Veyron vs. Burggaller

The race was for 1500cc voiturettes with special prizes for the best 800cc cars. The 8-cylinder Bugatti T51As of Burggaller and Veyron were in their own class with Burggaller leading the first laps and then Veyron taking over to win with Burggaller following closely throughout the race. Howe was a distant third in his Delage and Rüesch fourth in a 6-cylinder Alfa Romeo. In the small class Macher in a special car with a DKW engine held the German hopes high until he had to fall back leaving Horton in a streamlined MG to win with Barnes in a works Austin close behind.

The voiturette season started on May 21st with the International Avus race and a race at Peronne the same day. Organized by Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (ADAC) for the third time the race had already become a tradition. The voiturette race was 10 laps long but the start was positioned 831 meters before the finish line. (See the main race for details about the circuit.)       While the race program did not divide the cars into classes, the way the cars were numbered and a note that there would be a special prize for the two best finishers with 800cc engines (700 and 500 Reichsmark) show that it indeed was considered to be combined race with two classes. In the overall competition the prizes for the top five finishers were 2500 RM, 100 RM, 800 RM, 600 RM and 400 RM.

Entries: There were 15 cars taking part in the race. As the French drivers preferred to race in Peronne the only French driver who started in Berlin was Pierre Veyron, who raced his blue works 8-cylinder T51A (#51151). Former fighter pilot Ernst-Günther Burggaller raced his white T51A (#51134) rebuilt from a T35 to a single seater and it featured a headrest and a different exhaust than a standard Bugatti. German drivers Hans Simons, Willi Seibel and Adolf Brudes all raced white Bugatti T37As.       Earl Howe entered his Grand Prix Delage. It was however not the same car that he had won the 1932 Avus race with, because that car had been totally destroyed during the 1932 Monza Grand Prix repechage, but the one he had bought from Robert Sénéchal. Swiss driver Hans Rüesch entered an Alfa Romeo 6C-1500, red with a white bonnet. There were two Amilcar entries, Willi Briem and "Henken" Widengren, Briem's car white, Widengren's dark colored.       The Austin works team entered three cars in the 800cc class for Donald Barnes (#XA1012 registration OJ 9585), Charles Goodacre (#XA1010 registration OJ 0583) and Bobby Kohlrausch (#XA1013). Kohlrausch's car was white. Ron Horton raced a special bodied streamlined single seater MG Midget and Ernst von Delius a little white BMW. Gerhard Macher raced a streamlined "Eigenbau". The engine consisted of two DKW two-cylinder double piston two-stroke engines geared together and fed by a Zoller supercharger . The volume was 798 cc, compression 1:11 giving 80 hp at 6000 rpm.

Practice: The Austin drivers as well as Veyron, Burggaller, Simons, Rüesch, Widengren and Macher, took part in the first official practice on Thursday. Otto Merz's fatal accident during Thursday practice overshadowed the Friday and Saturday sessions. Nonetheless more drivers now showed up zealous to do some practice laps. The grid positions were decided by ballot and no practice lap times are known.

Race: Race day came with ideal weather, the sun shining over Berlin all day. During the morning hordes of Berliners went towards Grunewald and the AVUS, many probably taking the S-Bahn to Bahnhof Eichkamp next to the grandstand or to other stations along the circuit. The grandstands were soon packed to capacity. Numbers of up to 200,000 spectators were reported in the papers.       Kronprinz Wilhelm of Preussia and his brother Prince August Wilhelm were present as were leading personalities of both the old and the new regimes: von Papen, Goebbels, Göring, Röhm, von Blomberg etc. RAC was represented by Colonel Frederic Lindsay Lloyd. Despite false claims in many books, the new Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler was NOT present at the race. He had however donated a trophy to the winner of the formula libre class.       Despite the race was organized by ADAC the new Nazi regime was very much present with Reichwehr Major and SA-Obengruppenführer Adolf Hühnlein, leader of the NSKK, already deeply involved in the organization.       After Ernst Henne at 1:30 p.m. had made a failed world record attempt with his motorcycle it was time for the voiturette race. The 15 cars lined up 3 and 2 on the grid, some 800 m from the grandstand and the finish line. The two-stroke engine of Macher's DKW was already blowing out huge clouds of smoke. At 1:50 p.m. Adolf Hühnlein dropped the flag and the race was on its way.

9 Briem Amilcar 8 Brudes Bugatti 6 Seibel Bugatti 4 Simons Bugatti 2 Rüesch Alfa Romeo 1 Burggaller Bugatti 19 Widengren Amilcar 5 Veyron Bugatti 11 Macher DKW 16 von Delius BMW 14? Kohlrausch? Austin 20? Barnes? Austin 7 Howe Delage 18? Horton? MG 15? Goodacre? Austin (Note 1)

