model based on the F28, the last Rolland-Pilain design. Bugatti, despite having organised races for its car-owners on the Le Mans circuit, had not competed in the endurance race since the inaugural 1923 race. Wealthy French heiress Marguerite Mareuse entered her Type 40 tourer as a privateer, inviting talented driver Odette Siko as her co-driver – becoming the first women to enter the race. Based around the 1.5-litre engine of the Type 37 race-car, it put out about 45 bhp to a 4-speed gearbox. Jean-Albert Grégoire’s small Tracta company had been very successful at Le Mans with its reliable front-wheel drive and patented Universal joint system. The works team bought two Type A models to the race (unsupercharged this time), Grégoire racing with Vallon as usual, and Bourcier with Debeugny. The smallest cars in the field were from MG Cars, making its Le Mans debut. Morris Garages was set up in 1909 by William Morris as a sales/service division of his Morris Motors. In 1928 after strong sales success, the company was relaunched as MG Car Company under Cecil Kimber. The MG M-type “Midget” was built on the Minor chassis with a plywood and fabric body. This year's version had the 847cc engine uprated to put out 27 bhp that made it capable of 110 kp/h (70 mph). Two cars were prepared for Sir Francis Samuelson and Huskinson & Fane, the London MG agents. Practice On race-week, the competitors were allowed to do practice laps on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights between 10pm and 6am. However, the roads were not closed to the public and the ACO advised drivers it was at their own risk. The big Mercedes showed its class, able to reach 195 kp/h (120 mph) on the Mulsanne straight. The Paget-team Bentleys had a bad practice week. The Harcourt-Wood/Dunfee car had a big-end failure and all the cars were suffering overheating issues. This was found to be due to the high combustion temperatures of the hybrid fuel. The team decided to switch to the pure-benzol option, but it meant changing the engine compression ratios and fitting new pistons. There was only time to change two of the cars so the Harcourt-Wood/Dunfee car was withdrawn. Faced with a similar issue, the Talbots had been modified in May. The BNC team had a last minute emergency just before the start. A split fuel-tank needed to be emptied and