Grand Prix des Frontieres

Chimay, 5 Jun 1949

All cars are 1.5-litre s/c F1 or 4.5-litre F1^† unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Talbot T26C [110 002] (Guy Mairesse): Talbot-Lago T26C chassis '110 002' was raced by 'Raph' and Eugene Chaboud in 1948 and Paul Vallee and Guy Mairesse in 1950. Owned by Mairesse 1950-51; also raced by Giraud-Cabantous 1950; by Jean Blanc and Levegh 1952; and by Etancelin in 1953. In late 1953, Vallee sold the car to Doug Whiteford in Australia to replace his existing chassis '110 007'. Whiteford was surprised to discover that he'd bought an earlier model and it was 1955 before the car raced in Australia. It was sold to Ralph Snodgrass in 1956 but crashed badly at Mt Druitt in 1957. Snodgrass retained the car until 1980 when it was sold to Reg Hunt who restored it for historic events. Retained by Hunt until sold to Ron Towney in 2006.
2. Talbot T26C [110 011] (Johnny Claes): Talbot-Lago T26C chassis '110 011' was Johnny Claes car in 1948-50 and then sold to Duncan Hamilton (and Fotheringham-Parker) and raced 1951-53. Stored in France until 1955 when Hamilton sold it to Allan Freeman in New Zealand who raced it through to 1961. It was bought by Joe Hepworth in 1963 and returned to England; then via other UK and French owners until sold to Bernie Ecclestone 1996. Retained 2002.
3. Talbot T26C [110 010] (Pat Garland): Talbot-Lago T26C chassis '110 010' was P A T Garland's very rarely-used car, entered for four races over that period but did not start any! Via Serge Pozzoli to Schlumpf Collection and still in Musée de l'Automobile 2001.
4. Talbot T26C [110 001] (Louis Rosier): Talbot-Lago T26C chassis '110 001' was raced by Louis Rosier from 1948 to 1950 and then under the Ecurie Rosier banner by Pozzi in 1950; by Henri Louveau and Louis Chiron in 1951; and by Giraud-Cabantous, Chaboud and Mairesse in 1952. It was acquired by the Musée Henri Malatre at Rochetaillé, France, in 1956 and was still on display in 1990.

Formula 1 events 1948-1953

The results published here were compiled by David McKinney and Adam Ferrington from a range of sources including Autocourse, Motor Sport and Autosport, as well as the F1 Register's A Record of Grand Prix and Voiturette Racing Volume 5 covering 1950 and 1951. Individual car identities were then meticulously checked against their enormous libraries of books and photographs, notably Talbot-Lago de Course by Pierre Abeillon, Les Gordini by Robert Jarraud, Gordini – Un Sorcier, Une Equipe by Christian Huet and The History of English Racing Automobiles by David Weguelin.

David has also contributed extensively from his notes on car identities compiled over 40 years of research, Michael Müller has contributed immaculately researched histories of all the 1948-1950 Ferrari 125s, and Doug Nye, both through his books and his personal assistance on HWM, has also been of great help.

Please note that since David's sad death in 2014, Adam and Allen have agreed that these pages will remain unaltered from now on, as a lasting testimony to David's expertise.