Burggaller took the lead and was followed by Brudes and Simons as the cars passed the grandstand on their way southwards. At the rear of the field were the streamliners of Macher and Horton and the Amilcar of Widengren, who seems to have missed the start totally.       The spectators had to wait for some six minutes before the cars became visible again as they passed the stands and turned into the Nordschleife. Burggaller was leading Veyron by some 80 meters while Howe was third some 18 seconds behind the duo. After another gap came Rüesch in his red-white Alfa. The others had already fallen a long way behind. Simons had to make a pit stop due to plug trouble, the first of what turned out to be three stops in a frustrating race for the Bugatti driver. Kohlrausch also had to stop to change plugs.       Veyron's speed was announced as 176.2 km/h. If the start section was ignored that would correspond to a lap time of 6m40s.       On the second lap Veyron passed Burggaller in the Südkurve to take the lead of the race. However, Burggaller did not give up but managed to stay close to the blue Bugatti. Earl Howe was not fast enough and fell steadily behind the two Bugattis.       On the 2nd lap Kohlrausch had to retire his Austin due to a broken fuel line. On the 3rd lap Widengren, who after his bad start had advanced across the field, had to retire as well due to a broken piston.       In the 800cc class a huge fight went on between the two remaining Austins and Horton's Midget. But Macher went faster and faster and passed both the Austins and the MG to take the lead of the 800c class on the third lap.       The leading duo was dominating the race with Veyron keeping up a 180.8 km/h medium speed but unable to get away from Burggaller, who stayed 20 to 30 meters behind him. Halfway through the race they had already lapped the rest of the field apart from Howe and Rüesch. Briem stopped his Amilcar on the 5th lap with a smoking engine. Brudes retired his Bugatti with a fuel line problem and Simons also retired.       On the 7th lap Macher, who had led the minor cars, started to struggle and had to let Horton and Barnes by. Rüesch stopped for refuelling on 9th lap without any risk of losing his fourth position.       Who the winner would be was unknown until the very end. It was claimed that Veyron's tenth lap was the fastest of the race but Burggaller must have gone just as fast as at the flag the difference between the Bugattis was just 0.4 seconds. Howe finished third. The engine of his Delage had been rebuilt and was still not giving its best and a change of carburettor had also resulted in a slight loss of power. Rüesch finished a distant fourth, lapped by the winner.       In the close duel in the 800cc class between Barnes and Horton the latter was able to take over the lead on the last lap to take the victory with Barnes just a second behind. Macher with his DKW that had emitted huge clouds of smoke throughout the race was third and best German car. The prizes to the drivers were presented by Adolf Hühnlein.

Varzi wins Europe's fastest race with the big Bugatti in a sensational end fight.

On the first day of practice one of Germany's best drivers, Otto Merz, crashed to his death. This calamity overshadowed the entire event. The 1933 Avusrennen eclipsed all previous races at this track due to the impressive and exciting battle of Count Czaykowski and Varzi in their 5-liter Bugattis. The Count led every lap except the last two after Varzi passed him on the penultimate lap. Despite Czaykowski's great effort to regain the lead, Varzi won by a fraction of a second. With a speed of 206.9 km/h, the Avus staged the fastest race in Europe, established by Varzi with the 5-liter Bugatti.

The realization of the third International ADAC Avusrennen was in doubt for some time because the Berlin Police demanded improved safety precautions for spectators, which would have been too expensive for the organizers. In discussions between the ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil Club), the local Government and Director Reiners from the Avus Administration it became possible by mid March to reduce the needed safety arrangements to a level acceptable to police and still ensure the safety of the spectators. For this year's event the Avus grandstand foundations were renewed and terrace-like standing places along the track installed to improve the vision for standing spectators. The Avus circuit on the outskirts of Berlin comprised two parallel straights joined at the Potsdam end by the slightly banked South Loop and at the Berlin end in the North by another 180-degree flat turn. This boring track permitted prolonged high speed driving. The track itself received a new surface between kilometer 4.6 and 5.6 to eliminate the uneven parts. In view of the importance of the Avusrennen, the organizers decided to deliver only personal invitations to prominent racing drivers at home and abroad. The prize money for first place was 10,000 mark, second place 6,000, third 4,000, fourth 2,000 and fifth 1,000 mark. As in the previous year, the event was split in two separate races; one for the small cars up to 1500 cc, which had to complete just 10 laps or 195.561 km and the second race for the big cars over 1500 cc, which had to do 15 laps equal to 294.426 km.

Entries: The Picardie Grand Prix was held the same day at Peronne, France. The majority of the international French drivers preferred to race at Peronne, consequently entries for the Avusrennen were reduced. Two Mercedes-Benz streamlined heavy SSKL sports cars were entered by Daimler-Benz to defend the German colors. The first one was von Brauchitsch's 1932 victorious 270 hp Mercedes-Benz SSKL with streamlined silver color Vetter body, designed and built in a hurry for last year's race by Reinhard Koenig-Fachsenfeld. Early in 1933 Daimler-Benz had bought this car back from its owner Baron von Zimmermann, who had sponsored von Brauchitsch since 1929. Daimler-Benz now contracted von Brauchitsch to drive for them in nine races. The engine of the SSKL had just been reworked at Untertürkheim to deliver 300 hp at 3300 rpm. The extremely heavy car, 1800 kg race ready, was again appearing in silver color. It showed some small improvements for 1933, such as a refined tapered tail end and a continuous smooth undertray, rear wheel fairing discs and heavier wire wheels. The Daimler-Benz factory had also produced a streamlined SSKL of their own for 1933 with slightly more rounded body panels again produced by Vetter but this car was painted in traditional white. Since Caracciola was out of the running after his Monaco crash, veteran Mercedes driver Otto Merz was assigned to race once more before retiring from racing for good. The two best German drivers, Stuck and Caracciola, would follow the race from a safe distance. Stuck, whose Porsche-designed racecar was only expected to be completed in July, would watch the race as a radio reporter and Caracciola as a convalescent from a hospital bed, listened to the radio commentary.       Three Alfa Romeo Monzas were entered by Scuderia Ferrari for Borzacchini, Nuvolari and Siena. At some races this year Nuvolari was to drive a specially manufactured Duesenberg. There was a real possibility that this car would be ready in time and that he would start with the Duesenberg at the Avus, however it was not to be. The Austrian Charly Jellen with his white-striped, brand new red Alfa and Louis Chiron arrived from Zittau in Saxony, where they had competed in the Lückendorf hill climb on May 14th. The German Rudolf Steinweg, who had bought Prince Leiningen's 2-liter Bugatti, and the Swiss Hans Stuber had also been at Lückendorf, where Stuber suffered brake defect at high speed and consequently destroyed his Bugatt against a tree. Luckily he escaped without any bodily harm but was not expected to show up at the Avus after his accident. Fagioli was entered in a Maserati, Varzi, Kaye Don, Count Czaykowski, "Williams" and Laszlo Hartmann in Bugattis. On May 5 Czaykowski had established new 1-hour and 100 km world records at the Avus, which must have been useful pre-race experience for him.

