Rosemeyer's first victory

The Masaryk Grand Prix was the last great circuit race of the 1935 season. The battle was between the Auto Union team and the Alfa Romeos of Scuderia Ferrari, each with three cars, while the Daimler-Benz team decided not to take part. The nine Group 1 cars over 1500 cc and the 13 Group 2 cars below 1500 cc raced concurrently, a total of 22 cars. Varzi (Auto Union) was the early leader until his car broke down, when his teammate Rosemeyer inherited first place and drove like a champion to win the race ahead of Nuvolari, Chiron and Brivio, all in Alfa Romeos with Hartmann (Maserati) in fifth place while the Bugattis of Wimille and Guth retired. Hans Stuck held second place early on but when a bird flew into his goggles on lap 4, he stopped for medical attention, passing his car to Pietsch. After his eye was attended to, he took over his car on lap 11 and instead of racing he left the circuit via a side road driving to the Brno home of a friend to retire there. The Group 2 class was easily won by Seaman (ERA), ahead of Veyron and Sojka both in Bugattis and Landi (Maserati) the last finisher. Rüesch, who held an early third place, retired when his Maserati caught fire.

The CAMS (Ceskoslovensky Automobilovy Klub pro Moravu a Slezsk) or Czechoslovakian Automobile Club for Moravia and Silesia organized their sixth international automobile race on the Masarykův okruh (Masaryk Circuit). First held in 1930, the race had grown in European significance and this year once again received entries from the best international drivers. The race had changed its name to the now official name Velká cena Masarykova. The 29.142 km Circuit with 36 left-hand corners and 47 to the right had to be lapped 17 times, bringing the total length of the race to 495.414 km, while the cars up to 1500 cc had to do only 15 laps or 437.130 km. The road conditions were much better than in previous years after the circuit had experienced a major renovation. The state roads had received a new hard surface and additionally all corners have been improved and would allow higher speeds.       The overall winner was to receive 80,000 Koruny and the trophy of the President, the second 40,000 Kč and third 20,000. Additionally, for the first three in Group 2 there were prizes of 15,000, 10,000 and 5,000 Kč.

Entries: There were 14 Group 1 entries, which were soon reduced to nine cars. Auto Union arrived with their Type B cars for Hans Stuck, Achille Varzi and Bernd Rosemeyer as registered drivers with Paul Pietsch as the reserve driver. The team manager was Willi Walb. By being the first to place their entries, Auto Union received the lowest starting numbers 2, 4, 6 and 8 which had the advantage of the best starting positions at the front of the grid.       Scuderia Ferrari, the racing arm of the Alfa Romeo factory, arrived with a new 3.8-liter car for Tazio Nuvolari, while two red Tipo B/P3 Alfa Romeos with the proven 3.2-liter engine and Dubonnet independent front suspension were driven by Louis Chiron and Antonio Brivio.       There were three independent entries but they had no chance of victory. Hungarian László Hartmann's old Maserati 8CM was red, silver and green. Vladimir Guth, the Bugatti importer from Prague drove the Bugatti of Zdeněk Pohl, who was two years younger than his brother Jiří Pohl. Jean-Pierre Wimille entered an older T59 Bugatti. Group 2 comprised 15 entries: Bruno Sojka (Bugatti) a local from Brno, Florian Schmidt (Bugatti) from Jägersdorf, Cholmondeley-Tapper (Bugatti) from England, Pierre Veyron (Bugatti) from Molsheim, Hans Rüesch (Maserati) from Zürich, Alexander "Sándor" Wilheim from Budapest started with László Hartmann's 1500 Bugatti, Antonín Komár (Bugatti) from Gaya, František "Franta" Hoštálek with the 1492 cc, 8-cylinder 2-stroke "Z" from Königgrätz, Zdeněk Pohl (MG) from Prague, Rudolf Steinweg (Bugatti) from Munich, Richard Seaman with a black ERA (R1B) with silver painted wheels from London, Antonio Valette (ERA) from Reims, Ettore Bianco (Maserati) from Genoa, Giuseppe "Beppe" Tuffanelli (Maserati) from Ferrara and Guido Landi (Maserati) from Turin.

