Nuvolari wins the Coppa Acerbo for Alfa Romeo

The Coppa Acerbo race became another triumph for the great Tazio Nuvolari in an Alfa Romeo monoposto, this time on loan to Scuderia Ferrari. Caracciola came second but with a factory Alfa Romeo monoposto and Chiron was third in a works Bugatti. Brivio with the fastest Scuderia Ferrari Monza finished fourth while teammate Taruffi crashed his. On this high speed circuit combined with the tropical heat, the tires were severely stressed and caused major trouble for some drivers. From a field of 19 cars only 10 finished the race. Borzacchini, early on in third place, lost much time with lengthy pit stops. Fagioli in the 16-cylinder Maserati briefly held third place until thrown back with tire problems. First Ernesto Maserati then Ruggeri took over from Fagioli to finish in fifth place. Varzi held sixth place before he retired his Bugatti. Two German Mercedes-Benz SSK sports cars in racing trim, driven by von Brauchitsch and Broschek, had no chance. The first broke on lap one and the second was delayed with tire problems. Earl Howe driving a 1927 model 1500 cc Delage finished seventh amongst the grand prix cars. The stragglers Biondetti, Corsi, Orsini and Broschek were flagged by race management. In the separate race for cycle cars up to 1100 cc Scaron was victorious with his Amilcar.

The Coppa Acerbo was one of the last international races on the calendar. In 1924 it was a rather minor race but developed over the years into one of the more important Italian events. Now in its 8th running it belonged to the most remarkable events of the international calendar. In 1924 Minister Giacomo Acerbo had named the race in honor of his brother Capitano Tito Acerbo, a decorated war hero, who was killed during the last year of WW I. The same 25.5 km Pescara circuit was in use for 1932. Earl Howe described this circuit in his memoirs published in The Motor: "This circuit always strikes me as being one of the finest circuits that I know; the course is triangular and is about 24 or 25 kilometres long. Two sides of the triangle are composed of enormous straights, each about six miles in length, with the most perfect surface; a car, however fast, can be let out to the maximum speed of which it is capable. The third leg is a winding one with many interesting and difficult bends, and two complete hairpins. Enormous crowds of people gather, and owing presumably to the length of the circuit it seems to be somewhat difficult for the authorities to keep the people off the course." The start was outside the seaside resort of Pescara, where the road went straight for about one kilometer along the shore. Before Pescara the course made a wide right turn heading inland for about 11 km along a winding road up into the Abruzzi Mountains. From here, the road led into the approximately 11 km long Montesilvano downhill straight to the coast at blistering speed. A fast right turn at Montesilvano railroad station led into the Lungo Mare straight along the coast back to the start and finish.

Entries: The class over 1100 cc received 23 entries, including foreign drivers from Austria, France and Germany. The Alfa Romeo factory had entered their strong team of Nuvolari, Caracciola, Campari and Borzacchini in the new monoposti. But at the time of the race Campari did not appear at all, Borzacchini drove just a 2.3-liter Monza and Nuvolari had been entrusted with the 2.6-liter monoposto to drive for Scuderia Ferrari, just in this race. According to Luigi Orsini/Franco Zagari/Aldo Piombino/Doug Nye in "The Scuderia Ferrari", this arrangement had been decided by the Portello management to reward the Scuderia for its efforts on the make's behalf, since the Grand Prix races of the season were being dominated by Portello's new P3, which were a cut above their challengers including those 2.3-liter Alfa Romeo Monzas of the Scuderia. The Bugatti factory arrived with Varzi and Chiron in 2.3-liter cars. The Maserati works had planned to introduce their new 2500 cc front-wheel-drive type for Fagioli but then abandoned development of this car and instead brought the 16-cylinder V5 for Fagioli and a 3-liter 26M for Ruggeri . Ernesto Maserati was the nominated reserve driver.       Two Mercedes-Benz sports cars appeared in racing trim for the Germans von Brauchitsch and Broschek. Both were independent entries with minimal factory support although Mercedes team manager Alfred Neubauer was present. Scuderia Ferrari arrived with Conte Brivio, Taruffi and Ghersi in 2.3-liter Alfa Romeo Monzas and Nuvolari with the P3 monoposto. The remaining entries were completely independent like Biondetti in his 2.5-liter Maserati-Bugatti hybrid, Morandi, the Austrian Jellen and Danese in Bugattis, Gazzabini with a 2.3-liter Alfa Romeo Monza and Rondina in a 2-liter OM. A small group of 1500 cc cars, which had to race against the larger cars, comprised Maseratis for Corsi and Signora Orsini, a Bugatti for Madame Rose-Itier from France and a 1927 Grand Prix Delage for Earl Howe from England. These were the 23 cars for which race numbers had been issued by drawing lots.