Practice: On Thursday morning, the first official practice, not many drivers had made an appearance for their initial trial runs. The Italians with their Alfa Romeos and Maseratis were still missing and Chiron was there only as spectator. From the small car field, the Austins, Bugattis, Alfa Romeo, Amilcar and Macher's streamlined DKW were present. From the large cars, the Daimler-Benz team with Merz and von Brauchitsch and the Bugatti of "Williams" were doing practice laps. The morning was cool and rainy. At noon a heavy rain shower had soaked the track. Merz and von Brauchitsch wanted to take this opportunity to test the track in the wet, slippery condition. Team manager Alfred Neubauer left for the nearby Continental tire depot to obtain advise. In the meantime the car of Merz was fitted with tires with a tread designed to provide better adhesion in the wet. In order not to increase frictional resistance unnecessarily, only two of these tires were mounted tentatively one in front and the other at the rear but on the other side. With those tires Merz was to complete a few careful trial laps on the wet course.       When von Brauchitsch and Merz left for their test lap after the rain, it was already noticeable that both cars slid and went into a skid but they both caught the cars and pulled away at rapid speed. Only two km away from the start Merz's Mercedes-Benz left the track on the straight. Exactly how it happened was not known and only one SA-trooper saw this accident, witnessed however from a greater distance, when the car suddenly overturned several times. Brauchitsch had not noticed the accident because he had driven down the straight at high speed ahead of Merz but on his way back down the return straight he must have seen the crashed car. Brauchitsch, pale and shocked, was the first to bring the news to the start line minutes after one o'clock. Seconds later, the standby ambulance and entire Mercedes team headed to the scene of the accident. By that time team manager Alfred Neubauer had returned from the Continental tire depot. Competent specialists understood that Merz was still accelerating the car at the place where he met with his fatal accident. When shifting into top gear, the limit of adhesion was exceeded, one rear wheel gripped more than the other, causing the car to go sideways. At the place where Merz' car was found, the rough concrete pavement of the Avus changed over into asphalt. Unexpectedly the clearly visible tire tracks of the car came to a sudden end and only reappeared 36 meters further where the racecar struck the ground. The car then left the track up the slope and finally shattered a kilometer-stone. The track at that part was not as smooth as the rest of the course and as a result the cars tended to leap at high speed over several small bumps, which may have contributed to Merz' difficulties. It was peculiar that no signs of braking were to be seen. The Mercedes-Benz now raced off the track to the right up a soft, high slope. Merz, who was cool-headed and physically strong, brought the car down from the slope, but when he again reached the track, the impact bounced the car up the slope again. The tire marks led once more downwards, so the car was still on its four wheels and partially under control of the driver. The car's final deathblow was a kilometer-stone at the lower part of the slope. As a result of the impact with this stone the car toppled over and then overturned several times, finally coming to rest upside down. Merz was hurled out of the car and was found lying on the race track with severe skull and spine fractures. SA-troopers rushed to the scene and carefully carried the driver to the eight meter wide median separating the two straights. He was unconscious but gave signs of life. The ambulance men speedily brought the injured driver with the car to the Charlottenburg Hildegard Hospital. But all help came too late. The doctors could only determine that he was already dead.       This grave accident overshadowed all further practice also on Friday and Saturday. Nonetheless more drivers now showed up. The Italians Nuvolari, Borzacchini and Siena were practicing in their red Alfa Romeos, Chiron was doing some remarkable laps and Count Czaykowski showed that he would be a very formidable competitor. The small cars were also eagerly practicing. The fastest lap was put up by Manfred von Brauchitsch in his streamlined 7.1-liter Mercedes-Benz SSKL at 214.8 km/h. During the practice days many spectators were in attendance and displayed great interest in the proceedings.

