Invincible Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeos

The first Turin Grand Prix, named after and raced at the Valentino Park, was dominated by the five Scuderia Ferrari drivers. Raced in three heats and a shortened final. Tadini won the first heat. Trossi and Pintacuda were first and second in the second heat while Nuvolari won the third heat followed by Brivio. Their main competitors, Farina (Maserati) and Taruffi (works Bugatti), also made it to the final. If Trossi had not suffered from an eye injury caused by to a flying stone and Tadini being forced to make two pit stops, the Ferrari drivers might well have taken the top five positions. Now Nuvolari won from his team mates Brivio and Pintacuda with Farina finishing a distant fourth.

While the local section of the RACI in Turin, home city for car manufacturers like Fiat and Lancia, had organized hill climbs, they had never arranged a real Grand Prix race until 1935 when the decision was made to to hold a race at Valentino Park in the middle of the city. 7 July was selected for the event which replaced the Susa-Moncenistro hill climb in the race calendar.       The 4.088 km long circuit started at the square in front of the Castello del Valentino and after passing the Botanical garden made a right turn and followed River Po past the Medieval Village (Borgo Medievale) built for the 1884 exposition. From there it continued under the bridgehead of Ponte Isabella and continued to the new Ponte Vittorio Emanuele III bridge. Here it made a turn and went back to Ponte Isabella bridgehead, which it passed this time at bridge level. After passing the Palace of the Festival of Fashion (Mostra della Moda) and a pond, it returned to the start at the front of the castle. Pictures seem to confirm the Italian claim that the roads were wide and in good condition.       The race was to be run in three 20 lap heats and a 40 lap final for the first three competitors in each heat. The event was open to race cars of all engine sizes. There were no classes but all cars raced together as part of the Italian championship. Entries were accepted until 28 June.       Prize money for each heat was: 1st prize 3880 lire, 2nd prize 1940 lire and 3rd prize 970 lire. In the final: 1st prize 29,100 lire, 2nd prize 14,550 lire and 3rd prize 5820 lire.

Entries: The Turin Grand Prix was held on the same day as the Marne Grand Prix so both entry lists suffered. However, most of the Italian elite (apart from Varzi of course) appeared at Turin. Scuderia Ferrari entered no less than six cars for the two events sending Chiron and Dreyfus to Reims and entering four Italian drivers at Turin. Tazio Nuvolari and Carlo Felice Trossi raced TipoB/P3 with the Dubonnet independent suspension while Antonio Brivio and Mario Tadini raced cars with the old suspension. The team also entered under their name a privately owned 1934 model Tipo B with Carlo Pintacuda as driver. The car had been re-built to a two-seater and Pintacuda had won the Mille Miglia with it on 14 April. The team raced with 16" rear wheels to achieve a good ratio for the slow Valentino Park course.       Scuderia Subalpina decided to make the debut of the new V8 RI car, not at Turin, but at the Marne Grand Prix the same day. So Eugenio Siena raced Scuderia Subalpina's 6-cylinder car while Piero Dusio and Felice Bonetto drove the old 3 litre 8-cylinder cars. Nino Farina handled Gino Rovere's 6-cylinder Maserati while Gino Rovere himself drove a 4CM voiturette.       Piero Taruffi drove the works Bugatti T59 and another Bugatti was also taking part in the event. (Note 1)       Seven private Alfa Romeo Monzas were entered by Renato Balestrero, Giorgio Conter, Giovanni Cornaggia-Medici, Renato Danese, Carlo Laredo, Luigi Pages and Edoardo Teagno.       The rest of the field consisted of voiturette Maseratis: Ferdinando Barbieri and Giuseppe Tuffanelli with 1.5 litre cars and Giacomo Carpegna and Giacomo Clerici with 1.1 litre cars.

Practice: The first practice session started at 8 a.m. on Thursday and went on for two hours. Several of the participants were not yet present. Farina in the six cylinder Maserati was fastest, starting off with a time of 2m25s and eventually make a lap of 2m10s (113.2 km/h). He was followed by Dusio (Maserati) 2m15s, Teagno (Alfa Romeo) 2m19s, Rovere (Maserati) and Conter (Alfa Romeo) both 2m23s. The other drivers present made times between 2m25s and 2m30s.       In the afternoon the draw for individual heats took place and obviously the race numbers were then decided as well (heat 1 with cars #2-8-14 etc., heat 2 with #4-10-16 etc, heat 3 with #6-12-18 etc, numbers increasing by six).       By Friday most of the teams and drivers had arrived including, according to Il Littoriale, Filippo Ardizzone, who did not take part in the race so the newspaper might have been wrong. Particularly Nuvolari and Trossi drew the attention of the numerous spectators and young Farina also had a lot of fans. Nuvolari practiced for over an hour starting off with three laps of 2m09.6s, 2m07.4s, and 2m02.8s. He then continued with a series of 2m02s laps eventually improving to 2m01.8s, 2m01.6s and finally 2m01.2s.       Trossi started with a 2m16s lap, improved to 2m04.2s, then to 2m01.6s and just as the session ended he accomplished the fastest lap of the day with a time of 2m00.4s (122.2 km/h) promising that more was to be expected on Saturday.       Brivio was also fast achieving times of 2m13s, 2m06.2s, 2m05.8s and 2m01.8s. Tadini drove just a few laps improving from 2m26s to 2m11s and 2m09.2s and made his last two laps in 2m06.8s and 2m06.2s.       Taruffi in his Bugatti drove a lot of laps trying to get comfortable with the car and the track. Times mentioned in the papers were 2m10.2s, 2m08.6s and 2m07.2s. Farina in the Maserati improved from the day before making times of 2m10.6s and 2m07.6s but both the Bugatti and Maserati were clearly inferior to the Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeos. Neither Pintacuda nor Siena did any fast laps, concentrating on getting their car engines in order instead. Finally it can be mentioned that Barbieri did a 2m17s lap with his voiturette Maserati.       At 5 p.m. the race licenses and papers were checked. A small change in the heats was announced as Brivio was moved from the first heat to the third but keeping his race number (#8).       Final practice was on Sunday 8-10 a.m. Trossi was again fastest, improving his time to 1m59.6s. Nuvolari and Taruffi made times close to 2 minutes. Brivio did 2m04s, Tadini 2m07s, Pintacuda 2m08s and Dusio 2m11s.

Heat 1: The start of the event was moved from 3.30 p.m. to 3 p.m. The gates were opened at 1.30 p.m. and about 30,000 spectators turned up to fill the eight grandstands and the sides of the roads. With the short race distances there was no need for any fuel stops and tyre wear was also no problem, so it was expected that the drivers would be able to race flat out.       The first heat was interesting as it included Tadini and the two main opponents to Scuderia Ferrari: Farina in the Maserati and Taruffi in the Bugatti. The rest of the field was made up by four Alfa Romeo Monzas. According to the Italian newspapers the grid looked like this:

14 Farina Maserati 2 Tadini Alfa Romeo 50 Taruffi Bugatti 56 Laredo Alfa Remeo 38 Danese Alfa Romeo 44 Cornaggia Alfa Romeo 32 Teagno Alfa Romeo

At 3.05 p.m. the flag was dropped by Count Rossi di Montelera, Deputy Secretary of Turin, and the cars were on their way. Farina took the lead followed by an Alfa Romeo Monza (either Danese or Laredo). At the end of the first lap Farina was still leading, closely followed by Tadini with Taruffi a little bit behind. Then followed Lareno, Teagno and Cornaggia. Danese retired at the end of the lap with gearbox problems.       On the second lap Farina went wide in the Molinette curve, touching some straw bales and Tadini passed him for the lead. Farina and Taruffi followed the Scuderia Ferrari driver closely while the rest of the field was unable to keep up with the top trio. Tadini improved his pace with fast laps including the fastest of the heat in 2m04s on lap 10, opening a gap to Farina. The positions in the race remained the same until the second to last lap when Teagno retired with a broken fuel line leaving fifth position to Cornaggia. Tadini took the victory with Farina and Taruffi making it to final as well.

