PART 3
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After the disappointing performance of their new cars Alfa Corse decided to suspend their racing until
they had got the cars race worthy. The team had also lost three cars in two races.
The Auto Unions were still not ready.
The Eifelrennen organizers therefore decided to cancel the race as only Mercedes would have entered.
For this reason there was no GP race between 15 May and 3 July!
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XXIV GRAND PRIX DE L'AUTOMOBILE CLUB DE FRANCE REIMS-GUEUX, 3 JULY 1938 64 laps x 7.816 km = 500.2 km ?
Auto Union reserve: Bigalke The French GP was back in the GP calendar but moved from Montlhéry to Reims-Gueux. (Note 1) In February 1938 the French government added another million francs for the Fonds of Course committee to spend on French GP racing. After winning both the Pau and the Cork GP's with their old sports cars, Delahaye was confident that they should get the money to develop their new almost finished Type 155 GP car. To the horror of the Ecurie Bleue team 600,000 francs went instead to the Talbot factory when Anthony Lago showed a couple of blueprints and a promise of a new car for the French GP. Ecurie Bleue owner Lucy Schell threatened to boycott the French GP. The French Automobile club ACF answered by declaring that only manufacturers that started in the French GP could expect further awards. The other French manufacturers, Bugatti, Talbot and SEFAC, showed up for the GP but after a long fight with the ACF and a considerable amount of ill-feeling Lucy Schell moved her team headquarters to Monaco and no Delahayes were present at Reims. Of course there was no new Talbot car ready for the race. Anthony Lago removed the lamps and mudguards from two T150C sports cars and entered them for Ètancelin and Carrière. Auto Union entered two new streamliners for their first GP of the 1938 season. The team was however in complete disorder during practice in which both Müller and Hasse crashed. Hasse destroyed his car completely but was unhurt. Müller's car on the other hand was only slightly damaged but the driver was unable to race further and had to be replaced by Kautz. The team decided to withdraw the streamliners and only after some persuasion from the organizers they finally decided to race two rebuilt 1937 cars with 3 litre engines. Trossi and Varzi were expected with their works Maserati 8 CTF's but they did not show up. (Note 2) The Alfa Romeos were not present either and as entries for some reason were restricted to factory teams the field was down to nine cars. To better the situation Neubauer offered to enter a fourth Mercedes for Seaman but was refused by the organizers, who insisted on a maximum of three cars per team! Grid:
Race: One can only say about the 1938 French GP that it was a race of great promise but that the organizers had lost no opportunity to turn it into a farce and a farce it also turned out to be. Caracciola made a miserable start but the other two Mercedes cars immediately took the lead as the flag dropped. Behind them there were problems for the rest of the field as Hasse spun in Virage de la Garenne and stalled. Hasse pushed the car into a side road and managed to start the engine downhill in reverse gear. However before he managed to put the steering wheel back on, the car had reversed into a field and got bogged down. Meanwhile Kautz had struck a kerb and had to return to the pits with a broken rear axle. Both Auto Unions were out! Wimille also retired on the first lap. Chaboud had for the first and only time managed to complete a lap during a race with the infamous SEFAC only to retire after two laps. 4 cars out, 5 to go. After two laps the three Mercedes cars were a minute ahead of the two Talbot cars. Neubauer let the Mercedes drivers have some internal competition so the spectators would have something to look at. After a lot of position swapping at the front Caracciola finally took command of the race and opened up a 10 seconds gap. On lap 20 Lang made his pit stop but due to evaporation in the fuel lines it took four minutes to restart his engine. Caracciola's engine started to run on 11 cylinders and von Brauchitsch took over the lead and went on to give Mercedes-Benz a 1-2-3 victory. Hardly a classic victory but a victory, nonetheless. Ètancelin had retired so the only other finisher was Carrière, who had to stop during the race for brake adjustments and finished 10 laps behind.