Race: The Avusrennen on Sunday was a major event for the people of Berlin. The mass migration to the famous race track began during the morning hours. Long before the start of the race, the grandstands were tightly packed and sold out. The starting place was crawling with semi and full officials, drivers and authorities. Along the entire track numerous groups of curious spectators shoved their way. This year's Avusrennen could lay claim to be a race with a huge crowd attendance of 120,000 registered spectators and 50,000 non-paying onlookers behind the fences. Many officials and leading personalities of the new Nazi government were present.       A clear blue sky stretched over the entire city of Berlin. The proceedings opened at 1:30 PM with a high speed demonstration by the fastest man on two wheels, Ernst Henne on the solo world record BMW. But the weather was already too hot to improve on his records set early Saturday morning. Then Major a. D. Adolf Hühnlein, leader of the NSKK, started the exciting 1500 cc car race over ten laps, which Veyron won at 181.8 km/h.       The sensational race of the small cars was a foretaste of things to come. Kaye Don and Fagioli did not appear at the start of the big car race, so the grid was reduced to 11 cars, where positions had been distributed by drawing lots. It was already in late afternoon when Adolf Hühnlein lowered the flag for the second time to release the field for the race over 15 laps. Manfred von Brauchitsch, the fastest driver during practice, was placed with his streamlined Mercedes at the end of the starting grid, a position decided by ballot.

24 Jellen Alfa Romeo 25 Steinweg Bugatti 28 Chiron Alfa Romeo 29 Hartmann Bugatti 27 Borzacchini Alfa Romeo 31 "Williams" Bugatti 32 Varzi Bugatti 26 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 33 Czaykowski Bugatti 34 Siena Alfa Romeo 21 von Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz

The air was filled with the sound of engines screaming and roaring as the 11 cars took off in a cloud of bluish oil and fuel haze. Borzacchini, Chiron and Jellen were the first ones to pull away. After a few minutes a faint thunder announced the arrival as the cars neared the starting area. The rumbling rose and rose until Count Czaykowski thundered like lightning past the grandstand in his 5-liter Bugatti, followed by Varzi's similar car, Nuvolari's long red Alfa Romeo and von Brauchitsch's unwieldy silver Mercedes already fourth. Chiron had to retire after the first lap with a broken valve.       On lap two two the order remained the same except Brauchitsch arrived last at a slow speed and had to stop for 40 seconds because his right rear tire had thrown a thread, unable to cope with the high speeds. Altogether, Brauchitsch had to stop five times, namely on laps 2, 4, 7, 10 and 13. The tires were replaced every time in great haste and the German always left with great enthusiasm, but had fallen near the end of the field. The reason why the Mercedes had lost the treads of the rear tires and had to change the right rear tire four times was attributed to the Mercedes' extreme weight of 1800 kg. But higher temperature and the possibility of a new compound and tread may also have contributed. Brauchitsch had to drive slower than last year to assure that the tires would last at least three laps. When Steinweg retired on lap two with a broken oil pipe, only nine cars were left in the race.       The lead had developed into a duel between the 5-liter Bugattis of the fast Count Czaykowski and Varzi, both outdistancing the rest of the field. The 2.6-liter Alfas of Nuvolari and Borzacchini were unable to keep up with the very fast 5-liter Bugattis and were placed constantly behind in third and fourth place. Then "Williams" and Siena were next. Count Czaykowski completed the fourth lap at an average speed of 209.71 km/h. Brauchitsch made his second tire stop and fell again to last place. After the fifth tour the Count was leading with 29m37.4s, an average speed of 199.8 km/h and was eight seconds ahead of Varzi. Nuvolari and Borzacchini followed next with "Williams" in fifth place. On lap six Brauchitsch passed Hartmann to gain eighth place without trouble, only to stop the following lap for a third tire change in 46 seconds. In the following rounds Czaykowski maintained a small lead over Varzi. They completed each lap at an ever faster pace and the average speed rose continuously. The second group of cars was led by the Alfa Romeos of Nuvolari and Borzacchini, then "Williams" and Siena. "Williams", who had driven a steady race in his Bugatti until lap eight, came crawling out of the North Turn with a heavily smoking engine before the end of that lap. Officially a broken fuel pipe ended his race, but in reality it may have been caused by an engine fire. After lap eight the leaders Czaykowski and Varzi lapped Brauchitsch and Hartmann. Nuvolari and Borzacchini in third and fourth place were leading the second group, followed by Siena.       After ten laps the Count led with 58m0.8s at an average speed of 203.3 km/h with Varzi following four seconds behind. At this stage Borzachini was just over three minutes further back (1h01m03s), followed by Nuvolari. Siena who had held fifth place until the end of lap ten retired his Alfa Romeo with a broken oil pipe. Jellen now inherited fifth position and was lapped by the two fast moving 5-liter Bugattis. Hartmann had to stop after round 10 to change tires and Brauchitsch made his fourth tire stop. On lap 12 Czaykowski set a new track record of 211.35 km/h and 213 km/h on the following lap. Brauchitsch made his fifth stop for tires on lap 13. Just before the end of lap 14, the experienced Varzi who had stayed right behind the count, caught up, passed Czaykowski and became the leader. During his attack Varzi finished lap 14 at an average speed of 219.23 km/h. In order to keep up with his feared rival, Count Czaykowski went even faster than before and set the best lap of the race on the last round at 221.72 km/h. Despite the Count's great effort, Varzi succeeded in keeping the lead, being at the finish only 1/5 of a second ahead of Czaykowski, who had driven one of the greatest races of his life. The two leading cars had already lapped all other drivers at least once. Therefore Nuvolari and Borzacchini had to carry on driving another lap to complete the 15 lap distance, which was required if a driver was to be counted. The Italians crossed the line in a dead heat in third place, Jellen finished in fifth, von Brauchitsch was sixth and the Hungarian, Hartmann, was seventh and last.

