Louis Chiron and Bugatti once more victorious

The third race on the Masaryk-Ring stood under the banner of the battle between Bugatti, Maserati and Alfa Romeo over 17 laps of this slippery rain-soaked course. The race started in a drizzle, which developed into rain and later deteriorated into a cloud burst. The slippery course forced the drivers to slow down, after they had established a pretty good speed in the early laps. Nuvolari with the Alfa Romeo dominated in superior style from lap two up to the ninth lap when he fell behind with magneto problems. Chiron in the fastest Bugatti and Fagioli with the Maserati were then able to wrest such great advantage from Nuvolari's misfortune that he ended up in no better than third place. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) was the last finisher while local driver Šťastný in fifth position exceeded the maximum time and was not classified. Only ten of the 14 cars entered made the start. Borzacchini, who had been given one of the Alfa Romeo P3 monoposti, led the first lap, then the daring Nuvolari passed him. Borzacchini followed in second place till his differential gave out on lap nine. Varzi, Bouriat, Lehoux and Kubiček, all in Bugattis, retired with mechanical problems except Varzi, who suffered an eye injury. Besides the continuous rain the well organized event was a success and Nuvolari's dauntless drive in the wet was awesome.       Concurrently with the large cars raced 11 voiturettes of Group 2 up to 1500 cc. A carburetor fire on the last lap prevented Maserati, who had led many laps, to earn a deserved class victory. Burggaller (Bugatti) won this class in superior style, 14 minutes ahead of Veyron (Maserati), Sojka (Bugatti), Ernesto Maserati (with the 1100 cc Maserati), Macher (750 cc DKW) and local driver Szczyzycki (Wikov) last in sixth place.

The CAMS (Ceskoslovensky Automobilovy Klub pro Moravu a Slezsk) or Czechoslovakian Automobile Club for Moravia and Silesia organized their third international automobile race on the Masarykuv okrůh (Masaryk Circuit). First held in 1930, the race had grown in European significance and this year once again received entries from the best international drivers. The Masaryk Circuit belonged to the most diverse of European courses with inclines of up to 7% and declines up to 9½% changing in consecutive order. Sharp turns, flat corners, straights, S-bends, hairpins, in short, all forms of roadway were present. The start and finish was just outside the borders of Brno and followed the course counterclockwise. The first 18 km up to the village of Ostrovacice were formed primarily of winding, hilly, rather narrow and dangerous district roads, leading through romantic forested areas and four villages of Nový Lískovec, Pisárky outside Brno, Kohoutovice and Žebětin. From there the circuit turned back and the last 11 km were almost all 12 meter wide, practically straight state roads, which provided a good opportunity to pass other cars, past the villages of Popuvky, Veselka and Bosonohy. This stretch allowed driving at top speed except for a rather annoying section of a few kilometers at Iglau, which contained structural faults consisting of long waves in the road surface, which made it impossible to drive at top speed. The 29.142 km circuit with 36 left-hand corners and 47 to the right was not in the in best condition and had to be lapped 17 times, bringing the total length of the race to 495.414 km, while the cars up to 1500 cc had to do only 15 laps or 437.130 km. The road conditions were basically worse than the previous year.       The overall winner was to receive 80,000 Koruny, the second 40,000 Kč, third 20,000 and fourth 15,000. Additionally, for the first three in Group 2 there were prizes of 15,000, 10,000, 5,000 Kč. For the fastest lap in Group 1 and 2 the T. Bafa prize of each 5,000 Kč. Besides these high monetary awards a great number of special prizes and medals were donated. One was for the best seventh lap at 5,000 Kč, then the CAMS prize for the best time of the cars up to 1100 cc.

