 |
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!
|
XXIV GRAND PRIX DE L'AUTOMOBILE CLUB DE FRANCE
Reims-Gueux (F), 3 July 1938
64 laps x 7.826 km (4.86 mi) = 500.86 km (311.22 mi) (Note 1)
Mercedes team puts up a show for the spectators.
|
It was the debut for the 3 liter Auto Union cars. The entry list was short with just five German and four French entries. When both Auto Unions and Wimille's Bugatti, the only serious
French challenger, retired on the first lap of the race Neubauer let the Mercedes drivers have some internal competition so the spectators would have something to look at.
When Lang had a disastrous four minute pit stop and Caracciola had engine trouble, it was von Brauchitsch who led home a 1-2-3 Mercedes victory.
|
The French GP was back in the GP calendar but moved from Montlhéry to Reims-Gueux. (Note 2)
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.
|
Entries:
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 3)
The Alfa Romeos were not present either and as entries as usual 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!
|
Practice:
|
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.
|
| | | |
|  |
26
Brauchitsch
Mercedes
2m40.7s
|
28
Lang
Mercedes
2m39.2s
|
|
24
Caracciola
Mercedes
2m41.9s
|
20
Hasse
Auto Union
2m50.9s
|
16
Kautz
Auto Union
2m43.0s
|
|
4
Carrière
Talbot
2m57.0s
|
10
Chaboud
SEFAC
|
2
Étancelin
Talbot
3m00.7s
|
|
22
Wimille
Bugatti
|
|
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.
|
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Type | Engine | Laps | Time/Status | Diff |
|
| 1. | 26 | Manfred von Brauchitsch | Daimler-Benz AG | Mercedes-Benz | W154 | 3.0 | V-12 | 64 | 3h04m38.5s |
| 2. | 24 | Rudolf Caracciola | Daimler-Benz AG | Mercedes-Benz | W154 | 3.0 | V-12 | 64 | 3h06m19.3s | + 1m40.8s |
| 3. | 28 | Hermann Lang | Daimler-Benz AG | Mercedes-Benz | W154 | 3.0 | V-12 | 63 | 3h04m54.3s |
| 4. | 4 | René Carrièrè | Talbot Darracq | Talbot | T150C | 4.5 | S-6 | 54 | 2h06m28.8s |
| DNF | 2 | Philippe Etancelin | Talbot Darracq | Talbot | T150C | 4.5 | S-6 | 38 | engine |
| DNF | 10 | Eugène Chaboud | S.E.F.A.C. | SEFAC | | 3.0 | 2x4 | 2 | mechanical |
| DNF | 16 | Christian Kautz | Auto Union AG | Auto Union | C/D | 3.0 | V-12 | 0 | crash/ broken rear axle |
| DNF | 22 | Jean-Pierre Wimille | Automobiles E. Bugatti | Bugatti | T59/50B3 | 3.0 | S-8 | 0 | broken oil line |
| DNF | 18 | Rudolf Hasse | Auto Union AG | Auto Union | C/D | 3.0 | V-12 | 0 | crash |
|
Fastest lap: Hermann Lang (Mercedes Benz) in 2m45.1s = 170.6 km/h (106.0 mph)
Winner's medium speed: 162.88 km/h (101.1 mph)
Pole position lap speed: 177.0 km/h (110.0 mph)
Weather: sunny
|
Footnote:
1. Track length 7.826 km counted from winning speed 162.758 km/h given in contemporary newspaper "Il Littoriale". Fits well together with track length 4.865 mi given by Darren Galphin.
Hayhoe/Holland in "Grand Prix Data Book" give track length 7.816 km.
2. That the French Minister of Finance with interests in the Fonds de Course also happened
to be Mayor of Reims had of course nothing to do with the change!
3. In fact Varzi did not show up again until 1946!
|
|
|
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.
|
|
9 July 1938: "B Bira" (ERA) wins the Nuffield Trophy handicap race at Donington Park, England.
|
|
9 - 10 July 1938: Pintacuda/Severi (Alfa Romeo) wins the Les 24 Heures de Spa at the
Spa-Francorchamps race course in Belgium. (Results)
|
  
GRAND PRIX DE L´ALBIGEOIS
(Voiturette 1500cc)
Les Planques - Albi (F), 10 July 1938
2 heats of 20 laps x 8.9 km (5.53 mi) = 178.0 km (110.6 mi)
Total distance 356.0 km (221.2 mi)
Villoresi wins two heat race
|
Race was run in two parts with times added at the end. With the new Alfa Romeos failing to show up and with Mays as only British driver the field was disappontingly small.
