DRIVERS (S)
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Even with lots of work still do be done this list have reached a state
where it must be considered one of the most complete and accurate ever assembled on
the subject. This has only been possible due to the tremendous help from people
all over the world, each of them experts of their local drivers and events.
Short biographies of drivers with BLUE background, will come up in due time.
If you have any information about any driver with GREEN background, please
contact me!
Vasco Santiago Ribeiro Pereira do Sameiro (P)
3 Mar 1906 - 27 Jun 2001-
Born at Rossas, Viera do Minho, Sameiro started his career in at the early 30s, and established himself as the best
Portuguese driver of the pre war era by scoring several victories in international races. At the wheel of
a semi-works Alfa Romeo 8C, took the second place in the 1933 Barcelona Grand Prix and
in 1937, he finshed fourth at the Gávea circuit in Brazil, just behind the Auto Union and Ferrari works entries.
To his fans Sameiro became known as "O Rei de Villa Real" ("The King of Villa Real") after five wins
on this well-known racetrack.
After the war he was quite successful racing various sports Ferraris in Portuguese national and international events.
After a serious crash in practice for 1955 sports car Portuguese GP at Oporto that he decided to retire from racing
(see also Casimiro de Oliveira.)
Sameiro died at Braga 2001.
(Info supplied by Mihai Dumitru & Wolfgang Kaese)
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Guglielmo Sandri (I)
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Sandri was a prominent Guzzi motorcycle racer from Bologna. He
tried his hand very sporadically at car racing both before and after the
war.
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Renato Miranda (dos) Santos (BR)
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José dos Santos Soeiro (BR)
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Fernado de Moraes Sarmento ( )
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Arrigo Sartorio ( )
1901-1976-
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Raymond dÉstrée de Saugé (F)
- ca 1990-
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Joseph Charles Georges "José" Scaron (B/F)
19 Apr 1895 - 17 Jul 1975 -
Scaron was a very talanted Voiturette and sports car driver, whose career spanning 30 years.
Born in Brussels, Scaron enlisted in the French army in 1914 and thus became a French citizen.
He started his racing career in 1922 crashing his Amilcar. He became an agent for Amilcar at Le Havre
and and continued to race the mark for then next 11 years. He won at La Baule in 1927 following it
up with wictories at La Baule, Reims and boulogne in 1928. For 1929 he beacme Amilcar's head driver
dominating the 110cc class in 1929 and 1930 achieving several victories. With the car getting uncompetive
Scaron left Amilcar for the 1934 season and instead raced private Alfa Romeo Monza's and Bugattis in monor events.
In 1938 he became involved with Amédée Gordini, racing Simca Gordini sports cars both before and after the war
finishing third in the 1949 French GP. After Le Mans 1952, Scaron retired from racing and continued as a businessman
in Le Havre. For his achievements he recieved the Legion of Honour in 1954. Died at Neuilly 1975.
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Mme. Lucy O'Reilly Schell (USA)
1896/99? - ?-
Lucy O'Reilly was the daughter of an American multi-millionare of Irish origin. As the only child she was used to get anything she wanted. On a trip in Europe after the First World War she met Laury Schell,
a race-crazy American, who had lived in France since his early youth. They got married and settled down in France and their son Harry was born in 1921. (He would become a well-known F1 driver in the 1950s.)
Lucy and Laury soon became familiar names in rally events. With her father paying the bills Lucy demanded and got the best equipment available and in 1934 the name Delahaye started to appear in the results
lists of motor sports events.
But Lucy had greater plans. Delahaye was developing a new car series, the type 135, and Lucy wanted a special racing variant to be built, the 135 Compétition Spéciale or 135 CS. In the end Lucy owned
six 135CS. Drivers included Laurie Schell, René le Bègue, Joseph Paul and later also René Carrière and René Dreyfus. By now Lucy had taken over the multi-million property as her father had died and nothing
could stop her. She asked Delahaye to built a hybrid car for both Grand Prix and sportscar racing, the Delahaye 145. With that Lucy Schell's "Ecurie Bleue" team with René Dreyfus as driver won the 1938 Pau and Cork GPs.
Ecurie Bleue changed to Maseratis. Laury Schell died in an accident in 1939 where Lucy was injured. Lucy took the Maseratis to Indianapolis 1940 where they were to be raced by Dreyfus and Le Bègue.
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Selim Lawrence "Laury" Schell (USA)
29 Oct 1895 - 18 Oct 1939-
American, born in Geneva, Switzerland 1895. Patron of the "Ecurie Bleue" semi-works Delahaye team. Married to multi-millioneer Lucy O'Reilly.
Father to Formula 1 driver Harry Schell. Died in a car accident in Paris 1939.
