S.E.F.A.C.
The S.E.F.A.C. was a Grand Prix car from France, which occasionally raced in the 1930s.
History
The car was conceived for the 1934–37 Grand Prix formula, and funded by a subscription fund under the authority of the Societé d'Etudes et de Fabrications d'Automobiles de Course, from whose initials the car took its name. The design was done by Émile Petit, who had designed Salmson cars in the 1920s; it was powered by a 2,771 cc engine in a U8 format, with twin overhead camshafts linked by a common crankcase, one crankshaft powering a supercharger, the other the gearbox. However the car only produced 275 hp and was considerably overweight, weighing in at over 900 kilograms.The S.E.F.A.C. was entered for the 1935 Monaco Grand Prix, with Marcel Lehoux listed as driver, but it did not turn up. It made its first appearance at the 1935 French Grand Prix in Lehoux' hands, and, after a handful of practice laps, the car was withdrawn; it was in fact ineligible to start, as it was considerably over the 750kg maximum weight limit in force at the time.
The S.E.F.A.C. only started two Grande Epreuves, under the new Grand Prix formula which came into force in 1938. It started the 1938 French Grand Prix and the 1939 Pau Grand Prix and retired both times.
Petit sold the S.E.F.A.C. to the businessman Jean de Dommartin in 1948, who presented the car as a potential Grand Prix entrant, with new bodywork and the engine bored out to 3,619 cc, under the name Dommartin. However it never appeared at a race again. It has since been restored to its 1938 state and is a regular entry at motoring events.