Mays led the first heat until he had to retire because of the Zoller compressor, leaving Luigi Villoresi to win. Bianco was hospitalized after a bad crash. Villoresi led the second
heat but was later passed by Hug, who had retired in the first heat and thus was no treat to Villoresi's overall victory.
|
|
|
Entries:
|
Practice:
|
Heat 1:
|
| | | | | |
| |
8
Hug
Maserati
3m38s
|
4
L Villoresi
Maserati
3m34s
|
2
Bianco
Maserati
3m31s
|
|
6
Soffietti
Maserati
3m58s
|
20
Teagno
Maserati
3m50s
|
12
Mays
ERA
-
|
16
L Platé
Talbot
4m35s
|
10
Berg
Maserati
4m04s
|
|
22
"Raph"
Maserati
-
|
|
|
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 initially 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.
|
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Type | Engine | Laps | Time/Status | Diff |
|
| 1. | 4 | Luigi Villoresi | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 20 | 1h12m31.2s | |
| 2. | 20 | Edoardo Teagno | Scuderia Subaura | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 20 | 1h12m48.0s | + 16.8s |
| 3. | 6 | Luigi Soffietti | Gruppo Volta | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 19 | 1h13m53.0s | |
| 4. | 10 | Herbert Berg | H Berg | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 18 | 1h12m49.0s | |
| DNF | 22 | "Raph" | "Raph" | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 17 | cylinder head | |
| 5. | 16 | Luigi Platé | L. Platé | Talbot | 700 | 1.5 | S-8 | 15 | 1h14m20.0s | |
| DNF | 2 | Ettore Bianco | Scuderia Subaura | Maserati | 4CM | 1.5 | S-4 | 8 | crash | |
| DNF | 12 | Raymond Mays | R. Mays | ERA | B | 1.5 | S-6 | 7 | supercharger | |
| DNF | 8 | Armand Hug | Ecurie Helvetia | Maserati | 4CM | 1.5 | S-4 | 7 | oil filler cap | |
|
Fastest lap: Raymond Mays (ERA) in 3m24s = 157.1 km/h (97.6 mph)
Winner's medium speed: 147.3 km/h (91.5 mph)
Weather:
|
Heat 2:
|
| | | | | |
| |
6
Soffietti
Maserati
|
20
Teagno
Maserati
|
4
L Villoresi
Maserati
|
|
16
L Platé
Talbot
|
10
Berg
Maserati
|
|
8
Hug
Maserati
|
|
|
|
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Type | Engine | Laps | Time/Status | Diff |
|
| 1. | 8 | Armand Hug | Ecurie Helvetia | Maserati | 4CM | 1.5 | S-4 | 20 | 1h13m05.2s | (Note 1) |
| 2. | 4 | Luigi Villoresi | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 20 | 1h14m38.0s | + 1m32.8s |
| 3. | 6 | Luigi Soffietti | Gruppo Volta | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 20 | 1h16m55.0s | + 3m49.8s |
| DNF | 10 | Herbert Berg | H Berg | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 17 | out of fuel | |
| 4. | 16 | Luigi Platé | L. Platé | Talbot | 700 | 1.5 | S-8 | 17 | 1h14m33.0s | |
| DNF | 20 | Edoardo Teagno | Scuderia Subaura | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 8 | gearbox | |
|
Fastest lap: Armand Hug (Maserati) in 3m33s = 150.4 km/h (93.5 mph)
Winner's medium speed: 146.1 km/h (90.8 mph)
Weather:
|
Results (Aggregate):
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Type | Engine | Laps | Time/Status | Diff |
|
| 1. | 4 | Luigi Villoresi | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 40 | 2h27m09.2s |
| 2. | 6 | Luigi Soffietti | Gruppo Volta | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 39 | |
| (3) | 10 | Herbert Berg | H Berg | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 35 | NC |
| 4. | 16 | Luigi Platé | L. Platé | Talbot | 700 | 1.5 | S-8 | 32 | |
| (5) | 20 | Edoardo Teagno | Scuderia Subaura | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 28 | NC |
| (6) | 8 | Armand Hug | Ecurie Helvetia | Maserati | 4CM | 1.5 | S-4 | 27 | NC |
|
Fastest lap: Raymond Mays (ERA) in 3m24s = 157.1 km/h (97.6 mph)
Winner's medium speed: 145.2 km/h (90.2 mph)
Weather:
|
Footnote:
1. Contemporary newspaper "Il Littoriale" gives 1h13m05 2/5s , possibly an error due to using 1/5 seconds in the results.
|
|
|
16 July 1938: J. Willing / R. Jarvis (Delahaye 3.5L) wins the L.C.C. 3 hour sports car race at Brooklands, England.
|
 
CIRCUITO VARESE
(Voiturette 1500cc)
Circuito Varese (I), 17 July 1938
2 heats of 15 laps x 3.6 km (2.24 mi) = 54.0 km (33.6 mi)
Final of 30 laps x 3.6 km (2.24 mi) = 108.0 km (67.1 mi)
Cortese scores while Villoresi retires
|
The race consisted of two heats plus a final. Once Again the Alfa Romeos failed to appear so only Maseratis were seen on the grid. Marazza won the first heat and Villoresi the second.