Entries: The organizers received 16 entries for the Group 1 cars over 1500 cc. The Bugatti works sent 2.3-liter type 51 cars for Chiron, Varzi and Dreyfus but the latter was replaced by Bouriat. René Dreyfus had crashed on August 14 at Comminges. As a result he spent about one week in hospital, which he left with passing hematomas, causing stiffness, the reason for his withdrawal. The damaged Bugatti, which belonged to Chiron, was probably not available for Masaryk three weeks later. The Maserati factory arrived with one 3-liter 2-seat racecar for Fagioli. The Alfa Romeo works were represented through the Scuderia Ferrari and had again been loaned one of the new 2.6-liter monoposto, this time with Borzacchini behind the wheel. AUTOMOBIL-REVUE reported that when Nuvolari was asked before the race why not he but Borzacchini was driving the monoposto, Nuvolari uttered "He had won nothing since the Mille Miglia, now it is his turn once again." Alfa Romeo 2.3-liter Monzas were present for Nuvolari, Count Brivio and Tadini but the latter was replaced by Siena. Nuvolari's Monza had the radiator shell inner part framed with a white stripe for easier identification. The remaining entries comprised the three independent Bugattis of Lehoux from France plus the locals Šťastný and Kubiček. All Group 1 cars were marked with a white stripe as belly-wrap around the body between hood and cockpit.       Five drivers did not appear and one of them was Zdeněk Pohl, who at age 25 was one of the best Czechoslovakian drivers and had a Bugatti T35B. He was a friend of compatriot Prince Georg-Christian Lobkowicz who had died at the Avusrennen but would also have raced here. Mirko Wagner, an unknown local driver, was entered with a Mercedes-Benz SSK. Manfred von Brauchitsch had last raced at the Coppa Acerbo on August 14, where he retired his SSKL, possibly with engine problems. He might not have been able to get the car race ready for the Masaryk-Ring three weeks later. The Masaryk Circuit race and the Mont Ventoux mountain climb clashed at the same day, which was a deplorable situation because the French organizers had been asked to move their date but never did. Therefore Hans Stuck in a Mercedes-Benz SSKL and Rudolf Caracciola in an Alfa Romeo Monza were both racing at Mount Ventoux, which was the mandatory fifth event in the 1932 Alpine Championship. Both drivers were leading their individual category and otherwise would have started here at the Masaryk Ring. Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen, the 1930 winner, might have placed an early entry but he died at the end of May in a practice crash at the Nürburgring.       The Group 2, up to 1500 cc, comprised 21 entries. Factory entries were received from Ernesto Maserati in his 1.1-liter 4CM and the Czechoslovakian Wikow Works from Prostějov brought along two converted sports cars with 1500 cc 4-cylinder OHC engines without supercharger for Szczyzycki and Konečnik. The remaining entries came from independents, comprising Veyron (Maserati) and Madame Rose-Itier (Bugatti) from France, Simons (Bugatti), Macher (DKW) and Burggaller (Bugatti) from Germany, Hartmann (Bugatti) from Hungary and local drivers Sojka (Bugatti) and Hošfálek ("Z"), which had a 1500cc, double 4-cylinder 2-stroke engine.       In Group 2 were five drivers without matching race numbers 52, 58, 62, 64 and 70, which had been assigned by the promoters but no reference to their names could be established. Drivers that did not appear included Florian Schmidt (Bugatti T37A) who had customs difficulties with needed spare parts, Vladimir Loucky (Bugatti T37A), Gustav Kreml (1.5-liter Wikov), once more Prince Georg-Christian Lobkowicz (Bugatti) and M. Sekula (CIME), the Austrians from Vienna Engelbert Count Arco-Zinneberg (Amilcar) and Robert Mayer, Junior (Bugatti), the German Rudolf Steinweg (Amilcar) and from France Louis Joli (Maserati).

Practice: A great part of the drivers arrived early in Brno and were busy practicing on the difficult race course. The Bugatti drivers were nearly complete and the greater part was trying to learn the circuit and check their cars. On Thursday there were Lehoux, Hartmann, Simon, Burggaller and Chiron. The latter completed seven fast laps without stopping. The Alfa Romeos were driven by second rank drivers since Nuvolari and Borzacchini were due to arrive Friday. Maserati's arrival was delayed at the border. Caracciola's participation had become doubtful, although his factory had not yet withdrawn his entry. A new introduction was the Totalisator, where bets were accepted for the first three places in both categories and for the fastest lap on lap seven.       On Friday all drivers were practicing on the circuit. The main interest remained with Chiron, Lehoux, Bouriat, Veyron, Maserati, Fagioli, Nuvolari and Borzacchini. Besides those famous names also Hartmann from Budapest and a whole group of local drivers practiced. Between kilometer 13 and 14 Siena skidded his Alfa Romeo, left the road, tore out three mileage markers and badly smashed up the car. Siena suffered a broken lower leg and had to be brought to the Brno Hospital. The Austrian driver Mayer also had an accident with his 1500 cc Bugatti, when he crashed his car against a tree, seriously bending the frame while he himself was lucky to just sustain abrasions.       On Saturday practice when Nuvolari wanted to pass Borzacchini he noticed that something was not right with the car ahead. Motor Sport reported: "The tricky nature of the course may be judged by the fact that the experienced Borzacchini actually ditched his "monoposto" Alfa Romeo in practice..." The front axle was broken and the monoposto was repaired in time for the race in spite of a bent chassis. Varzi had arrived late on Friday and still had to complete his two obligatory laps. Caracciola and von Brauchitsch had both withdrawn their entries. The whole course was once more checked and cleaned for the race on Sunday. From the 34 cars on the entry list only 21 went past scrutinizing on Saturday.

