Brauchitsch wins the Eifelrennen with Mercedes-Benz

The international Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring North Loop was of great significance in Germany because for the first time the new German racecars from Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union could be seen racing each other. After the motorcycle races in the morning, 44 cars, divided into three classes, started in the afternoon. The new Mercedes-Benz of von Brauchitsch and Fagioli were leading Stuck (Auto Union) and Chiron (Alfa Romeo). After Fagioli dropped out on the last lap, the Mercedes of Brauchitsch won ahead of Stuck and Chiron, followed by the independent Alfa Romeos of Pietsch, Penn-Hughes and Maag ahead of Hartmann and Gaupillat in Bugattis. Meanwhile 11 cars had retired and one had crashed, killing its driver Emil Frankl. Of the 16 starters in the 1500cc class, eight finished and from the eight 800cc class starters, Brudes (MG) was the only one to finish.

The VII International ADAC Eifelrennen followed seven days after the Avusrennen. The newly formed DDAC (Der Deutsche Automobil Club), which had taken over the ADAC, organized this event and scheduled it for June 3, the same day as the Montreux Grand Prix in Switzerland. After the motorcycle races in the morning, the afternoon race for cars on the 22.810 km North Loop was divided into three classes. The small 800cc cars and those up to 1500 cc had to cover 12 laps or 273.72 km and those over 1500 cc had to do 15 laps or 342.15 km. The Nürburgring was again extensively improved. Several places which had become danger points with the ever-growing speeds, had been vastly modified. The construction work was still ongoing the week before the race when tests took place by Mercedes, but repairs were completed in time for official practice.       The large class was endowed with 15,500 Mark in prize money. The winner received 5,000 Mark, second place 4,000, third 3,000, fourth 2,000, fifth 1,000 and sixth 500 Mark. The 1500cc class was endowed with 5,750 Mark in prize money. The winner received 2,500 Mark, second 1,500, third 1,000, fourth 500 and fifth 250 Mark. The 800cc racing class was endowed with 2,200 Mark, the winner received 1,000 Mark, second 600, third 300, fourth 200 and fifth 100 Mark.       The new German ONS (Oberste Nationale Sportbehörde) of the "Third Reich" had introduced for 1934 the first German Racecar Championship. The Avusrennen, Eifelrennen and German Grand Prix were the events counting towards it and only German drivers were eligible. Separate championships were not planned for individual classes, therefore it was limited to the large cars. A separate German Mountain Championship was also introduced for the Kesselberg, Freiburg and Feldberg climbs.

Entries: Most drivers who had participated at the Avus headed for revenge to the Eifel Mountains on the following weekend. Auto Union entered three cars for Stuck, zu Leiningen and Momberger. This new car was officially called the "P-Wagen" after Professor Ferdinand Porsche but is listed in this report as type "A". The team was still extremely secretive and released no information about their cars. Neither did Daimler-Benz who also entered three cars, which were again named by the press as Mercedes-Benz 750 kg, but are listed in this report as type W25. The drivers were von Brauchitsch, Fagioli and Caracciola. AAZ stated that Caracciola was there but he did not practice. Günther Molter wrote that Caracciola decided not to race at the Eifelrennen much to the disappointment of team manager Alfred Neubauer. The Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union racecars were silver as they were described by the press as unpainted silver metallic at the Avus the week before.       Two Alfa Romeo Type B/P3, the regular 2.9-liter models, were entered for Chiron and Tadini by Scuderia Ferrari, which was the racing arm of Alfa Romeo. The team had to split forces, with the other Scuderia drivers, Moll, Varzi and Trossi, racing at Montreux in Switzerland on the same weekend. There were five other Alfa Romeos, all independent entries including Paul Pietsch who had his 2.3-Liter Monza's capacity raised to 2.6-liters by Kolben-Krämer in Cologne for 1934. He had already raced it at minor events before the Avusrennen.       Bugatti made no official entry since they were still busy modifying their cars for the French Grand Prix. But there were five independent Bugatti entries including Rudolf Steinweg with his modified single seat white 2-liter supercharged T35C, a former Kappler car from 1927, which had next been driven by von Morgen, then Prinz zu Leiningen and finally Steinweg. By changing the chassis, the car was reduced to a width of 53 cm and the weight was reduced by about 100 kg to approximately 640 kg. Another great advantage of this was moving the center of gravity to the center of the car.       Nuvolari decided to race again, although he had not yet recovered from his accident in Alessandria five weeks earlier with a double fracture of his left leg which was not yet fully healed. He practiced and raced with his broken left leg in plaster and had the pedals of his Maserati altered so that he could reach them all with his right leg. Siena was one of the independents with an old 8C-3000 Maserati. Rüesch appeared with a normal 8CM Maserati. A complete list of entries is at the beginning of this report.

