Delage 15S8

1927 Delage 15S8 Grand Prix

170 bhp @ 8,000 rpm (claimed) /
155.8 bhp @ 6,900 rpm (actual)
1.488 liter straight-eight
5-speed manual transmission

After a somewhat lackluster 1926 season, Louis Delage worked with Albert Lory to completely revamp and redesign the Delage 15S8 for the 1927 AIACR World Championship. Lory moved the flawed exhaust system from the right to the left side of the car, requiring a slight redesign of the engine. The engine and transmission were offset slightly to balance out weight and lower the car, while the passenger seat was removed, converting the car to a full single-seater. The twin Roots-type superchargers were replaced with a single larger and more powerful supercharger, increasing total power output. The car's bodywork was also revised though it kept the same basic design from the previous season.

The new-and-improved 1927 Delage 15S8 was an instant success, far outpacing its nearest rivals in the Bugatti T51 and the Talbot-Darracq T700 and easily winning every race it was entered into. Robert Benoist won every championship Grand Prix of 1927 in the 15S8 (except the Indianapolis 500, which the car was not entered in), taking the constructor's championship for Automobiles Delage and becoming the World Champion of 1927.

Louis Delage had achieved enormous success at the pinnacle of Grand Prix racing, but such success came at a very high price. The company could not afford to keep manufacturing or maintaining such expensive race cars, so at the close of the 1927 season, after only 5 years of racing, Automobiles Delage shuttered the racing department and returned to building road cars. The 15S8s were sold off to private collectors who continued to campaign them in Grands Prix into the early post-war era.