Heat 2: The main competitors in second heat were the two Ferrari drivers and Siena in the Scuderia Subalpina Maserati. According to a (rather bad) picture of the grid they lined up like this:

4 Pintacuda Alfa Romeo 22 Siena Maserati 10 Trossi Alfa Romeo 34 Tuffarelli Maserati 52 F. Barbieri Maserati 58 Mariano Bugatti 40 Clerici Maserati 28 Pages Alfa Romeo

When the Prefect of Turin flagged away the cars Pintacuda took the lead followed by his team mate Trossi. Barbieri probably stalled his engine and had to be push started. Pages was soon in for a tyre change, the first stop in his troublesome race in a badly prepared car as was that of Romano, according to La Stampa.       Pintacuda completed the first lap in 2m16.4s ahead of Tuffanelli, Trossi, Siena and Barbieri. Trossi soon passed Tuffanelli for second position and on the third lap Trossi passed Pintacuda to take the lead. The Scuderia Ferrari duo was followed by Siena, Barbieri, Tuffanelli and Clerici.       While Trossi controlled the race Siena was able to catch Pintacuda but was unable to find a way past. Further down the field a battle developed between Barbieri and Tuffanelli, both in 1.5-liter Maseratis, with the more experienced Barbieri managing to keep his fifth position.       The race order remained mostly the same to the end apart from the fact that Romano had to retire at mid race and that Clerici fell back with radiator problems.       Trossi took the victory from Pintacuda with Siena in third position also making it to the final. Barbieri and Tuffanelli, both lapped, took the flag while Clerici and Pages, far behind, were stopped by the organizers.

Heat 3: The third heat included Nuvolari, the spectators' favorite, and due to the change mentioned earlier also his team mate Brivio.

6 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 24 Dusio Maserati 8 Brivio Alfa Romeo 36 Balestrero Alfa Romeo 54 Rovere Maserati 12 Carpegna Maserati 30 Bonetto Maserati 48 Conter Alfa Romeo

The eight competitors were started at 5.25 p.m. by the Prefect of Turin.       Dusio took the lead followed by Brivio, Nuvolari and Balestrero. The two Scuderia Ferrari drivers soon passed the Maserati. Dusio then became involved in a battle with Balestrero for third position but the latter had to retire on the fourth lap due to engine failure. Later Bonetto also retired as well as Conter and possibly Carpegna.       On the eighth lap Nuvolari took over the lead from Brivio and the order remained the same to the end. Nuvolari won while his team mate Brivio and Dusio with his Maserati also made it to the final. Rovere finished fourth.

Final: The event was running late so with the agreement by all the drivers the race organizers cut down the final from 40 to 30 laps. The nine entries lined up on the grid with the heat winners in the first row.

10 Trossi Alfa Romeo 6 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 2 Tadini Alfa Romeo 4 Pintacuda Alfa Romeo 8 Brivio Alfa Romeo 50 Taruffi Bugatti 14 Farina Maserati 22 Siena Maserati 24 Dusio Maserati (Note 2)

When he flag was dropped by the Countess Calvi of Bergolo, Taruffi from the third row made the best start. But at the end of the first lap Brivio led followed by Trossi, Nuvolari, Tadini, Taruffi, Farina, Pintacuda and Dusio. Siena made a pit stop due to a malfunctioning gearbox. He would return to the pits again and again during the following laps in vain attempts to get the car to work before finally retiring.       Brivio continued leading during the first laps but Trossi and Nuvolari were close behind and Brivio was unable to open any gap to them.       On the fourth lap the situation changed dramatically as Trossi slowly came to the pits holding a hand over one eye. He had been hit by pebbles thrown up from Brivio's car. After getting fast medical attention he was able to rejoin the race accompanied by applause from the spectators but he had lost over one lap.       Behind Brivio and Nuvolari there were some good fights for third position when Taruffi was tightly pressed by Tadini, Farina and Pintacuda. After a few laps the Bugatti driver had to let Tadini by and concentrated on keeping Farina behind him instead.       On the seventh lap Brivio got a sign from the pit and on the next lap he let Nuvolari past. However Brivio wanted to make a point and kept close contact with the new race leader.       Trossi in pain form his eye injury and with ignition problems gave up and retired after 11 laps. At half distance (15 laps) Nuvolari and Brivio were still running close together with Tadini 25 seconds behind: 1. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 31m37.0s (116.4 km/h.) 2. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 31m37.8s 3. Tadini (Alfa Romeo) 32m02.2s 4. Taruffi (Bugatti) 32m09.6s 5. Farina (Maserati) 32m12.6s 6. Pintacuda (Alfa Romeo) 32m15.2s 7. Dusio (Maserati) 33m16.6s On the 18th lap Pintacuda passed Farina and Taruffi for fourth position and started to catch Tadini, who was suffering from a brake problem.       On the 21th lap Tadini made a pit stop trying to solve the brake problem, dropping to sixth behind Pintacuda, Taruffi and Farina. It seemed that Tadini then had to stop once more to change a spark plug.       On the 25th lap Taruffi retired the works Bugatti with gearbox trouble. After that the situation had stabilized and not much more happened in the race.       The race ended with Scuderia Ferrari cars in the top three positions with Nuvolari winning followed by Brivio and Pintacuda. Farina was fourth over a minute behind Pintacuda while Tadini and Dusio had been lapped.       If Tadini had not been forced to stop twice, Scuderia Ferrari would probably have had a quadruple victory. Now instead Farina was fourth with Tadini just beating Dusio for fifth position.       The race had been a great success and would be held again with intervals until 1954.

Caracciola and Mercedes-Benz superior at Spa

The three Mercedes-Benz racecars of Caracciola, von Brauchitsch and Fagioli dominated the race until lap 15 when Brauchitsch retired his sick car. On lap 23 the German was back in the race when ordered by his team to take over Fagioli's car after the Italian refused to continue. Nuvolari was not present and Auto Union did not enter, which left only the two Alfa Romeos of Chiron and Dreyfus as possible contenders plus three factory Bugattis of Benoist, Wimille and Taruffi. Two independent entries of Lehoux (Maserati) and Sommer (Alfa Romeo) were too slow to hope for victory. Caracciola in his Mercedes-Benz led from start to finish and von Brauchitsch in Fagioli's car followed in second place ahead of Chiron, Dreyfus/Marinoni, Benoist, Lehoux and Taruffi. Wimille, Sommer and Brauchitsch retired with mechanical problems, while Fagioli gave up after he was called to the pits by his team for ignoring team orders. The French press blamed the special fuel used by Mercedes-Benz for making the Alfa Romeo drivers sick, while Caracciola was accused of making a jump start.

The sixth Grand Prix de Belgique was held by the R.A.C.B. (Royal Automobile Club de Belgique) for cars to the current 750 kg formula. It was the third race counting towards the 1935 European Championship. The previous year René Dreyfus won the 40 lap race in a Bugatti at 140.332 km/h and Antonio Brivio in another Bugatti established the existing lap record of 155.625 km/h. This year the race was run only over 34 laps on the same 14.864 km Spa Francorchamps road circuit, a total of 505.376 km. Certain corners of the circuit had been improved and should result in faster lap times.       The prize money was 80,000 Belgian francs of which the winner received 50,000, second 20,000 and third 10,000. The winner would also receive the challenge trophy from King Leopold III, which had been held before by Nuvolari (Maserati) and Dreyfus (Bugatti).