Race: During the night and early morning thousands of spectators arrived from all over Czechoslovakia and also from Budapest and Vienna. They joined the multitude of campers that had already erected numerous tents all around the circuit. A crowd estimated at 200 000 came to witness the race of which only 99 400 were paying spectators. The organizers extended the radio and telephone service and erected a new grandstand at Žebětin. The seats were increased to 350 at Ostrovacice. The race course, which used regular roads, was blocked from all traffic at 9:15 AM to be ready for the 10:30 AM start.       Only ten cars arrived at the start. Siena with the #10 Alfa Romeo had crashed in practice and could not start.

2 Chiron Bugatti 4 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 6 Borzacchini Alfa Romeo 8 Brivio Alfa Romeo 12 Lehoux Bugatti 14 Bouriat Bugatti 18 Šťastný Bugatti 22 Kubiček Bugatti 24 Varzi Bugatti 28 Fagioli Maserati 36 Macher DKW 40 Sojka Bugatti 44 Itier Bugatti 46 Simons Bugatti 54 Szczyzycki Wikov 56 Konecnik Wikov 60 Hošfálek "Z" 66 Veyron Maserati 68 Burgaller Bugatti 72 E. Maserati Maserati 74 Hartmann Bugatti

Shortly before the 10:30 AM start soft rain began to drizzle down. The sign was given to start the cars, the engines began to rumble, clouds of smoke shrouded the field, the starter raised the flag, and then Borzacchini from row two shot like an arrow between Chiron and Nuvolari into the lead. Within a moment the roaring pack had disappeared and immediately the Group 2 cars were arranged on the grid. They were to start a few minutes later. The procedure was repeated, except that Madame Itier's car already rolled slowly forward and only then the starting signal was given. The loudspeakers made repeated and vain attempts to inform about the start and positions on the first lap, but of no use. The impatient people were whistling and talking loudly in confusion until the roaring of approaching cars could be heard.       At the end of the first lap the cars arrived in the order of Borzacchini (Alfa Romeo), Chiron (Bugatti), Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo), followed with a greater gap to Fagioli (Maserati) and Brivio (Alfa Romeo). There was a noticeably long gap between this leading group until Varzi and Bouriat arrived, then Kubiček and Šťastný. Lehoux had to stop at his pit but drove off immediately. The rain increased and the loudspeakers weakened until they became silent again.       Then there appeared the little cars, Veyron (Maserati) first, then Ernesto Maserati and Burggaller (Bugatti), with a gap to Hartmann (Bugatti) and then came nothing for a long time. Sojka (Bugatti) arrived, next came Hošfálek with the "Z" and at the very end Madame Itier (Bugatti). Not long after the little cars had disappeared in the distance, the leading group was heard coming again.       On the second lap Borzacchini was still leading Chiron and Nuvolari. The gap between those three was each about 30 meter, while the distance to Fagioli was about 500 meter. Right behind him came Brivio and further back the others. Then Nuvolari increased his speed and was able to pass Chiron and Borzacchini. He must have forgotten about his good intention to allow Borzacchini to hold the honorary position. At the end of the second lap Lehoux stopped for a second time at his pit and Bouriat for the first time. They held intermittently sixth and seventh place and stopped quite often at the pits. Varzi had shown right from the beginning of the race that he was not in his element and retired after two laps because of an injury to one eye.       In Group 2 Maserati took the lead, ahead of Burggaller and Veyron, who stopped at the pits with fouled plugs. Hartmann, Sojka, Simons, Szczyzycki, Macher, Konečnik and Hošfálek followed, while Madame Itier retired with an engine defect.       At the beginning of lap three Nuvolari had established a visible advantage to Borzacchini and Chiron, which had become quite large at the end of lap three. Borzacchini and Chiron chased still close together, followed by Fagioli and Brivio, both maintaining a constant, steady pace. Kubiček headed at slow speed for his pit and climbed out of his car. He had a defective wheel and could not carry on.       In Group 2 Burggaller went past Maserati and held first place till lap six, always closely followed by Maserati in second place. Hartmann was now third after Veyron had lost time at his pit. Sojka was fifth, followed by Simons, Szczyzycki, Macher, Konečnik and last Hošfálek. Macher stopped at his pit after almost every lap to exchange his oiled plugs.       