Lady victory at Péronne

In this little voiturette race with eight competitors Mme. Itier with her Bugatti T51A was in her own class. She took over the lead on the first lap from Vagniez (Maserati) and held it to the end winning by over 7 minutes. Despite an early pit stop Vagniez finished second with Desvaux (Maserati) third.

The European voiturette season started with a clash of events; the Avusrennen in Berlin and the Picardie Grand Prix at Péronne in northern France were run on the same day. Arranged by the Automobile Club Picardie-Artois the voiturette event for cars below 1500cc was run for 15 laps on the 9765 m circuit for a total of 146.5 km.       Prizes in the 1500cc class were 2000, 1000, 1000 (sic) and 500 Fr for the top four finishers.

Entries: Mme. Ann-Cécilie Itier entered her new 8-cylinder Bugatti T51A, which she had received in March (#51142, rebuilt from T35 #4827). There were four T37A entries: Alain Guilbaut, "Ge", Norbert Mahé and R. Toni. André Vagniez now raced his own Maserati Tipo 26 (in 1932 the car had been raced by Veyron). Lucien Desvaux entered another Maserati Tipo 26. Armand Girod had bought both existing 8-cylinder Salmson cars in 1932 and refitted them with Cotal epicyclic self-changing gearboxes. He entered one of the cars at Peronne.

Race: The fatal crash of Louis Trintignant during practice already put a dark cloud over the event. The voiturette race preceded the main event and started at 2 p.m.

4 Guilbaut Bugatti 2 Vagniez Maserati 8 Rose-Itier Bugatti 6 Girod Salmson 12 Desvaux Maserati 10 "Ge" Bugatti 16 Toni Bugatti 14 Mahé Bugatti

Vagniez made a good start from the front row to take the lead of the race. Next to him Guilbaut stalled his Bugatti and it took several minutes before he was able to join the event.       Passing the village Mesnil-Bruntel Itier passed Vagniez for the lead and at the end of the first lap she had already opened up a gap to Vagniez, who was followed by "Ge" and Mahé.       After the second lap Itier had already increased her lead to over 30 seconds. Vagniez made a pit stop and Mahé took over second position.       No one was able to challenge Itier and the 8-cylinder Bugatti. She made the fastest lap of the race with a time of 4m54s (119.6 km/h). Her time for the first five laps was 24m50.4s (117.9 km/h). Mahé was second followed a long distance back by "Ge", Desvaux and Girod.       Itier increased her lead for each lap even when she eased off a bit. Her time for 10 laps was 50m14.8s (116.6 km/h).       After 15 laps she took the chequered flag to win the race by a huge margin of over seven minutes. After his pit stop Vagniez was able to make his way back through the field to eventually finish second with Desvaux finishing third almost 14 minutes behind Itier.

A sad weekend for France and for Grand Prix racing.

The minor race near Péronne was overshadowed by two fatal accidents involving notable international drivers. During practice Louis Trintignant, older brother of the later well known Maurice Trintignant, crashed against a kilometre stone when swerving to avoid a gendarme on the track. During the race itself Guy Bouriat, who was fighting for the lead with Philippe Etancelin, crashed into a tree after loosing control while lapping a slower car. Etancelin in a private Alfa Romeo Monza won the ill-fated race from Raymond Sommer and Marcel Lehoux.

At the same time as the Avusrennen was held in Berlin the minor Picardie Grand Prix took place just south of the city of Péronne in northern France. That annual event was held as usual on the triangular circuit connecting the little villages of Mesnil-Bruntel, Mons-en-Chausseé and Brie, near the first world war Somme battlefields. The Automobile Club Picardie-Artois had upgraded the narrow 9765 m circuit with new, supposedly adequate barricades.       Races were to be run in three classes, 1100cc, 1500 cc (15 laps) and over 1500cc (20 laps). Except for the class prizes the overall winner would also receive a special premium of 10,000 franc.

Entries: As expected when two races take place on the same a weekend, entries for both events suffer. Not unexpectedly the majority of the French drivers preferred to race at Péronne rather than being outperformed by the Bugatti T54's on the long straights of Berlin's AVUS.       With Scuderia Ferrari and Automobiles Ettore Bugatti concentrating on the Avus race, the Picardie entries were scaled down to privateers, even though drivers like Bouriat surely had some kind of work support. Bugatti T35s and T51s dominated the entry list but there were Alfa Romeo Monzas for Etancelin, Sommer, and Equipe Villars-Waldthausen.       From the 14 Bugatti entries, Bugatti T51 drivers included Lehoux, Gaupoillat, Bouriat, Bussienne, and Brunet.       Louis-Aimé Trintignant, a vineyard owner from Chateauneuf-du-Pape, raced a Bugatti T35C (#4941) with the engine of the Bugatti T51 (#51128). Félix, "Eric Lora" and Delorme turned up with 2 litre T35C Bugattis and Raoul Miquel in a 2.3 litre T35B. Four Bugatti entries failed to appear including Guy Moll and Benoît Falchetto. (In simple words, Falchetto had no longer access to Mlle. Saquier's Bugatti after the lady had kicked him out of her bed.)