Practice: In April, about seven weeks before official practice, Mercedes tested their cars at the Nürburgring. Ernst Henne drove the Mercedes racecar for the first time and completed several laps on the small concrete loop around the start and finish area. There he misjudged the steep motorcycle curve and spun the car around. One hour later he joined von Brauchitsch and Fagioli, who had already practiced on the North Loop. After his third lap, Henne saw two red flags which marked a road repair section at Bergwerk, but he saw them too late and pulled his car aside at the last moment. The car left the track at a speed of 160 km/h and crashed down a 15 meters incline. The damage to the car was minimal but Henne was thrown from the car and landed with his head in a small stream. An old woman working nearby in a field saw the crash and pulled the unconscious driver out of the water. He was transported to hospital where he remained unconscious for several hours. Henne only suffered facial injuries and a sprained right foot, but this put an end to Mercedes' unofficial practice.       On Wednesday afternoon at unofficial practice Louis Chiron did some laps in a sports car and later took his race car around the circuit. Also active were Brauchitsch, Hartmann, Widengren, Pietsch and Helle Nice.       Thursday was the first day of practice. With nice sunshine it began at 9:30 AM with practice for motorcycles. At 2:00 PM the cars took to the track for practice. Brauchitsch made his fastest time in 12m15s and Fagioli managed a similar time. The new Mercedes cars were very loud and could be heard from a long distance with an even more amazing wail than the older 7-Liter SSK models ever had. Kölnische Zeitung and Stuttgarter neues Tagblatt reported that Caracciola arrived in his red sports convertible, climbed into a training car, and completed three laps evenly but did not start. Ernst Henne also drove some laps with the practice car but was still suffering from his earlier crash injuries.       Friday practice was troubled by rain when Chiron did the best lap in the rain, as was reported in Stuttgarter neues Tagblatt. The P-Wagen from Auto Union and the small Zoller cars did not appear on Thursday. Nuvolari, Chiron, Widengren, Penn-Hughes, Tadini, Pietsch and Madames Helle Nice and Itier were all practicing. Amongst the small cars were the Bäumer brothers, the French Durant and Sojka from Czechoslovakia.       Fagioli drove a few laps under 12 minutes in Saturday's practice, while Stuck took about 12m30s.

Race: Since the early morning hours on Sunday countless motorists and pedestrians headed for the Nürburgring in expectation of the various battles. Over 200,000 spectators had come to watch. While there was dense fog, rain showers and hail for the better part of the morning's motorcycle races, it eventually cleared up. However, the 1:30 PM start was delayed for 1½ hours. The 44 cars were released from the paddock at 2:25 PM to head up to the track. They lined up with the large cars over 1500 cc in front with Widengren having drawn the best starting position on the front row of the grid. Brauchitsch and Fagioli exchanged starting places, allowing the German to move to the first row with the Italian relegated to the last row. The 16 cars of the 1500cc class were placed behind them and the 8 cars of the 800cc class were last.

5 Hellé-Nice Alfa Romeo 20 Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 4 Widengren Alfa Romeo 15 Gaupillat Bugatti 11 Rüesch Maserati 17 Penn-Huges Alfa Romeo 18 Stolze Bugatti 14 L Hartmann Bugatti 19 Frankl Bugatti 6 Chiron Alfa Romeo 16 Maag Alfa Romeo 9 Siena Maserati 12 Steinweg Bugatti 8 Pietsch Alfa Romeo 1 Stuck Auto-Union 24 Nuvolari Maserati 7 Tadini Alfa Romeo 2 Leiningen Auto-Union 22 Fagioli Mercedes-Benz 3 Momberger Auto-Union

