1919 Ballot Indy Racer

Boattail Racer

Establishments Ballot of Paris had supplied engines to automakers, like Delage, prior to World War I. During the war, they supplied aero engines but now that the war was over, they had to look elsewhere. History had demonstrated the efficiency of racing to promote a new car and although European competition was not scheduled to resume immediately, the Indy 500 would be back in 1919. Peugeot prewar designer Ernest Henry was available and so was race driver Rene Thomas, who was a prewar Indy winner for Delage.

In total secrecy, four cars, closely based on the 1914 Peugeot Voiturette, were built for the Indy 500 of 1919. The Henry-designed straight-eight dual-overhead cam engine, equipped with bucket cam followers, was destined to be a classic. But the great design could not compensate for hapless preparation. The trouble began soon after driver Thomas and his teammates arrived in the United States. Practice runs proved the Ballots were easily the fastest on the track. Thomas qualified at 104.7 mph, breaking all previous qualifying records by five mph. But the selected final drive ratio was ill-suited to the Indy oval and they had failed to send alternative drives. They tried to compensate by substituting smaller, less substantial wheels. A broke wheel finished one racer on lap #44 and another crashed for the same reason on lap #63 - the other is this example. The two other cars finished 4th and 10th.

by Collier Collection

Boattail Racer

Before the First World War, Ernest Ballot made his name building engines for several European car manufacturers. When peace returned in 1918, Ballot decided to build his own motorcars for racing and made the wise decision to employ Swiss engineer Ernest Henry as his designer. Henry had already developed several racing engines for Peugeot that were dominating road racing. The first Ballots were created for the 1919 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race; a team of four, 5-liter, straight-eight racers were built in record time and shipped across the Atlantic. These Ballots proved to be the fastest car in practice, all qualifying in the front two rows on the grid - but they suffered from mechanical setbacks in the race. In the end, one Ballot driver, Albert Guyot, finished in fourth place behind two Peugeots and a Stutz. Paul Bablot, the driver of this car, crashed on the 63rd lap. The Ballot team returned to Indy the following year and the French driver Rene Thomas finished in second place, while the other Ballots finished fifth and seventh. Over the next decade the two Ernests, Ballot and Henry, entered their cars in many other European and American races and built their own fast road cars until, in 1931, the company was taken over by Hispano-Suiza.

The French-based Ballot company initially built engines for European car manufacturers. Beginning in 1918, they built automobiles until 1931 when the company was taken over by Hispano-Suiza. Brothers Edouard and Maurice Ballot built four cars to compete in the first post-World War I edition of the Indianapolis 500. The engines powering their cars were straight-eight 5-liter engines with dual overhead cams, inspired by the Peugeot Voiturette, and designed and built with the help of Swiss engineer Ernest Henry. One of the cars placed 4th while another finished in 11th place. Encouraged by this success, Ballot returned a year later, and one example, driven by Rene Thomas, finished in second place.

by Dan Vaughan