Practice: On Thursday, Friday and Saturday practice was held from 9:00 AM to 12 Noon and was obligatory as were a minimum of two laps per day. The Auto Unions arrived on Wednesday, also the drivers Stuck, Rosemeyer, Steinweg, Landi, Seaman, Sojka and Schmidt. Farina sent a message that on his trip to Brno he had an accident with his truck but his race car was intact and he would proceed as soon as possible. Although the CAMS did not disclose on Thursday that Mercedes had withdrawn their entry, the Brno Mercedes Dealer and the Hotel had known about it since Wednesday afternoon.       The absence of the Mercedes-Benz team was generally regretted. Caracciola, Fagioli and Brauchitsch were entered but finally it became official that since Daimler-Benz considered that there was insufficient time for preparation, they had to withdraw their entry. They had pointed out beforehand that their appearance was questionable with the Spanish Grand Prix the weekend before. Mercedes had finished at the Lasarte Circuit with a hat-trick and according to their statement were in no position to bring the cars within a few days across Europe to the Masaryk-Ring, to prepare the cars race ready and to give their drivers adequate time to practice. However, the Auto Union team which had also competed in Spain had succeeded in doing just that, driving over 3000 km from San Sebastian via Orléans, Strasbourg, Nürnberg, Pilsen and Prague to Brno. They arrived with Stuck, Varzi and Rosemeyer. For a short time there existed the rumor that Auto Union would also not take part at this year's race because the CAMS had declined and did not agree to their request to separate the small cars from the big cars on the circuit. Hans Stuck said that this demand by Auto Union was not just put forward at the last minute but they had voiced their concern at last year's race and he was not certain that he would start now. Farina could not start because his racecar was damaged more seriously in his accident than initially thought       On Thursday, the first practice day, Tuffanelli and Rüesch (Maserati), Valette (ERA), Brivio also arrived as did Nuvolari in the evening. Since it was obligatory to take part in all three practice sessions, the CAMS officials must have found a compromise arrangement to circumvent that rule allowing Nuvolari to race instead of excluding him from the race. Seaman had a practice crash which bent the front axle of his ERA but was able to get the car ready for the race. The race organizers made a small change by starting both groups simultaneously without a starting interval. By doing so the lapping of slower cars was a bit delayed and for the spectators such a mass start meant more excitement.

Race: During the days before the race many spectators had made it to Brno. On Sunday morning more spectators arrived from all directions on bicycles, cars, trucks, buses and trains. An estimated crowd of 150,000 had assembled around the long circuit. The nine cars of Group 1 lined up on the grid and behind them there were the 13 cars of Group 2.

4 Stuck Auto Union 6 Varzi Auto Union 8 Rosemeyer Auto Union 10 Hartmann Maserati 12 Guth Bugatti 14 Wimille Bugatti 16 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 18 Chiron Alfa Romeo 20 Brivio Alfa Romeo   40 Sojka Bugatti 46 Veyron Bugatti 48 Rüesch maserati 50 Wilheim Bugatti 52 Komár Bugatti 54 Hoštálek Bugatti 56 Pohl MG 60 Steinweg Bugatti 62 Seaman ERA 64 Valette MG 66 Bianco Bugatti 68 Tuffanelli Maserati 70 Landi Maserati