Eventually the last seconds were counted down and Adolf Hühnlein, the head of German Motorsport for the NAZI Government, lowered the flag at exactly 3:00 PM to release the field of 20 cars when the sun was shining for the first time. After an interval of one minute the 1500 cars were started and after another minute's delay the 800cc class was released, a total of 44 cars. Such a large field had never before been seen at the Nürburgring. This report follows only the 20 cars of the large class over 1500cc.       The Mercedes of Brauchitsch accelerated forward and led the incredibly loud pack as Fagioli in the other Mercedes zigzagged through the slower cars from row eight passing all of them. At the South turn entrance the two Mercedes were unchallenged in the lead ahead of Stuck's P-Wagen followed by the other 17 cars which were still close together, in pairs of two and three, next to each other. Then about 300 meters after the start, near the South Turn, the blue Bugatti of the Austrian Frankl swerved onto the grass and into the ditch of the median separating the two straights. The car overturned and flew in a high arc, landing crossways on the return straight. The injured driver was lying on the track. The wheels broke off and rolled to the sides but the car was posing a great danger as it was blocking the track to the fast pack soon to be arriving from the South turn. Track personal quickly moved the unconscious Frankl from the track, but only a narrow passage was left open. Fagioli, who had passed 18 cars, was warned by means of a yellow flag, as he roared past, closely followed by Brauchitsch and then Stuck, before the drivers of the remaining field sped past. They had trouble driving around the wrecked car laying in the middle of the track. Finally, the wrecked Bugatti was pushed into the median ditch. The emergency car arrived to transport the unconscious Frankl with serious head injuries to Adenau Hospital where he died. His brother, Oskar, who started in the small class, immediately after the accident withdrew from the race. In all this immense excitement, the impression of the next two classes starting at one-minute intervals had been lost but one realized that another 24 cars had started.       After the first lap Fagioli was leading Brauchitsch by 2 seconds, and was signaled by his pit to ease up in order to let von Brauchitsch take the lead. Stuck's Auto Union followed 14 seconds later and 12 seconds behind him came Chiron's red Alfa Romeo. Then there was a larger gap to the remaining field which was widely separated and was led by Tadini and Penn-Hughes, then Leiningen's Auto Union, Pietsch, Rüesch and Maag. Widengren stopped at the pits and retired with a defective carburetor. Momberger stopped on the circuit on the first lap after only three kilometers with a broken fuel pump.       At the end of the second lap Brauchitsch led Fagioli and Stuck while Chiron was over one minute behind the leader. The second Auto Union of Leiningen had passed Penn-Hughes for fifth place, Nuvolari was now sixth ahead of Tadini, Penn-Hughes and Pietsch.       After the third lap Brauchitsch was still leading and had made the fastest lap of the race in 10m55.4s at 125.3 km/h. Fagioli, Stuck and Chiron followed next.       On lap four, Leiningen in fifth place in the second Auto Union stopped at the pits because his reserve fuel tank had sprung a leak. He was sent out again without rectifying the leak.       On the fifth lap there was no change in the order of the first four cars. Pietsch in his white Alfa Romeo was fifth after he had passed Leiningen, Penn-Hughes, Nuvolari and Tadini. Nuvolari stopped at the pits, climbed out and pointed to his seat which was broken. With one leg in plaster he limped away on crutches. They worked on the car but Nuvolari lost an entire lap.       When Brauchitsch started his sixth lap, Fagioli followed with a larger gap to Stuck. Chiron was now over three minutes behind the leader. Leiningen stopped at the pits again and the mechanics worked on the car, but before he rejoined the race Brauchitsch lapped him.       On the seventh lap Nuvolari stopped at the pits again. Completely exhausted he retired and received great applause from the crowd. He was one lap down and had completed only 5 laps.       On the eighth lap the order of the first seven was Brauchitsch, Fagioli, Stuck, Chiron, Pietsch, Penn-Hughes, Tadini. Neubauer signaled his drivers to come in for refueling and a change of tires on the following lap.       When the two Mercedes stopped on lap nine, Stuck inherited the lead. Brauchitsch stopped for less than a minute, but when Fagioli came in there was lots of shouting and gesticulations. The Italian was faster than his German teammate and strongly objected to being held back. However, Fagioli evidently submitted and rejoined the race, albeit still discontented.       On the tenth lap Stuck stopped to refuel and change tires which took almost 1½ minutes because two spark plugs were also changed. Chiron did not stop to refuel or change tires.       On lap 11 the order remained the same Brauchitsch, Fagioli, Stuck, Chiron on the same lap with everyone else one lap or more down led by Pietsch in fifth place. Leiningen drove slowly into his pit and retired. He had been lapped and completed only nine laps.       The 12th and 13th lap saw no changes in the order of the first five cars. When Brauchitsch crossed the finish line on lap 14, the tone of his supercharger had become very shrill, no longer as crisp as at the beginning. Fagioli arrived and stopped at his pits and shouted something because his accelerator was sticking. The problem was repaired in a short time before he was sent away. Motor Sport described this stop on lap 14 differently: "The order [v. Brauchitsch - Fagioli] remained unchanged until Fagioli stopped at his pit for another heated discussion about passing von Brauchitsch. He set off once more...".       At the beginning of lap 15, the order was Brauchitsch, followed by Stuck as they passed the pits into the last lap with Fagioli chasing after the Auto Union. Four minutes later Chiron went into the last lap. Pietsch was in fifth place. There were still eight drivers in the field. Three kilometers ahead of the finish the order of Brauchitsch, Fagioli, Stuck was reported through the loudspeakers.       At the end of lap 15, Brauchitsch crossed the finish line first ahead of Stuck and both received gigantic applause from the huge crowd. Fagioli did not finish, he stopped on the straight a short distance ahead of the finish, parked the car on the side and walked away in defiance. Motor Sport again: ...but on the following lap he pulled up on a straight stretch, left his car at the side of the road, and walked off!". Officially however, Fagioli retired with a broken fuel line. Chiron finished third without refueling or tire changes. One lap down Pietsch followed in fourth place, ahead of Penn-Hughes and Maag, while Hartmann and Gaupillat were even further behind. The crowd was happy to see the German flag hoisted up the flag pole.

Count Castelbarco wins the Eifelrennen Voiturettes race

The international Eifelrennen for voiturettes on the Nürburgring North Loop had 16 starters in the 1500cc class and 8 starters in the 800cc class racing simultaneously. Delius in the two-Stroke Zoller led the first lap of the 12-lap race. Count Castelbarco (Maserati) then took the lead ahead of Burggaller (Bugatti). When the latter stopped to change plugs, the Bugattis of Schmidt and Simons passed him. At the finish it was Castelbarco leading the Bugattis of Schmidt, Burggaller, Simons, Sojka, Seibel, Rose-Itier, then Stösser (BMW), Durand (Bugatti) and Vagniez (Maserati). Brudes (MG) was the only finisher in the 800cc class.

The VII. International ADAC Eifelrennen followed a week after the Avusrennen. The newly formed DDAC (Der Deutsche Automobil Club), which had taken over the ADAC, organized this event and scheduled it for June 3, the same day as the Montreux Grand Prix in Switzerland. The cars up to 1500cc and 800cc had to complete 12 laps or 273.72 km of the 22.810 km Nürburgring North Loop. Several places which had become danger points with the ever-growing speeds, had been extensively improved.       The 1500cc class was endowed with 5,750 in prize money. The winner received 2,500 Mark, second 1,500, third 1,000, fourth 500 and fifth 250 Mark. The 800cc racing class was endowed with 2,200 Mark, the winner received 1,000 Mark, second 600, third 300, fourth 200 and fifth 100 Mark.

Entries: Most drivers who had participated at the Avus headed for revenge to the Eifel Mountains on the following weekend. Three of the German 1449 cc Zoller double piston supercharged two-stroke cars were entered for Macher, Delius and Wimmer. It was a new design which had made its first public appearance the week before, where the cars retired after they overheated at Avus. The supercharged BMW of Eugen Stösser was another German car. The 1100cc Rocca was built in Bologna by the modest craftsman Amadeo Rocca. One car had a Fiat 508 engine, while the other had a 1100cc Maserati engine and looked similar to the Maseratis. A complete list of entries is at the beginning of this report.

