page_title: 1931 24 Hours of Le Mans
section_title: Night
hierarchical_section_title: 1931 24 Hours of Le Mans / Race / Night
caption_attribution_description: English: Pitting at night at the 1931 24 Hours of Le Mans.
context_page_description: The 1931 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 9th Grand Prix of Endurance that took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe on 13 and 14 June 1931.
  With the demise of Bentley, the favourite for an outright victory was split between the Bugatti and Alfa Romeo works teams, with a lone privateer Mercedes as an outside chance. Once again it was one of the smaller fields, with only 26 starters.
  At the start of the race it was the Mercedes setting the pace from the Bugattis of Chiron and Divo. But tyre-wear was a big issue, with many cars suffering tyre blowouts and punctures. This left Marinoni leading in the works Alfa. Coming up to the first refuelling stops, the rear tyre on Maurice Rost’s Bugatti at full speed on the Mulsanne Straight. The car careered through a fence and knocked down three spectators, killing one. When more tyre delaminations plagued Chiron’s Bugatti the team withdrew the remaining two cars. Tyre troubles had cost the Mercedes team eight laps.
  The Alfa Romeo of British privateers Howe and Birkin had been having a reliable race. As others were delayed they caught them up and took the lead after midnight. At 2.30am a sudden thunderstorm swept the track.
context_section_description: As dusk fell, Couper’s Bentley broke its crankcase just as he was braking for the corners at Pontlieue. The driver managed to stop just in front of the barriers blocking the main road into Le Mans Going into the night, Marinoni/Zehender were still leading. At the 6-hour mark (10pm) they had done 46 laps. Howe and Birkin were closing in quickly, eventually overtaking them after midnight. Just a lap back was the Talbot of Rose-Richards/Saunders-Davies while the Lewis/Hindmarsh sister-car had been delayed by electrical issues and now three laps behind them with the Mercedes half a lap further back. The three Astons were also still running together inside the top-10: Bezzant/Cook in 6th (40 laps) and Bertelli/Harvey in 7th. However the team had replaced their headlamps with heavier Zeiss headlamps. The strain from the roads gradually shook the bolts loose and all the Aston Martins lost time getting them re-secured.  The Caban of Labric/Giraud-Cabantous got beached at Pontlieue after midnight, losing much time getting dug out.
  Then at 2.30am, a violent lightning flash and thunderclap heralded a short intense squall that flooded the track for an hour. Cars quickly came into the pits to raise wind-screens and put on wet-weather gear. But on his out-lap, Zehender aquaplaned off at Indianapolis corner, slamming the front corner. It got repaired and back on the road, but lost four laps. The two Fox & Nicholl Talbots were still running reliably in third and fourth – their only issues were similar to the Aston Martins. Both cars each had one of their headlamp brackets brake. The drivers latched onto faster cars, using them as spotters through the night on the dark roads.
caption: The pits at night
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