The CAMS Secretary Mr. Zischka put on climbing irons and scaled up a telegraph pole to give the starting signal at 10:30 AM with his flag clearly visible to all 22 cars because all of them had start at the same time. To the thundering of the wild pack, the Auto Unions took the immediate lead, with Stuck at the front, followed by Varzi and Rosemeyer. Hartmann's Maserati did not get away and the Hungarian lost several minutes, blocking the cars behind. A mechanic stood next to his Maserati while Nuvolari's Alfa passed to the left of the mechanic on the grass verge.       At the end of the first lap Varzi led after 12m57.1s at 135.3 km/h, ahead of Stuck with a lap of 13m04.1s. Rosemeyer followed just a second behind with a 13m05,1s lap, ahead of Nuvolari, Wimille, Chiron, Brivio and eventually Hartmann, while Guth retired with a broken oil pipe.       In Group 2 Seaman was the leader, ahead of Veyron, Sojka, Landi, Rüesch, Tuffanelli, Pohl, Bianco, Komár, Valette, Steinweg, Hoštálek and Wilheim. Tuffanelli, Bianco, Pohl and Wilheim stopped at their pits. Steinweg spun off the road but was able to continue immediately.       On lap two, Varzi maintained his colossal pace, now eight seconds ahead of Stuck with Rosemeyer a close third. Nuvolari was fourth followed by Wimille, Chiron, Brivio and Hartmann. In Group 2, Seaman finished the second lap in 14m49.0s, beating Farina's old record of 15m10.0s. Veyron was second, followed by Rüesch, Sojka, Landi, Bianco, Tuffanelli, Komár, Pohl, Valette, Steinweg and Wilheim.       After three laps Varzi was leading Rosemeyer, who had passed Stuck for second place, Nuvolari was still fourth, followed by Wimille, Chiron, Brivio and Hartmann. The Group 2 cars began to expire. Wilheim's Bugatti caught fire, Steinweg stopped his Bugatti with a broken piston, Valette's ERA had a damaged oil supply and another source reported that Valette received a telegram from Reims that called him home immediately since his father had died and Tuffanelli retired his Maserati with a defective engine. Those four drivers did not complete the third lap.       On the fourth round Varzi established the fastest lap of the day in 12m37s, while Rosemeyer drove in 12m56.6s. Stuck in third place had an unfortunate high speed encounter with a small bird which flew into his goggles. The heavy impact splintered the triplex glass and some pieces penetrated his right eye. With all his energy Stuck kept the car on the road while his eye swelled and closed. He proceeded at a reduced pace to his pits where his injured eye received immediate medical attention while reserve driver Paul Pietsch took over the car, which during the pit stop had fallen behind Nuvolari to fourth place.       In Group 2 the field was reduced to nine cars after Wilheim, Steinweg, Valette and Tuffanelli retired. The order after four laps was Seaman, Veyron, Rüesch, Landi, Sojka, Bianco, Pohl, Komár, Hoštálek. At the end of lap five Varzi was still in first place ahead of Rosemeyer and Pietsch in Stuck's car, followed by Nuvolari, Wimille, Chiron, Brivio and Hartmann. With Guth retired, the field was down to eight cars after five laps in this order: 1. Varzi (Auto Union) 2. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 3. Stuck/Pietsch (Auto Union) 4. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 5. Wimille (Bugatti) 6. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 7. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 8. Hartmann (Maserati) Wimille progressively became slower and on the sixth lap crossed the line behind Chiron and Brivio in seventh place. Wimille finally retired on lap eight due to an earlier received injury that was causing severe pain. In the morning of the race, he had an accident, supposedly when he was awoken vigorously and fell out of the bed and incurred a broken rib. Despite this injury he started the race but had to retire when the pain became unbearable.       In Group 2 Bianco retired at his pit with engine damage after completing five laps. Landi pitted on the fifth lap and dropped to sixth place. On the next lap he regained fifth position and was fourth the following lap. On lap seven, Rüesch's Maserati caught fire, which ended his race. Seaman made a pit stop on lap six and again on lap eight. The order of Group 2 after eight laps was Seaman, Veyron, Sojka, Landi, Komár, Pohl and Hoštálek. Without Wimille, the Group 1 field was down to seven cars after eight laps in this order: 1. Varzi (Auto Union) 2. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 3. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 4. Stuck/Pietsch (Auto Union) 5. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 6. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 7. Hartmann (Maserati) On lap nine, Varzi, Rosemeyer, Nuvolari, Pietsch and Hartmann stopped to refuel. Varzi slowed down significantly on lap 12, enabling Rosemeyer, Nuvolari, Chiron and Brivio to pass him. He parked his car at the pits with an engine problem.       In Group 2 the positions did not change from the ninth lap forward except that Pohl passed Komár on lap nine. On lap 11 Seaman established a new lap record in 14m32.8s. The order after 12 laps was Seaman, Veyron, Sojka, Landi, Pohl, Komár and Hoštálek. From lap 12 Rosemeyer led the Group 1 race in great style in this order: 1. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 2. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 3. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 4. Stuck/Pietsch (Auto Union) 5. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 6. Varzi (Auto Union) 7. Hartmann (Maserati) In the meantime the doctor had patched up Stuck's right eye; fortunately it was not a serious injury. On lap 13, he took over the car from Pietsch. Stuck had a headache from his injured eye and was hearing suspicious engine noises. So, instead of continuing the race, on lap 14 he drove from the circuit on a side street to Brno to rest at the nice house of his friend Friedrich Rohrer where he stayed while in Brno. Rohrer, a newspaper publisher, was also Czechoslovakian tennis champion.       Group 2 was still led by the fast Seaman, who stopped again at his pit on lap 13. Pohl retired on lap 14 at his pit. There were no further changes till near the end of the race. Seaman was the unchallenged victor in his black ERA with a lead of more than three minutes over Veyron, Sojka, Landi, Pohl, Komár and Hoštálek.       By now a tense battle for second place had developed behind Rosemeyer. On lap 12, Chiron was still more than two minutes behind Nuvolari, but he was able to close the gap until the last lap, when it had shrunk to four seconds. With Varzi and Stuck out of the race, the field was down to five cars after 16 laps in this order: 1. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 2. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 3. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 4. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 5. Hartmann (Maserati) After 17 laps, Rosemeyer crossed the finish line to the thundering applause of the crowd. His mechanics pulled him out of his car and lifted Rosemeyer onto their shoulders to celebrate his first victory in a major race. He was more than six minutes ahead of Nuvolari, who was followed a few seconds behind by Chiron. Brivio was one lap behind and Hartmann two laps. Both were flagged off.       This was Rosemeyer's first Grand Prix victory and also his first victory ever in a racing car. It was a very special day for Rosemeyer as he at the victory ceremony met the girl, who would later become his wife, Messerschmitt flyer Elly Beinhorn.

