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A M E R I C A
I N F E R R A R I The journey was not a complete loss, however. Chinetti would sell one of the 1933 Alfa
Le Mans cars (2311202) to Peter Mitchell-Thomson, also known as Lord Selsdon. He also
sold an ex–Scuderia Ferrari 8C 2600 Monza to Harry Rose, the head of Great Universal
Stores in the United Kingdom. Selsdon would later provide financing during an important
period in Chinetti’s career.
By this time, Chinetti’s year had come to revolve around Le Mans. He continued to
procure cars for clients, sometimes preparing them and sometimes driving them himself.
In early 1934, Monsieur Tinaly, the director general of the French oil company Eco-Standard,
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suggested that a driver he sponsored, Philippe Étancelin, enter Le Mans that year. Étancelin
was skeptical, saying that his experience was entirely limited to the 150- to 300-mile grand
prix races of the day, and he had no idea of what endurance racing entailed. Tinaly proved
to be persuasive, and a deal was reached. Étancelin’s co-driver would be Luigi Chinetti,
who was obviously experienced at long-distance racing.
Born in Rouen in 1896, Philippe Étancelin was a wealthy Frenchman whose family
had done well in the woolens business, which he had expanded into bedding and down
products. He began racing in 1926 with a Bugatti and quickly found success. He was one
of the most visible privateers of the between-the-wars years, beginning the 1930s with a
win in the French Grand Prix, then the most prestigious event on the GP calendar. While
winning many more grand prix, he raced more in some years than others, depending on
the pressures of family and business. He was a true gentleman driver and never drove for
a works team. He either entered his own cars or had rent-a-rides with other independents.
He returned to racing after World War II, still wearing his signature cloth cap back-to-front,
even after helmets became mandatory. He simply put his cap on over his helmet.
Étancelin finally retired in 1953 and was awarded the Legion of Honor for his service
©2024 David Bull Publishin
to racing in four different decades. He remains a footnote to racing history, because the 2
Championship points he won for a fifth position in the 1950 Italian Grand Prix at Monza
still make him the oldest man to score points (53 years old) since the inception of the
World Championship in 1950.
In early 1934, Étancelin and his wife Suzanne went to Milan to discuss his purchase of
an Alfa 8C 2300 built to Le Mans specifications. A delivery date was agreed upon which
would allow Étancelin and Chinetti two months to prepare the car. To say the effort would
prove to be fraught with surprises would be an understatement.
Rather than the intended two-month lead time, the car arrived with just two hours
remaining before technical inspection closed. The car was one of the Paris-badged Alfas,
and one sign of being hurriedly prepared was the wheel knock-off wing nuts, which usually
carried French language script. The Étancelin car had Italian on the hubs.
Chinetti later remembered a pre-race arrangement that would affect the outcome. “A
French movie company came to me and said, ‘We want to make a film called 300 Km per
Hour. We will pay you 30,000 francs if you let us film everything you do; stopping the car in
the pits, refueling and many other things.’ So I say, ‘What do you mean, many other things?’
©2024 David Bull PubThey say, ‘Well, there’s an actress in the movie, you have to do something with her.’ ”
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