Race: At 8:30 in the morning 13 cars of the cycle car class up to 1100 cc had their race over four laps of the Pescara circuit. José Scaron won easily with an Amilcar in 51m32s, at an average speed of 118.758 km/h. The grand prix cars were set to start at 9:30 but this time was changed. A crowd of 50 000 witnessed the race, which was attended by the Italian Crown-Prince Umberto, the Agriculture Minister Professor Acerbo and other public figures. Due to the enormous heat there was great concern among the various drivers whether their tires would last the whole race. On a very hot morning the cars assembled at the start arranged in numerical order.

6 Borzacchni Alfa Romeo 4 Rondina OM 2 Caracciola Alfa Romeo 12 von Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 10 Taruffi Alfa Romeo 8 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 18 Biondetti MB 16 Broschek Mercedes-Benz 14 Brivio Alfa Romeo 26 Ghersi Alfa Romeo 22 Howe Delage 20 Corsi Maserati 34 Ruggeri Maserati 30 Morandi Bugatti 28 Fagioli Maserati 44 Orsini Maserati 40 Rose-Itier Bugatti 38 Varzi Bugatti 46 Chiron Bugatti

At 10:15 AM the Crown-Prince lowered the checkered flag and the cars shot away with loud thunder. Borzacchini had the best start and led the field up to Villa Raspa but at Spoltore, 9.5 km from the start, Caracciola and Nuvolari had taken the lead. At the end of lap one Caracciola arrived first after 10m55.0s at 140.196 km/h, shadowed by Nuvolari. Ghersi in ninth place stopped at the pits and von Brauchitsch retired his Mercedes-Benz between Spoltore and Capelle alternatively with an engine defect or with ignition trouble or, as was reported by AUTOMOBIL-REVUE, he went over the edge of the road. Whatever the cause, the lanky German later appeared to walk towards the pits. The two works Bugatti drivers were having a tense battle, separated by only a fifth of a second. Further behind, Earl Howe's Delage was already almost a minute ahead of the next 1500 cc car. The order after the first lap was: 1. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 10m55.0s 2. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 10m55.8s 3. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 11m21.0s 4. Taruffi (Alfa Romeo) 11m21.6s 5. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 11m28.8s 6. Fagioli (Maserati) 11m30.0s 7. Chiron (Bugatti) 11m41.0s 8. Varzi (Bugatti) 11m41.2s 9. Ruggeri (Maserati) 12m24.4s 10. Ghersi (Alfa Romeo) 12m30.0s 11. Earl Howe (Delage) 12m37.0s 12. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 12m37.0s 13. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 12m44.0s 14. Rondina (OM) 14m27.0s 15. Corsi (Maserati) 14m31.0s 16. Morandi (Bugatti) 14m31.4s 17. Orsini (Maserati) 14m43.0s 18. Rose-Itier (Bugatti) 15m14.0s 19. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) retired on lap one. Caracciola drove the second lap in 10m42.2s, equal to 142.945 km/h, followed by Nuvolari two seconds behind. It was clear that only Alfa Romeo could win the race, either Caracciola or Nuvolari. The 2.3-liter Bugattis of Chiron and Varzi were no match for the Alfa Romeo monoposti. Fagioli did a lap in 10m57s with the 16-cylinder V5 Maserati, which was not enough to bring him closer to the leaders, who had lapped at 10m42.2s and 10m43s. Ruggeri in 12th place was forced to stop at his pits for a checkup. Ghersi stopped again at his pit, this time to retire the Alfa Romeo. There was a strange sight at the end of the second lap, Broschek's huge Mercedes crossing the line in a dead heat with Howe's diminutive Delage. 1. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 21m37s 2. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 21m39s 3. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 22m21s 4. Fagioli (Maserati) 22m27s 5. Taruffi (Alfa Romeo) 22m28s 6. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 22m39s 7. Chiron (Bugatti) 22m44s 8. Varzi (Bugatti) 22m51s 9. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 24m46s 10. Earl Howe (Delage) 24m46s 11. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 25m05s 12. Ruggeri (Maserati) 27m39s 13. Rondina (OM) 28m21s 14. Morandi (Bugatti) 28m36s 15. Ghersi (Alfa Romeo) 28m44s 16. Orsini (Maserati) 28m44s 17. Corsi (Maserati) 28m54s 18. Rose-Itier (Bugatti) 29m56s After three laps Caracciola was five seconds ahead of Nuvolari. Fagioli has passed Borzacchini with a fast lap in 10m56s while the two leading Alfas did the lap in 10m46s and 10m49s respectively. There was no chance for the third placed Maserati to catch the Alfa monoposti. Earl Howe described an incident of this race in his memoirs published in The Motor: "...I was having a tremendous struggle with a Mercedes [Broschek] in my little Delage, and just as I was trying to pass, and running wheel to wheel with the Mercedes, a man walked out from the crowd in front of my car! I could not swerve as I had the Mercedes beside me and the crowd on the other side; fortunately somebody with a little more sense saw what was happening and instantly grabbed the man by the seat of his trousers and dragged him off the course. I am not quite sure whether my heart stopped beating for a second before I was able to breathe again." On this lap Brivio and Taruffi crossed the line together in their Scuderia Ferrari Monzas. Behind them Chiron was having the better of his battle with his team mate Varzi. Earl Howe was now more than six minutes ahead of the next 1 ½ liter car. After three laps the field was already reduced to 17 cars in the following order: 1. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 32m23s 2. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 32m28s 3. Fagioli (Maserati) 33m23s 4. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 33m24s 5. Taruffi (Alfa Romeo) 33m41s 6. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 33m41s 7. Chiron (Bugatti) 33m51s 8. Varzi (Bugatti) 34m06s 9. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 36m06s 10. Earl Howe (Delage) 36m56s 11. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 37m36s 12. Rondina (OM) 42m14s 13. Orsini (Maserati) 42m30s 14. Corsi (Maserati) 43m01s 15. Rose-Itier (Bugatti) 44m54s 16. Ruggeri (Maserati) 47m25s 17. Morandi (Bugatti) 1h22m32s After four laps Caracciola had increased the gap to Nuvolari to eight seconds. Fagioli's Maserati threw a cover from one of its rear wheels, which hit him on the arm, causing great pain. He lost almost two minutes to bring the limping car back to his pit, where a new wheel was fitted. Then Ernesto Maserati jumped into the cockpit to join the race in seventh place. Broschek in the heavy Mercedes-Benz lost his ninth position when his right rear tire threw a cover on the straight and he had to crawl slowly back to the pits with his tire in shreds, losing a tremendous amount of time before changing the wheel. Brivio and Taruffi continued their battle and after three quarters of an hour were still less than a second apart. Varzi was pulling further ahead of his team mate and had now half a minute advantage. Madame Rose-Itier fell to last place after a pit stop. Morandi pulled in his pit and retired his Bugatti. After four laps the positions were: 1. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 43m19s 2. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 43m27s 3. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 44m34s 4. Taruffi (Alfa Romeo) 44m49s 5. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 44m49.2s 6. Chiron (Bugatti) 44m54s 7. Fagioli (Maserati) 45m15s 8. Varzi (Bugatti) 45m24s 9. Earl Howe (Delage) 49m08s 10. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 50m39s 11. Orsini (Maserati) 56m07s 12. Rondina (OM) 56m10s 13. Corsi (Maserati) 57m24s 14. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 59m36s 15. Ruggeri (Maserati) 1h00m04s 16. Rose-Itier (Bugatti) 1h00m12s Going into lap five the Alfa Romeo pits signaled the leading drivers to slow down and not overstress engines or tires since the 16-cylinder Maserati no longer posed a danger. Both of the leading drivers obeyed the signal with lap times over 11 minutes but Nuvolari slowed less than Carraciola and took the opportunity to overtake him and move into the lead. On this lap Chiron managed to pass three of the Alfa Romeos ahead of him. However at the end of lap five his team mate, Varzi, stopped at his pit where he retired the Bugatti with oil pressure problems. Ernesto Maserati in the V5 16-cylinder car was holding seventh place. Borzacchini had to stop at the pit for a long time, falling several places behind when he no longer had pressure in the fuel tank. Broschek lost even more time when now his left rear tire was torn to pieces and he had to stop for another new tire. The engine of Ruggeri's Maserati was running irregularly and he drove to his pit where he retired. Rose-Itier also stopped at the pits again for a brief inspection, a refreshment to combat the heat and finally rejoined the race. Rondina was the last arrival and headed for the pits to retire. After five laps the order was 1. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 54m36s 2. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 54m39s 3. Chiron (Bugatti) 55m51s 4. Taruffi (Alfa Romeo) 55m53s 5. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 56m01s 6. Varzi (Bugatti) 57m04s 7. Fagioli/E. Maserati (Maserati) 57m23s 8. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 58m54s 9. Earl Howe (Delage) 1h01m20s 10. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 1h05m00s 11. Orsini (Maserati) 1h09m39s 12. Corsi (Maserati) 1h11m45s 13. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 1h13m30s 14. Ruggeri (Maserati) 1h17m14s 15. Rose-Itier (Bugatti) 1h22m20s 16. Rondina (OM) 1h32m04s After six laps Nuvolari led in 1h05m47s or average speed of 139.530 km/h, eight seconds ahead of Caracciola. Chiron defended his third place from attacks by Taruffi, who had separated himself from Brivio and was the fastest Scuderia Ferrari driver. Borzacchini stopped again at his pit to attend to fuel pressure problems. Corsi in the 1500 cc Maserati drove steadily without stops up to lap seven with laps between 14m07 s and 14m31s. His accumulated time for lap six was not published and is estimated here to be 14m10s to obtain an artificial elapsed time of 1h25m55s, shown below. 1. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 1h05m47s 2. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 1h05m55s 3. Chiron (Bugatti) 1h06m46s 4. Taruffi (Alfa Romeo) 1h06m50s 5. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 1h06m55s 6. Fagioli/E. Maserati (Maserati) 1h08m32s 7. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 1h11m57s 8. Earl Howe (Delage) 1h13m30s 9. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 1h17m35s 10. Orsini (Maserati) 1h23m19s 11. Corsi (Maserati) 1h25m55s 12. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 1h26m21s 13. Rose-Itier (Bugatti) 1h37m00s After seven laps Nuvolari was ten seconds ahead of Caracciola. The two leading Alfas were still driving at a lesser pace, which had enabled Chiron in third place to reduce the gap to the front but he posed no real danger to the leaders. The Scuderia Ferrari must have been concerned about their number one car on loan, the P3 from the Alfa Romeo works, and Enzo Ferrari in person signaled Nuvolari from the pits to increase his pace. Presumably the reason was not the distant threat of Chiron's Bugatti, which always seemed unlikely, but the proximity of Caracciola who was driving for a rival, albeit friendly, team. Brivio came into the pits to refuel and change tires. Ernesto Maserati kept Fagiloli's V5 in sixth place, almost matching Fagioli's lap speed. Earl Howe in the fastest 1500 cc car had his elapsed time for lap seven misstated in the published timesheets, while in reality he drove a very balanced race with laps of 12m10s to 12m13s. A more pragmatic accumulated time of 1h25m43s is shown here. Borzacchini made another pit stop to remedy his fuel pressure problems. Broschek had to stop once more to replace a tire after he had thrown yet another thread. After a number of pit stops Madame Rose-Itier (Bugatti) finally retired. The order after lap seven was: 1. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 1h17m02s 2. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 1h17m12s 3. Chiron (Bugatti) 1h17m43s 4. Taruffi (Alfa Romeo) 1h17m50s 5. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 1h17m55s 6. Fagioli/E. Maserati (Maserati) 1h19m44s 7. Earl Howe (Delage) 1h25m43s 8. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 1h28m50s 9. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 1h29m45s 10. Orsini (Maserati) 1h36m52s 11. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 1h39m47s 12. Corsi (Maserati) 1h40m04s In obedience to Enzo Ferrari's pit signal Nuvolari established the fastest lap of the race in 10m25.4s at 146.785 km/h on lap eight. Borzachini again lost time with another pit stop. Taruffi's race came to a quick end when he arrived too fast in the right-hand turn at the downhill section leading into Capelle. The Alfa Romeo spun and the front crashed against a house, then the rear. The car could not continue, but the driver walked away. Ernesto Maserati was signaled to stop at the pits where he handed over the wheel to Ruggeri who was now available after his earlier retirement. Borzacchini was wrongly shown in ninth place on the timesheets with the same accumulated time he had on lap nine. A more pragmatic accumulated time of 1h40m10s and exact position was calculated for this record. It is more realistic but is not the precise time, which was not published in the available records. Howe's Delage had completed the first lap in eleventh place, however as a result of various retirements by faster cars and a very consistent drive, he was now in sixth place. After eight laps the order was: 1. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 1h27m27s 2. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 1h27m55s 3. Chiron (Bugatti) 1h28m45s 4. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 1h29m05s 5. Fagioli/E. Maserati (Maserati) 1h31m26s 6. Earl Howe (Delage) 1h37m53s 7. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 1h40m10s 8. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 1h41m50s 9. Orsini (Maserati) 1h50m40s 10. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 1h51m55s 11. Corsi (Maserati) 1h53m38s After nine laps most of the field was well spread out with little likelihood of any overtaking maneuvers. The only exception was the two 1500 cc Maseratis were temporarily only two seconds apart , albeit several laps behind the leaders. Nuvolari was 24 seconds ahead of Caracciola. 1. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 1h38m16s 2. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 1h38m40s 3. Chiron (Bugatti) 1h39m47s 4. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 1h41m40s 5. Fagioli/Ruggeri (Maserati) 1h44m55s 6. Earl Howe (Delage) 1h50m08s 7. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 1h51m25s 8. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 1h55m52s 9. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 2h03m59s 10. Corsi (Maserati) 2h07m20s 11. Orsini (Maserati) 2h07m22s After lap ten Nuvolari was just 8 seconds ahead of Caracciola. For two laps the German had been cutting faster laps than Nuvolari and the gap was now down to eight seconds. All but the first five cars had been lapped and Orsini, Broschek and Corsi had been lapped twice. 1. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 1h49m19s 2. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 1h49m27s 3. Chiron (Bugatti) 1h50m34s 4. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 1h52m53s 5. Fagioli/Ruggeri (Maserati) 1h57m17s 6. Earl Howe (Delage) 2h02m12s 7. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 2h02m36s 8. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 2h08m18s 9. Corsi (Maserati) 2h20m50s 10. Orsini (Maserati) 2h21m08s 11. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 2h23m56s After 11 laps Nuvolari in response to the threat from Caracciola, put in a sub-11 minute lap (10m53s) and restored the gap to a safer 20 seconds. Biondetti held eighth place. Corsi and Orsini separately completed only their ninth lap, followed by Broschek in last place. The order after 11 laps was 1. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 2h00m12s 2. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 2h00m32s 3. Chiron (Bugatti) 2h01m57s 4. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 2h04m08s 5. Fagioli/Ruggeri (Maserati) 2h09m35s 6. Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo) 2h13m48s 7. Earl Howe (Delage) 2h14m18s 8. Biondetti (MB-Speciale) 2h20m48s 9. Corsi (Maserati) ? 10. Orsini (Maserati) ? 11. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) ? There were no changes on lap 12. Alfa Romeo had fitted their works cars with a new type of Pirelli tire, which lasted throughout the race. Ruggeri brought the 16-cylinder Maserati in fifth place but Ernesto Maserati had driven at a faster pace before him. After the first five cars had passed the finish line at the end of the race, spectators began flooding the course and race management stopped the race due to the possibly of spectators being injured or killed by stragglers trying to complete their final laps. This prevented the already twice lapped Biondetti, Corsi, Orsini and Broschek to finish their last laps and thereby they were prevented from finishing the race. It is unclear from the available reports how many laps each of these four drivers were able to complete. Since Biondetti, Corsi and Orsini were classified as finishers, they each should have completed 12 laps but this appears to have been very unlikely. All three most probably completed only 11 laps at most, and race management decided to classify them as finishers, applying an exception to the rules, while Broschek in last place probably was not able to finish the 11th lap because he was prevented by race officials from doing so. Motor Sport reported that Broschek was flagged off two laps from the end.