Entries: Entries were received for only 11 cars since the new V-8 Maserati was not yet ready and Auto Union were still improving their racecars and did not enter this race. Mercedes-Benz under the guidance of team manager Alfred Neubauer entered three cars, two 1935 versions for Rudolf Caracciola and Manfred von Brauchitsch while Luigi Fagioli drove last year's model, which was updated to the latest specifications, the same car he had raced three weeks before at Montlhéry . Herman Lang was reserve driver. Also present were Daimler-Benz director Max Sailer and Consul Fritsch representing the ONS.       The Bugatti factory in Molsheim entered three 3.3-liter T59 Bugattis for Robert Benoist, Jean Pierre Wimille and Piero Taruffi. Jean Bugatti managed the team.       Scuderia Ferrari arrived with two Alfa Romeo 3.2-liter Tipo B/P3 for Louis Chiron and René Dreyfus. Attilio Marinoni was the assigned reserve driver. Press statements mentioned re-bored engines to 3.45-liter capacity, but in reality they were the same 3.2-liter engines as raced at Montlhéry. An independently entered Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3 was driven by Raymond Sommer.       Scuderia Villapadierna, managed by José de Villapadierna, entered two 8CM Maseratis but only one car in the Belgian racing color of yellow appeared for Marcel Lehoux, an 8CM widened at the cockpit for the 750 kg formula regulations.

Practice: Official practice took place on Thursday and Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 PM and on Saturday from 12:00 to 2:00 PM. Scrutineering was on Saturday afternoon, including checking the cars on the weigh-bridge. The officials carelessly refrained from weighing the Mercedes to determine that they were under the 750 kg limit. After the race Scuderia Ferrari filed a protest, supported with 500 francs, against the weight of the Mercedes racecars. Team manager Alfred Neubauer immediately volunteered both winning cars. One weighed 744 kg and Scuderia Ferrari lost their 500 francs. They decided not to have the second car weighted.

Race: Sunday morning started with a blue sky and sunshine and by the time of the start the sun was scorching. The ten cars were pushed to their starting positions, which had been decided by drawing lots. This was customary at Spa and resulted this time resulted in having the slowest car, the yellow Maserati of Lehoux, in pole position.

16 Dreyfus Alfa Romeo 20 Lehoux Maserati 14 Chiron Alfa Romeo 10 Wimille Bugatti 2 Caracciola Mercedes-Benz 4 Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 12 Taruffi Bugatti 6 Fagioli Mercedes-Benz 8 Benoist Bugatti 18 Sommer Alfa Romeo

The starting grid was in a downhill section and some of the cars moved forward before the flag fell. During the stifling heat of the noonday sun at 1:00 PM the starter raised the flag. By that time the Maserati of Lehoux had rolled a length ahead of Dreyfus' Alfa Romeo, so he stopped. At that moment the starter, one of the timekeepers, dropped the flag and Lehoux was passed on each side by cars from behind, Caracciola to the right on the road berm shot away like an arrow, Wimille on the left, the others followed to the roaring noise and the earsplitting howl of the three Mercedes. They had sorted themselves out by the time they reached the left hand bend at Eau Rouge, Caracciola was a few car lengths ahead of Wimille and Chiron, followed by Dreyfus, Lehoux, Taruffi, Brauchitsch, Fagioli, Sommer and Benoist’s Bugatti trailing at the end.       Caracciola completed the first lap in 5m36s at 159.275 km/h average speed about 200 meters ahead of Brauchitsch who passed Wimille by the pits, followed by Fagioli, Chiron, Dreyfus, Taruffi, Sommer, Benoist and Lehoux. In the course of only one lap Brauchitsch had managed to pass five cars, including his team mate Fagioli! To many observers it looked as if Caracciola had made a jumped start, however the organizer seemed not to be overly concerned about it. (See for additional comments at: In Retrospect.)       On the second lap the three Mercedes-Benz cars were already ahead of the remaining field. Wimille followed in fourth position ahead of Chiron and Dreyfus. The engine of Taruffi's Bugatti had begun to misfire loudly. Caracciola completed the third lap in 160.531 km/h race average, while Wimille and Taruffi headed for the pits. After a short while both rejoined the race but Taruffi had lost a whole lap. On the fourth lap Neubauer signaled Caracciola to lessen his speed. Fagioli was now second ahead of Brauchitsch, Chiron and Dreyfus. The three Mercedes pulled away and increasingly outdistanced the rest of the field. Wimille, the genuine French hope who had been second on the first lap, had fallen behind. After a pit stop his engine still did not run properly. Caracciola maintained his lead at 160.306 km/h race average with the field in the following order after 5 laps: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 27m47s 2. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 28m02s 3. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 28m26s 4. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 28m54s 5. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 29m02s 6. Benoist (Bugatti) 30m34s 7. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 30m35s 8. Lehoux (Maserati) 31m44s 9. Taruffi (Bugatti) 35m13s - 1 lap behind 10. Wimille (Bugatti) ? Wimille had fallen hopelessly behind and on the sixth lap he stopped again at his pit. After a conversation with Jean Bugatti the car was pushed away to be retired with an engine problem. The prospects for Bugatti obtaining a good placing was now gone since Taruffi and Benoist could not keep up with the works Mercedes and Alfas. Chiron and Dreyfus were driving in tandem without pressing each other. On lap seven, Sommer stopped at his pit and after a brief talk carried on. Lehoux drove leisurely without forcing his Maserati.       On lap eight, Sommer retired at Stavelot corner. Brauchitsch was signaled from his pits to go faster. Chiron was 1m40s behind Caracciola. Benoist's Bugatti slowed and stopped at his pit but rejoined the race. On lap 12 the three Mercedes were still in front. Caracciola was 34 seconds ahead of Fagioli, who began to close the gap, followed by Brauchitsch, Chiron and Dreyfus while Lehoux in the old Maserati held sixth place. Fagioli twice established a new lap record, on lap 13 with 163.141km/h and 163.640 km/h, 5m27s, on lap 14. Brauchitsch stopped his Mercedes, which had begun to misfire, to have all the spark plugs changed and to be given a load of fuel. He had fallen considerably behind and was passed by all the cars in the field except Taruffi. On lap 14 the order was Caracciola, Fagioli, Chiron, Dreyfus, Lehoux and Benoist. Brauchitsch stopped again at the pits for a second plug change after which he rejoined the race. Dreyfus was only 4 seconds behind Chiron. Caracciola ignored Neubauer's signal to slow down. After three laps, when the "command" was given, he had averaged 160.531 km/h, yet after 15 laps his average was virtually the same, 160.831 km/h race average with the field in the following order: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 1h23m20s 2. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 1h23m36s 3. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 1h25m38s 4. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 1h25m42s 5. Lehoux (Maserati) 1h33m31s - 1 lap behind 6. Benoist (Bugatti) 1h34m28s - 1 lap behind 7. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 1h34m43s - 2 laps behind 8. Taruffi (Bugatti) ? On lap 16 Chiron came in to refuel his Alfa Romeo which took 45 seconds and he rejoined the race with applause from the crowd. On the following lap all three Mercedes stopped at the pits. While Caracciola and Fagioli took on fuel and left after one minute, the car of von Brauchitsch was pushed away to be retired. Dreyfus stopped on the next lap to refuel and rejoined the race now ahead of Chiron. Caracciola and Fagioli were now running close together and the Italian began to push mightily and attacked the German which in every way was against Mercedes team orders. The question arose why both remaining Mercedes drivers were creating such a chase, placing unwanted stress on their engines. Neubauer had signed Caracciola to slow down. But when the German saw Fagioli in his mirrors he began to drive faster. When Neubauer took notice of that, he signed Fagioli on the following lap to slow down. The Italian followed those orders, but only for a short while before he made a renewed effort to take the lead. Caracciola finished 20 laps at 158.542 km/h race average with the field in this order: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 1h52m30s 2. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 1h52m34s 3. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 1h54m56s 4. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 1h55m02s 5. Lehoux (Maserati) 2h05m49s - 2 laps behind 6. Taruffi (Bugatti) 2h10m26s - 3 laps behind 7. Benoist (Bugatti) ? Both Mercedes drivers still followed each other closely. They were over two minutes ahead of Chiron and almost three minutes ahead of Dreyfus. On lap 22 the order remained Caracciola, Fagioli, Chiron, Dreyfus and Lehoux, but Benoist had overtaken Taruffi. Fagioli once more attacked Caracciola and was signaled to slow down, but he ignored the repeated signals from his pit. Fagioli attempted to pass Caracciola but the German refused to let him through. The furious Italian shook his fist menacingly at the German as they raced around the La Source hairpin.       On lap 23 the Mercedes pit crew signaled Fagioli to stop at the pits because Neubauer had had enough of his antics. When the Italian arrived at the pits, a heated discussion developed with Alfred Neubauer. Fagioli was disgusted with the team manager's favoritism towards Caracciola. The argument ended with the Italian jumping out of the car, tearing off his goggles and white cap, and storming off in a rage to a neighboring pit from which he watched the remainder of the race. Motor Sport stated that the official reason for Fagioli's retirement was "fatigue". The team summoned Brauchitsch, who was resting behind the pits, to take over Fagioli's abandoned car. In the meantime Chiron and Dreyfus had passed the stationary Mercedes and advanced to second and third positions. Brauchitsch was determined to hunt down both of the red Alfa Romeos.       On lap 24, Caracciola was signaled from his pit to drive faster since the gap to Chiron had come down to 1m26s. Chiron had closed the gap by a whole minute in only four laps. Dreyfus was third followed by Brauchitsch in fourth place. But Brauchitsch was only 14 seconds behind Dreyfus, and Chiron was only ten seconds further away. After 25 laps Caracciola finished at 157.383 km/h race average with the order of the field as follows: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 2h21m40s 2. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 2h23m10s 3. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 2h23m20s 4. Fagioli/Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 2h23m34s 5. Benoist(Bugatti) 2h36m34s - 2 laps behind 6. Lehoux (Maserati) 2h38m17s - 3 laps behind 7. Taruffi (Bugatti) 2h42m35s - 3 laps behind There were no changes up to lap 26 when Brauchitsch was only six seconds behind Dreyfus. Between lap 27 and 29 the order was Caracciola, Chiron, Brauchitsch and Dreyfus. Brauchitsch had caught up and passed Dreyfus. The fast German continuously lowered the gap to Chiron by about 9 seconds each lap. At the beginning of lap 30 he overhauled Chiron and secured second place. Both Mercedes were in the first two places. On lap 31 the storming von Brauchitsch broke Fagioli's 5m27s lap record, with a time of 5m23s equal to 165.767 km/h average speed and his advantage to Chiron had increased. Dreyfus was so exhausted from this battle that he stopped at his pit and was relieved by Marinoni, who put on goggles but drove without a cloth cap.       The order remained the same until the end when Caracciola crossed the finish line 1m37s ahead of Brauchitsch in Fagioli's car. The German anthem was played and Caracciola received the challenge trophy from King Leopold III. Chiron finished in third place 2m16s after Caracciola and the Marseillaise was played but Chiron was completely worn out and walked unsteadily to the microphone and said , with eyes closed, that it had been the most demanding race he could remember. Shortly thereafter he collapsed in the Ferrari pit and lay down. Marinoni in Dreyfus' car followed three minutes later in fourth place, while Benoist, Lehoux and Taruffi were several laps behind.       René Dreyfus wrote about this in his book My two Lives: ..."The heat on race day was intense, which didn't help matters. We were behind the faster German cars naturally, and we had to give them even more space because the smell of the fumes and the smarting of our eyes were unbearable. For a while, by hanging back, we could breathe easier. But the effect was still soporific; and we were becoming dizzy".       Caracciola's race average speed of 157.506 km/h was better than the fastest lap the year before at 155.9 km/h average speed.