Practice: Thursday's practice took place from 2:00 to 6:00 PM. Every car had to complete ten practice laps. The Bäumer brothers, the French driver Durant and Sojka from Czechoslovakia were active. There were no further reports in the press. Scrutineering took place on Saturday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Race: Since the early morning hours on Sunday countless motorists and pedestrians headed for the Nürburgring in expectation of the various battles. Over 200,000 spectators had come to watch. There was dense fog, rain showers and hail during the morning motorcycle races, but it eventually cleared up. However, the 1:30 PM start was delayed for 1½ hours. At 2:25 PM the 44 cars were released from the paddock to head up to the track. Such a large field had never before been seen at the Nürburgring. The 20 large cars over 1500 cc lined up in front. The 16 cars of the 1500cc class were placed behind them and the 8 cars of the 800cc class were last. In the following grid some of the 1500cc cars are shown when known. Oscar Frankl withdrew his start when he learned that his brother had crashed in the large class one minute earlier. The 800cc line up is unknown.

40 von Delius Zoller 42 Stößer B.M.W. 46 Vagniez Maserati XXX xxx 34 Castelbarco Maserati 33 Simons? Bugatti 49 Seibel? Bugatti 44 Sandri Rocca XXX xxx 41 Wimmer Zoller 47 Itier? Bugatti XXX Bugatti 45 Sojka Bugatti XXX xxx XXX xxx XXX xxx

Adolf Hühnlein, the leader of German Motorsport for the NAZI Government, lowered the flag at exactly 3:00 PM to release the field of 20 large cars when the sun was shining for the first time. After an interval of one minute the 1500 cars were started and after another minute's delay the 800cc class was released. The report follows only the cars of the 1500cc and 800cc class.       After the first lap Delius in the two-stroke supercharged 12-cylinder Zoller was leading Burggaller's 8-cylinder supercharged Bugatti by 14 seconds at an average speed of 104.06 km/h. In the smallest class Kohlrausch was leading with his streamlined Magic Midget MG followed by Stösser in his self-built supercharged white BMW but further behind.       On the second lap Count Castelbarco had taken the lead, nine seconds ahead of Burggaller as the Zoller of Delius dropped back and stopped at the pits to add coolant. Kohlrausch was still leading the little class with the Magic Midget. Fork in the MG retired after the first lap.       After three laps some of the voiturette cars were already being lapped by the fast Mercedes-Benz of von Brauchitsch in the large class. Sandri in the Rocca-Maserati retired on lap four.       On lap seven Burggaller stopped at the pits to change spark plugs which dropped him to fifth place. Delius in the Zoller retired with a broken fuel line. Some of the small cars had already retired but Kohlrausch was still in the lead ahead of Walter Bäumer's Austin and Brudes' MG.       On the tenth lap Burggaller had advanced to third position after making up places following his pit stop. Kohlrausch was still leading the small class at 102.5 km/h average speed but he retired on lap 11, though his seat in the car evidently was much improved after the problems experienced at the Avus.       On lap 12 Count Castelbarco in his red Maserati finished ahead of the Czechoslovakian Schmidt and the German Burggaller in their Bugattis. Brudes, who was the mechanic of Kohlrausch, did not want to damage the MG, which was on loan and drove at a moderate pace. His caution paid off since he was the only finisher from 8 cars in the small class at 96.5 km/h average speed. On the second flag pole the Italian flag was hoisted in honor of the winner Count Castelbarco.

Street circuit specialist Trossi takes up the chase

Etancelin led 88 of the 90 laps of the race. The independent Maserati driver dominated the first part of the race while Scuderia Ferrari drivers Varzi and Trossi were biding their time behind Straight (Maserati). The third Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo of Moll had to make an early pit stop that destroyed any chances of a good result. Once past Straight, Varzi and Trossi closed in on Etancelin, who started to suffer from brake trouble. Varzi had to make a pit stop losing a lap and dropped to third but Trossi caught Etancelin near the end of the race and passed him to win the race by 7 seconds.

The Montreux "round the houses" street race was a new addition to the GP calendar. The race was run to the new international 750 kg formula. Organized by the Sektion Waadt (Canton of Vaud) of the ACS together with the Montreux traffic club 100,000 Swiss francs was invested in the project. 885 persons assisted in organizing the race and 22,000 bags of sand were used to build protecting walls for the spectators.       The race start was at the market place with the pits on one side and the grand stand and time takers' box opposite. Following Grand' Rue with its tramline tracks westwards the twisty and narrow track made a left 90 degrees curve at the Palace-Hotel followed immediately by a 90 degrees right hand curve to the right that led to the quay. Following the quay the straight ended with the Mirabeau hairpin curve that lead back towards the town centre. Here again tram lines created a hazard. The S-curve at the New Apostolic Church was considered the hardest place of the circuit. The Avenue des Alpes was a fairy straight section that passed the railway station. A left hand curve followed by a series of right hand curves led the circuit back downhill to the start. The race distance was 90 laps on the 3.320 km long circuit for a total distance of 298.8 km.       Prizes were: 15,000, 9,000, 5,000 and 3,000 Swiss francs for the top four positions, 2000 Swiss francs for the fastest lap and 200 Swiss francs for the leader of every 10th lap.

