Had this picture of Georges Sizaire for years and thought I ought to share it with you. Sizaire & Naudin is one of those great independent French car makers that grew out of the mad-cap back yard experimental engineering of the late nineteenth century. Georges was born in 1880 and had the fortune of having an older brother called Maurice Hippolyte Sizaire - fantastic name. Louis Naudin was hauled in while Georges was in the army and by 1900 the three were working together on their first car. Voiturette racing of this kind was an obvious marketing weapon and the company had much success over the years, notably winning the 1908 Coupe de l'Auto in the latest development of their long stroke single cylinder "light" cars. The picture above is of Georges at the wheel of a later four cylinder racer accompanied by his trusty mechanic during the 1912 Coupes des Voiture Legere at Dieppe. The race at Dieppe was usually run at a distance of 956 miles, and in that light the reliability of these motors is staggering. I've another picture somewhere in the archive of Naudin at full throttle, dust flying, mechanic hanging on for dear life with a cigarette gripped firmly between his teeth. Shots of Edwardian motor racing always trigger that yearning for unsurfaced roads. We have it far too easy with all this tarmac and concrete to speed about on. It's a shame that nearly all public roads in this country have gone easy, we need to travel to North America (particularly the fire roads in Canada), or the outback of Australia to get any real feel for the loose stuff. I was heartened by news today that some local authority was proposing to leave pot-holes un-mended as a traffic calming measure - bravo. It seems to me that the more we pander to the motorist with fine, smooth, straight roads, not only do we completely trash the countryside but we encourage more Toady driving. Talking of news - when did littering and dog fouling become "minor" offences ? No reference to loose stuff needed here, but frankly any body who can't deal with their own dog's pooh should be rushed straight to the front of the queue ahead of car thieves, muggers and even bad tempered policemen. MORE DUST !
11 comments:
Any idea what the mechanic was smoking?
Love the picture, reminds me of Jacques-Henri Lartigue's stuff, where the vertical plane shutter made ovals out of wheels, adding to the impression of high speed.
We are blessed with a lot of dirt roads up here: A59, A65, A61, to name but three. As to dogs, the answer is the return of the licence: no licence, and straight down the pound for the lead injection. The owner, that is, not the dog.
Peter - something with hefty tetra-hydra-cannibol content in the hope that he wouldn't actually realise what was going on.
Affer - I must explore the dirt roads of The North - I had completely failed to consider the North/South divide and the consequent effects of poverty on local authority highway maintenance.
Fabulous photograph Diplo, fabulous. And such an informative blog. I've always admired the Sizaire Naudin for its quirkiness - that transverse spring and giant one lung engine - since I developed an interest in old machinery. I knew they built multi cylinder cars of a more conventional nature in the 20's but in my ignorance had no idea that there were anything but 'singles' in the Edwardian period. You're absolutely right, Dieppe was a serious race and test of men and machines in those days - was that where 'the pit' as in storage and maintenance area was 'invented'? Mark Walker took his historic ex-Farman racing Panhard there for the centenary last year but sadly and most unusually, it let him down. Usually it's driven to race meetings wherever they are.
Couldn't agree more on the dog poo front. Oh and try NZ for beautiful dirt roads preferably on something lighter than a BMW R1100 RS!
Hello Jon - glad to hear you know Mark, small world isn't it ?
I wouldn't profess to know Mark but I've admired his exploits with that magnificent motor car (and others) for years. Hope to be seeing it perform at Silverstone this coming Saturday. Is Mark anything to do with the Walkers crisps empire by any chance?
Sort of JD - Walkers Butchers started up Walkers Crisps as an off-shoot - I think the operations parted company some time ago.
Good Leicester boys though?
Ah now. Walkers Pork Pies. Are they still as good Diplo?
Now you mention it - oh yes. I propose we include a 2 pounder in our PP tasting ( check with affer )
Fantastic picture Diplo. Driving the Jeep, or for that matter any Series Land Rover, with the screen down must be a very similar experience. Thought provoking that the 40 odd years between that racer and my Jeep saw such vast leaps in car production and design. From 1940 ish allwe have really done is refine the same basic design.
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