The last Bugatti victory

The Albi Grand Prix was raced under the 1.5 litre formula and consisted of two heats with the overall results taken from the aggregate times of the two heats. Ferdinando Barbieri (Maserati) dominated the first heat followed by Veyron (Bugatti) and Léoz (Bugatti). Barbieri also took the lead in the second heat before retiring with an engine failure, leaving Veyron to take the second heat in front of Howe and Durand and thus giving Bugatti their last major victory.

The 1935 edition of the Albi Grand Prix was organized by Moto Camping Club Albigeois and l'Automobile Club du Midi. It was held on the Circuit des Planques and was reserved for the 1500 cc voiturettes. The race format was a bit unusual with two races of 20 laps for a total distance of 178.22 km with the final classification being obtained by addition of the times from the two races.

Entries: With the ERA works team not racing that weekend and Seaman and Fairfield busy at the Nuffield Trophy at Donington there was no ERA present at Albi. Instead French drivers and cars dominated the field. Seven Bugattis were raced by Pierre Veyron, Claude Mélinant, Henri Durand, Louis Villeneuve, British drivers René Brooke and Miss Eileen Ellison and the Spaniard Geraro Léoz-Abad.       Earl Howe raced his old Grand Prix Delage equipped with a pre-selector gearbox. Italian Ferdinando Barbieri and Swiss Hans Rüesch entered Maseratis while Lerquin and Jean de Gavardie raced Amilcars. Maillard-Bruné, British Dudley Froy and American driver Sam Collier entered M.G:s. Armand Girod with a Salmson, Piveteau with a Rally and Lauze with a Lombard completed the field.

Practice: The fastest practice time was set by Lord Howe doing a lap in 3m55s to gain pole position in the first race. He was followed by Barbieri with a time of 3m57 s, Veyron and Rüesch, but the latter damaged his gearbox during the practice session.

Race 1: On race day was bad weather that turned into heavy rain in the afternoon. Despite the awful weather a lot of spectators had gathered along the roads of the Circuit des Planques to watch the race.       A little local railroad crossed the circuit at one place. The railroad had been closed to passenger service since January 1934 and the railroad had agreed to keep the cargo service closed as well during the race so that the level crossing could remain open.       The departure of the first 20 lap heat was at 2 p.m. Rüesch had been unable to repair the gearbox on his Delage so there were 17 cars on the grid. (Note 1)

2 Veyron Bugatti 42 F. Barbieri Maserati 4 Howe Delage * 16 G Léoz-Abad Bugatti 36 Froy MG 10 Durand Bugatti 34 Girod Salmson 6 Melinant Bugatti 24 Maillard Bruné MG 32 de Gavardie Amilcar 14 Ellison Bugatti 18 Villeneuve Bugatti 28 Collier MG 8 Brooke Bugatti 40 Lauze Lombard 38 Piveteau Rally 30 Leurquin Amilcar       * 20 Rüesch (Maserati) DNS

