page_title: 1929 24 Hours of Le Mans
section_title: Start
hierarchical_section_title: 1929 24 Hours of Le Mans / Race / Start
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Les 24 Heures du Mans 1929 (Bentley de Dudley Benjafield et André d'Erlanger)
context_page_description: The 1929 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 7th Grand Prix of Endurance that took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 15 and 16 June 1929.
  In the most dominant display in the race to date, Bentley achieved a comprehensive victory taking the first four places on distance. Bentley director Woolf Barnato repeated his victory of the previous year, co-driven this time by fellow Bentley Boy Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin. They had led from start to finish, setting a new distance record and lap record.
  The race was relatively quiet, without serious incident, aside from a fuel fire burning Stutz driver Édouard Brisson. Half of the reduced field had retired by dawn on the Sunday and the Bentley team was able to stage a formation finish for its four finishers.
context_section_description: Once again, the race began under grey clouds and drizzling rain. First away were the DuPont and the Lagonda but Birkin, in the big Bentley Speed Six, was in the lead under the Dunlop bridge. Left at the line was the D’Yrsan with Trillaud losing seven minutes pushing the car up the road trying to get his engine fired (technically a disqualification offense). At the end of the first lap Birkin had already set a new lap record of 7m57s, from a standing start. The other Bentleys of Clement, Kidston and Benjafield were in formation behind, chased by the Stutzes of Bouriat and Eyston. Howe was next, though he soon moved up as the rain stopped to join his teammates, with Benoist and Mongin in their Chryslers and Moran’s DuPont making up the top ten. Already there was a sizeable gap (over a kilometre) back to the Lagonda leading the smaller cars.
  After three-quarters of an hour, Earl Howe was in the pits, his progress stymied by electrical issues. Replacing the sparkplugs and the magneto took an hour but was ultimately unsuccessful. The DuPont retired with a bent propshaft badly affecting its handling. Unlike most other teams who now used secured lead weights, the team had loaded their ballast as sandbags. These had broken through the floor and damaged the propshaft. With their twenty lap minimum done, the other cars started making their first pit stops for driver changes and refuelling. The well-drilled Bentley drivers were in and out in 3minutes. Alarmingly, fuel spilled onto the hot exhaust of Brisson’s Stutz which quickly burst into flames. Brisson was burnt and had to be taken to hospital. After extended repairs to the car, Grand Prix driver Louis Chiron resolved to carry on driving solo.
  Overtaken by the Alvis, the Lagonda was still going well until Lewis bought the car into the pits, saying the floorboards has been on fire. Initially thought it was thought a hot exhaust pipe had got bent, but when it was found to have a leak from a head gasket the team’s race was over. In the meantime, the Alvis had also been put out, with a cracked cylinder head.
  By 10pm as night fell, Barnato and Dunfee, having completed 44 laps, now had a lap’s lead on the rest of the field. The remaining two Bentleys were next, themselves with a lap over Bouriat’s Stutz (42) and with Eyston’s Stutz and the Chryslers a further lap back (41).
caption: Bentley #10 on the main straight
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