director, and chief shareholder, Woolf Barnato drove with his wealthy Australian-born Grosvenor Square neighbour Bernard Rubin. They had the original 4½-litre (nicknamed “Old Mother Gun”) that had been mangled in the White House crash the previous year. The 1927 winner, Dudley Benjafield, was this time paired with 1924-winner Frank Clement. The third car was driven by another of the “Bentley Boys” debutantes, Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin, who was accompanied by the experienced Jean Chassagne, who had chased the team so hard in his Ariès the previous year.
  Automobiles Ariès again returned with its streamlined 3-litre GP2 surbaissée “tank”. Although showing its age, the 3-litre engine had been tuned to now put out 96 bhp. It was driven by works drivers Robert Laly and Louis Rigal. As before the team also entered a pair of smaller 1.1-litre CC4 cars.
  The biggest car in the field, by engine volume and stature was a Stutz BB Blackhawk. Its 5-litre engine produced 125 bhp and the car had been winning many races in the American AAA racing series. It was entered by Charles Terres Weymann, the Paris-based American car-distributor and aviator and driven by Le Mans veterans Édouard Brisson and Robert Bloch formerly of Lorraine-Dietrich.
  After a promising debut in the 1925 race, Chrysler returned with a big four-car team, once again entered by its French distributor, the Grand Garage St Didier Paris. The “72” was the latest version of the same Chrysler Six but had a bigger 4.1-litre sidevalve engine that developed 85 bhp. The team hired a squad of grand-prix drivers: Henri Stoffel (1925 Chrysler driver) was with dual race-winner André Rossignol, up-and-coming race-winner Louis Chiron ran with Cyril de Vere, Conte “Freddie” Zehender was paired with Jacques Ledure while the Cantacuzino brothers (Parisian-resident Romanian aristocrats) had the fourth car.
  Alfa Romeo had been vying with Bugatti for top Grand Prix honours in the mid-1920s. In sports-car racing they were also proving to be the team to beat with the fantastic new design from Vittorio Jano. The 6C-1500 Super Sport dominated Italian races, including winning the new Mille Miglia event. The supercharged 1.5-litre version only put out 75 bhp but gave a top speed of 140 kp/h (85 mph). The Russian émigrée Count Boris Ivanowski entered one for the race. However, the ACO scrutineers rejected it, saying it was “too racy” with too many standard components of a touring car removed to be eligible.
  Itala’s best racing days were pre-war, but two cars came to Le Mans for the manufacturer’s only appearance. The Tipo 65 had a twin-cam 2-litre engine producing 70 bhp  and capable of 130 kp/h (80 mph). Guy Benoist, winner of four Grand Prix in 1927 was partnered with former Chenard-Walcker driver Christian Dauvergne, while the two French nom-de-plumes “Sabipa” and “Christian” drove the other car.
  Like Itala, the British Lagonda company had been racing since before the war. The new 2-litre Speed Model had been 
caption: Bentley 4½-litre
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