Villoresi led the final until lap 14 when he was passed by Marazza. Villoresi retook the lead three laps later only to retire soon afterwards leaving Cortese to win from Marazza and Ghersi.
|
|
|
Entries:
|
Practice:
|
Heat 1:
|
| | | | | |
| |
20
Teagno
Maserati
|
18
Soffietti
Maserati
|
16
Marazza
Maserati
|
|
28
Ruggeri
Maserati
|
12
Giussani
Maserati
|
32
Minetti
Maserati
|
4
Castelbarco
Maserati
|
30
Ghersi
Maserati
|
(Note 1)
|
|
|
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.
|
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Type | Engine | Laps | Time/Status | Diff |
|
| 1. | 16 | Aldo Marazza | Officine A. Maserati | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 15 | 30m57.0s | |
| 2. | 20 | Edoardo Teagno | Scuderia Sabauda | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 15 | 31m08.2s | + 11.2s |
| 3. | 18 | Luigi Soffietti | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 15 | 31m10.6s | + 13.6s |
| 4. | 30 | Pietro Ghersi | Scuderia Torino | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 15 | 31m11.2s | + 14.2s |
| 5. | 28 | Arialdo Ruggeri | A. Ruggeri | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 15 | 31m15.4s | + 18.4s |
| 6. | 32 | Eugenio Minetti | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 15 | 31m20.2s | + 23.2s |
| DNF | 12 | Emilio Giussani | E. Giussani | Maserati | 4CM | 1.5 | S-4 | ? | | |
| DNF | 4 | Luigi Castelbarco | L. Castelbarco | Maserati | 4CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 1 | | |
|
Fastest lap: Pietro Ghersi (Maserati) in 1m59.0s = 108.9 km/h (67.7 mph)
Winner's medium speed: 104.7 km/h (65.0 mph)
Weather:
|
Heat 2:
|
| | | | | |
| |
6
Lanza
Maserati
|
22
L Villoresi
Maserati
|
26
Barbieri
Maserati
|
|
38
Carnevalli
Maserati
|
14
Cortese
Maserati
|
|
36
Pietsch
Maserati
|
(Note 1)
|
|
|
|
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Type | Engine | Laps | Time/Status | Diff |
|
| 1. | 22 | Luigi Villoresi | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 15 | 30m08.2s | |
| 2. | 14 | Franco Cortese | Officine A. Maserati | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 15 | 30m16.8s | + 8.6s |
| 3. | 36 | Paul Pietsch | P. Pietsch | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 15 | 30m33.2s | + 25.0s |
| 4. | 6 | Dioscoride Lanza | Scuderia Sabauda | Maserati | 4CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 15 | 30m53.8s | + 45.6s |
| 5. | 26 | Guido Barbieri | G. Barbieri | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-4 | 15 | 33m03.2s | + 2:55.0s |
| 6. | 38 | Sergio Carnevalli | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | | 1.5 | S-4 | 15 | 33m34.0s | + 3:25.8s |
| DNS? | 40 | Giovanni Rocco | Officine A. Maserati | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | ? | | |
|
Fastest lap: Luigi Villoresi (Maserati) in 1m57.8s = 110.0 km/h (68.4 mph)
Winner's medium speed: 107.5 km/h (66.8 mph)
Weather:
|
Final:
|
| | | | |
| |
|
22
Villoresi
Maserati
|
14
Cortese
Maserati
|
36
Pietsch
Maserati
|
6
Lanza
Maserati
|
|
16
Marazza
Maserati
|
20
Teagno
Maserati
|
18
Soffietti
Maserati
|
30
Ghersi
Maserati
|
|
28
Ruggeri
Maserati
|
26
Barbieri
Maserati
|
|
|
|
Results
|
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Type | Engine | Laps | Time/Status | Diff |
| 1. | 14 | Franco Cortese | Officine A. Maserati | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 30 | 59m35.2s | |
| 2. | 16 | Aldo Marazza | Officine A. Maserati | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 30 | 1h01m03.6s | + 1m28.4s |
| 3. | 30 | Pietro Ghersi | Scuderia Torino | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 30 | 1h01m08.4s | + 1m33.2s |
| 4. | 36 | Paul Pietsch | P. Pietsch | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 30 | 1h01m24.1s | + 1m48.9s |
| 5. | 20 | Edoardo Teagno | Scuderia Sabauda | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 30 | 1h02m08.0s | + 2m32.8s |
| 6. | 26 | Guido Barbieri | G. Barbieri | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-4 | 30 | 1h02m35.0s | + 2m59.8s |
| DNF | 22 | Luigi Villoresi | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 17 | | |
| DNF | 28 | Arialdo Ruggeri | A. Ruggeri | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 10 | | |
| DNF | 18 | Luigi Soffietti | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | ? | | |
| DNF | 6 | Dioscoride Lanza | Scuderia Sabauda | Maserati | 4CM | 1.5 | S-6 | ? | | |
|
Fastest lap: Franco Cortese (Maserati) in 1m55.8s = 111.9 km/h (69.5 mph)
Winner's medium speed: 108.7 km/h (67.6 mph)
Weather:
|
Footnotes:
1. Heat grids constructed by Alessandro Silva from photographic evidence and from Auto Italiana. He also pointed out that Ghersi raced car #30, not #10 and Carnevalli #38, not #42,
and that the DNA entries are unconfirmed.
