Seaman and "Bira" show the works team how it should be done

After their recent good performance the ERAs were expected to win the voiturette race. But with both the works cars driven by Mays and zu Leiningen falling back early in the race it was Seaman's private ERA that dominated the event. Bira was second after a long fight with Ghersi (Maserati), whose good race was destroyed by a magneto problem during the last laps, and Ghersi had to see both Earl Howe (Delage) and Tuffanelli (Maserati) pass him at the end.

Entries: The Prix the Berne once again attracted the Voiturette elite. The ERAs were visiting Switzerland for the first time. They were the favorites after having shown at Eifelrennen, Dieppe and Pescara that they had had the edge over the Bugattis and the Maseratis. In the ERA works team Raymond Mays was joined by Hermann zu Leiningen to drive R2A and R1A. A third works entry with Pat Fairfield was scratched as the team was not able to get the car ready in time. Some sources claim that works cars had an experimental Zoller supercharger fitted instead of the usual with 100mm Murray-Jamieson.       Last year's winner Dick Seaman and Prince Bira had entered their own cars, R1B and R2B "Romulus". Bira's car was a late entry but was accepted due to Bira's fine second place finish at Dieppe. In Wheels at Speed Prince Chula claims that the organizers asked for all the cars to be painted in national colors. The works cars were in their usual variant of "British green" called "E.R.A. green". Siam had no national racing colors but a Siamese flag was added to the rear of Bira's car and for the first time the car also featured a picture of a white mouse on the side of the cockpit to indicate the "white mouse team". One can wonder how Seaman managed to get permission to start with his black colored car.       Earl Howe entered his old 8 cylinder Grand Prix Delage fitted with larger brakes than originally and with a heavy ENV preselector gear box.       There seems to have been three of the rare 8 cylinder twin cam supercharged Bugatti T51As present: a works car for Pierre Veyron, a private Swiss one, formerly owned by Pierre Veyron and entered by Florian Schmidt for Bruno Sojka, and a T39C converted to single seater, looking more like a little Mercedes than a traditional Bugatti, to be raced by German driver Rudolf Steinweg. Thomas Cholmondeley-Tapper entered a 4 cylinder Bugatti T37A.       There were two Swiss 1.5 liter Maserati entries: Hans Kessler with a 4CM and Hans Rüesch in a 4CS, both two colored with a white front part and red rear part. Rüesch's car had caught fire during the Nice Grand Prix and the mechanics worked hard to get it ready again in time for his home race.       An interesting entry was Mrs. Gwenda Stewart in a Derby racer with independent suspension and four wheel drive, powered by a 1.5 litre Maserati engine. Mrs. Stewart would later marry the constructor of the car, Douglas Hawkes.       Among the smaller cars 1.1 litre Maseratis were entered by Scuderia Subalpina for Pietro Ghersi (4CS, red with yellow wheels) and by Giuseppe Tuffanelli (4CM).       There were also four 0.7 litre M.G. entries: British Kenneth Evans and Reggie Tongue, each with a dark green colored 1935 R-type, German driver Bobby Kohlrausch with a white C type "Magic Midget" and Dutch driver Harry Herkuleyns with a Q type.

Practice: Practice started on Thursday at 3 p.m. for the Grand Prix cars and was followed at 5:30 for the voiturettes. Practice time was short but Mays had already used his Bentley salon earlier that day to learn the circuit and he proved to be fastest with Bira second, while zu Leiningen had continuous technical problems and Seaman did not make a complete timed lap.       Seaman had felt that the engine was not giving full power and a fuel sample sent to a chemist in Berne confirmed his suspicion that the fuel supplied by the organizers was not according to the standard. Seaman had therefore fuel with the correct specification made up for him from another source.       Friday practice for the voiturettes got a later start due to Geier's crash in the GP class. Mays and Bira proved to be equally fastest with a time of 3m08.2s. Howe was third with 3m21.4s followed by zu Leiningen 3m23.9s, Veyron 3m25.8s and Kessler 3m29.3s. Seaman did not take part in the practice.       On Saturday the voiturettes got to practice before the GP cars but it had rained all morning and the track was slippery. Still Seaman, obviously now with his new fuel, put a 3m18.8 lap to take third grid position.       Ghersi and Tuffanelli arrived late on Saturday and were allowed to do a few laps after the GP class practice. While Tuffanelli was slow Ghersi surprised by putting in a fast lap to take third grid position from Seaman.

