The Cottin & Desgouttes Grand Prix 1911
Story of the car and its restoration
This is the car that set fastest lap time in the 1911 French Grand Prix and later won at the 1911 and 1912 Ventoux Meetings.
In 1969, the car had a small role in the film Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.
Some years later, it was bought by a collector, George Wingard from Eugen, Oregon who restored it. Here are some pictures and explanations from the calendar he produced:
Late in the summer 1912, Lord Carbery bought the Grand Prix Cottin Desgouttes and took it to England to race at Brooklands. It was rebodied in 1914 by Can and Co. of Camden Town, London (as pictured), and later sold to the Bunbury Family of Woodbridge. In the 20’s the car was sold to Anthony Heal.
In 1949, Heal sold the car to Jombo Goddard, who took off the cloverleaf body and installed two seats and a copper fuel tank. In 1960, Goddard sold the car to Tom Wheatcroft, and it was in his collection until 2001.
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GP de France 1911 -
The car in 2002
There is plenty of cooling capacity in this original, petal shaped, 5-inch thick radiator core. A bore of 5 inches and stroke of 8 inches pushes the Cottin Desgouttes easily to 100mph. To reduce frictional power loss, the chain drive transmission has three ring and pinion gears in the trans-axle, one for first and second, one for third, and one for fourth.
The Pebble Beach Concours
The restored car won two awards at the 2002 Pebble Beach Concours (1st in Class V – Open Wheel Race Cars – and French Cup sponsored by Moët Chandon).
Monterey Historics 2009
A video of the Cottin & Desgouttes at the Monterey Historics ’09
Many thanks to George F. Wingard for allowing to copy these documents and to Jean-Philippe Cottin for sending them.