At the end of the twenties, one car make ruled supremely in racing : the reknowned Bugatti. Ettore Bugatti built not only excellent sports cars, they also were beautiful, well designed and equipped with aluminium wheels.
These cars were quite revolutionary, because till 1926 manufacturers were generally satisfied with mounting very big engines of 4 to 7 liters unsuited to the car's frames. It gave quite a turn to see the Bugatti type 35 and its Delage competitors on the European circuits : light weight cars with 6 cylinder 2-liter engines. The Bugatti won almost everything, only shortly edged by Delage in 1927. They dominated the Grand Prix till 1931. Then came Alfa Romeo's dominance with its extraordinary Alfa P3 "Monoposto".

In the interwar years there was no world championship for drivers or manufacturers. The challenge was winning as many races and famous trophies as possible. The show was little regulated. Drivers could exchange

In 1930, the Bugattis are still very competitive and Louis Chiron remains loyal to the make from Molsheim. That year, however, he looses to a rising young driver, René dreyfus, with a privately owned Bugatti 35 B. The latter is going to give him a hard time during the Monaco Grand Prix 1931. For that event and under pressure of his son, Jean, Ettore Bugatti has produced the new type 51 model, equipped with a double overhead camshaft. With 16 Bugattis in a field of 23 cars, the Monaco Grand Prix in 1931 was pretty close to a single-brand race ! Among those 16 there are four factory-team 51-types driven by the Monegasque Louis Chiron, the italian Achille Varzi and the French Divo and Guy Bouriat. The real challenge comes from the Maseratis 8C 2500 driven by René Dreyfus, the Italian Luigi Fagioli and Clemente Bondietti. Rudolf Caracciola with his huge Mercedes

SSKL (Super Sport Short Light-Weight) doesn't stand a chance. The acronym is misleading, because the car is neither short nor light. It is oversized for the scenic Monaco ride. The victory will be fought for by the blue from Molsheim and the red from Modena.

René Dreyfus leads the attack of the Sainte Dévote climb, before being passed by Williams with a Bugatti and winner of the 1929 Grand Prix. Suddenly, a broken valve spring makes an end to the ride of the Brit. Achille Varzi and Caracciola start chasing René Dreyfus and Varzi manages to overtake the Frenchman in the 7th lap. Caracciola and his Mercedes get into serious problems and in the 53 rd lap its clutch gives way. Almost absent from the start, Louis Chiron finally displays his talent ; little by little he wins back lost ground and in doing so beats the lap record of 1930, like Luigi Fagioli a bit later. He catches up with all his opponents and leaves them behind. The native driver finishes the race some 5 minutes ahead. Jean Bugatti doesn't control his joy, jumps over the parapet of the bleachers and falls into Louis Chiron's arms. For the Monegasque, this victory really confirmed his reputation.

1934 is a pivotal year. Louis Chiron has left Bugatti for Alfa two years ago. But the German cars, Mercedes and Auto Union, are set to rule supremely on the European circuits. That year the French Grand Prix is staged at Montlhery : 500 km of racing against three Mercedes W25 ((Von Brauchitsch, Fagioli, Carraciola) and two Auto Union C-type (Stuck, Momberger), two Maseratis and three Bugattis 59.

Luigi Fagioli, one of Louis Chiron's rival (B. Freudenthal).

At the start, Louis Chiron is highly charged. He has drawn the third grid by lots, but he catches the lead in the very first meters passing successively Caracciola, Monberger, Stuck and Varzi ! Towards the end of the second lap, Stuck gets ahead of Fagioli but Louis Chiron still leads the pack. Stuck catches up with the Monacan in the third lap but, later falls back in the tenth for refuelling. Louis Chiron is the leader once again and remains so till the finish. Poor Luigi Fagioli hangs on to him but skids from the track and damages his Mercedes W25. Over the next years this is the last significant victory of the Italian over German cars, except for the historic achievement of Tazio Nuvolari in the German Grand Prix the folowing year. Henceforth, for wining races you better drive silver arrows ! In 1936, Louis Chiron signs up with Mercedes and till 1939 he'll be the only permanent non-German driver. Unfortunately, till war breaks out, he doesn't

The period after the war is not going to be the best part of Louis Chiron's career. But Louis "le perfectionniste" loves driving too much, so he wouldn't consider retiring like René Dreyfus did. He and Achille Varzi, his friend and rival, meet again at the 1948 Swiss Grand Prix. They are "old hands" and their opponents often too young for knowing them.
Louis follows Achille, when the elegant Italian makes a powerslide. But in this corner that the two friends have passed hundreds of times, he makes a mistake. He crashes into the wooden barier lining the track out of the corner. Varzi sports a headband where other had chosen crash helmets. Louis Chiron stops to help his friend. To not avail. The Italian got killed instantly. With the death of his prewar rival, Chiron laments over the peaks in his career, the victories of a young man at all European circuits.

In 1949, July 17, aged 50, "Monsieur Louis" by his nickname carries his last major victory on circuit. At Reims he beats the Ferrari of Whitehead and the Maserati of Bira after a dogged combat. The Monacan continues Grand Prix racing untill the age of 56 and he participates in a hill climb at 59 with a Porche 356 before retiring in 1958. His prize record, including 14 Grand Prix victories, confers him the status of figure-head in the racing sport. Old age makes Louis Chiron more affable than the prickly man during his heyday. He now sports a blazer, but always wears a red scarf with white polka dots.

hardly aged 56, Chiron (avec le bonnet) participates to his last Monaco Grand Prix between pilots who are much younger than him !