Practice: During Saturday morning practice Louis-Aimé Trintignant lost control of his Bugatti T35C at high speed when he tried to avoid a gendarme, who suddenly had stepped out on the road near the Mons-en-Chausseé curve. The car hit a kilometre stone, overturned and rolled for 50 meters. The unfortunate young driver was thrown forward and killed instantly as his throat was cut open by the glass windscreen. Trintignant's body ended up lying by the roadside where frustrated spectators covered the corpse with newspapers until it was removed.       Trintignant had been showing considerable promise especially in hill climbs. His calm and mature driving had left the impression as a "coming man" in motor racing.       With Merz' crash at the Avus this was the second fatal accident during the weekend and sadly the misfortunes did not end there.

Race: The Grand Prix cars lined up according to their starting numbers.

6 Lehoux Bugatti 4 Sommer Alfa Romeo 2 Etancelin Alfa Romeo 10 Félix Alfa Romeo 8 Gaupillat Bugatti 18 "Eric Lora" Bugatti 16 Miquel Bugatti 12 Bouriat Bugatti 26 Delorme Bugatti 20 Bussienne Bugatti 36 Brunet Bugatti 30 Waldthausen Alfa Romeo 28 Villars Alfa Romeo

When the flag dropped, the highly popular Guy Bouriat in a Bugatti T51 made an excellent start from the third row and took the lead. He was soon challenged by Etancelin, who had started with his Alfa Romeo Monza from pole position. The duel between Bouriat and Etancelin continued for the first half of the race. On lap 11 Etancelin finally managed to pass Bouriat for the lead.       On lap 16 Etancelin was still leading and had managed to open up a slight margin, to Bouriat. When they came up to lap the Swiss driver Villars in an Alfa Romeo Monza, Villars gave way and Etancelin passed without problem. What then happened is a bit unclear but probably Bouriat was keen to pass as soon as possible to rejoin the fight with Etancelin. Bouriat might have taken chances, while Villars was unaware that there had been two cars behind rather than just one and turned back into the slipstream of Etancelin. Anyway, the wheels of Villars' Alfa and Bouriat's Bugatti slightly touched with the result that the Bugatti performed a series of ever widening slides until the car went off the track and hit a tree at approximately 150 km/h. The result of the impact was horrible as the car burst into flames while Bouriat was crushed and died instantly. The fire was violent and the body of the unfortunate Bouriat was found badly charred.       The race went on with Etancelin, not realizing of what had happened, carrying on at full speed. Several minutes behind him were Sommer and Lehoux fighting for second position.       Soon afterwards Robert Brunet crashed his Bugatti T51 but escaped with a broken ankle. There were other retirements but details about the reasons could not be found; these were Gaupillat, Miquel, Felix, von Waldthausen and Delorme. Thus the field was reduced to less than half of what it was at the start.       Etancelin took the flag almost three minutes ahead of Sommer who barely won the duel for second place. Lehoux was third and the lapped Villars and Bussienne continued to finish fourth and fifth, while "Eric Lora" was flagged off in sixth position, one lap behind.       However, the results didn't matter much as competitors and spectators alike were shocked about the horrible fate of Guy Bouriat, who had been extremely popular in France.

Howe wins at Nürburgring

There were nine starters in both the 1500cc voiturette and the 800cc cycle car class, which both raced together with the Grand Prix class. The 15 lap 1500cc class race proved to be an extremely tight fight an in the end Earl Howe (Delage) took the victory with Burggaller (Bugatti) just one second behind him. In the 12 lap 800cc class only two cars made it to the chequered flag Hamilton (MG) winning over Kohlrausch (Austin) by almost 10 minutes.

The Avusrennen was followed a week later by the XI. International ADAC Eifelrennen. The race was divided into three classes. The Grand Prix cars made 15 laps (342.2 km) as did the cars of the 1500cc voiturette class, while the cars of the 800cc cycle car class did 12 laps (273.7 km).       The winner of the 1500cc class received 2,300 Mark and the winner of the 800cc class 900 Mark. Both also received the 2,550 Mark honour prize of the Nürburgring for their class victory.

Entries: The voiturette entries were similar to those of the Avusrennen one week earlier. Earl Howe entered his Grand Prix Delage and Pierre Veyron raced his blue works 8-cylinder T51A (#51151). Ernst-Günther Burggaller raced his white T51A (#51134) rebuilt from a T35 to a single seater. Joseph Zigrand from Luxembourg raced a Bugatti T37A as did German driver Willi Seibel and Czechoslovakian driver Bruno Sojka.       Heinz Krebs, dentist from Lilienthal near Bremen, entered a Mathis. (Mathis S.A. was a French automobile manufacturer in Alsace). The race program listed the engine size as 1096cc. Swiss driver Hans Rüesch again raced a red-white Alfa Romeo 6C-1500.       There were three lady drivers in the entry list but in the end only one took part in the race. Freulein Edith Frisch from Berlin made her race debut with a Bugatti.       In the 800cc cycle car class Hugh Hamilton raced a new 746cc MG J4 improved type with larger brakes and Powerplus supercharger. This was the first race appearance of the J4.       All the other drivers in the class were German. Gerhard Macher raced his streamlined DKW "Eigenbau" with a Zoller supercharger. Veteran driver Felix Seifert from Neckarsulm had changed his usual NSU for a 584cc DKW for possibly his last car race and Hans Simons also raced a DKW (749cc). Bobby Kohlrausch entered an Austin Seven Special Rubber Duck (works entry?) and Walter Bäumer an Austin Seven Monoposto. Ernst von Delius, Willi Zinn and Lützow raced BMWs.