Race: With Geier having destroyed half of the signal boxes in his Friday crash the boxes were considered unsafe and it was decided to build temporary sandbag signal boxes before the pit straight. The problem was that the place was far away from the pits and it was impossible to get the telephone system installed in time. So in the end at least some of the teams got the permission to move back to the original signal boxes.       Sunday morning was rainy but the rain stopped at 10 o'clock and the sun broke through the clouds as the 18 cars were pushed to the grid. The start was planned for 10:30 and the cars were lined up according to their qualifying times like this:

94 Ghersi Maserati 90 "B Bira" ERA 72 Mays ERA 66 Howe Delage 68 Seaman ERA 86 Kessler Maserati 58 Veyron Bugatti 74 zu Leiningen ERA 64 Evans MG 54 Kohlrausch MG 62 Cholmondeley Bugatti 88 Rüesch Maserati 70 Tongue MG 92 Sojka Bugatti 56 Steinweg Bugatti 84 Herkuleyns MG 60 Stewart Derby 82 Tuffanelli Maserati

Mays from his pole position immediately took the lead of the race. He was followed by Seaman, Howe, Bira and Ghersi. Evans stalled his M.G. and four mechanics and personnel were rushing to his aid. Stewart also had problems to get up to speed.       In the wood section Seaman passed Mays and Bira swept by Howe so that after the first lap Seaman was leading from Mays, Bira, Howe, Ghersi, zu Leiningen, Veyron, Kessler, Kohlrausch , Steinweg, Rüesch, Cholmondeley-Tapper, Tuffanelli, Tongue, Sojka, Herkuleyns, Stewart and Evans.       On the second lap Seaman opened up a gap to Mays. Howe had to give over fourth position to Ghersi and zu Leiningen had to stop for new plugs and dropped to the rear of the field. Having started from the last row of the grid Tuffanelli now passed Cholmondeley-Tapper and Steinweg for 10th position behind Rüesch.       On the third lap not much happened except that Evans passed Mrs. Stewart. Seaman had already widened up the gap over Mays to 20 seconds and at the end of the lap Mays pitted with an oil leak in the carburettor breather pipe that was throwing out oil in the cockpit. After repairs and a change of all six plugs Mays returned to the race in 13th position. Ghersi was now within 4 seconds of Bira and closing. On the fourth lap Evans passed Herkuleyns. A broken cable meant that Kessler totally lost his brakes, but he decided to continue, braking only with the gearbox. He was passed on the fifth lap by Kohlrausch, Rüesch and Tuffanelli. Situation after 5 laps: 1. Seaman (ERA) 16m18.1s 2. "B. Bira" (ERA) 16m56.1s 3. Ghersi (Maserati) 16m58.0s 4. Howe (Delage) 17m08.8s 5. Veyron (Bugatti) 17m45.3s 6. Kohlrausch (M.G.) 7. Rüesch (Maserati) 8. Tuffanelli (Maserati) 9. Kessler (Maserati) 10. Steinweg (Bugatti) 11. Cholmondeley-Tapper (Bugatti) 12. Tongue (M.G.) 13. Mays (ERA) 14. Evans (M.G.) 15. Sojka (Bugatti) 16. zu Leiningen (ERA) 17. Herkuleyns (M.G.) 18. Mrs. Stewart (Derby) Sojka suffered from a leaking radiator that forced him to refill water and he fell back.and eventually retired.       On the sixth lap Bira went wide in a corner and Ghersi passed him for second position but Bira was able to re-pass at the end of the next lap in front of the pits.       Veyron was struggling and Kohlrausch in his little M.G. passed to claim fifth position momentarily. On the sixth and seventh laps the Maserati duo of Rüesch and Tuffanelli then passed both Veyron and Kohlrausch. There were no other changes in the race order apart from Mays, who slowly was making up positions after his lengthy pit stop.       