On the fourth lap Nuvolari led at a slightly increased pace, lapping four 1500 cc cars of Group 2. He steadily increased the gap to Borzacchini and Chiron, who were still following close together. Fagioli also increased his pace and slowly gained ground, ahead of Brivio in fifth place. Lehoux appeared next, followed by Bouriat who stopped for the second time at his pit. Šťastný had worked himself steadily into eighth place.       On the fifth lap Nuvolari had further increased his advantage to Borzacchini and Chiron. Nothing had changed in the wide gap to fourth place Fagioli, followed by Brivio. Lehoux and Bouriat had retired, both with ignition problems.       In the meantime the leading cars of Group 2, Burggaller, Maserati, Veyron and Sojka had increased their advantage over the remaining cars. Especially the battle between Burggaller and Maserati had become hard as they closely chased each other around the track. Maserati tried time and again to get past the Bugatti but did not succeed.       At the beginning of lap six, Borzacchini was able to distance himself a bit from Chiron. Fagioli and Brivio held the next positions. Nuvolari led his adversaries with an ever increasing advantage. He rightfully carried the moniker "Red Devil". To watch the way he had passed Chiron and Borzacchini after his poor start, from that point on constantly enlarging his advantage over the slippery rain-soaked course, his red Alfa engulfed in a cloud of smoke and spray, with water rooster-tails shooting up from his wheels, had to impress the spectators. Nuvolari's temperament and commitment for battle were colossal; two traits that understandably made him the favorite of the people but at the same time a certain explanation for his triple failure on the Masaryk-Ring. Once overcome by the aggression, then there was no consideration and regard for the machine. Prudence was not present. His motto was: "All or nothing." It was of course Nuvolari who drove the fastest seventh lap at 16m22.8s in pouring rain, which earned him the special prize for fastest seventh lap at 5,000 Koruny.       The beginning of lap eight brought some excitement as Nuvolari passed the two Group 2 leaders, Burggaller and Maserati, who had just finished their sixth lap, at incredible speed in front of the grand stand and carried on at wild pace. Some minutes later Borzacchini and Chiron arrived and then after a long interval the Fagioli and Brivio duo. Chiron had by then made up most of the lost ground to Borzacchini and remained close behind him. Fagioli stopped for the first time at the pit to take on fuel. Brivio also made a brief stop for the same reason.       In the small class at the end of lap eight Burggaller had to stop at the pits for fuel. This was the moment when Maserati could finally move into first place of the group 2 cars and despite Burggaller's efforts later on, the Italian did not relinquish the lead. Veyron had worked himself back into third place while Hartmann was now fourth and was fighting with Sojka alternately for fourth place. Hošfálek retired. By now the loudspeakers were once again put into action.       The almost monotonous race turned around at the end of lap nine when Nuvolari stopped at his pit to take on fuel in the record time of barely 15 seconds. At unbelievable speed two mechanics simultaneously pumped the fuel while Nuvolari drank in a hurry and jumped back in his seat to speed away. He had left for quite some time and the roar of his engine could hardly be heard at the grandstand and there was still no following car in sight. Then finally the blue Bugatti of Chiron rushed by, while close behind him Borzacchini arrived who surprisingly stopped at his pit where he climbed out of the car, gesticulated and talked to his team. The monoposto was pushed away due to a broken differential. Up to his retirement Borzacchini had demonstrated his reputation of an excellent driver. He had kept Chiron behind and only let him pass after his defect, followed by his retirement. Fagioli then inherited third place and Brivio who appeared after a long time at the grandstands to stop briefly at the pits, moved into fourth place.       In the meantime on lap 10 Nuvolari, who had left the pits long before Chiron, suffered an ignition defect at the Pisárky turn, outside Brno. He fixed it himself but took so much time that Chiron as well as Fagioli were able to get past him and Nuvolari had now fallen to third place.       In Group 2, Simons drove for ten laps with a seized clutch bearing, could not get out of third gear, ruined his brakes and finally retired.       