Bira beats the new Maserati and Seaman's Delage

ERA finally managed to get the upper hand over the Delage and the 6-cylinder Maserati but it was Bira in his private "Romulus" who won, not the works team. The race was run in two heats plus a final. Trossi won the first heat and Seaman the second but in the final Trossi struggled and Seaman crashed leaving Fairfield and Bira to fight for the victory. Bira won as Fairfield made a mistake on the last lap.

In 1936 the Picardie Grand Prix was run as a 1.5 litre voiturette contest in two 10 laps heats, with half of the entry starting in each heat, and a15 laps final. The three top finishers from each heat plus the four fastest losers qualified for the final. There were no prizes for the heat results.

Entries: Raymond Mays, Marcel Lehoux, Earl Howe and Pat Fairfield were entered by the ERA works team. The team had increased supercharger pressure to take advantage of the long straights of the Peronne course and also had tried to sort out the problems in weight distribution and handling that the heavy Zoller supercharger had previously created on Mays' car.       Prince Bira was to race R2B "Romulus", the car he used in international events. On the recommendation from his mechanic Bira had the 120mm Murray-Jamieson supercharger removed from R5B "Remus" in England and fitted to "Romulus" replacing the 100mm ditto. Reggie Tongue entered his green R11B ERA and Arthur Dobson made his ERA debut in his white R7B.       The Maserati works team entered Carlo Felice Trossi and Gino Rovere, the former with the 6-cylinder car, while Australian Frederick McEvoy raced his new 6-cylinder car, bought on 16 June.       Seaman had the old Delage as usual. Mme. Ann-Cecile Rose-Itier and Louis Villeneuve were to race T51A Bugattis and there were 4-cylinder Bugattis entered by Alain Guilbaut, Max France and Roger Chambard. Mrs. Gwenda Stewart entered a front wheel drive Derby with independent suspension and a 4-cylinder Maserati engine. The car had originally been an Indianapolis Miller 91 that Mrs. Stewart had used for world record attempts, mostly at Montlhéry.

Practice: The only practice session was run on Saturday afternoon between 5 and 7 p.m. The heat selection had already been made by the organizers before practice, but the practice times decided the grid positions within the heats. Seventeen drivers turned up. Pat Fairfield was fastest in practice with a lap of 4m06s. Rovere did a lap in 4m24s. McEvoy however, was not satisfied with his new Maserati and, possibly after the car first was tested by Rovere, Maserati chief mechanic Guerino Bertocchi, was asked to take the car out for a lap so he could see himself. Leaving the village of Brie towards Mesnil-Bruntel Bertocchi spun on a patch of oil left by Lehoux and crashed. The car went into the ditch. Bertocchi flew through a barbed wire fence and only just avoided being decapitated surviving with severe head injuries. The car was badly damaged and was withdrawn from the race.       With the 6-cylinder car damaged McEvoy was given Rovere's 4-cylinder works car #26 instead and thus McEvoy moved to the second race heat.

Heat 1: Before the races began a delegation of l'Automobil Club de Picardie et de L'Aisne accompanied by the Vicomte de Rohan, president of l'ACF, laid a wreath at the foot of the Trintignant & Bouriat memorial, both drivers having been killed during the 1933 event. The heat was immense on race day and it just seemed to get got hotter as the event proceeded. The first heat was for cars with numbers 2 to 24. At 1:17 p.m. Charles Faroux, editor of l'Auto, dropped the flag for the first heat.

6 Trossi Maserati 4m10s 14 Fairfield ERA 4m06s 20 Lehoux ERA 4m20s 2 "B Bira" ERA 4m14s 22 Durand Maserati 4m56s 10 Dobson ERA 4m26s 12 Chambard Bugatti 5m12s 16 Rose-Itier Bugatti 5m10s 8 France Bugatti 4 Blot Amilcar 5m14s