Veyron got away fractions of a second before the flag dropped to take the lead followed by Barbieri and Howe. Barbieri in his single seater Maserati soon passed Veyron and did the first lap in 3m51.4s (138.6 km/h) leading Veyron by 200 meters, followed by Howe, Léoz, Girod, Froy, Durand, Maillard-Bruné, Mélinant, Collier, de Gavardie, Leurquin, Miss Ellison, Villeneuve, Brooke, Lauze and Piveteau.       The race order remained mostly the same during the next laps, Barbieri pulling away from Veyron and Howe. Froy's M.G. suffered carburettor trouble and he had to make a pit-stop for repairs.       Barbieri made the fourth lap in 3m48s (140.7 km), further increasing the gap to Veyron. The order after 5 laps looked like this: 1. Barbieri (Maserati) 19m17s (138.6 km/h) 2. Veyron (Bugatti) 3. Howe (Delage) 4. Léoz-Abad (Bugatti) 5. Durand (Bugatti) 6. Maillard-Bruné (MG) 7. Girod (Salmson) 8. Collier (MG) 9. de Gavardie (Amilcar) 10. Leurquin (Amilcar) 11. Mélinant (Bugatti) 12. Villeneuve (Bugatti) 13. Ellison (Bugatti) etc. On the sixth lap Howe made a long pit stop to change spark plugs and dropped behind. Lauze in his Lombard abandoned the race.       Barbieri made a lap in 3m46s (141.9 km/h) but then seemed to have slowed down a bit and Veyron was able to close in again. Behind them followed Léoz, Durand, Maillard-Bruné, Collier, Howe and Girod.       After 10 laps Veyron had closed the gap to the leader to 7 seconds when the race order was: 1. Barbieri (Maserati) 38m41s (138.2 km/h) 2. Veyron (Bugatti) 38m48s 3. Léoz-Abad (Bugatti) 4. Durand (Bugatti) 5. Howe (Delage) 6. Girod (Salmson) 7. Leurquin (Amilcar) 8. Maillard-Bruné (MG) Leurquin retired his 6-cylinder Amilcar. Collier skidded completely round with his M.G. Magnette at Montplaisir but was able to continue.       Barbieri made the eleventh lap in 3m48s. Froy missed a braking and crashed his M.G. through the straw barriers at the Montplaisir corner without any harm to the car. Meanwhile Piveteau in his Rally abandoned the race.       Now a close wheel-to-wheel battle followed between Barbieri and Veyron, while a less intense battle went on further back between Léoz and Durand.       On the thirteenth lap Howe went wide at the turn before the pits and lost fifth place to Girod. However the latter had to make a pit stop and Howe reclaimed his position.       Veyron continued to chase Barbieri. On the fourteenth lap Veyron equaled Barbieri's best lap time of 3m46s but on the sixteenth lap Barbieri improved that time doing the lap in 3m45s (142.6 km/h). The race order after 15 laps was: 1. Barbieri (Maserati) 57m47s (138.8 km/h) 2. Veyron (Bugatti) 3. Léoz-Abad (Bugatti) 4. Durand (Bugatti) 5. Howe (Delage) 6. Girod (Salmson) 7. Maillard-Bruné (MG) 8. Collier (MG) 9. Villeneuve (Bugatti) 10. Mélinant (Bugatti) 11. de Gavardie (Amilcar) Farther back Miss Ellison and Froy had been delayed by several pit stops. On the nineteenth lap Veyron fell further back and Barbieri held a clear grip of the race to take the flag after 20 laps.       The organizers could not wait another 4 or 5 minutes for more drivers to finish the 20 laps. After Barbieri took the flag all other cars were flagged off as well. That meant that only Barbieri and Veyron had made the full distance and while times for the others surely were taken, the results for the others were published just as a lap down.

Race 2: There was a half an hour interval before the start of the second race and the mechanics were busy preparing the cars. Meanwhile, to the relief of drivers and spectators alike, the rain had stopped. The cars lined up on the grid according to the results of the first race (Note 2).

16 Léoz-Abad Bugatti 2 Veyron Bugatti 42 F. Barbieri Maserati 4 Howe Delage 10 Durand Bugatti 18 Villeneuve Bugatti 24 Maillard Bruné MG 28 Collier MG 32 de Gavardie Amilcar 6 Melinant Bugatti 36 Froy MG 14 Ellison Bugatti

When the flag dropped Barbieri once again took control of the race and did the first lap in 3m51s (138.9 km/h). Veyron was just a second behind him with Howe following closely in third position. Behind them followed Durand, Léoz, Collier, Ellison, Maillard, Melinant, Villeneuve and de Gavardie. The race order remained the same during the second lap with Veyron pressing Barbieri hard.       Everything was not well with Barbieri's monoposto Maserati and on the third lap Veyron took the lead doing the lap in 3m47s. On the fourth lap Howe had moved up to second place leaving Barbieri far behind. On the fifth lap Barbieri stopped at the pit and retired. Some sources say he stopped because of an engine problem while L'Express du Midi claims it was because of a split fuel tank. Much of the excitement of the race had now disappeared. Veyron and Howe had a good gap to the rest of the field but Howe was unable to keep up with Veyron. This was the race order after 5 laps: 1. Veyron (Bugatti) 19m13s (139.1 km/h) 2. Howe (Delage) 3. Léoz-Abad (Bugatti) 4. Collier (MG) 5. Durand (Bugatti) 6. Barbieri (Maserati) 7. Ellison (Bugatti) 8. Maillard-Bruné (MG) 9. Villeneuve (Bugatti) 10. Mélinant (Bugatti) 11. Froy (MG) Léoz sent his Bugatti into straw bales at the St Juéry corner at the end of the main straight, which meant that Miss Ellison moved up to fourth place. Collier and de Gavardie had to retire as well. After the 10th lap the race order looked like this: 1. Veyron (Bugatti) 38m35s (138.6 km/h) 2. Howe (Delage) 3.Durand (Bugatti) 4. Ellison (Bugatti) 5. Maillard-Bruné (MG) 6. Villeneuve (Bugatti) 7. Melinant (Bugatti) 8. Froy (MG) After fifteen laps Veyron had established a good lead and only a driving error or mechanical trouble could hinder him from winning. Howe had to make a stop and lost second place to Durand but was able to quickly retake it once back in the race.       After 18 laps Miss Ellison, who had made a good effort so far, stopped at the pit with a burst fuel pipe which allowed Maillard-Brune to take fourth place.       Veyron went on to win the race and also won the event overall. Howe's second place did not hinder Durand, who was third in the race, from finishing second in the aggregate results.       This proved to be Bugatti's last major victory.

Fairfield's calm and calculated drive

The sensation of the race was newcomer Prince Birabongse from Siam, who under the pseudonym "B Bira" was racing an ERA he had got on his 21st birthday. ERAs dominated in the early part of the race, Mays taking the lead in front of Seaman (ERA), Howe (Delage), Veyron (Bugatti), Rovere (Maserati) and Fairfield (ERA). After a poor start Bira went strong and passed Howe on the 3rd lap to give ERA a 1-2-3 lead, but soon all ERAs except for Fairfield's were in trouble. Mays and Seaman had to retire and "Bira" had to stop for new plugs. Fairfield now had a comfortable lead over Veyron, Berrone and "Bira". Howe was out with brake problems and "Bira" was able to go close in on Veyron by 8 seconds per lap and take over 2nd position two laps from the end.

For 1935 a voiturette race was added to the Dieppe Grand Prix arranged by the Automobile Club l'Ouest. As the Sunday race program already was filled up apart from the Grand Prix with two motorcycle races (175/350cc & 250/500cc) the voiturette race had to be run on Saturday. It was to be a two hour race on Dieppe's 8 km 157 m long circuit. Certain minimum distances were prescribed in order for a driver to be classified.       40,000 Francs in total were offered as prizes with the winner getting 15,000 Francs and the runner up 10,000 Francs. On Friday 19th July the Jean Gaupillat memorial created by architect Georges Feray was unveiled in a ceremony where several drivers participated. Gaupillat had died at the 1934 Dieppe Grand Prix when he crashed into a tree.