Bruno Sojka, whose Bugatti had not run well for the entire race, retired on the eighth lap with slipping clutch and Tongue retired as well two laps later. Race order after 10 laps: 1. Seaman (ERA) 32m32.9s 2. "B. Bira" (ERA) 33m24.8s 3. Ghersi (Maserati) 33m33.8s 4. Howe (Delage) 34m01.0s 5. Rüesch (Maserati) 34m41.8s 6. Tuffanelli (Maserati) 7. Kohlrausch (M.G.) 8. Veyron (Bugatti) 9. Kessler (Maserati) 10. Mays (ERA) 11. Steinweg (Bugatti) 12. Cholmondeley-Tapper (Bugatti) 13. Evans (M.G.) 14. zu Leiningen (ERA) 15. Herkuleyns (M.G.) 16. Mrs. Stewart (Derby) On the 12th lap Seaman already held a 1m20s lead. Behind him the battle for second position between Bira and Ghersi continued with the cars being mostly less than 4 seconds apart. On the thirteenth lap Tuffanelli passed Rüesch for fifth position and Mays passed Veyron and Kohlrausch for seventh. Order after 15 laps: 1. Seaman (ERA) 48m54.5s 2. "B. Bira" (ERA) 50m02.0s 3. Ghersi (Maserati) 50m06.5s 4. Howe (Delage) 50m44.1s 5. Tuffanelli (Maserati) 51m05.2s 6. Rüesch (Maserati) 7. Mays (ERA) 8. Kohlrausch (M.G.) 9. Veyron (Bugatti) 10. Kessler (Maserati) 11. Steinweg (Bugatti) 12. Cholmondeley-Tapper (Bugatti) 13. Evans (M.G.) 14. zu Leiningen (ERA) 15. Herkuleyns (M.G.) 16. Mrs. Stewart (Derby) After a good race against much stronger opposition Kohlrausch had to retire his little M.G. with a broken supercharger. Veyron also retired to the box with a broken fuel line.       After eighteen laps Bira had opened up an 11 second gap over Ghersi who was suffering from serious magneto troubles and falling back fast. After Seaman and Bira had passed the finish line to start their last laps three cars arrived to the main straight in a bunch, Herkuleyns, already lapped, Ghersi and Howe. Howe passed both the others in front of the grandstand to take third position but he was now almost a minute behind Bira.       One and a half minutes later Seaman arrived again to take the chequered flag and to win the race in dominant style. Bira's second position was equally clear and Howe finished third in the Delage. Tuffanelli finished a good fourth having worked his way through the field and having passed Ghersi on the last lap. Ghersi was a disappointing fifth after a fine drive, Rüesch sixth and Mays, whose Era had worked well after the repairs, eighth and last finisher not to be lapped. Steinweg had on the last lap managed to get by the brakeless Kessler. Then followed Cholmondeley-Tapper, Evans, zu Leiningen, who had suffered from misfire throughout the race, Herkuleyns and Mrs. Stewart.

Caracciola with Mercedes-Benz superior winners

At the 1935 Swiss Grand Prix the German teams from Daimler-Benz and Auto Union plus the Italian teams from Alfa Romeo and Maserati met for battle but the French Bugatti team was absent. From the 18 starters Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) led from start to finish, followed by his team mate Fagioli in second place and Rosemeyer (Auto Union) third. Varzi (Auto Union), who held an early second place, finished fourth, ahead of Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) and Lang (Mercedes-Benz). There were 12 finishers, amongst them Stuck (Auto Union) who held an early second place for several laps but after tire failure passed his car on the reserve driver Pietsch. Temporary rain slowed the pace but the road surface began to dry after lap 44 from a total of 70 laps. Early in the race Chiron (Alfa Romeo) had a scary crash but luckily without serious injuries. During practice a horrific high speed crash happened, from which the badly hurt driver Geier (Mercedes-Benz) was lucky to survive.