Trossi with his 6-cylinder Maserati took an early lead followed by the ERAs of Fairfield, Lehoux and Bira. At the end of the first lap Fairfield had taken over the lead, making the lap in 4m26s. Trossi was one second behind him followed by Lehoux. Bira, who had made a rather slow start, was 8 seconds behind the leader in fourth position. Behind him followed Dobson, Durand and Chambard. Itier spun in the corner near the main stand and Blot had to take avoiding action by driving straight at the corner.       A fierce battle between Fairfield and Trossi now began giving the French crowd a great spectacle. Both drivers made the second lap in 4m15s. Lehoux was now 13 seconds behind the leader and Bira 16 seconds. Max France retired to the pits with mechanical problems.       On the third lap Fairfield managed to open up a small gap to Trossi. On the fourth lap Dobson had to retire his new ERA with lubrication trouble. Trossi was again close behind Fairfield.       On the fifth lap Trossi temporarily managed to pass Fairfield. The duo arrived side by side to the corner before the pits but Fairfield managed to retake the lead making five laps with a time of 21m50s.       But Trossi was far from beaten and on the sixth lap he managed to pass Fairfield again to finish the lap with a six seconds advantage as Fairfield's car had lost some of it tune. On the same lap Bira passed Lehoux on the back leg of the circuit to secure a third position and a sure final place. Chambard had spun three times at the last corner during practice and according to Prince Chula he continued to do it during the race.       As there were no prizes for positions in the heat, the drivers did not push too hard during the last laps. Trossi took the victory from Fairfield and Bira. In the end this proved to be the faster heat so Lehoux, Durand and Chambard also made it to the final.

Heat 2: The second heat was for cars with race numbers 26 and higher:

46 Mays ERA 4m16s 32 Seaman Delage 4m15s 36 Tongue ERA 4m29s 44 Howe ERA 4m20s 38 Stewart Derby 5m15s 40 Villeneuve Bugatti 5m03s 28 Guilbaut Bugatti 5m46s 26 McEvoy Maserati 5m15s 30 Viossat Salmson 34 de Gavardie Amilcar

The heat was flagged away at 2:35 p.m. Lord Howe in the works ERA took the lead followed by his team mate Mays, Seaman in the Delage and Tongue in his private ERA. After the first lap the race order was Howe, Mays, Seaman, Tongue, McEvoy and Villeneuve. Howe did the first lap in 4m39s. A disappointed Viossat did not manage to finish the first lap with his Salmson.       It did not take long for Raymond Mays to stage an attack on Earl Howe and on the third lap Mays passed Howe for the lead. The difference between the first and the fourth car was only eleven seconds. Then it was Seaman's turn to attack and on the fourth lap he passed Howe as well as Mays in the sharp bends to take the lead. But Mays immediately re-passed again on the straight using the big Zoller supercharger of the works car to its limits. Seaman said afterwards it felt like being passed by an Auto Union!       Mays finished the fourth lap with a comfortable lead. But on the next lap Mays was out of the competition once again with two con rods through the crank case. During those few laps Mays had noticed that the handling of the works ERA was as bad as before with heavy understeer.       It was soon noticed that the second heat was going much slower than the first one, Seaman doing the first five laps 38 seconds slower than Fairfield had done. Of course there was no hurry as long as a finish among the top three was secured. The situation after five laps was: 1. Seaman (Delage) 22m28s (132.3 km/h) 2. Howe (ERA) 22m32s 3. Tongue (ERA) 22m45s Not much happened during the second half of the race apart from that Mrs. Stewart had to make a pit top. Seaman held a lead over Howe that varied between 10 and 12 seconds and took his old Delage to an easy victory from Howe and Tongue with McEvoy in a Maserati also making it to the final. But Seaman's race had been almost a minute slower than Trossi's.

Final: The starting positions in the final were determinate by the finishing times in heats irrespective of the finishing positions, so the cars from the first heat were assigned the top four grid positions:

14 Fairfield ERA 6 Trossi Maserati 20 Lehoux ERA 2 "B Bira" ERA 44 Howe ERA 32 Seaman Delage 22 Durand Maserati 36 Tongue Bugatti 26 McEvoy Maserati 12 Chambard Bugatti

