1923/17 Bequet Delage

This car competed in the Maserati UK Race for Pre 1952 Grand Prix Cars at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's the 1923/17 Bequet Delage of Alexander Boswell which Maurice Bequet and his business partner Roland Coty, with the assistance of the Hispano Suiza factory, constructed in 1926. They started with the chassis of a 1923 Delage 2LCV into which they installed the 11,959cc Hispanio Suiza V8 engine from a 1917 World War Two Spad fighter plane. It raced in the Grand Prix de la Baule where it finished in third place, but did not contest any more Grand Prix races as it didn't comply with the regulations then in place. After competing in minor events with some success for several years the partners sold the car in 1936. It was eventually acquired by Nigel Arnold-Forster who restored the car in 1980 and he drove it for several years at vintage racing events.

 

A note in the programme of the event said this:

 

‘The most spectacular car in the field is Alexander Boswell’s wonderful Bequet Delage, a delicious concoction that marries the Hispano-Suiza aero engine from a World War 1 Spad fighter with a good handling French chassis of 1923.’