After the Swiss AC had successfully held their first Grand Prix in 1934, the AIACR elevated their second Grand Prix to Grande Épreuve status. Only racing cars complying with the present 750 kg formula were admitted. The race was again held in the Bremgarten Forest of Bern over 70 laps of the fast 7.28 km circuit, a total distance of 509.6 km. First prize was 15,000 Swiss Franc, second Fr. 10,000, third Fr. 5,000, fourth Fr. 2,500 and fifth Fr. 1,000. For special accomplishments like lap records, valuable objects were presented. As a prelude to the Grand Prix, the Preis von Bern, an international race for voiturettes, was to take place on Sunday morning.

Entries: Auto Union arrived with their Type B cars for Hans Stuck, Achille Varzi and Bernd Rosemeyer as the registered drivers with Paul Pietsch and Hermann Prinz zu Leiningen as reserve drivers. The team manager was Willi Walb.       Daimler-Benz did not spare their efforts either and was present in full force with with six cars. Rudolf Caracciola, Manfred von Brauchitsch and reserve driver Hermann Lang had 1935 models while Luigi Fagioli drove an updated 1934 car with the larger engine fitted. In addition the factory brought along a 1934 car for practice and their second reserve driver Hanns Geier. The sixth car was a surprise, to test for the first time the 1936 prototype, which was a lower and slimmer, more rounded racecar. The 8-cylinder engine was slightly tilted down towards the rear, so that the lightweight driveshaft leading to the rear gearbox could be lowered by 50 mm. Accordingly the seat was lowered and the fuel tank behind the driver was flattened, all resulting in lowering the center of gravity. The exhaust pipe was now located at the bottom level below the rear axle. The new car carried the #1 and was driven by Caracciola during practice 2 and 3. During Saturday's rainy practice 3 the new car showed excellent road holding when Caracciola drove the fastest time. With this prototype Caracciola had established the second best time in practice 2, but he decided to start with the regular 1935 model car.       Scuderia Ferrari, the racing arm for the Alfa Romeo factory, arrived with three red Tipo B/P3 Alfa Romeos with the proven 3.2-liter engine and Dubonnet independent front suspension for Tazio Nuvolari, Louis Chiron and René Dreyfus. Two older Tipo B/P3 models were entered independently by Raymond Sommer and Ferdinando Barbieri.       Scuderia Subalpina, who represented the Maserati factory, did not appear as expected with their new V8-cylinder Maserati but instead entered the old red 6C34 car for Philippe Etancelin and an 8CM for Eugenio Siena. Renato Balestrero was the driver for Gruppo San Giorgio from Genova with an older 2.5-liter Maserati. Other independent Maseratis entries completed the field, like the red 6C34 by Giuseppe Farina, entered by the owner Gino Rovere, while Brian Lewis drove Earl Howe's 8CM. Hungarian Laszlo Hartmann's 8CM was red, silver and green while Hans Rüesch entered a 6C34 and Benoit Falchetto a Maserati 8CM.

Practice: Official practice started on Thursday from 3:45 to 5:00 PM, with the same times for Friday and 1:30 to 2:30 PM on Saturday. Every driver had to complete at least ten laps of which five had to be driven continuously without interruption. Practice this year was of greater importance since the fastest lap times decided the starting order. On the first practice day the independent drivers Earl Howe, Brian Lewis and Sommer familiarized themselves with the track. Although Chiron and Dreyfus were already in Bern, their team, Scuderia Ferrari, did not take part while Nuvolari, the third team driver, was still busy in Monza testing the new 12-cylinder Alfa Romeo. The two German teams from Auto Union and Daimler-Benz were present, flawlessly prepared, complete with their reserve drivers. Stuck made the fastest time in 2m41.1s at 162.682 km/h. Benoit Falchetto did not appear since his car could not be repaired in time. The fastest individually timed laps by the time keepers were as follows: Stuck (Auto Union) 2m41.1s Varzi (Auto Union) 2m43.3s Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 2m47.6s Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 2m49.4s v. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 2m52.6s Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 2m52.6s Geier (Mercedes-Benz) 2m53.2s Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 2m53.9s Earl Howe (Bugatti) 3m09.1s Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 3m14.6s Lewis (Maserati) 3m31.2s Friday times improved from lap to lap because they determined the starting order for the race. Caracciola practiced with the new Mercedes prototype. Naturally every driver tried his best to obtain a good starting position. This was also the indirect cause of Mercedes reserve driver Geier's regrettable accident, which interrupted the practice session. At the very fast right turn just before the grandstand straight his Mercedes rear end took a sudden skid to the left at about 240 km/h and hit a wooden empty motorcycle pit where he was thrown out of his cockpit and was flung about 20 meters ending up under the running board of a parked car. The racecar had bounced off across the track like a projectile and hit a large tree where it broke into several pieces. The engine, which was ripped off, and front wheels remained near the tree while the rest of the car catapulted with great impact across the track and stopped against a wooden fence. The seriously injured driver was transported to hospital in a sidecar with the German teams' Dr. Gläser, who saved Geier's life, on the pillion of the motorcycle behind the rider. According to medical reports the unconscious Geier had suffered a concussion and serious jaw and feet injuries but no inner organs were affected. He remained unconscious for seven days and stayed in the hospital for over four months. The spectators were greatly agitated. A few hundred meters behind Geier's Mercedes arrived several competitors, all of whom were able to stop before the crash scene except Chiron, who had been following very closely. Despite hard braking, he could not avoid driving into the huge dust cloud which the impact of Geier's car had caused. Later, Chiron stated that he had driven at high speed into the unknown and lacked any vision as he drove through the flying debris fortunately without damaging his car or himself. After the wreckage was cleared away, practice was continued. Now all drivers slowed on their own volition at this high speed corner. From the independent drivers only Barbieri did not appear and had announced his abandonment from the start while the Swiss Rüesch was still lingering in Monza where his 1500 Maserati, which had caught fire at the Nice Grand Prix, was test driven after the repairs. It was hoped that Rüesch, would arrive for Saturday practice. Eugenio Siena of the Scuderia Subalpina did not arrive. Friday's best lap times from the time keepers decided the order on the starting grid and were as follows: Varzi (Auto Union) 2m41.8s Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 2m42.8s Stuck (Auto Union) 2m43.6s Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 2m44.2s Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 2m45.3s Geier (Mercedes-Benz) 2m48.2s Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 2m49.1s Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 2m50.2s v. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 2m50.8s Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 2m51.8s Farina (Maserati) 3m06.0s Earl Howe (Bugatti) 3m07.0s Etancelin (Maserati) 3m07.1s Hartmann (Maserati) 3m25.6s Lewis (Maserati) 3m28.8s Balestrero (Maserati) 3m37.3s Geier's practice time placed his Mercedes sixth on the grid. Since the injured Geier could not start and his car was destroyed, Lang as alternative reserve driver would take the sixth place on the starting grid in the #42 Mercedes training car, which became an additional fourth Daimler-Benz entry.       During Saturday's rainy practice, the track remained wet and Friday's lap times could not be reached. With the exception of Howe, Lewis and Balestrero, the other drivers were all present and used the brief time to lap the wet circuit. Caracciola did the fastest lap. He once more drove the 1936 prototype Mercedes during Saturday practice. The best lap times from the time keepers were as follows: Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 3m04.7s Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 3m09.0s Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 3m10.4s Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 3m11.8s Stuck (Auto Union) 3m17.5s Varzi (Auto Union) 3m18.1s v. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 3m18.8s Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 3m21.8s Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 3m26.1s Farina (Maserati) 3m28.4s Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 3m28.8s Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 3m31.8s Etancelin (Maserati) 3m35.5s Hartmann (Maserati) 3m44.2s Barbieri (Alfa Romeo) 3m45.5s During Saturday the Swiss driver Rüesch arrived from Italy after a difficult trip with his mechanics and the repaired 1.5-liter racecar. He also announced that he would not appear in the Grand Prix since he had originally planned to start with the new 8-cylinder Maserati, but this model was not yet available. Instead, Rüesch raced his 1500 Maserati in the Preis von Bern event.