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Helmut Schellenberg (D)
1911-2002-
Helmut Schellenberg was birn in Dresden 1911, his father being the owner a steelwire factory .
He started off racing Amilcars in1930 attendig German taces and hill climbs.
Successes included victories at Ostmärkisches Straßendreieck Frankfurt/Oder
Hohensteinbergrennen, Lückendorfrennen at Zittau ad a class victory at Sachsenring 1933.
Eventually in early 1933 he got the money saved to buy a used Bugatti T37A (ex Gilka Botzow).
With that car he was 2nd at Kolberg 1933 and in 1934 he was
4th at Kesselberg 1934 tooka victory at Riesengebirgsrennen Oberscheiberau
and a 3rd at Großer Bergpreis at Freiburg.
He contiued racing as private driver in 1935 with fellow Dresden drivers Willy
Seibel, Emil Rothmann, Hans Lewand and Adolf Brudes.
However with the Bugatti turning uncompetive and unable to buy better equipment Schellenberg decided to quit racing.
After the war he built up a successful wire factory at Sinsheim/Steinsfurt near Heidelberg.
Still being a Bugatti enthusiast he managed to find a T37 and later an T35C (ex-Prince Lobkowitz),
restored them and and took part in historic events. Schellenberg died in 2002.
Both cars are at the Technology Museum in Sinsheim.
(Info supplied by Ralph Reinold)
See also the official site (in German).
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Otto Schlicht (D)
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From München (Munich).
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Florian Schmidt ("Dimsch") (CS)
1903 - ?-
Florian Schmidt Junior was the son of a textile manufacturer in Jägersdorf, Czechoslovakia but lived in Austria.
He drove under the pseudonym 'Dimsch' during 1928 with a Bugatti T40, a 4-cylinder 1.5-liter sports car with T37
engine. In 1929 he purchased a new 1.1-liter 6-cylinder supercharged Amilcar. He drove primarily at montain
climb events. In 1931 he added a 1.5-liter Bugatti T37A in which he won his class at the Masaryk Circuit,
which was to be his greatest success. From 1932 on he teamed up with Bruno Sojka who had an older Bugatti T37A.
In 1934 the team purchased from the Molsheim factory a 1.5-liter 8-cylinder twin-cam supercharged Bugatti T51A,
formerly owned by Pierre Veyron. Schmidt entered in the Eifelrennen where he placed second behind Castelbarco’s
1.5-liter Maserati but beat Burggaller in another T51A. Due to commitments with his work, Schmidt limited his
driving to very few races but he entered at mountain climbs, like the Ecce Homo Race in 1938.
(Info supplied by Hans Etzrodt)
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W. B. "Bomber" Scott ( )
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Denis Henry Scribbans (GB)
26 Jan 1909 - 31 Oct 1990-
Born 1909 at Streetley, Staffordshire,
Bought a new ERA-B in 1936. Raced it during the 1937 season and sold the car to Ansell in
1938. Died 1990 at Grouville, Jersey, Channel Is.
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Wilhelm Sebastian (D)
17 Jan 1903 - 30 Oct 1978-
Born at Weinheim 1908. Victorious in the 1931 Mille Miglia as Rudi Caracciola's riding mechanic.
Mechanic and reserve driver for Auto Union in 1934. Left racing but continued as mechanic for
the Auto Union team where his brother Ludwig worked as chief mechanic, first for Rosemeyer, then for Nuvolari.
Died at Weinheim 1978.
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Willi Seibel (D)
30 Apr 1896 - 1977-
Willi Seibel was a private driver from Diez about 40 km north of Wiesbaden. He raced for
12 years with three different cars, all 1.5-liter Bugattis, in the sports and racing category of many contests.
To all races he was accompanied by his trusted race- and riding mechanic Karl Michel from Diez.
Seibel acquired a T22 Bugatti, which he raced as of 1925 at hill climbs in the
sports car category, winning his class on many occasions. He later replaced it with a 4-cyl supercharged T37A.
That car was destroyed by fire at the 1928 German GP when he had a high speed crash at the Antoniusbuche on lap
lap 7, Seibel receiving serious burns. When he left hospital three months later, Seibel immediately bought a new T37A,
which he kept in race worthy condition until his death. Seibel raced this car as either sports car or
stripped down as racing car. On three occasions he was able to establish best time of the day, beating
larger and stronger cars. Seibel’s greatest result was at the 1931 Eifelrennen where he finished fourth
overall. But eventually his old car was no longer competitive and Seibel decided to retire from racing after 1936.
As graduate of the Düsseldorf and München School of Arts
and Crafts, Seibel continued the 300-year tradition of his family of painters. As a well known restorer Seibel was
trusted with the renovation of the Limburg cathedral in 1936 and 1956 the castle of Oranienstein in Diez.