Results voiturette: Pos. No. Driver Entrant Car Type Engine Laps Time/Status Diff 1. 62 Richard Seaman R. Seaman ERA B 1.5 S-6 15 3h48m32.1s   2. 46 Pierre Veyron P. Veyron Bugatti T51A 1.5 S-8 15 3h51m58.3s + 3m26.2s 3. 40 Bruno Sojka B. Sojka Bugatti T51A 1.5 S-8 15 4h04m42.4s + 15m10.3s 4. 70 Guido Landi G. Landi Maserati 4CM 1.5 S-4 15 4h04m48.0s + 16m05.9s DNF 56 Zdeněk Pohl J. Pohl MG K3 Magnette 1.1 S-6 13 crash   DNF 54 František Hoštálek F. Hoštálek Z 1500 1.5 V-8 12 brakes   DNF 52 Antonín Komár A. Komár Bugatti T37A 1.5 S-4 12 brakes   DNF 48 Hans Rüesch H. Rüesch Maserati 4CS 1.5 S-4 6 fire   DNF 66 Ettore Bianco E. Bianco Maserati 4CM 1.5 S-4 5 engine   DNF 50 Sándor Wilheim L. Hartmann Bugatti T37A 1.5 S-4 2 fire   DNF 60 Rudolf Steinweg R. Steinweg Bugatti T51A 1.5 S-8 2 broken piston   DNF 68 Giuseppe Tuffanelli G. Tuffanelli Maserati 4CM 1.1 S-4 2 engine   DNF 64 Antonio Valette A. Valette ERA A 1.5 S-6 2 oil supply - gave up Fastest lap: Richard Seaman (ERA) on lap 11 in 14m32.8s = 120.2 km/h (74.7 mph). Winner's medium speed: 114.8 km/h (71.3 mph) Weather: dry, sunshine

Tadini leads Scuderia Ferrari to a triple victory.

The Circuit of Lucca was held the same day as the Czech Grand Prix. It was run in two heats plus a final. The first heat had to be stopped after a start crash involving Corsi (Maserati) and Barbieri (Alfa Romeo). Pintacuda (Alfa Romeo) won the heat from Balestrero (Alfa Romeo) and Fontana (Alfa Romeo). The second heat was won by Tadini (Alfa Romeo) from Comotti (Alfa Romeo) and Siena (Maserati). In the final the Ferrari team members were in their own class and took another 1-2-3 victory with Tadini winning from Comotti and Pintacuda.

The first Circuit of Lucca in Tuscany was raced on a beautiful, tight 2.35 km street circuit on the outskirts of the walled town center. The event consisted of two 20 lap heats plus a 50 lap final. The event was named Coppa Edda Ciano after Benito Mussolini's daughter Contessa Edda Ciano, who served as goodmother for the event.       The quite intersting course followed this route: Starting on Via Vittorio Ventio the course continued on top of the city walls westwards from Santa Maria bulwark past Saint Paolino bulwark and over the Vittorio Emanuele gate to Via Saint Paolino, where the course made a double right turn and on Piazzale Boccherini passed under the wall through the Vittorio Emanuele gate. A left turn followed that led to Viale Giosule Carducci, which led the course back eastwards to Santa Maria bulwark where it entered the town center through the San Pietro gate whereafter Via Francesco Carrara led the cars back to the finish line at Via Vittorio Ventio.

Entries: The event naturally suffered a bit for being held the same day as the Czech Grand Prix.       Scuderia Ferrari's best cars and most renown drivers were at Brno, but the team sent three of their older Tipo B cars without independent suspension to Lucca to be raced by Mario Tadini, who actually had beaten Nuvolari at the Stelvio hillclimb on 1 September, Carlo Pintacuda and Gianfranco Comotti.       Ferdinando Barbieri raced an Alfa Romeo Tipo B (#5002) as well. Renato Balestrero raced an Alfa Romeo Monza entered by Gruppo Genovese San Giorgio and Alfa Romeo Monzas were also entered by independent drivers Eugenio Fontana, Victor-Hugo Mallucci, Giovanni Minozzi , and Luigi Pages.       Maserati was represented by Scuderia Subalpina with cars for Pietro Ghersi, Eugenio Siena and Piero Dusio. Catullo Lami and Secondo Corsi also raced Maseratis as independents and Emilio Romano raced an old 8-cylinder Bugatti.       Count Trossi had entered the very unique Trossi-Monaco; a 16-cylinder radial engine was mounted in the front end of the car. However the problems with the car's extreme understeering had not been solved so the car never appeared at Lucca.