Entries: As could be expected due to Dieppe's location the entry list included several British drivers but only a few Italians. The entries got their race numbers according to their nation name in French (Amerique, Angleterre, France, Hollande, Italie, Suisse).       Five ERAs were entered for the race. Apart from the two green works cars for Raymond Mays (R1A) and Humphrey Cook (R2A) there was Richard Seaman's black car (R1B), Patrick Fairfield's white 1.1 litre engine car (R4A) and a brand new car (R2B) for Prince Birabongse Bhanutej Bhanubandh from Siam, who raced under the pseudonym "B. Bira". He had received the ERA as a 21st birthday present five days earlier, 15 July, from his cousin Prince Chula Chakrabongse, who also worked as Bira's manager. Bira had started racing on 16 March with a Riley Imp, continuing with a MG K3 Magnette and was now out for bigger things. The car had been bought on the condition that it would be ready for Dieppe and the little ERA factory at Bourne, Lincolnshire, had built the car in an incredibly short time while also preparing the four other cars for Dieppe.       Pierre Veyron, victorious at Albi a week before, raced the works Bugatti T51A. Apart from him there were three British and three French independent Bugatti entries. Earl Howe entered his ten year old 1.5 litre 8-cylinder Grand Prix Delage. Italian entries consisted of the two Maseratis of Ippolito Berrone and Gino Rovere. Rovere had bought Giuseppe Furmanik's 1100cc speed record holder. The car was easily recognizable by its "flames" around the radiator.       The MG competition department was just about to be closed forever but there were four independent MG drivers in the entry list: American Sam Collier who failed appear, British driver Maurice Baumer who raced a MG entered by his Le Mans 24h teammate John Ludovic Ford, French driver Philippe Maillard-Bruné and Dutch driver Eddie Hertzberger.       Douglas Hawkes, director of the Derby car company, entered an experimental Maserati engine single-seater Derby for Mrs Gwenda Stewart. The car was front wheel driven with torsion bars suspension on the front wheels.       The rest of the field consisted of Jean Breillet's Salmson, Alexander Cormack's Alta and Adrian Thorpe's Frazer-Nash. Hans Rüesch could not take part in the race because his Maserati was still not repaired after having suffered gearbox damage a week before during practice for the Albi Grand Prix.

Practice: Practice sessions for cars were held from Thursday to Saturday 6-7.30 a.m.with the Friday and Saturday sessions timed for the grid order. Scrutineering was on Friday from 10-12.       On Thursday Mays assisted Bira to run in the new ERA. The weather was quite bad with rain in the afternoon.       On Friday the drivers set the following times: Fairfield (ERA) 3m52.1 Howe (Delage) 3m54.7s Bira (ERA) 3m56.5s Mays (ERA) 3m56.6s Rovere (Maserati) 3m59.5s Seaman (ERA) 4m01.3s Cook (ERA) 4m01.3s Berrone (Maserati) 4m04.1s Leitch (Bugatti) 4m06.1s Guilbaut (Bugatti) 4m17.7s Hertzberger (MG) 4m18.8s Cormack (Alta) 4m20.0s Baumer (MG) 4m31.4s Mrs Stewart (Derby) 4m34.9s Rayson (Bugatti) 4m35.5s Saturday practice was cold and cloudy. Seaman and Mays were in their own class and the only ones to go under 3m50s, Seaman going over 9 seconds faster than Fairfield on Friday before rain put an end to further practice. The full list of times achieved can be seen on the grid table.       The fuel provided was not up to the standard and several drivers had problems during practice. Richard Seaman had predicted that might be the case and had brought with him his own fuel mixture. It was claimed that Cormack had destroyed his engine because of the fuel.

Race: The race started at 4 p.m. in cold conditions. Violent winds swept over the course pushing black clouds in front of them, rain threatening to fall at any moment. Sadly that meant that the race was poorly attended by spectators compared to what it would have been on a sunny Sunday.       Cormack and Leitch, who had taken part in Friday practice, did not start so there were 19 cars taking positions on the grid.

12 Fairfield ERA 3m52.1s 4 Mays ERA 3m44.9s 10 Seaman ERA 3m42.9s 20 Howe Delage 3m54.7s 8 "B Bira" ERA 3m54.0s 6 Cook ERA 4m01.3s 52 Rovere Maserati 3m59.5s 30 Veyron Bugatti 3m56.3s 48 Hertzberger MG 4m11.1s 50 Berrone Maserati 4m04.1s 24 Thorpe Frazer Nash 4m26.1s 34 Gilbault Bugatti 4m17.7s 16 Rayson Bugatti 4m35.5s 36 Dubois Bugatti 4m31.7s 28 Baumer MG 4m31.9s 44 Briellet Salmson 46 Maillard-Bruné MG 4m55.6s 22 Stewart Derby 4m34.9s 14 Eccles Bugatti (Note 1)

The race was started by legendary French motor sports journalist Charles Faroux, who waved the French flag. Mays and Seaman fought along the main straight for the lead with Mays finally able to get the upper hand to lead after the first lap followed closely by Seaman. Mays had covered the standing lap in 3m50s! The gap to the others was so huge that there was suspicion that a multiple crash had happened and the ambulance was prepared to enter the track.       After the huge gap followed by Howe, Veyron and Rovere. Bira had made a bad start but had then been able to pass Cook and Fairfield for sixth position. Mrs Stewart's Derby, suffering a clutch failure, had not lasted even one lap. Breillet with his Salmson was also out of the race due to engine problems while Thorpe made a pit stop to change plugs.       On the second lap Bira passed both Rovere and Veyron for fourth position and on the third lap he passed Howe in front of the grand stand for third. There were now ERAs in the three top positions. Meanwhile Mays and Seaman, still racing close together, had further opened up the gap to the rest of the field. Seaman made the third lap in 3m47.6s. However, on the fifth lap after having passed the Saint-Aubin village, Seaman's blower drive sheared and he had to park his black ERA. On the same lap Eccles retired his Bugatti with a fractured piston. Rovere had a long stop costing him two laps. Mays now led Bira by 1m05s.       On the seventh lap after a fierce duel Howe managed to re-pass Bira for second position. At the end of the ninth lap Bira was back to second again and Berrone had moved up to third after both had passed Howe.       After 10 laps Bira came in to change an oiled up plug, the operation quickly conducted, but then some time was spent as the mechanic, on loan from the works team, did not know that push starts were allowed and tried to start the ERA with the handle before being corrected by Prince Chula. Howe had also stopped his Delage in the pits due to erratic brakes and eventually decided to call it a day. The race order after 11 laps: 1. Mays (ERA) 2. Fairfield (ERA) 3. Berrone (Maserati) 4. Veyron (Bugatti) 5. Bira (ERA) 6. Cook (ERA) 7. Rayson (Bugati) 8. Herzberger (MG) On the 12th lap Bira lost fifth position to Cook. After 14 laps Thorpe retired with transmission problems. On the 15th lap Bira re-passed Cook for fifth and then remained behind Berrone, who was fourth having lost third position to Veyron.       Mays had increased his lead over Fairfield to 2m40s when he after one hour on the 16th lap made a pit stop to fix a loose oil tank, refueling and to change a plug. Mays had time for a fast cup of tea while the mechanics worked. But then there was trouble and the stop took more than five minutes as the car failed to start on all six cylinders. In desperation warm up plugs were temporarily fixed to remove excess oil but without success.       Mays, now down to sixth, made one lap before returning to the pits. It was then noted there was a hole through the crown of a piston and Mays was out of the race. Maillard-Bruné had also retired his MG with engine problems leaving 11 cars in the race.       The failure of Mays had given the lead to Fairfield followed by Veyron, Bira, Cook, Berrone, Rayson, Hertzberger, Rovere and Guilbaut. The race order after 18 laps: 1. Fairfield (ERA) 2. Veyron (Bugatti) + 48s 3. Berrone (Maserati) 4. Bira (ERA) 5. Cook (ERA) ? 6. Rovere (Maserati) 7. Rayson (Bugatti) On lap 19 Fairfield led Veyron by 55 seconds. After signals from the pits to go faster Bira passed Berrone for third position and started closing in on Veyron, who lost a few seconds each turn to Fairfield. Baumer's MG stopped and was pushed away at the Esses after having misfired for several laps.       After the 22 lap with about thirty minutes remaining of the race the order looked like this: 1. Fairfield (ERA) 2. Veyron (Bugatti) 3. Bira (ERA) 4. Cook (ERA) 5. Berrone (Maserati) 6. Rayson (Bugatti) 7. Hertzberger (MG) 8. Rovere (Maserati) 9. Guilbaut (Bugatti) It had occurred to the works ERA pit that Bira might have a chance to catch Veyron and a man rushed to Prince Chula urging him to give Bira signals to push.       After 25 laps Fairfield led Veyron by 1m13s followed by Bira a further 21s behind. But after the next lap the gap between Veyron and Bira had decreased to 14s and after the 27th lap to just 7 seconds.       At the end of 28th lap with six minutes to go of the race Bira passed Veyron for second position, despite all the efforts made by Veyron to defend himself, the ERA clearly being superior to the old Bugatti.       Rovere, second last, gave over his 1.1 litre record Maserati to Farina, who despite the small engine managed to make a magnificent lap with a time of 3m43.7s, the fastest of the day.       Fairfield took the flag after having done 29 laps in 2 hours for a quite sensational victory. In the next moment a large van entered the course at Maison Blancee by mistake, blocking it while gendarmes were running towards it shouting. They managed to get the van away just before Bira arrived to take an equally sensational second place followed by Veyron. After having done two pit stops Cook came up fast in the end to take fourth position before Berrone.       Fairfield received a traditional bouquet of flowers from Robert Benoist's daughter and Bira was presented another one by Mrs Benoist. After being photographed Bira drew the ERA back to the garage only to run out of fuel! It had been that close.

