INTRODUCTION:

Mercedes-Benz
After two years full of conflicts Neubauer should probably have liked to get rid of Fagioli but the fact was that the Mercedes team could not afford to give up a driver of his capabilities. So the driver line up was as before Rudolf Caracciola, Luigi Fagioli and Manfred von Brauchitsch with Hermann Lang as junior driver.
      Caracciola urged Alfred Neubauer to also sign his old friend, Monegasque Louis Chiron to replace the injured Geier.
      To face the challenge from the new cars of Auto Union and Alfa Romeo the Mercedes factory constructed a new 600 BHP 5.6 liter V12 unit known as the DAB. To fit this heavy engine into the cars under the 750 kg limit demanded considerable changes to be done to the 1936 cars to save weight. The new car was built with no less than 25 cm shorter wheel base than the old ones. Other news included a transverse gearbox and a de Dion rear axle. The new car was in fact so small that the tall von Brauchitsch could not fit into it properly and he had a miserable season.
      The finished DAB engine proved to be seriously overweight. Somehow the engineers managed to squeeze it in under the weight limit only to find that the weight distribution was such that the car was totally undrivable. Instead a 4.7 litre 450 BHP variant of the old engine (known as ME25) had to be built in a hurry and put into the new cars.
      The 1936 season was to become the worst in Mercedes-Benz's history. To sort up the mess a new "Rennabteilung" (racing department) under engineer Uhlenhaut was created to take over from the experiment department.

Auto Union
Auto Union had a new car called the C type for the 1936 season. The volume of the V16 engine was increased to 6 litres giving 520 BHP.
      There had also been several modifications to better the handling of the cars including a ZF limit slip differential. Dr Karl Feuereissen took over from Willy Walb as team manager.
      The driver line up for 1936 was Hans Stuck, Achille Varzi and Bernd Rosemeyer as senior drivers with Rudolf Heydel, Ernst von Delius and Rudolf Hasse selected as junior drivers. Pietsch and zu Leiningen had left the team.

Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo continued developing the Tipo 8C-35 car putting in a new 4.1 litre V12 engine. The new model was known as the Tipo 12C-36. First driver Tazio Nuvolari stayed on at Scuderia Ferrari as were Antonio Brivio, Carlo Pintacuda and Mario Tadini. René Dreyfus was away developing Talbot sports cars but returned to Scuderia Ferrari from the Deauville GP onwards. Trossi, having worked as President for Scuderia Ferrari since 1932, had now resigned and left for Maserati. A new driver for the team was Giuseppe Farina, who had left Gino Rovere.

Maserati
In 1936 Gino Rovere became president of Maserati. Scuderia Subalpina changed its name to Scuderia Torino entering a V-8RI for Count Trossi. Giorgio Ambrosini was racing manager. There were hardly any serious attempts to develop the V-8RI during the 1936 season except for the fact that the engine volume was increased to 4.7 litres. The old 8CM cars were not competitive any longer. At the end of the year Maserati abandoned all interest in Grand Prix racing until the new 3 litre formula in 1938.

Bugatti
Bugatti tried to develop a light metal variant of the 59/50 with a 4.7 litre engine but still with an antique chassis and suspension. Jean-Pierre Wimille continued as driver.

Maserati
Maserati, now represented by Scuderia Torino, still raced the 4C-1500 but at Eifelrennen the new Tipo 6CM was introduced. The car looked like a miniature of Maserati's V-8RI GP car with independent suspension and streamlined body. The new car was not as strong as the ERA but with drivers like Scuderia Torino's Count Trossi and Omobono Tenni the 6CM was a serious challenge the British cars and dominated the local Italian events.

ERA
Works team drivers were Raymond Mays, Marcel Lehoux, Earl Howe and Pat Fairfield. A further 7 ERA-B cars were sold to private owners. Drivers included "B. Bira", Reggie Tongue and Greek driver Nicholas Embiricos. After the 1935 successes 1936 was a troublesome season for the ERA drivers. The cars were unreliable and suffered from poor preparation by the factory. The challenge from Maserati and Seaman's Delage was also surprisingly strong.

Other
Giulio Ramponi, who prepared Richard Seaman's cars, persuaded the latter to change his ERA for Earl Howe's old Delage for the 1936 season, a maneuver that got more than one eyebrow to rise. The skillful Ramponi however knew what he was doing. Lighted by 120 kg and with a new supercharger the old Grand Prix car that had won the 1927 World Championship once again proved to be a winner, dominating the 1936 Voiturette season.

Click here for biography of Alfred Neubauer
 
Click here for biography of Rudolf Uhlenhaut
 
Click here for biography of Willy Walb