Heat 1: Over 30,000 spectators filled the stands and streets to watch the race. The authorities of the town and of the province of Tuscany were all present occupying the central grandstand. The race was delayed a bit but at 2:30 p.m. Countess Edda Ciano and her father-in-law, Admiral Count Constanzo Ciano, arrived and everything was ready for the first heat to begin       The cars were selected to the heats according to the entry list with cars alternating to the two heats by their numbers. As cars 18, 22 and 38 were missing, cars 2,6,10,14,26, 30 and 34 were thus lined up for start of the first heat:

10 Corsi Maserati 6 Fontana Alfa Romeo 2 Pages Alfa Romeo 26 Pintacuda Alfa Romeo 14 Balestrero Alfa Romeo 34 Dusio Maserati 30 Barbieri Alfa Romeo (Note 1)

As the prefect dropped the flag Corsi turned his old Maserati right trying to keep on to his position only to be hit from behind by Barbieri's Alfa Romeo Tipo B. The Maserati was pushed into the straw barrier and Barbieri was thrown out of the car and flew a few meters through the air. The race was immediately stopped. Luckily neither driver was hurt but their cars were too damaged to continue so at the restart there were just five cars present.       Pintacuda soon took control of the race . Pages retired on the 19th lap with engine trouble leaving just four competitors with Pintacuda without much effort winning the heat for Scuderia Ferrari, almost a lap in front of Balestrero with Fontana and Dusio finishing 3rd and 4th.

Heat 2: There were eight competitors in the second heat including two Scuderia Ferrari cars:

12 Minozzi Alfa Romeo 8 Lami Maserati 4 Siena Maserati 20 Romano Bugatti 16 Malucci Alfa Romeo 36 Tadini Alfa Romeo 32 Comotti Alfa Romeo 24 Ghersi Maserati (Note 1)

As the flag dropped Comotti took the lead. Siena managed to keep his Maserati in touch with Comotti the first 10 laps before he fell back. After 12 laps Tadini took over the lead from his team-mate and held it to the finish. Comotti finished second just 0.2s behind Tadini to give Scuderia Ferrari a 1-2 victory while Siena finished third.       The race for fourth position - the last one that led to the final - between Ghersi and Minozzi was tight and exciting. It was won by Minozzi but it was a Phyrric victory as he had destroyed his car and Ghersi was given his place in the final.

Final: The final included four cars from each heat. It seems the grid positions were determined by ballot as heat one winner Pintacuda found himself in the third row.

14 Balestrero Alfa Romeo 36 Tadini Alfa Romeo 32 Comotti Alfa Romeo 24 Ghersi Maserati 4 Siena Maserati 34 Dusio Maserati 26 Pintacuda Alfa Romeo 6 Fontana Alfa Romeo (Note 2)

As Prince Borghese, Vice President of the RACI, dropped the flag Tadini took the lead of the race. His team-mate Comotti followed closely behind him and Siena was third making the fight quite lively during the first laps. Pintacuda made the fifth lap in 1m25.6s ( 98.8 km/h), the fastest time of the day. (Compare that to his 1m32.0s in the first heat where he had no opposition.)       Balestrero had to retire after five laps due to either ignition or suspension problems. Siena, again doing a great effort with the Maserati, held on to his third position for ten laps but he then had to retire with fuel feed problems. After 19 laps Fontana also retired leaving just three Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeos and two Scuderia Subalpina Maseratis in the race. The race order after 20 laps looked like this: 1. Tadini (Alfa Romeo 30m00.4s 2. Comotti (Alfa Romeo) 30m09.1s 3. Pintacuda (Alfa Romeo) 30m18.4s 4. Dusio (Maserati) 31m22.3s 5. Ghersi (Maserati) 31m37.0s Halfway through the race Tadini held on to his 9 seconds lead over Comotti with Pintacuda now a further 21 seconds behind. Not much happened during the second half of the race, the drivers keeping on to their positions for Tadini to lead a Scuderia Ferrari 1-2-3 to the flag.       Then followed the usual applauses, congratulations and ceremonies with the Countess presenting the trophy to Tadini.