At the beginning of lap 11 Chiron made his fuel stop. After Fagioli had passed the grandstand, Nuvolari arrived at the pits to have his defect repaired by his mechanics. The likelihood of regaining the lead had now vanished. In spite of his dilemma, Nuvolari chased after his two rivals at even increased pace. He could catch up a little but suffered renewed a defect in that the magneto cut out intermittently, so that he was forced to stop again at the end of lap 11 where his mechanics installed a new magneto. No sooner had they finished their work, than Chiron appeared at the grandstand at scorching speed to begin his thirteenth lap. Despite the fact that Nuvolari now was a whole lap behind Chiron, he instantly jumped into his car to take up the chase at a fierce pace, just seconds after the Frenchmen's passage.       In the meantime the Group 2 cars kept the order of Maserati in the lead, then Burggaller and after a long gap Veyron. Sojka maintained his steady pace from the earlier laps and on lap 11 was able to move into fourth place, when Hartmann stopped at his pit with a problem. Behind Hartmann chased the two Wikov cars of Szczyzycki and Konečnik whose efforts went almost unnoticed by the public.       On the 13th lap Nuvolari made up time on Chiron at the Žebětin turns. At the following straight he caught up with him and for seconds both cars were driving side by side until the next right hand turn where Nuvolari unlapped himself, ahead of Chiron's Bugatti and exited the Žebětin turns in front. A similar duel took place a few kilometers further on at Ostrovacice. Chiron was able to pass the Italian again on a straight stretch and then Nuvolari attacked the Frenchman once more. But this time the Alfa Romeo razed two mileage markers however, Nuvolari was on guard and kept the car on the road. But he had damaged a tire, which ended his efforts. Chiron passed him again and left Nuvolari far behind, who had to fit the spare wheel in a great hurry and then headed back to his pits where he had to change the wheel.       In Group 2, Hartmann had driven at a nice and steady pace but retired just before the last lap, although he had already made several pit stops to rectify the problem. Veyron stopped to add water to the radiator and Macher had to stop frequently to have his oiled plugs replaced.       Nuvolari stopped for a new tire at the beginning of lap15. Fagioli reduced his gap to the leader Chiron. Brivio held fourth position and Šťastný was now in fifth place. In the meantime the rain had increased into a real cloudburst, which changed conditions for the worse, reducing visibility and causing drivers to slow. With the exception of Chiron, all others stopped at the pits to have protective rain shields put on. Šťastný in fifth position lost his shield and carried on unconcerned.       The order of the Group 2 cars remained unchanged up to the last lap when fate played a bad trick on the leading Maserati. Just before the first turn after Žebětin, the Italian noticed something wrong with his car. He climbed out and tried to correct the mistake quickly, to proceed before the approaching Burggaller caught up with him. After driving hardly 20 meters, bright flames leaped from the engine and forced another stop. No sooner had Maserati extinguished the flames with the help of some brave spectators than Burggaller passed by. A huge chunk of time was lost with the roadside repair of the carburetor fire, while Veyron and Sojka also sped past. Maserati finally succeeded to carry on finishing the race in fourth place. Macher in his tired DKW finished in fifth place. Szczyzycki was sixth and Konečnik seventh but his time of 5h24m40.4s exceeded the maximum allowable time and he could not be classified.       On lap 16 and 17 the race had become very uninteresting because of the enormous falling behind of Nuvolari. Chiron maintained his uncontested lead, with Fagioli second, reducing his gap to five minutes. Nuvolari finished third, half an hour behind Chiron with Brivio fourth. Šťastný held fifth place but had exceeded the maximum allowable time with 5h31m02.4s and could not be classified. Chiron was celebrated with great applause and decorated with the victory wreath. He received the Masaryk Challenge Trophy, which he had won the year before, but this time in perpetuity. Fagioli and still more so Nuvolari for his death defying drive were given lively applause. It was inconceivable that Šťastný remained almost unnoticed.       Burggaller, not content with winning the small class after 15 laps, continued his drive to complete the sixteenth and seventeenth lap which were demanded for the large cars. In doing so, he achieved a time of 5h09m18.2s, with which would have placed him fifth behind Brivio of the large class.

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