Alternative fuels in the early 1900s

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Maybe some of you noticed or even bought during Interclassics in Maastricht at the Pre/PostWarCar stand this postcard with a wonderful image of 1½ racing Renault in what looks like rather wet and muddy circumstances. As a researcher I always like to know what I see, so what do we see? Not the Paris-Vienna race of course, when the weather was nice and sunny.
No, this is part of a photo taken during the Circuit du Nord, held in May of the same year, and published in the sports magazine La Vie au Grand Air of May 25th. This event consisted of a 2 day race for cars and motorcycles and a 3 day fuel consumption contest for motorcycles, cars and trucks. Alcohol was the only fuel to be used, as the contest was organised by the french government to promote the use of alcohol, an important agricultural product of France and a potential rival for petrol. For the competitors of the 2 day race the only importance lay in the fact that it was the first race run under the new 1000 kgm weight limit and thus was a test for the newly developed racing cars. The race itself however was a disappointment. Spread over two days and run in the North of France, it was raining cats and dogs most of the time and there were hardly any spectators. On the first day the major part of the 56 competitors fell out, so on the second day only 19 cars would eventually reach the finish. On the photo we see the brave drivers Grus and Oury on their Renault racers (which were still equipped with De Dion-Bouton engines), finishing 1st resp. 2nd in the voiturette class. Maurice Farman on a Panhard & Levassor was the overall winner. The use of alcohol was not a success.  As Gerald Rose in his classic "A Record of Motor Racing" described it: "Most drivers disliked it and filled up their tanks with petrol again as soon as they could." The alcohol caused a reduction in speed, the drivers of the Serpollet steam racers were even complaining about a speed reduction of almost 20 per cent! After this event there was only one other alcohol contest, a fuel consumption contest for cars. It was held on the Circuit de l'Hérault in an important wine area in the south of France. Surely a much better combination than with the northern sugar beets ....

Pictures and words: Ariejan Bos

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