1929 Antibes Grand Prix Poster – Grand Prix International Automobile du Cap d’Antibes et de Juan les Pins poster

1929 Antibes Grand Prix Poster – Grand Prix International Automobile du Cap d’Antibes et de Juan les Pins – A Kow This fabulous 1929 Antibes Grand Prix Poster was created by the Russian-born artist Alexis Kow. The poster features a stylised car racing up a hill on a coastal road in the Côte d’Azur. It was created primarily to advertise the Grand Prix International Automobile du Cap d’Antibes et de Juan les Pins. However, two races took place over the Bank Holiday weekend. The Prix du Conseil Général took place on Easter Sunday, March 31st and the Grand Prix d’Antibes on Easter Monday, April 1st. The Grand Prix d’Antibes, Juan-les-Pins was the second time the city had held the Grand Prix. Antibes would go on to hold the Grand Prix one more time in 1932. The 1929 Grand Prix races took place over a sunny bank holiday weekend on the temporary street circuit of La Garoupe. The Formula Libre race was contested over a distance of 310km. Twenty-six cars were entered into the race, including twelve Bugatti, four Alfa-Romeos, three Maserati, two Amilcar, and two Salmsons. Of the twenty-six cars that started the race just eight finished! Bugatti dominated the 1929 Grand Prix season and true to form two of the three podiums places were won by the company. The race was won by the Swiss racing driver Mario Lepori in a Bugatti T35B completing the race in 4h 9m 38s. Second place was taken by French driver Louis Rigal in an Alfa Romeo 6C and third, went to another Frenchman Christian Dauvergne in another T35B. An online forum on the Autosport.com website sheds more light on Sunday’s race. Administrator Vitesse2 explains “The Prix du Conseil Général took place on Easter Sunday, March 31st and the Grand Prix d’Antibes on Easter Monday, April 1st. Both were part of a motorsport weekend at Antibes, the main events on the Sunday being motorcycle races”. The comment continues with “the Sunday race is not a “Grand Prix”, merely a “Prix”. It was for unsupercharged cars of up to 2 litres and attracted a field of just six – two Salmsons and four Bugattis. As there were three classes within that – 1100cc, 1500cc, and 2000cc – the organisers had presumably been hoping for a somewhat larger field! Juan Zanelli led from the start but spun four times, leaving Étancelin to win by nearly two laps. The only other finisher was Signoret’s Salmson”. This poster in its original form rarely comes up for sale, however, an original copy of this 1929 Antibes Grand Prix poster sold for £10,000 in 2003.