Race: This report only deals with the 1500cc voiturettes and 800cc cycle cars. For the Grand Prix cars, see the separate report below.       Race day came with rainy weather but the rain ended just before the planned 2:00 p.m. car race. The track was drying but the sky remained overcast. According to the original plan the nine cars of the 800cc class were to start first, four minutes later the nine cars of the 1500 cc class and finally the Grand Prix cars, but in the end all cars lined up together in front of the grandstand with the Grand Prix cars in front, the 1500cc class race cars in the middle and the little cars at the rear.

24 Howe Delage 22 Burggaller Bugatti 26 Sojka Bugatti 23? Zigrand? Bugatti Rest of 1500cc grid unknown ? ? 41 Kohlrausch Austin 44 Bäumer Austin 42 Macher DKW 48 Hamilton MG Rest of 800cc grid unknown

In the voiturette class Howe took the lead followed closely by Burggaller while Veyron did his best to keep up with the duo. Ziegrand stopped at his pit after the 2nd lap. He stopped again the following lap with a damaged gearbox and decided to carry on but retired after eight laps. After five laps Howe was leading Burggaller by 52 seconds and Veyron by 1m14 seconds. After 10 laps the gap between Howe and Burggaller was 41 seconds while Veyron had dropped 2m23 seconds behind the leader.       After 12 laps Veyron had to make a refuelling stop and dropped further back. Burggaller however closed in on Howe during the last laps by eight seconds a lap but Howe, who was suffering from a sticking clutch and failing fuel pressure, managed to keep on to his lead to win the race by just one second over Burggaller. Unsure if the race was over the duo made one more lap with Burggaller ahead of Howe. Veyron finished third, Sojka fourth and Seibel fifth. Howe said afterwards that he thought it had been the hardest race of his career. In the cycle car class Hamilton with his MG dominated a rather boring race. The DKWs of Macher and Simons, who were expected to challenge him, were early retirements. In the end there were just two drivers who made the full distance, Hamilton winning over Kohlrausch by almost 10 minutes.

Nuvolari wins unrivaled at the Nürburgring.

The international Eifelrennen was the only major race at the Nürburgring in 1933 but the organization and meaning of the event held now on the North Loop portrayed that of an earlier German Grand Prix. Initially Chiron held the lead until his car gave trouble. Then Nuvolari took over from lap two onwards, never to relinquish the lead. Brauchitsch drove a magnificent steady race without a stop and finished second with the heavy Mercedes-Benz. Chiron, who had to pit four times, wound up fourth behind Taruffi who was new to the difficult Nürburgring. Concurrently with the 13 grand prix cars battled nine racecars of the voiturette class and a bunch of nine cycle cars. Each class was started at short interval after the preceding group.

The XI. International ADAC Eifelrennen followed seven days after the Avusrennen. Since the German Grand Prix had been moved to the Avus, the Eifelrennen would be the only major event of the year to be staged at the Nürburgring. The race for cars at the 22.810 km North Loop was divided into three classes. Cars up to 800 cc had to cover 12 laps or 273.72 km and those over 800 cc had to do 15 laps or 342.15 km. The winner of the 800 cc racing cars received 900 mark and the honor prize of the Nürburgring of 2,550 mark, awarded to each class winner. In the class over 800 cc the winner received 2,300 mark plus the honor prize of the Nürburgring. The winner of the large car class over 1500 cc received 3,500 mark and the honor prize of the Nürburgring, the second received 2,300, third 1,400 and fourth 1,000 mark.

Entries: Most drivers who had participated at the Avus headed for revenge to the Eifel Mountains on the following weekend. Since the large Bugattis were unsuitable for the Nürburgring, they wisely stayed away. Borzacchini raced at the Targa Florio, so no serious competition was left for Tazio Nuvolari. Eugenio Siena and new man Piero Taruffi, who was impressed by the countless corners of the Nürburgring, were additional Scuderia Ferrari drivers. Louis Chiron arrived from the Avusrennen with his repaired 2.3-liter Alfa Romeo Monza. Daimler-Benz entered a large Mercedes-Benz SSKL for Manfred von Brauchitsch but not the streamlined version raced at the Avus. Herbert Wimmer was to start in the 2.3-liter Bugatti T35B 4948, which he had bought at the end of 1932 from Paul Pietsch. Pietsch sold it because he had changed over to an Alfa Romeo Monza, which he also entered for the Eifelrennen. Pietsch had teamed up with Charly Jellen in another Alfa Romeo Monza, painted in red with white stripes along the body sides, while Pietsch's Alfa was white with red stripes. Rudolf Steinweg came with his old 2-liter Bugatti and the Swiss Equipe Villars-Waldthausen entered Julio Villars and Baron Horst von Waldthausen, both in Alfa Romeo Monzas. Another driver from the Avusrennen was the Hungarian László Hartmann who was to appear in a Bugatti T35B. Officine A. Maserati had entered an 8CM for Luigi Fagioli and George E. T. Eyston an Alfa Romeo Monza. Norbert Sinner from Luxembourg arrived with a 2.3-liter twin-cam Bugatti and a late Bugatti entry was accepted by Spanish driver Jean-Marie de Texidor, living in Belgium.

