The Wall Street Crash of 1929 loosened the British grip. Bentley won again in 1930 – beating a small field of 17, including a hugely powerful Mercedes-Benz driven by Rudi Caracciola – but Barnato announced his retirement after this incredible third from three, and the company found itself in receivership by 1931. British drivers continued to be a force at Sarthe, and British cars flooded the smaller-capacity ranks, but now it was the turn of Alfa males and groundbreaking women to star.

Odette Siko had stolen much of the Bentley Boys’ last rumble of thunder by finishing seventh in a Bugatti shared with Marguerite Mareuse – and her class-winning fourth overall of 1932 in an Alfa remains the best for a female driver. Although she would never return following an injurious crash in 1933, a record 10 women started in 1935; and a record seven finished.
Lagonda’s surprise victory that year ended Alfa Romeo’s sequence. Earl Howe and ‘Tim’ Birkin had gained the first of four for the Italian marque’s fabulous supercharged 8C model – fast and efficient – and received telegrams of congrats from Mussolini. Local hero Raymond Sommer notched its second and third wins – the latter alongside the great Tazio Nuvolari – and Paris-based Italian Luigi Chinetti its second and fourth, having come within 400 metres and some chewing gum (used to stem his rival’s leaking fuel tank) of denying Nuvolari upon his only visit. Alfa Romeo likely would have made it five from five but for the erroneous pit signal that led Pierre Louis-Dreyfus to believe that he had taken the lead in the closing stages when in fact he had unlapped himself. Handed this reprieve, Luis Fontés, a 22-year-old British son of a Brazilian businessman, coaxed home a seizing Lagonda.
Le Mans had fallen victim to but survived a national strike of 1936 – only for the second world war to close its gates three months after Jean-Pierre Wimille had confirmed a French Renaissance with a second win for a Bugatti streamliner in three years. Tired of German domination of the single-seater scene, the Automobile Club de France had in 1936 rewritten the rules of sports car-cum-grand prix racing to suit homegrown machinery: two-seaters (without doors if so wished) powered by naturally aspirated engines of up to four litres. The ACO followed suit. Thus Le Mans and the Grand Prix de l’ACF of 1937, held just a fortnight apart, ran to the same regulations: Bugatti – breaking the 2000-mile barrier in the process – and Talbot shared the wins. Delahaye was another beneficiary from home advantage, scoring a 1-2-4 in 1938.
War’s outbreak drew a veil over a circuit that had in 1932 adopted the 8.4-mile layout – a section comprising Dunlop Curve, The Esses and Tertre Rouge bypassing the suburb of Pontlieue in its entirety – that would see out the century. And the vast concrete pits and restaurant adjacent to enlarged grandstands built in 1934 would be damaged during hostilities but prove sufficiently sturdy as to be salvageable. The race returned in 1949 when a 47-year-old Chinetti drove for more than 22 hours to give Ferrari the first of its nine wins in 16 years. It assured the firm’s long-term existence.