|
|
XI GROßER PREIS VON DEUTSCHLAND
Nürburgring (D), 24 July 1938
22 laps x 22.81 km (14.17 mi) = 501.82 km (311.8 mi)
Seaman's remarkable triumph
|
Strong entries from Mercedes-benz, Auto Union and Alfa Romeo with Nuvolari now racing for Auto Union. Lang took the lead from Nuvolari and Seaman but Nuvolari crashed
on the first lap. Lang had to make a pit stop on lap three, leaving over the lead to von Brauchitsch who was closely followed by Seaman while Caracciola was feeling ill and retired.
During the second pit stops there was an highly spectacular incident when von Brauchitsch's Mercedes caught fire. He was able to continue but then had a high speed crash and was
lucky to walk away unhurt. That left Seaman to take the flag as a surprise winner, the first Grand Prix victory for a British driver since 1924.
|
|
|
Entries:
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.
Ghersi raced a Alfa Romeo sports car with fenders and headlights removed, the same car that had been used by Dusio at the Mille Miglia.
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.
|
Practice:
|
Race:
Nuvolari was given a tremendous ovation from the spectators as the cars lined up for the start. No one had forgotten
his victory in the 1935 race.
|
| | | | | |
| |
16
Seaman
Mercedes
10m01.2s
|
14
Lang
Mercedes
9m54.1s
|
12
Brauchitsch
Mercedes
9m48.4s
|
|
2
Nuvolari
Auto Union
10m03.3s
|
10
Caracciola
Mercedes
10m03.1s
|
4
Stuck
Auto Union
10m23.0s
|
8
Müller
Auto Union
10m19.3s
|
6
Hasse
Auto Union
10m19.1s
|
|
26
Biondetti
Alfa Romeo
10m50.0s
|
24
Farina
Alfa Romeo
10m31.1s
|
40
Pietsch
Maserati
|
20
Dreyfus
Delahaye
|
28
Taruffi
Alfa Romeo
|
|
30
Ghersi
Alfa Romeo
|
36
Hyde
Maserati
|
38
Berg
Maserati
|
44
Cortese
Maserati
|
42
Balestrero
Alfa Romeo
|
|
32
de Graffenried
Maserati
|
22
Comotti
Delahaye
|
|
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 liked. 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-Obergruppen-führer
(Lieutenant-General) Erwin Kraus claimed 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 1)
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 claimed 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".
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Results
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In retrospect:
The nasty incident with NSKK Obergruppenführer Kraus 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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Footnote:
1. There is an famous anecdote that Seaman remained standing in the pits and when Neubauer asked what he was waiting
for he answered that during the earlier stop Neubauer himself had told him to stay behind von Brauchitsch.
A good story but just a story. In fact Seaman left about five seconds after the fire started and Neubauer was never near
him during that time.
2. Its either 3h51m46.1s (Autocourse, Hornung, Nixon etc.) or 3h51m46.2s (Sheldon, Higham, Völker etc.)
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1 August 1938: The B.A.R.C. August Meeting was held at Brooklands.
The different events were won by W. M. Couper (Talbot 3.4L), Charles Follett, George Abecassis (Alta), Arthur Dobson (ERA)
R. Cutler (Frazer-Nash), Stuart Wilton (M.G.) Fane (B.M.W) Wooding (Talbot 1.2L), George Abecassis (Alta).
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5 August 1938: Stuck (Auto Union) wins the La Turbie hillclimb in France.
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7 August 1938: The Monaco Grand Prix had been scheduled for the 7 August, but the race was cancelled and replaced by the Coppa Ciano.
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