Entries: Unfortunately the event was run the same weekend as the Eifelrennen. Ferrari entered three Tipo B/P3s for Achille Varzi, Guy Moll and Count Trossi while they sent Chiron and Tadini to Eifelrennen. All three cars were of the new 1934 type. Varzi's car had a one part side panel different from the other two cars on which the panel was in two parts (as can be seen on the car picture above). Unusually for Scuderia Ferrari in that era the cars had the name of the driver written in white letters on the side. The Maserati works team sent an off-site 2.5 litre car (#2012) that had been used by Taruffi at Monaco for Goffredo Zehender. Whitney Straight entered two white-blue Maserati 8CMs for himself and for Hugh Hamilton (#3016 & #3012). Straight's car was of the wide type, rebuilt with a triangular radiator, while Hamilton's car had a narrow chassis and aluminium wings level with the driver's seat to make his car to comply with the 1934 Grand Prix minimum width rule. Philippe Etancelin raced his own light blue Maserati 8CM (#3010) also of the narrow chassis type with side panels. Falchetto raced his Maserati (#3015 - known as "No2") bought to him on 11 May by Nelly Braillard as part of the Ecurie Braillard team. The team also entered a Bugatti T51 for Nelly's brother Louis Braillard. Those two cars were painted in the Swiss national colours of red with a white bonnet and Falchetto's car featured Ecuire Braillard's bird logo on the side. Raymond Sommer's Alfa Romeo Monza was as well entered by Ecurie Braillard but Sommer kept his light blue colour on the car. Luigi Soffietti raced a red Monza which Luigi Chinetti initially had planned to race. Pierre Veyron raced a Bugatti T51 (#51156), light blue with white race numbers.

Practice: There were three practice sessions, Thursday 8-9 a.m., Friday 2-3 p.m. and Saturday 8-9 a.m. The Thursday session was spoiled by rain but four drivers took part with Etancelin setting the fastest time. Soffietti did only 6 laps due to spark plug trouble. Etancelin (Maserati) 2m09.6s 13 laps Straight (Maserati) 2m13.2s 14 laps Veyron (Bugatti) 2m16.2s 10 laps Soffietti (Alfa Romeo) 2m29.0s 6 laps The second practice session was run in sunny weather. Apart from Hamilton crashing at the Palace curves without damaging his Maserati the session was free of any incidents. Soffietti and Zehender were the most diligent drivers both doing over 20 laps. Lap times differ a bit between the sources but the following should be fairly correct: Moll 1m57s, Etancelin 1m58s, Trossi, Straight and Hamilton 1m59s, Soffietti 2m02s, Varzi 2m03s, Zehender and Veyron 2m05s and Sommer 2m09s?       During the night between Friday and Saturday a heavy thunderstorm hit the Lake Geneva and the circuit was only half dry when the final session began. Etancelin dominated the session to take pole position. The session was incident free even if Varzi had an exciting moment after hitting the right curb as he passed the grandstand. Etancelin (Maserati) 1m54s 11 laps Straight (Maserati) 1m57s 9 laps Falchetto (Maserati) 1m58s 14 laps Hamilton (Maserati) 1m59s 12 laps Soffietti (Alfa Romeo) 2m00s? 20 laps Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 2m00s 9 laps Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 2m02s 8 laps Moll (Alfa Romeo) 2m03s 7 laps Braillard (Bugatti) 2m04s 5 laps Veyron (Bugatti) 2m05s 8 laps Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 2m07s 17 laps

Race: There was thunder and lightning again the night before the race and on Sunday morning a heavy storm hit the city with strong winds and rain that even turned to hail. The race was in doubt and only by noon the bad weather was replaced by bright sunshine and the spectators rushed to the stands.       Not only every stand but also every window and balcony of downtown Montreux was filled with spectators. The cars were lined up on the grid 2 and 2 according to their practice times.

10 Straight Maserati 1m57s 16 Etancelin Maserati 1m54s 20 Falchetto Masersti 1m58s 2 Moll Alfa Romeo 1m57s 6 Trossi Alfa Romeo 1m59s 12 Hamilton Maserati 1m59s 4 Varzi Alfa Romeo 2m00s 24 Soffietti Alfa Romeo 2m:00s 22 Sommer Alfa Romeo - 14 Veyron Bugatti - 8 Zehender Maserati - 18 Braillard Bugatti -

