Riley's French Connection: the Pourtout Streamliners of Le Mans

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By the late 1930s, streamlining was en vogue. In the racing world, Bugattis, Peugeots and Adlers were among the streamliners vying for glory at Le Mans, but other manufacturers stood by the tried and tested formula of simply making engines powerful and bodywork light. Riley was among the latter, but a team of French Riley enthusiasts wondered what the TT Sprite might be capable of if introduced to the latest advances in aerodynamics.

Guy Lapchin was the driving force behind the project. With drivers Raoul Forestier and Marcel Contet and garage owner Jean Eudel, he established Écurie Eudel and imported three Riley Sprite chassis (two to TT specification) which he placed in the hands of Georges Paulin of Pourtout to receive slippery bodywork inspired by Paulin’s earlier work with the Darl’mat Peugeots.

The experiment didn’t succeed—the excessive weight of the new bodies hindered rather than helped performance—but it resulted in some remarkably good-looking racers which, in their design and development, went beyond what could be expected from a small privateer team.

The Eudel Rileys contested races around France for two years, but now all the Pourtout bodies have vanished without a trace. However, one very talented metalworker has brought them to life again. Having found some bare chassis and assorted parts, he has built two painstaking recreations of Lapchin and Paulin’s forward-thinking specials. Zack Stiling is introduced to the latest of them in the November issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling
Photographs by Stefan Marjoram

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