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| 6 - 9 JULY 1938: After the French GP catastrophe drastic measures were needed for Auto Union. The team called in Stuck and Chiron to have their troublesome cars tested at Nürburgring. The top drivers found that nothing was basically wrong with the cars. | ||
| 8 JULY 1938: Nuvolari tested the Auto Union at Nürburgring. | ||
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9 JULY 1938: "B Bira" (ERA) wins the NUFFIELD TROPHY handicap race at Donington Park, England.
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9 - 10 JULY 1938: Pintacuda/Severi (Alfa Romeo) wins the "LES 24 HEURES DE SPA"
Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium. (Results)
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GRAND PRIX DE L´ALBIGEOIS LES PLANQUES - Albi (F), 10 JULY 1938 VOITURETTE 2 x 20 laps, 9 starters in heat 1, 6 in heat 2 Only 9 cars showed up for the Albi race, one of which was Mays' works ERA. Once again the race was run in two parts with times added at the end. There was a nasty accident in the first heat when Bianco (Maserati 4CM) hit a telegraph pole putting himself into hospital. Mays who led was soon out with compressor problems leaving Villoresi, Teagno, Soffietti and Berg to take the four first places for Maserati. Villoresi led the second heat but Hug (Maserati 4CM), who had retired in the first heat, passed him at lap 7 and went on to win. Villoresi finished second and Soffietti third with Luigi Platé in a 12 year old Talbot GP car finishing 4th and 3rd overall. The overall winner was Villoresi. DNA: 14 Delorme (Bugatti), 18 Lanza (Maserati *), 24 Uboldi (Maserati) Heat 1:Grid:
Results: 1 L Villoresi (Maserati 6CM 1.5L*2) 1:12.31.2 2 Teagno (Maserati 6CM 1.5L*) + 6.8 3 Soffietti (Maserati 6CM 1.5L*3) - 1 lap 4 Berg (Maserati 6CM 1.5L) - 2 laps DNF "Raph" (Maserati 6CM 1.5L) 17 laps cylinder head 5 L Platé (Talbot 700 1.5L) - 5 laps DNF Bianco (Maserati 4CM 1.5L*) 8 laps crash DNF Mays (ERA-B 1.5L) 7 laps supercharger DNF Hug (Maserati 4CM 1.5L*4) 7 laps oil filler cap Fastest lap: Mays (ERA) 3:24 Heat 2:Grid:
Results: 1 Hug (Maserati 4CM 1.5L*4) 1:13.05.2 2 L Villoresi (Maserati 6CM 1.5L*2) + 1:32.8 3 Soffietti (Maserati 6CM 1.5L*3) + 3.49.8 DNF Berg (Maserati 6CM 1.5L) 17 laps out of fuel 4 L Platé (Talbot 700 1.5L) - 3 laps Fastest lap: Hug (Maserati) 3:33 Results (Aggregate): 1 L Villoresi (Maserati 6CM 1.5L*2) 2:27:09.2 2 Soffietti (Maserati 6CM 1.5L*3) - 1 lap (3)Berg (Maserati 6CM 1.5L) - 5 laps NC 4 L Platé (Talbot 700 1.5L) - 8 laps (5)Teagno (Maserati 6CM 1.5L*) - 12 laps NC (6)Hug (Maserati 4CM 1.5L*4) - 13 laps NC * Entered by Scuderia Subaura *2 Entered by Scuderia Ambrosiana *3 Entered by Gruppo Volta *4 Entered by Ecurie Helvetia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CIRCUIT OF VARESE CIRCUIT OF VARESE(I), 17 JULY 1938 VOITURETTE 2 x 15 laps heat + 30 laps final There was an all-Maserati entry at Varese. Marazza won the first heat from Teagno and Soffietti and Luigi Villoresi won the second heat from Cortese and Pietsch. In the final Villoresi had to retire leaving Cortese to win half a minute in front of Marazza. Best non Italian was Pietsch in 4th place. DNS/DNA: 2 Bianco (Maserati *2), 8 Battaglia (Maserati), 24 Tassara (Maserati), 30 Pelassa (Maserati *3), 34 Brezzi (Maserati *3), 38 Gessner (Maserati) Heat 1:Grid:
Results: 1 Marazza (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *) 30:57.0 2 Teagno (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *2) + 11.2 3 Soffietti (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *5) + 13.6 4 Ghersi (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *3) + 14.2 5 Ruggeri (Maserati 6CM 1.5L) + 18.4 6 Minetti (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *4) + 23.2 DNF Giussani (Maserati 4CM 1.5L) DNF Castelbarco (Maserati 6CM 1.5L) 1 lap Fastest lap: Ghersi (Maserati) 1:59.0 Heat 2:Grid:
Results: 1 L Villoresi (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *4) 30:08.2 2 Cortese (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *4) + 8.6 3 Pietsch (Maserati 6CM 1.5L) + 25.0 4 Lanza (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *2) + 45.6 5 G Barbieri (Maserati 4CM 1.5L) + 2:55.0 6 Carnevalli (MB 1.5L *5) + 3:25.8 DNF Rocco (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *) Fastest lap: L Villoresi (Maserati) 1:57.8 Final:Grid:
Results: 1 Cortese (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *4) 59:35.2 2 Marazza (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *) + 1:28.4 3 Ghersi (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *3) + 1:33.2 4 Pietsch (Maserati 6CM 1.5L) + 1:48.9 5 Teagno (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *2) + 2:32.8 6 G Barbieri (Maserati 4CM 1.5L) + 2:59.8 DNF L Villoresi (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *4) 17 laps DNF Ruggeri (Maserati 6CM 1.5L) 10 laps DNF Soffietti (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *5) DNF Lanza (Maserati 6CM 1.5L *2) Fastest lap: Cortese (Maserati) 1:55.8 * Entered by Officine A. Maserati *2 Entered by Scuderia Subauda *3 Entered by Scuderia Torino *4 Entered by Scuderia Ambrosiana *5 Entered by Gruppo Volta | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
XI GROßER PREIS VON DEUTSCHLAND NÜRBURGRING (D), 24 JULY 1938 22 laps x 22.810 km = 501.82 km
Auto Union reserve: Kautz, Bigalke Alfa Romeo reserve: Pintacuda Auto Union had two cars with the new beautiful coachwork and two older cars ready for the GP. The great sensation for the race was that Nuvolari had signed on as first driver for Auto Union. He had made himself familiar with the car during the week before the race and was the fastest Auto Union driver during practice. Auto Union had also been forced to re-employ Stuck but he was the slowest of the Auto Union drivers. Mercedes-Benz came to Nürburgring with no less than 7 cars, 4 race cars and 3 reserves. That meant that Seaman got his first drive of the year. The team left nothing to the chance and tested how slowly the cars could be run in the event of a puncture without the plugs oiling up. So Caracciola and von Brauchitsch made a very slow lap running side by side while holding a conversation! During practice von Brauchitsch was sensational and managed with his 3 litre car to come within 2.2 seconds of Rosemeyer's old lap record. That also shows how much development had been made in road holding in just one year. Mercedes drivers took the four top grid positions. Alfa Corse entered two cars for Farina and Biondetti but they were outpaced by the Germans. Maserati did not even care to enter their 8CTFs for the German home race. Delahaye turned up with their new Type 155 monoplace, but the car showed disappointing road holding and for the race itself the old Type 145's were used. Grid:
Race: Nuvolari was given a tremendous ovation from the spectators as the cars lined up for the start. No one had forgot his victory in the 1935 race. The start lights failed to function properly and never changed from yellow to green so the start became a bit messy as the drivers went off as they wanted. Lang took the lead followed by Nuvolari and Seaman, who passed the Italian for second place in the Südkehre. At the Karussel Nuvolari dropped to fourth as Caracciola passed and made it into a 1-2-3 lead for Mercedes-Benz. Coming to Brünnchen Nuvolari spun the Auto Union and crashed. He rejoined at the bottom of the field only to retire soon afterwards as the car had been damaged. The Mercedes team held the four top places after the first lap with Lang leading. But on the third lap Lang was in trouble with oiled up plugs, had to do a pitstop and dropped back to 7th. Von