When the Dr. Edwin Mende, president of the ACS, dropped the flag at 2 p.m. Etancelin took the lead followed by Straight, Moll, Falchetto, Trossi, Hamilton, Varzi, Soffietti, Zehender, Veyron, Sommer, and Braillard.       It proved to be quite hard to pass on the narrow and twisty circuit but after a few laps Zehender found a way past Soffietti for 8th position. Etancelin started to pull away from the rest of the field. After five laps he was leading Straight by 6 seconds. Varzi also advanced passing first Hamilton and then his teammate Trossi for fourth position. Falchetto had to make a pit stop due to brake trouble and dropped to last. Moll managed to get past Straight advancing to second place. After 10 laps the race order was: 1. Etancelin (Maserati) 19m56s 2. Moll (Alfa Romeo) 20m08s 3. Straight (Maserati) 20m15s 4. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 20m25s 5. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 20m37s 6. Hamilton (Maserati) 7. Zehender (Maserati) 8. Soffietti (Alfa Romeo) 9. Veyron (Bugatti) 10. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 11. Braillard (Bugatti) 12. Falchetto (Maserati) Moll did not stay in second position for many laps as the Alfa Romeo started to suffer from oil feed problems. On the 11th lap Straight repassed him and then Moll had to do a lengthy pitstop to try to solve the problem, dropping last and spoiling any chances for a good position in the race.       The first retirement was Braillard, who retired his Bugatti after 15 laps because of mechanical trouble. Etancelin was by then leading by 35 seconds. Falchetto's brake trouble continued and he made a pit stop on lap 19 for adjustments.       After 20 laps Etancelin, who had done consistent laps around 1m58s, had opened up a gap of 41 seconds to Straight, who was doing laps around 2 minutes flat. Neither Varzi nor Trossi seemed to have been keen to challenge Straight at that time but rather preferred to follow behind him matching his pace.       The race situation after 20 laps: 1. Etancelin (Maserati) 39m36s 2. Straight (Maserati) 40m17s 3. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 40m23s 4. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 40m40s 5. Hamilton (Maserati) 40m53s 6. Zehender (Maserati) 7. Soffietti (Alfa Romeo) 8. Veyron (Bugatti) 9. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 10. Falchetto (Maserati) 11. Moll (Alfa Romeo) After 21 laps with no improvements of the brakes Falchetto decided to retire from the race. The race did not go too well for the Swiss Ecurie Braillard team as that was their second retirement.       After 25 laps Etancelin's lead had grown to 52 seconds. After 27 laps Soffietti retired his Monza as well for the same reasons as Falchetto, the circuit putting a great strain on the brakes.       The order after 30 laps was as follows with Etancelin leading by 1m04s: 1. Etancelin (Maserati)    59m17s 2. Straight (Maserati) 1h00m21s 3. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 1h00m26s 4. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 1h00m37s 5. Hamilton (Maserati) 1h00m56s 6. Zehender (Maserati) 7. Veyron (Bugatti) 8. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 9. Moll (Alfa Romeo) Around laps 32-33 there seems to have been a duel between Veyron and Sommer, the latter managing to pass the Bugatti driver for 7th place only for Veyron to retake his position on the next lap.       It is claimed that oil from a leak sprayed over Straight's goggles and that he had to stop twice to clean them (in a curve I assume rather than in the pits as his lap times were not much affected). Anyway that might have been the reason he was passed by Varzi around lap 38 and soon afterwards by Trossi as well, dropping to fourth position.       After 40 laps Etancelin still doing his 1m58s laps held a 72 seconds lead over Varzi with Trossi a further 11 seconds down but after having found a way past Straight the Scuderia Ferrari duo was finally speeding up, matching Etancelin's pace: 1. Etancelin (Maserati) 1h19m00s 2. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 1h20m12s 3. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 1h20m23s 4. Straight (Maserati) 1h20m25s 5. Hamilton (Maserati) 1h20m50s 6. Zehender (Maserati) 7. Veyron (Bugatti) 8. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 9. Moll (Alfa Romeo)       Moll stopped again due to the oil feed problem. He returned to the race once more only to retire after 42 laps.       By half distance Etancelin held a 65 seconds lead over Varzi with Trossi a further 13 seconds behind. Varzi and Trossi were now clearly closing in on the leader doing 1m56s -1m57s laps while Etancelin kept his earlier 1m58s pace.       After 50 laps the gap was 54 seconds: 1. Etancelin (Maserati) 1h38m48s 2. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 1h39m42s 3. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 1h39m57s 4. Straight (Maserati) 1h40m14s 5. Hamilton (Maserati) 1h40m53s 6. Zehender (Maserati) 7. Veyron (Bugatti) 8. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) Etancelin was now responding to the new challenge improving his lap times by 1-2 seconds. But Varzi now went down to 1m55s laps and after 55 laps the gap was down to 48 seconds. On the next five laps it shrank a further 8 seconds. The race situation after 60 laps: 1. Etancelin (Maserati) 1h58m15s 2. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 1h58m55s 3. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 1h59m20s 4. Straight (Maserati) 2h00m16s 5. Hamilton (Maserati) 2h00m56s 6. Zehender (Maserati) 7. Veyron (Bugatti) 8. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) After 65 laps the gap was just 29 seconds to Varzi and 1m03s to Trossi. But at lap 69 Varzi had to make a pit stop due to oil feed problems. Varzi also changed goggles and took a sip of water before returning to the race. He had lost 2 minutes and dropped to third position being lapped by Etancelin. With 20 laps still to go Etancelin led Trossi by 67 seconds.       The order after 70 laps looked like this: 1. Etancelin (Maserati) 2h17m49s 2. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 2h18m56s 3. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 2h20m16s 4. Straight (Maserati) 2h20m23s 5. Hamilton (Maserati) 2h21m07s 6. Zehender (Maserati) 7. Veyron (Bugatti) 8. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) The next five laps were significant as Trossi closed in 28 seconds on Etancelin. Either Etancelin made a mistake or started to suffer from brake troubles and had to rely on the engine more and more during the braking. His medium lap speed for those five laps was 2m01s against Trossi's 1m55.4s . Last positioned Sommer had to make a pit stop but was able to return to the race. During the next five laps Etancelin was down to 1m58s laps again but his lead went down from 39 to 31 seconds. The situation after 80 laps: 1. Etancelin (Maserati) 2h37m44s 2. Trossi (Alfa Romeo) 2h38m15s 3. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 2h39m43s 4. Straight (Maserati) 2h40m28s 5. Hamilton (Maserati) 2h41m20s 6. Zehender (Maserati) 7. Veyron (Bugatti) 8. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) Varzi was going fast as well after his pit stop and had caught Etancelin and passed him around lap 81 putting himself back on the leading lap.       With five laps to go Etancelin was still leading Trossi by 13 seconds but an inspired Trossi, always at his best on street circuits, was catching him fast, making faster laps than the pole time and on the last but one lap he passed the Maserati to take the flag as the winner. Those last five laps were his fastest with a medium speed of 1m54.4s and with a fastest lap of 1m52.8s. Etancelin finished 7.3 seconds behind him. Those two were the only ones to finish all 90 laps (but see below) while the rest of the field was flagged in one or several laps down. Despite its success the race was a 50,000 Swiss francs economic loss and as the Bremgarten circuit started organizing the Swiss Grand Prix the Montreux race was never repeated.