Practice: On Thursday, the first day of practice, it was rather quiet at the Nürburgring because of heavy rains. Most drivers then appeared on Friday and the circuit was busy by midday. Nuvolari, Siena, Taruffi and Chiron put up fast times in the Alfa Romeos as did von Brauchitsch with the huge Mercedes-Benz. AUTOMOBIL-REVUE stated that the Swiss Villars and Baron von Waldthausen also drove some fast laps. Practice was completed without any incidents and Nuvolari was generally seen to have the best chance of victory. Hugo Boecker submitted the Luxembourg Escher Tageblatt stating that Norbert Sinner from Luxembourg did not start because his engine broke during practice.

Race: Since the early morning hours on Sunday countless motorists and pedestrians headed for the Nürburgring in expectation of the various battles; 100,000 spectators had come to watch. While it had rained for the most part during the 10:00 AM motorcycle races, it ended just before the cars assembled for the planned 2:00 PM start. The track was drying but the sky remained overcast all day. According to the original plan the nine cars of the class up to 800 cc were to start first for 12 laps around the North Loop. Four minutes later the nine cars of the 1500 cc class were to follow for 15 laps and finally the 13 big cars. But this was all changed at the time of the race, when all cars lined up together in front of the grandstand with the 13 grand prix cars in front. Behind them stood the 1500 cc class race cars and the little cars at the end.

1 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 2 Chiron Alfa Romeo 4 v.Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 5 Siena Alfa Romeo 6 Taruffi Alfa Romeo 7 Hartmann Bugatti 8 Steinweg Bugatti 9 Villars Alfa Romeo 10 v.Waldthausen Alfa Romeo 12 Jellen Alfa Romeo 14 Pietsch Alfa Romeo 15 Wimmer Bugatti ? Texidor Bugatti

Three cars had failed to show up, those of Fagioli, Sinner and Eyston. The start was delayed due to a brief memorial service held in memory of Albert Schlageter, an early Nazi member and Party hero, who was court-martialed by the French ten years earlier and executed on May 26, 1923. Then Ministerpräsident Hermann Göring arrived with other Nazi luminaries, protected by SS and SA troupes present. The field of 13 grand prix cars was finally released at 2:30 PM on a drying circuit. Taruffi had the best start, shadowed by Chiron, then Brauchitsch, Nuvolari and Siena. Chiron arrived in the lead at the end of lap one, which he finished in 12m36s, an average speed of 108.5 km/h. Nuvolari followed closely in second place and after a while came von Brauchitsch, Taruffi, Jellen and Pietsch.       Nuvolari attacked the Frenchman constantly and finally found a way past on lap two. He then continued to extend his lead over Chiron, who was followed by von Brauchitsch in third place.       On lap five Chiron headed for the pits and lost second place. Thereafter he had to make three further stops because his tank had sprung a leak and was unable to regain his earlier position. Chiron stopped again at his pit on lap eight, when the steady driving von Brauchitsch in the huge Mercedes held second place. The German did not have to change tires during the race and stayed ahead of Taruffi, Chiron, Pietsch and Jellen.       Steinweg had to retire his Bugatti early on with defective valves and Villars parked his Alfa after encountering engine problems. Wimmer ended with his Bugatti in a roadside ditch. Since Nuvolari had the fastest car, he had no problem distancing himself from the rest. Taruffi was learning the Nürburgring, it was his first time there. Chiron's Monza was similar to Nuvolari's but since he had only a 2.3-liter engine, his car was slower and could not keep up with Nuvolari's pace.       Nuvolari completed lap after lap in his steady fast pace, his lead increasing continuously, even though his first place was never in danger. Brauchitsch was second, followed by Chiron who had to stop on lap 12 for the third time with a leaking tank and fell back to fourth place behind Taruffi. Two laps later Chiron had to stop once more. Nuvolari finished with an average speed of 113.4 km/h, far ahead of von Brauchitsch in second place, Taruffi third, the unlucky Chiron fourth and Hartmann fifth. The Hungarian erroneously drove one additional lap and on this 16th lap he crashed at the South Loop but did not injure himself. Pietsch and Siena, who were one lap behind Nuvolari, carried on driving to complete the full distance of 15 laps. The fate of the remaining six drivers could not be fully verified, because the reports hardly mentioned them. It cannot be ascertained at which stage drivers retired or if others were still cruising way behind the seven finishers to be flagged off. However, 'Der Nürburgring' magazine reported that the German Steinweg was driving in a wild senseless zigzag along the circuit. He barely reached his pit and as he climbed out of his car he collapsed unconsciously. The fuel line had sprung a leak and the gases rushed towards the driver. Because of the rain Steinweg had his face covered with a plastic shield under which the gases got stuck and slowly anaesthetized the unknowing driver.

Just Alfa Romeos.

30 May 1933: Louis Meyer (Tydol Special Miller) wins the Indianapolis 500.