Seibel helped organize the first postwar races at the Nürburgring, including the 1951 Grand Prix of
Germany where he served as Clerk of the Course. He was honorary member of the Bugatti-Club Deutschland and
received the highest recognition from the ADAC. Seibel died 80 years old.
(Info supplied by Hans Etzrodt)
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Alan Alfred Selbourne (Abraham Solomons) (GB)
21 Jun 1902 - 30 Oct 1959. -
Born 1902 at Limehouse, London, as Abraham Solomons. Later changed name to Alan Selbourne.
Died at Paddington, London 1959.
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Francesco Severi (I)
28 May 1907 - 20 May 1980-
Francesco Severi raced Alfas for Scuderia Ferrari, then Voiturette Maseratis and in 1938-39 he was reserve driver for Alfa Corse.
(There has been a great confusion about Severi especially in the Anglo Saxon racing literature. However the correct name is definitely
Francesco Severi so disregard all references to any Giulio/Guido/Luigi Severi)
(Thanks to Rudiger de Jonghe for sorting up the name and for Alessandro Silva for confirming). Also thanks to Alessandro Grimaldi.
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Brian Newton Shawe-Taylor (GB)
1915 - ?-
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Richard Ormonde "Dick" Shuttleworth (GB)
16 Jul 1909 - 2 Aug 1940 -
Born in Biggleswade, Biggleswade 1909.
A very rich collector whose collection included 40 aircraft, cars and racing cars.
Learned to fly 1932, and after flying veteran aircraft he became interested in old racing cars.
Raced a Bugatti T51 in 1934, private Alfa Romeo Tipo B 1935 and 1936.
Retired from racing after a bad accident at the 1936 South African GP.
Joined the RAF and was killed in a night flying accident, Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire in 1940.
His mother opened the Shuttleworth collection and airport for public in 1963.
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Eugenio Siena (I)
1905? - 15 May 1938
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Siena joined Alfa Romeo as a young apprentice. He worked for the race department and became principal test driver for
Scuderia Ferrari in 1930. He raced for the team as a junior driver and proved to be a steady and reliable driver. His greatest cuccess however came in sports car racing;
he was the winner of the Spa 24h race in 1932. In 1934 he left Scuderia Feerrari and went on to race
private Maseratis, first an 8C then a 6C-34, under the Scuderia Siena banner, in GPs until 1936.
He then turned to Voiturette racing. After some good performances, including a victory at the 1937 Circuito de Milano, he got
the opportunity to race for Alfa Corse. However, at his first race, the 1938 Tripoli GP he lost control of his Alfa Romeo 312,
trying to avoid Cortese's voiturette. He went off track, hit a sand dune and then crashed into a wall of a house. Siena was
trown out of his car and died instantly.
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Mme. Odette Siko ( )
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da Silva Ramos - SEE: Ramos
Henri Simonet/Simonot ( )
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Entered an old Alfa Romeo "Monza" in the Swiss GP 1937.
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Hans Simons (D)
1899 - 12 Mar 1942-
Sports car driver from 1928 onwards. Works driver for BMW 1935. Retired from racing after 1935.
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Alan Gascoigne Sinclair (GB)
22 May 1906 - 1995? -
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Norbert Sinner (L)
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From Leudelange, Luxemburg. Raced a 2.3L Bugatti in the early 1930s. Results include 2nd at Bupperich & 2nd at the GP de l'AC Luxembourgeois 1932 and
DNF Eifelrennen & 3rd Echternach hillclimb 1933. Also entered the 1933 Spa 24h race in a 3 litre Bugatti with Joseph Zigrand.
Sinner also raced bicycles?
(Info supplied by Marc Ceulemans )
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Francesco Siracusa ( )
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Manuel José Soares Mendes (P)
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Luigi "Gigi" Soffietti (I)
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Maserati 8CM driver 1934-35. Started several GPs in 1937 in his red/yellow Maserati and was one of the few brave to
challenge the Germans at AVUS 1937. Retired from racing 1938.
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Bruno Sojka (CS)
1909 - 30 Jun 1951
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This Czechoslovakian Voiturette driver was a real Brno specialist being 2nd in the Czech GP
in 1933 and 3rd in 1931, 1932, 1934 and 1935.
From 1932 onwards he teamed up with Florian Schmidt and as when the late 1930s Schmidt limited his
driving to very few races it was Sojka who mostly drove Schmidt’s fast T51A.