A Scuderia Ferrari parade

The German teams did not enter the Penya Rhin, so the race developed into another battle between the Scuderia Ferrari team of Varzi, Chiron and Lehoux, and Nuvolari in a Maserati. When Nuvolari, still not fit from his Alessandria crash started to struggle the race turned into a Ferrari parade the trio lapping the rest of the field three times. Varzi was the winner while Chiron had made the fastest lap of the race.

The fifth Penya Rhin also known as the second Copa Barcelona was held on a renovated Montjuïc circuit. The narrow downhill section after the chicane past Font del Gat to the Palace of Agriculture had proved to be troublesome during the 1933 race but as the event otherwise had been a great success the organizers had managed the convice the city to pay for the rebuilding of the section for the 1934 race. The width of the section had been only 5 meters but was now rebuilt to a width of 9 meters. (See the 1933 race for a circuit description and also the 1933 footnote about the circuit length).       With financial backing from the Spanish state sports fund, backing from the Catalonian regional goverment and extras from organizing club memnbers own pockets the event was on solid financial ground.       The usual grandstands and a bridge over the track to get access to the park were installed for the event.       According to Il Littoriale, the organizers also asked Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI) of AIACR for the race to be run to the new formula, getting the event officially an international status.       Prizes for the race were as follows: 12.000, 7.000, 4000, 2.500 and 1.500 pesetas for the top five with 1.000 pesetas each for best Spanish driver and car if they were positioned outside top five with half the amount if they were positioned 3rd-5th.       Entrance fee for the spectators was one peseta for practice and three for the race with 6 pesetas for an unnumbered and 9 for a numbered place on the stands and 60 pesetas for a seat at the main grandstand. (A peseta was about 13 US cent or six and a half pennies back then).

Entries: The German teams did not enter the Penya Rhin (they were at the Kesselberg hillclimb). Their international debut would be in France a fortnight later. The Penya Rhin also clashed with the 24 Heures du Mans, thus losing potential entries like the Bugatti team and Philippe Etancelin.       Scuderia Ferrari entered three P3 Alfa Romeos for Achille Varzi, Louis Chiron and Marcel Lehoux. Lehoux was possibly selected as he was familiar with the circuit after the 1933 race. The main challenger was Tazio Nuvolari in his own 3 litre Maserati (#3018). Nuvolari's leg was finally out of plaster, but he was still not fully fit after his leg fracture from the Alessandria crash on 22 April.       The new team "Vipal" (Villapadierna-Palacio) had ordered two new 3 litre cars, a wide bodied and a narrow bodied one, from the Maserati factory, so for their debut race the team had a brand new yellow painted Maserati (#3019) to be driven by Joaquín Palacio. It looks like the Maserati factory, unable to get the other ordered car ready, had lent their red painted four cylinder 2.5 litre car (raced by Taruffi in Monaco) to the team for de Villapadierna to drive. American Peter DePaolo, who had tried a Miller at Tripoli and Avus, had obviously come to the conclusion that he might be more successful in a European car, so he had recently made arrangements with Nelly Braillard to do a full European GP season for Ecurie Braillard. He was to drive one of the team's white-red Maserati 8CMs (#3015) at Penya Rhin, Benoit Falchetto driving the team's other car (#3009). Hugh Hamilton was to race the white-blue Maserati (#3016) for Whitney Straight Ltd.       Just like in 1933 local driver Esteban Tort entered a Nacional Pescara. The Nacional Pescara was a government supported Spanish car factory. The yellow 610 kg heavy race car had a 3 litre straight 8 engine reported to give 160 hp. Chilean Juan Zanelli had the option to race either his 1933 race winning Alfa Romeo "Monza" or another Nacional Pescara.       Two French drivers entered T51 Bugattis, André Delom, racing under the pseudonym "Delmo", and Robert Brunet with his ex-Wimille car. Austrian Edgar de Morawitz had entered a Bugatti as well but seems not to have appeared.

Practice: There were three practice sessions, afternoons 5 -7 p.m. on Thursday 14th and Friday 15th and on morning 10-12 a.m. at Saturday 16th. Practice did not have any signinficance on the grid as the positions were determined by the race numbers.       During Thursday practice the Ferrari team immediately proved the speed of the monopostos, Varzi with a time of 2m11s and Lehoux with 2m13s, both going under Nuvolari's 2m13.1s lap record from 1933. Chiron did some fast laps as well and Palacio was able to do 2m16s with the new Maserati.       On Friday Hamilton, Falchetto and Nuvolari joined practice as well. Nuvolari was fastest with his Maserati equalling Varzi's Thursday time of 2m11s. Varzi and Chiron did 2m12s laps with their Alfas, Falchetto did a 2m14s lap with the Ecurie Braillard Maserati and Hamilton also in a Maserati managed to do a time of 2m15s.       At third practice on Saturday morning Nuvolari lowered the best time to 2m10.0s. Next up were Varzi 2m10.2s, Lehoux, 2m11.8s. Hamilton 2m12s, Palacio 2m14s and DePaolo 2m14s. "Delmo" with 2m17s was the fastest Bugatti driver.       With just five minutes remaining of the practice session DePaolo lost control of his car in the curves before Poble Espanyol. It has been claimed that he had tried to avoid some children, who had run onto the track. The Maserati went straight into a lighting column and pulled it out of its fundament. The car ended up upside down without its left front tire. DePaolo was rushed to the Corachan hospital from where the initial reports were grim. Apart from injuries to his right forearm the driver had a skull fracture and was unconscious. After having been unconscious for two days DePaolo eventually recovered but the crash put an end to his career as racing driver. Peter DePaolo was the 1925 Indy 500 winner and nephew of the famous Ralph de Palma. He returned to racing as car owner and team manager for the 1935 Indy 500 champion Kelly Petillo and in the 1950s he run a succesful NASCAR team.