Race: During the days before the race thousands of spectators had arrived in Bern. On Sunday the early morning rain had stopped and spectators arrived from all directions on bicycles, cars, trucks and buses. An estimated crowd of 40.000 had assembled around the course plus those in the grandstand, which was sold out. The sky was still overcast at 1:15 PM when the 18 cars began forming a seven row grid. The racetrack had dried off but was in parts still wet which made the correct tire decision difficult. Daimler-Benz opted for dry tires at the rear and gesommerte (rain-treated) tires in front. Auto Union did likewise, except the car of Varzi, who started with rain-treated tires also on his rear wheels so he could accelerate better especially on the first lap. Eventually the one minute signal was given by Race Director Huber and all engines were started, except for Balestrero in the last row having problems firing up his Maserati, and was pushed backwards and forwards to bring it alive by push starting.

4 Stuck Auto Union 2m43.6s 10 Caracciola Mercedes-Benz 2m42.8s 6 Varzi Auto Union 2m41.8s 2 Rosemeyer Auto Union 2m45.3s 12 Fagioli Mercedes-Benz 2m44.2s 30 Dreyfus Alfa Romeo 2m50.2s 32 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 2m49.1s 42 Lang Mercedes-Benz 2m48.2s 28 Chiron Alfa Romeo 2m51.8s 8 Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 2m50.8s 34 Etancelin Maserati 3m07.1s 18 Howe Bugatti 3m07.0s 22 Farina Maserati 3m06.0s 20 Lewis Maserati 3m28.8s 40 L Hartmann Maserati 3m25.6s 24 Barbieri Alfa Romeo --- 26 Balestrero Maserati 3m37.3s 16 Sommer Alfa Romeo ---

At 1:30 PM Race Director Huber gave the starting signal, waving the red Swiss flag with the white cross. To the infernal howling and thundering of the wild pack Caracciola took the immediate lead, followed by Varzi, Stuck and Fagioli. After less than three minutes the approaching sound of the monsters could be heard at the main grandstand. At the end of the first lap, after 2m56s with a lap of 154 km/h average speed, Caracciola shot past the finish, seven seconds ahead of Varzi with Stuck a close third, then a gap to Fagioli and Rosemeyer, followed by Nuvolari 300 meters behind and closely chased by Lang. After a long gap there appeared Dreyfus, Brauchitsch, Chiron and Farina while way behind were Hartmann, Sommer, Barbieri, Lewis, Howe and finally Balestrero. Etancelin ended his race at the slow right-hand Eymatt turn, where he drove into the sandbags but was not injured.       After two laps Caracciola had 8 seconds advantage to Stuck in second place while Varzi had fallen to third position. He avoided Etancelin's stricken car which blocked the track at the slower Eymatt turn with a wide maneuver and hit the track fencing, somewhat damaging the rear axle of his Auto Union. Varzi was now slightly handicapped from fighting with the leading drivers and steadily fell slowly behind but with determination he completed the entire race.       Brauchitsch had passed Dreyfus for eighth place. Hartmann and Sommer followed already one minute behind the leader while Barbieri stopped at his pit for one minute.       On the third lap Caracciola was still in command with a new record lap of 2m48.4s, now 12 s ahead of Stuck, who was closely followed by Fagioli and Rosemeyer. The handicapped Varzi could no longer keep up with Fagioli and Rosemeyer and had fallen from third to fifth place. Chiron passed Dreyfus for ninth place and Barbieri retired his Alfa Romeo.       On lap four Caracciola lapped Balestrero. Stuck followed 14 seconds behind. Hartmann encountered gearbox problems at the Kiesgrube and spun his Maserati backwards up a slope but was able to recover. On lap four, Brian Lewis had left the track and retired.       At the end of lap five Caracciola headed Stuck by 16.5 seconds. Nuvolari was 41 seconds behind the leader, while Lang was passed by Brauchitsch. There was a good race for second place. Stuck, Fagioli and Rosemeyer were separated by only a second. With Etancelin, Lewis and Barbieri retired, the field was down to 25 cars after 5 laps in this order: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 14m11.3s 2. Stuck (Auto Union) 14m27.8s 3. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 14m28.4s 4. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 14m28.9s 5. Varzi (Auto Union) 14m45.7s 6. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 7. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 8. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 9. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 10. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 11. Farina (Maserati) 12. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 13. Hartmann (Maserati) 14. Howe (Bugatti) 15. Balestrero (Maserati) After the fifth lap Varzi stopped at the pits to have the rear axle checked for possible damage sustained at the Etancelin incident. On the sixth lap Caracciola drove a new fastest lap in 2m47s. Fagioli passed Stuck for second place. On lap seven Rosemeyer drove a fast lap in 2m47.1s when Chiron passed Lang. On the ninth lap Howe stopped at the pits and shortly thereafter Dreyfus also stopped. They both left after a few seconds. Chiron failed to arrive at the pits at the end of the eighth lap. Later it was announced that he had crashed on lap eight at the turn after the Messerligrube where he spun on gravel left on the track by another car. He crashed into the circuit's outer barrier where he was thrown out of the car, which had the right front axle badly bent. Chiron lay unconscious behind his car, near the fence to a grandstand but was not seriously hurt. After he regained consciousness, he was brought to the Insel-Hospital but was released in the evening to his Hotel where he met with his friends. Stuck went past Fagioli to regain his second place and Brauchitsch passed Nuvolari. At the end of lap ten, while Stuck was passing the grandstand, the thread of his left rear tire separated and was flung in a high turn towards the pits. The German limped at a reduced pace through the lap which he had already started. Stuck, Fagioli and Rosemeyer were still separated by only a couple of seconds. The order after 10 laps was as follows: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 28m08.2s 2. Stuck (Auto Union) 28m28.7s 3. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 28m29.5s 4. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 28m30.8s 5. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 29m22.2s 6. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 7. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 8. Farina (Maserati) 9. Varzi (Auto Union) 10. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 11. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 12. Hartmann (Maserati) 13. Howe (Bugatti) 14. Balestrero (Maserati) On lap 11, Caracciola drove a new record lap in 2m44.4s, which was to be the new lap record. Hans Stuck stopped at his pit for 45 seconds to change the left rear tire. This switch in the leading group improved Caracciola's advantage to 27 seconds ahead of Fagioli. Varzi, who was positioned on the road closely behind Caracciola, was actually one lap behind due to his pit stop. After his pit stop, Stuck had dropped to seventh position, some distance behind Lang on lap 12. By now the sky had clouded over and it started to rain between lap 12 and 13, at the beginning just a fine drizzle. The race pace went down. Then the drizzle changed to rain. Caracciola was now 34 seconds ahead. Rosemeyer passed Fagioli for second place. Brauchitsch stopped at his pits to have rain tires fitted which took one minute.       On lap 14 Rosemeyer, Fagioli and Lang stopped for rain tires, which took 40, 50 and 40 seconds respectively, but enough time for Nuvolari to gain fourth place. Brauchitsch retired at his pits and the car was pushed away, officially with a broken shift lever or was it actually the engine as was suspected by others. On lap 14 Stuck stopped again, this time for rain tires. He talked for three minutes with his race management, complaining about insufficient brakes and similarly the shock absorbers had suffered while he drove one lap with the flat tire. Stuck saw in these shortcomings an aftermath of his tire defect. His attitude after this incident was disappointing since he did not want to carry on, having lost his fighting spirit. Then reserve driver Pietsch took over his car. But to send Pietsch with this car into the race without having driven a single practice lap, has to be regarded as great irresponsibility. On lap 15 Caracciola also changed tires in 45 seconds. Nuvolari stopped just for new goggles, which took seconds. After 15 laps the field was in the following order: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 42m43.0s 2. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 44m02.5s 3. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 44m32.1s 4. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 44m37.9s 5. Varzi (Auto Union) 46m13.8s 6. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 7. Farina (Maserati) 8. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 9. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 10. Stuck/Pietsch (Auto Union) 11. Hartmann (Maserati) 12. Howe (Bugatti) 13. Balestrero (Maserati) For the next five laps there were no changes amongst the leading seven cars. Dreyfus fell behind Sommer and Stuck's Auto Union, now driven by Pietsch, soon fell further behind. The order after 20 laps was as now: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 59m28.9s 2. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 1h00m13.6s 3. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 1h01m08.0s 4. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 1h01m59.1s 5. Varzi (Auto Union) 1h02m57.5s 6. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 7. Farina (Maserati) 8. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 9. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 10. Hartmann (Maserati) 11. Howe (Bugatti) 12. Stuck/Pietsch (Auto Union) 13. Balestrero (Maserati) Up to lap 30 there were no position changes amongst the first seven drivers while Caracciola steadily increased his advantage from 23 to 60 seconds. Rosemeyer maintained his second place ahead of Fagioli and Nuvolari. Varzi was chasing down Nuvolari. After Hartmann retired on lap 26, the field was down to 12 cars. The order after 30 laps was now: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 1h31m02.8s 2. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 1h32m02.8s 3. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 1h32m46.0s 4. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 1h35m30.1s 5. Varzi (Auto Union) ? 6. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 1h36m10.9s 7. Farina (Maserati) 8. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 9. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 10. Howe (Bugatti) 11. Stuck/Pietsch (Auto Union) 12. Balestrero (Maserati) On lap 33 the gap between Rosemeyer and Fagioli shrunk from 90 to 25 seconds, when the Auto Union driver survived a huge slide and spin at the slow Eymatt turn and thereafter passed the place never again that fast. Nuvolari's Alfa Romeo in fourth place fell further behind and was chased down by Varzi's Auto Union, who passed the Alfa on lap 34. Rosemeyer stopped to refuel on lap 35 and while he spent 40 seconds in the pits, Fagioli passed into second place. Caracciola refilled as well in 55 seconds and still maintained a sizeable lead. Nuvolari arrived next for his fuel stop, which took 40 seconds and was followed by Varzi. Pietsch refueled in just 32 seconds after compressed air pushed the fuel into his tank. Pietsch was so far behind that he needed less fuel. Auto Union and Mercedes all used the pressurized system. On lap 37 Fagioli and Lang finally made their refueling stops, Fagioli in 38 seconds. Fagioli and Rosemeyer were once more dueling for second place, only a second apart again. The order after 40 laps was as follows: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 2h03m19.0s 2. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 2h04m51.8s 3. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 2h04m52.9s 4. Varzi (Auto Union) 2h07m58.4s 5. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 2h08m47.0s 6. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 7. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 8. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 9. Farina (Maserati) 10. Howe (Bugatti) 11. Stuck/Pietsch (Auto Union) 12. Balestrero (Maserati) On lap 41, Farina took a full seven minutes during his refueling stop because he had to fill rather slowly from cans which caused him to fall from seventh to ninth. On lap 44 Farina was able to repass Sommer's Alfa Romeo. Finally the slight rain ended at this time. Nuvolari stopped at his pit for a few seconds to exchange his dirty goggles for new ones. Without any changes in the positions the race proceeded till the end. Up to lap 45 it looked as if Rosemeyer posed some danger to Fagioli ahead of him but then the gap between the two started to grow while the interval between Fagioli to the leader came down. Varzi in fourth place kept racing fast past the grandstand but he was actually one lap behind the leader, two laps behind for Nuvolari whose chance for one of the front places seemed to waste away. It looked a bit tragic-comical to observe the continuing drive of Pietsch in Stuck's Auto Union, who every other lap stopped at the pits to attend to some problems with the shock absorbers or rear suspension. According to MOTOR und SPORT he stopped 12 times. Near the end Pietsch was able to turn in a few dashing laps, which was an indication that Stuck himself could have extracted incomparably more out of this car. Balestrero made an even more disappointing figure, driving relentlessly rather slowly and numerous laps behind the field. However, the leading drivers turned lap after lap with breath-taking precision. The order after 60 laps was now: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 3h02m05.3s 2. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 3h02m51.2s 3. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 3h03m21.3s 4. Varzi (Auto Union) 3h07m07.8s 5. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 3h09m36.2s 6. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 7. Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) 8. Sommer (Alfa Romeo) 9. Farina (Maserati) 10. Howe (Bugatti) Just after 5:00 PM, after 70 laps, Caracciola passed the finish line to the applause of the crowd. Immediately all other cars were given the checkered flag. Without stopping, Caracciola kept driving one more lap of honor. To observe and appreciate the battle of the old experienced drivers like Caracciola, Fagioli, Varzi and Nuvolari was a unique event. Amongst them was now the young Rosemeyer who impressed with his spectacular driving style. The resignation of Stuck after his tire failure to give up without a fight was disappointing.