After the successes of winning the 1927 World Manufacturers’ Championship with it’s D15 S8 model Delage urgently needed to turn it’s attention to it’s road car business in order to restore it’s finances.

The outcome of it’s endeavors were the D8 available with three different wheelbases as chassis on to which, mostly Parisian, coach builders weaved their magic with exotic designs and the shorter wheelbase D8S optimised for sports car applications such as the example seen in these photographs.

Power for all the D8 models came from a 4061 cc / 247.8 cui straight 8 which for the D8 S application was tuned to produce 120hp, the four speed gearbox had synchromesh on 3rd and 4th gear only.

Top speed was dependent on the weight and drag of the body fitted, but 82 mph should have been possible for a D8 S.

The D8 S like the D8 was manufactured from 1929 to 1933, the example driven by Mike Hawley in these photographs taken at Chateau Impney last year was built in 1930 and first registered in the UK July 1st 2001.

Thanks for joining me on this “Short Wheelbase Sport” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be visiting Queen Square in Bristol.

Don’t forget to come back now !