1949 Sojka became works driver for Tatra F2. Died after a crash during practice for the the 1951 Ecco-Homo race.
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(Pierre) Raymond Sommer (F)
31 Aug 1906 - 10 Sep 1950
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Son of one of France's pioneer airplane manufacturers, Sommer started racing in the early 30s. Because of his
courage and driving style the spectators gave Sommer the nickname "Raymond Coeur de Lion". Sommer never
gave up, always racing flat out even when all hope of a good position was lost. Sommer is surely Grand Prix
racing's greatest individualist, as he refused any major offer for a works drive, preferring to be his own man. Of
course that decision showed up in the results, as Sommer often tried the impossible task to challenge the latest
works cars with antique equipment. Most of Sommer's greatest successes therefore came in sportscar racing.
He was victorious at the French GP in 1936 and won at Le Mans twice in 1932 and 1933. Sommer was also known for his fair play
and good sportsmanship. After the war he did not hesitate to head of the highly unpopular campaign to
release Dr. Porsche from prison. Sommer was racing as good as ever and his sudden death after a freak
accident, racing a 1100cc car in a minor event, came as a shock to the racing world. Shortly before he had been
awarded the Légion d'Honneur as France's greatest driver.
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Arvo Sorri (FIN)
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From Loppi (70 km North of Helsinki). Raced a with a blue Chrysler in Northern countries with some success.
Was fourth in the 1935 Estonian GP and fourth in his class in the 1936 Finnish GP. Entered a BMW in the sportscar class
at the 1939 Finnish GP finishing third.
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Oscar Stahel ( )
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Christopher Stainbank Staniland (GB)
7 Oct 1905 - 26 Jun 1942-
Born in Finchley, Middlesex
Winner of the 1931 2x12h Brooklands with a MG.
Known for the Multi-Union project in 1938.
Chief test pilot for Fairey Aviation, Staniland was killed while test-flying over Sindlesham, Berkshire during the war.
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Rudolf Steinweg (D)
1888 - 2 Nov 1935 -
Steinweg began racing in 1921 but soon departed from the racing scene. He then appeared again in 1929 as a
private driver in the old 1.1-liter BNC and 1.5-liter NSU racing cars at mountain climbs. In 1930 he got a
1.1-liter 6-cylinder Amilcar. He won 21 races with this racing car over the next three years, almost all
mountain climbs. Steinweg was one of the fastest drivers in those little cycle cars. In 1933 he sold the
Amilcar to Willi Briem and acquired a 1927 built T35 Bugatti, which used to belong to Karl Kappler, who had
sold it 1930 to Prince von Leiningen. Steinweg began racing this 2-liter car in his favorite mountain
climbs but now also circuit races. In 1935 he got the T51A Bugatti, a 1.5-liter monoposto racing car
and then raced both Bugattis in different classes. At the training for the Guggerberg mountain climb
near Budapest, Hungary, Rudolf Steinweg had a fatal accident. He was 47 years old.
(Info supplied by Hans Etzrodt)
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Mrs. Gwenda Mary Stewart / Mrs. Gwenda Mary Hawkes, previously Mrs Gwenda Janson née Glubb (GB)
1894 - 27 May 1990-
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Henri Stoffel ( )
1881 --
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Helmut Stolze (D)
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From Ennigerloh.
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Eugen Stösser (D)
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From München (Munich).
Raced a BMW-Dixi (750 cc licence-built Austin Seven). Reportedly he and his brother had also been financially involved in the Zoller project.
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Whitney Willard Straight CBE (USA/GB)
6 Nov 1912 - 5 Apr 1979
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Straight was born in New York, USA in a very wealthy home. After the father died the mother remarried and the
family moved to England. Later Straight became a British subject.
He had a great interest in flying and motor racing. As a Cambridge student he started racing
in 1932 with an Maserati. In 1933 he had a sucessful year winning at Brooklands and decided to
create his own Grand Prix team. During the 1934 seasom Team Whitney Straight entered their
white and blue painted Maserati 8CM cars in the major GP races, Straight transporting the team members
with his own airplane. He tried to buy an Auto Union for the 1935 season but the negotiations came to nothing
and because he had promised his wife to quit racing he broke up the team.
He joined the RAF during the war, spending some time in a German prison camp after being shot down.
Became managing director of BOAC after the war and served on the board of Rolls Royce. Died in Fulham 1979.
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Hans Stuber (CH)
1895/6? - 3 Mar 1956-
From Bern.
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Arne Sundstedt (S)
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Swedish driver. Son of Karl-Gustav Sundstedt.
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Karl-Gustav Sundstedt (S)
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Swedish driver. Bought an ex-Chiron Bugatti T35B in 1931 and raced it mostly in local events.
Later the car was also raced by his son Arne.
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Giuseppe Sutera (I)
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A driver from Palermo active both before and after the war.
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Adolf Szczyzycki (CZ)
1895 - 1940-
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Jstván de Sztriha (H)
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Hungarian diplomat in Paris. Private Alfa Romeo driver.
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© 2013 Leif Snellman - Last updated: 28.03.2013
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