Race: The race was announced for 10:30 on Sunday morning and about that time the track was closed off for traffic. The park was filled with spectators, including Catalonian president Lluís Companys (who would be executed by Franco in 1940).       After a little delay to correct something on the circuit, the cars and drivers were lined up and ready to go about 11 a.m. The cars were lined up according to their drawn race numbers with gaps for DePaolo and de Morawitz, but for some reason the two first lines were lined up from left to right and the next two from right to left.       Zanelli, not satisfied with the Nacional Pescara, obviously made a last minute decision to race his Monza instead. A rough "6" was added with white paint to each side of the car.

2 Lehoux Alfa Romeo 4 Hamilton Maserati 6 Zanelli Alfa Romeo 8 Nuvolari Maserati 10 Palacio Maserati 12 Chiron Alfa Romeo * 16 Varzi Alfa Romeo ** 22 Falchetto Maserati 20 Brunet Bugatti 18 Tort Nacional Pescara 28 Delmo Bugatti 26 Villapadierna Maserati * 14 DePaolo (Maserati) DNS ** 24 de Morawitz (Bugatti) DNS

Hamilton had his front wheels over the line before the flag dropped but it was Nuvolari from the right of the grid who took the start to lead after the first lap followed by the Alfa Ferraris driven by Chiron, Varzi, and Lehoux. Behind the Alfas followed Zanelli, Falchetto, Palacio, Brunet, "Delmo", Villapadierna and Tort. Hamilton, already in trouble with his Maserati, came in to the pit.       On the second lap Chiron passed Nuvolari to take the lead of the race. They were followed by Varzi, Lehoux and the others. There were no changes in the top positions on lap three. Nuvolari's injured leg was already giving him pain and after a brave fight he was forced to let the Ferrari duo of Varzi and Lehoux by on lap four. The order was now: Chiron, Varzi, Lehoux, Nuvolari, Falchetto, Palacio, Brunet, de Villapadierna, Zanelli, "Delmo", Tort and Hamilton.       Zanelli had to make a pit stop after four laps for adjustments and was back in the pit again a lap later. Tort also had to make a pit stop.       At the front Chiron had opened up a small gap by soing the 8th laps in 2m08s but Varzi answered on the next lap by putting in 2m08s as well to catch the Monégasque. To the disappointment of the spectators Tort had to retire his Nacional Pescara on the same lap. After 10 laps the classification at the top was: 1. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 21m44.2s 2. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 21m45.2s 3. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 21m48.4s 4. Nuvolari (Maserati) 21m53s After 11 laps Hamilton, after having done a new pit stop, retired the oil leaking Whitney Straight Maserati. After 14 laps Nuvolari stopped in the box for 2m15s to refuel and to adjust the spark plugs, returning to the race in seventh position. After 18 laps "Delmo" retired his Bugatti.       On the 19th lap Varzi took over the lead from his team mate Chiron. The order after 20 laps: 1. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 42m32s 2. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 42m34s 3. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 42m54s On the 23rd lap there was an incident when Villapadierna spun his Maserati 180° at the turn before the grandstand in front of Lehoux with Nuvolari following right behind. A serious crash seemed to be unavoidable but somehow both Lehoux and Nuvolari managed to squeeze by with millimeters to spare. Nuvolari had climbed back to fourth position, having passed Brunet, Palacio and Falchetto.       On lap 29 the miserable weekend for Ecurie Braillard ended when Falchetto after having done a good race gave up as he was feeling ill.       Classification after 30 laps: 1. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 1h05m17s 2. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 1h5m39s 3. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 1h5m51s After 32 laps Nuvolari gave up with this leg in bad shape. That gave Palacio fourth position behind the three Ferrari Alfas. Only seven cars were still in the race. Varzi was pulling away doing 2m12s laps against 2m14s laps for Chiron with Lehoux in third position holding Varzi's speed. As the rest of the drivers were doing laps around 2m20s or slower it is no wonder they became lapped for the second time.       At mid-race after 35 laps the order was: 1. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 1h16m06s 2. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 1h16m52s 3. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 1h16m53s 4. Palacio (Maserati) 1h21m29s 5. Brunet (Bugatti) 1h21m36s 6. Zanelli (Alfa Romeo) 1h21m52s During the next laps Varzi continued even faster doing laps around 2m10s against his team mates' 2m13-2.14s After 50 laps the situation was thus: 1. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 1h48m35s 2. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 1h50m08s 3. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 1h50m32s 4. Palacio (Maserati) 1h56m34s With one and a half minute lead Varzi could well afford to slow down to times around 2m13s but with ten laps to go the gap was still 1m21s: 1. Varzi (Alfa Romeo) 2h10m45s 2. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 2h12m06s 3. Lehoux (Alfa Romeo) 2h12m51s Varzi slowed down by another second a lap but he led the Ferrari parade home to the flag with the trio lapping the rest of the field three times. Varzi was the winner while Chiron had made the fastest lap of the race.