Wimille's vain attempt to challenge the Alfa Romeos

The Alfa Romeos entered by Scuderia Ferrari for Chiron and Dreyfus took the early lead but Wimille was able to follow and even led for a few laps during the pit stops of the Ferrari drivers before they re-passed him. Chiron was not in form with infuenza and had to make an extra stop because of brake troubles allowing Dreyfus to come out on top in another double victory for Ferrari with Chiron second and Wimille third. The Maserati 6C-34s of Farina (entered by Gino Rovere) and Lehoux could do nothing against the opposition. Farina tried his best to follow the Alfas but had to make an extra pit stop and finished fifth while Lehoux retired.

For 1935 the Dieppe race, arranged as usual by the Automobile Club l'Ouest, was run in a new format. The heats were gone and instead there was a two hour voiturette race on Saturday between 4 and 6 p.m. and a three hour Grand Prix race on Sunday between 2:15 and 5:15 p.m.

Entries: The race numbers for the entries were selected country by country in French alphabetic order order (i.e. Angleterre, France, Italie and Suisse).       Scuderia Ferrari seems to have entered the same beam axle Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3s for Louis Chiron and René Dreyfus that had been seen at the Grand Prix of Lorraine and Marne. Chiron was not in form and still suffering from a bad influenza. "Raph" drove his own Alfa Romeo Tipo B (#5006) and Richard Shuttleworth his green Tipo B (#5007).       The works Bugatti team entered two of their T59s for Jean-Pierre Wimille and Robert Benoist. All four British T59s were entered as well to be driven by Lindsay Eccles, Lord Howe, Brian Lewis and Charles Martin. However, Martin's car was damaged and he decided to use his old 2.3 litre Bugatti instead. Lesser know Bugatti drivers were Bernard Chaude with a T51 and Jock Leith with a T35B.       The organizers were disappointed that Scuderia Subalpina with their new 8-cylinder Maserati failed to appear. But Giuseppe Farina was present with Gino Rovere's 6-cylinder Maserati as was Hans Rüesch with his similar car, painted in the Swiss red and white colours.       Marcel Lehoux was to race Count Villapadierna's 8CM (repainted blue according to Motor Sport). Robert Brunet drove Ecurie Nelly Braillard's modified Maserati 8CM and Frederick Clifford drove an old Maserati 8C owned by Eric Burt and previously raced by Brian Lewis and Tim Rose-Richards. Buddy Featherstonhaugh entered an ex-Whitney Straight Maserati 26M (#44) still equipped with Brooklands silencer.

Practice: Practice took place from Thursday to Saturday, for motor cycles from 5 to 6 a.m. and for cars from 6 to 7:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday practices were timed to decide the grid positions.       Thursday practice was of little interest with only a few drivers present but Friday practice already brought a lot of spectators to the race course despite the early hour. Chiron proved to be fastest setting a time of 3m32.1s corresponding to a speed of 138.33 km/h and shattering Lehoux' old lap record of 3m41s. Brian Lewis had a bad crash at Val Gosset. He suffered from multiple injuries and did not start. The voiturettes were scutineered from 10 a.m. to noon and the Grand Prix cars from 2 to 5 p.m.       Results: Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 3m32.1s, Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 3m33.8s, Lehoux (Maserati) 3m37.6s, Farina (Maserati) 3m40,9s, Featherstonhaugh (Maserati) 3m46.1s, "Raph" (Alfa Romeo) 3m58.5s, Chaude (Bugatti) 4m09.4s, Clifford (Maserati) 4m11.2s, Shuttleworth (Alfa Romeo) 4m13.0s, Brunet (Maserati) 4m22.2s, Martin (Bugatti) 4m45.8s, Eccles (Bugatti) 4m58.1s.       Due to his influenza Chiron decided not to practice on Saturday. His team mate Dreyfus improved his time to 3m29.6s to take pole position. Many of the other drivers improved their times as well most of them doing laps in less than 4 minutes (see the grid for times). During the latter part of the practice it started to rain. The works Bugattis had been sent away from Molsheim as late as Friday evening, so they failed to appear at the practice sessions. While Wimille was familiar with the circuit it was unknown to Benoist, who however was able to do a few slow laps in the rain at the end of the practice with Lord Howe's car.

Race: On Sunday the weather proved to be better than on Saturday with clear sky and bright sunshine. However a strong and rather cool wind was still blowing across the circuit.       The events of the day started at 9 a.m. with two motorcycle races in four classes and the races went on until noon. The Grand Prix start was scheduled at 2:15 p.m. and a huge crowd had gathered on the stands and along the circuit.       Shortly before 2 o'clock the cars were pushed to the grid and arranged in the following order. It was interesting to see that the works Bugatti drivers had secured positions in the second and third rows despite not setting any practice times.

24 Lehoux Maserati 3m37.6s 32 Chiron Alfa Romeo 3m32.1s 34 Dreyfus Alfa Romeo 3m29.6s 20 Wimille Bugatti - 40 Farina Maserati 3m37.9s 2 Howe Bugatti 3m47.2s 14 Featherstonhaugh Maserati 3m46.1s 18 Benoist Bugatti - 16 Shuttleworth Alfa Romeo 3m52.7s 42 Rüesch Maserati 3m47.3s 30 "Raph" Alfa Romeo 3m56.3s 8 Eccles Bugatti 3m55.2s 28 Brunet Maserati 4m00.6s 6 Martin Bugatti 4m00.3s 12 Clifford Maserati 4m11.2s 22 Chaude Bugatti 4m09.4s 10 Leith Bugatti 4m06.1s