Brauchitsch took over the lead followed closely by Seaman and Caracciola, who was feeling ill. Now happened the single occasion when Nazis tried to interfere directly with a race. NSKK Obergruppenführer (Lieutenant-General) Krauss clamed that Nuvolari had got oil on his goggles from a Mercedes car and ordered Neubauer to take all his cars in for oil leak checks. Neubauer refused the order as it would destroy Mercedes' chances of a victory whereupon Krauss asked if Neubauer accused him for favouring Auto Union. The first laps saw a lot of retirements. Berg, Comotti and de Graffenried all had to call it a day and after 3 laps Biondetti, Farina and Taruffi were all out of the race making it into another dark day for Alfa Romeo. Neubauer called in Lang's sick car so that reserve driver Bäumer could have a try. On lap 7 von Brauchitsch made a 44 second stop for fuel and new rear tyres leaving over the lead to Seaman but on the next lap he was back in the lead as Seaman made his stop. During the pitstop von Brauchitsch had complained that Seaman had been harassing him for the lead and Neubauer gave Seaman an order to hold his position. On lap 10 Caracciola gave up with severe stomach ache and handled over the car to Lang. Von Brauchitsch was racing flat out and opened up a gap to Seaman, who had decided to take a chance and make a fast second stop for fuel only. At the halfway point the order was von Brauchitsch, Seaman, Lang, Hasse, Stuck and Müller. The Auto Union team was struggling and Müller was called in so that Nuvolari could take over. On lap 14 Hyde's Maserati went into a ditch seriously wounding the driver. On lap 16 von Brauchitsch came in for his second stop and 13 seconds later Seaman also arrived to the pits. Then came one of the most dramatic moments in the history of GP racing. The mechanic refueling von Brauchitsch's car overdid it and fuel spurted all over the car and driver. A flash came out of an exhaust pipe and in the next second the car was on fire, mechanics running all over the place and von Brauchitsch jumping out trying to extinguish his burning clothes. Seaman's car was pulled back and restarted by mechanic Lindenmaier even while flames were licking the back of his overall. Seaman took off through the smoke and extinguisher foam to take the lead of the race. (Note 3) The fire was soon extinguished but the car was covered with foam. Korpsführer Hühnlein asked von Brauchitsch if he wasn't going to continue and soon enough the Mercedes was on its way. But coming up to Flugplats the car crashed in 200km/h, the driver being lucky to escape unhurt. Von Brauchitsch clamed that the steering wheel had come loose but the team guessed that the driver had made a mistake. The rest of the race went on without incidents except for the fact that the fire foam machine exploded covering the spectators and pits with foam! Seaman had a firm lead over Lang and went on to win the 1938 German GP. Lang followed in second place, Stuck finished third and Nuvolari in Müller's car fourth. Seaman was the first British driver to win a Grand Prix since Segrave in 1924. Seaman's comment was: "I only wish it had been a British car". The nasty incident with Obergruppenführer Krauss continued after the race as he accused Neubauer of having sent von Brauchitsch away with a car with burnt brake lines. Neubauer answered that Korpsführer Hühnlein himself had asked for the car to start and Hühnlein admitted that but Neubauer had some anxious moments before the brakes of the wreck were checked and found intact.
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| 5 AUGUST 1938: Stuck (Auto Union) wins the La Turbie hillclimb in France. |
| 7 AUGUST The Monaco GP had been scheduled for the 7 August, but the race was canselled and replaced by the Coppa Ciano. |
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