When Charles Faroux at exactly 2:15 p.m. flagged away the 17 cars, Chiron made the best start to lead the field into Val Gosset followed by Farina and Dreyfus, Lehoux and Wimille. Before the end of the lap Dreyfus had passed Farina for second position. Earl Howe made a pit top already at the end of the lap.       On the second lap Wimille went past Lehoux to take fourth position and closed in on Farina.       Chiron made the first two laps in 7m18.7s (134.9 km/h). He was followed by Dreyfus, Farina, Wimille, Lehoux, Shuttleworth, Brunet and "Raph". Martin stopped in the pit at the end of the lap for a spark-plug change but then had to retire after three laps with a broken engine.       Farina was a hard competitor to pass but on the third lap Wimille managed to go by on the main straight, putting his car so close to the side of the road that he pulled up huge clouds of dust and setting the fastest lap of the day with a time of 3m32.6s. Chaude had problems with his Bugatti and had to stop in the pits and Eccles made a short stop as well.       Chiron made lap three in 3m34s and lap four in 3m34.9s improving the medium speed to 135.3 km/h. Benoist retired the works Bugatti with a broken supercharger and Howe stopped for new plugs. The order after 4 laps: 1. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 14m27.6s (135.3 km/h) 2. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 3. Wimille (Bugatti) 4. Farina (Maserati) 5. Lehoux (Maserati) 6. Shuttleworth (Alfa Romeo) 7. Eccles (Bugatti) 8. "Raph" (Alfa Romeo) 9. Brunet (Maserati) 10. Rüesch (Maserati) 11. Featherstonhaugh (Maserati) 12. Clifford (Maserati) 13. Leith (Bugatti) The top trio was now pulling away from the rest of the field with Farina losing ground to Wimille, who was chasing the Scuderia Ferrari duo.       On the fifth lap Chiron was passed by Dreyfus, who then made the first five laps in 18m04.4s (135.3 km/h) and six laps in 21m28.8s (135.5 km/h). Eccles retired with brake trouble and Leith had to make a one minute pit stop.       After eight laps the race order remained mostly the same except that Rüesch had passed Brunet: 1. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 28m48s (135.8 km/h) 2. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 28m52.3s 3. Wimille (Bugatti) 28m53s 4. Farina (Maserati) 29m25s 5. Lehoux (Maserati) 29m56s 6. Shuttleworth (Alfa Romeo) 30m59.7s 7. "Raph" (Alfa Romeo) 31m08.5s 8. Rüesch (Maserati) 31m22.8s The gap between the top trio and the midfield was getting bigger by each lap. The Scuderia Ferrari drivers were running close together with Wimille following some 10 seconds behind. Farina followed far behind them with another huge gap to Shuttleworth, "Raph", Brunet and Rüesch. Several drivers had already been lapped.       When Farina made a pit stop on the 11th lap he fell behind and Lehoux took over fourth position.       The speeds were slowly going down, and the leading Alfa Romeo drivers were now making 3m38s laps against 3m34s laps early in the race.       Chaude went off track and got stuck in the sand at Saint-Aubin but was able to free the car and rejoin the race. However he would retire a few laps later with an oil leak.       The situation after 12 laps: 1. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 43m18.9s (135.5 km/h) 2. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 43m21.3s 3. Wimille (Bugatti) 43m29.3s 4. Lehoux (Maserati) 45m16.3s 5. Shuttleworth (Alfa Romeo) 46m30.2s On the next lap Chiron retook the lead from Dreyfus, making 13 laps in 46m56.6s (135.4 km/h). Wimille was still following the Alfas but the engine of his Bugatti had lost its edge and was sounding dull. The speed continued to go down, Chiron was doing 15 laps in 54m18.6s (135.1 km/h).       Situation after 16 laps with roughly one third of the race done: 1. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 58m00.2s (134.9 km/h) 2. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 58m01.4s 3. Wimille (Bugatti) 58m13.8s 4. Lehoux (Maserati) 1h00m39.3s 5. Shuttleworth (Alfa Romeo) 1h02m07.6s 6. "Raph" (Alfa Romeo) 1h02m09.2s 7. Rüesch (Maserati) 1h02m22.2s 8. Brunet (Maserati) 1h03m38.4s 9. Clifford (Maserati) 1h05m12.5s 10. Farina (Maserati) 1h05m48.8s Chiron's lap times went momentarily up to 3m43s, doing 17 laps in 1h01m42.8s (134.7 km/h). Chiron improved again to 3m38s during the next laps, doing 19 laps in 1h09m01.4s.       Lehoux had to abandon his Maserati at St.Aubin, as the car was losing fuel and he walked back to the pits. Shuttleworth was now up to fourth position but he was already a lap behind the top trio.       After 20 laps the order was as follows: 1. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 1h12m39.6s (134.6 km/h) 2. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 1h12m41.9s 3. Wimille (Bugatti) 1h12m54.1s 4. Shuttleworth (Alfa Romeo) 1h17m24.7s 5. "Raph" (Alfa Romeo) 1h17m44.1s 6. Rüesch (Maserati) 1h17m54.1s 7. Brunet (Maserati) 1h19m31.3s 8. Farina (Maserati) 1h20m50.6s 9. Clifford (Maserati) 1h21m34.8s 10. Howe (Bugatti) 1h22m22.0s A little after halfway through the race, on the 26th lap, Chiron made his scheduled fuel stop, which took 40 seconds and he rejoined in third position. A lap later it was Dreyfus' turn to stop for fuel and to the joy of the local spectators Wimille in the Bugatti now led the race for two laps until the Alfa Romeo duo caught him. Chiron regained the lead easily but it took a bit longer for Dreyfus to find a way past Wimille for second position. Then it was Wimille's turn to stop for fuel and new spark plugs. The latter operation gave new life to the Bugatti engine and once away Wimille was able to regain some ground on Chiron and Dreyfus.       It was an eventful and unfortunate race for Earl Howe. His Bugatti had been misfiring during the first part of the race and when Howe came in for his scheduled fuel stop the mechanic made a mistake and poured a huge amount of fuel over the driver. Howe had to jump out of the car and make a full change of clothes, losing more than a lap. When he finally was able to rejoin the race the brakes worked unevenly at Val Gosset and the Bugatti missed the corner and landed among the straw bales. It was only after a long time and with great difficulty that Howe was able to extract the car out of the straw and get restarted.       After 32 laps, about two hours into the race, Chiron was leading Dreyfus by 2 seconds with Wimille a further 38 seconds behind.       Further back in the field "Raph" was losing positions as his monoposto Alfa Romeo had developed bad misfire. That put Rüesch up to fifth position and Brunet to sixth. Meantime, Farina, who had fallen back due to pit stops, was going strongly passing both "Raph" and Brunet and finally near the end of the race also Rüesch.       On the 36th lap Wimille gained 13 seconds on Dreyfus, who then attacked and passed Chiron. However the Monegasque driver almost immediately answered by retaking the lead and opened up a gap. But suddenly the situation changed dramatically as Chiron made a short pit stop for brake adjustments which placed Dreyfus back into the lead with 25 minutes to go but the gap to Wimille was now down to 19 seconds.       While Wimille had little hope of challenging Dreyfus, who was increasing his speed, for the lead, he was doing his best to keep his position. But Chiron was getting closer every lap even if he once had to brake hard when he was blocked by a back-marker and he forced Wimille to take everything out of his car. But the Bugatti could not stand the forced pace. Near the end of the race a piston cracked. At the end of the 46th lap Chiron was just 3 seconds behind Wimille. On the 47th lap with only five minutes to go in the race Chiron took over second position as a wildly gesticulating Wimille was forced to slow down.       Dreyfus had established a 37 seconds gap and while Chiron closed in on him on the last lap Dreyfus had the race under control to take the victory with Chiron about 15 seconds behind while Wimille in the end lost over a minute to Chiron and failed to make 49 laps before the end of the three hours. Shuttleworth finished fourth in his Alfa Romeo after a steady drive but four laps behind the winner. He just managed to avoid being caught by Farina who finished fifth with Rüesch close behind him in sixth position. Brunet was seventh and Raph eighth, both having completed 44 laps. They were followed by four British drivers, Clifford, Leigh and Featherstonhaugh, whose Maserati had been plagued by engine problems throughout the race, and unlucky Howe.