At 4:25 p.m. Faroux for the third time dropped the flag and Trossi made the best start. The others followed with the exception of Lehoux, as a con rod of the ERA broke at the start, and Durand, who gave up on the spot. Fairfield soon passed Trossi and at the end of the first lap the race order was Fairfield, who did the lap in 4m22s, Trossi 3 seconds, Bira 5 seconds and Seaman 7 seconds behind. Then followed Howe, Tongue, Chambard and McEvoy.       On the second lap Bira passed Trossi, leaving the latter to fight with Seaman for third position. Both Fairfield and Bira made the lap in 4m15s. Tongue retired to the pits.       Fairfield made the third lap in 4m12s with Bira being one second slower. Seaman followed in third position six seconds behind Bira. After four laps Fairfield held a 7 seconds lead over Bira, while Trossi, who had passed Seaman for third position, was a further 7 seconds behind.       Seaman had a steering failure at the Brie corner on lap 5. The Delage crashed into a wall and was quite damaged but Seaman was unhurt. Bira made the fifth lap in the record time 4m11s. The race order after 5 laps: 1. Fairfield (ERA) 21m17s 2. Bira (ERA) 21m22s 3. Trossi (Maserati) 21m31s 4. Howe (ERA) 21m54s 5. McEvoy (Maserati) After six laps Fairfield held a six seconds lead over Bira with Trossi a further 11 seconds behind. On the next lap Bira closed the gap to just 2½ seconds. Fairfield managed to open up the gap to 4 seconds on the 8th lap only for Bira to close it to one second on the ninth lap. On the tenth lap Trossi, who during the entire race had struggled and was now 15 seconds behind Bira, slowed down and came into the pit to retire with clutch trouble. The situation after 10 laps looked like this: 1. Fairfield (ERA) 42m32s 2. Bira (ERA) 42m34s 3. Trossi (Maserati) 43m07s 4. Howe (ERA) 43m33s 5. McEvoy (Maserati) There were now three ERAs in the top three positions. On the 11th lap Bira was 4 seconds behind leading Fairfield. On the 12th lap Bira momentarily passed Fairfield on the straight after the pits only to be re-passed when Bira went wide in the next corner.       On the 13th lap Bira equalled his fastest lap time of 4m11s closing in again to within one second of the leader. On the last lap Bira moved up side by side and Fairfield, trying to out-brake his opponent, went wide in the Brie corner and hit the bank, a manoeuvre that cost him half a minute and left the Siamese to take a brilliant victory. Howe was third and McEvoy in the Maserati, the only other driver to finish, fourth but two laps down.       Bira delighted the spectators by putting down the flowers he had won at the Trintignant & Bouriat memorial.

Trossi takes the 6 cylinder Maserati to another victory

The race was run on a new narrow and twisty track in Sempione Park. Newcomer Emilio Villoresi initially held the lead but was then passed on the fourth lap by the works Maseratis of Trossi and Tenni. Tenni went off track on lap 7, when trying to keep Trossi's pace, and he had to stop for repairs and eventually to retire. Trossi in the new 6 cylinder Maserati dominated the rest of the event. Emilio Villoresi finished second and Belmondo after a duel with Bianco finished third.

Even with the Monza autodrome nearby, Milano decided to hold a race event in the city itself with races in both the Grand Prix and voiturette class.       For a location the Sempione Park in the middle of the city was selected. The start and finish of the race track was at the Piazza del Cannone in front of the Castello Sforzesco, the track continued along Viale Gadio, past the famous city aquarium (Aquario Civico) and circled the sports arena (Arena Civica). After a section along Viale Elvezia, the track went back into the park, circling the other side of the Arena. Then it took a right turn to the center of the park and then another right turn into Viale Francia (Viale Malta nowadays?) and followed it to the Piazza, making a hairpin turn in front of the Arco della Pace. Then the track continued in a long sweeping right turn through the park to another hairpin in front of Castello Sforzesco that took the circuit back to the pits and the start and finish straight.       The circuit was narrow and twisty and the decision was made to restrict the participants to 12, the organizers deciding what drivers would take part.       Timing equipment was of the highest class as electrical timing with a photoelectric cell was used, perhaps for the first time during an European race event.

Entries: The British ERA drivers were preparing themselves for the Nuffield handicap race at Donington Park so there was an all-Italian entry for the voiturette race to be run before the Grand Prix. Apart from Sergio Carnevalli's Bugatti T39A all the cars were Maseratis. Favorite was Eifel winner Carlo Felice Trossi with the new 6 cylinder car that with its independent suspension fitted the track perfectly. The works team also entered Omobono Tenni and Vittorio Belmondo in a 4CMs while Gino Rovere's 1.5 litre car was not ready following a crash an week earlier and he had to race a 1.1 litre car instead. Local driver Aldo "Tino" Bianchi, entered by A. Schiavo and 48 years old Giuseppe Gilera were to race 1.1 litre Maseratis as well.       Baronessa Maria Antonietta d'Avanzo, Italian first and perhaps most famous female race driver of the era, who had started racing in 1920 was to race a Maserati 4CS.       All the other cars taking part were Maserati 4CMs. The young newcomer Emilio Villoresi, junior brother of Luigi Villoresi, was going to race Luigi's car while Luigi entered a Fiat but then decided not to take part in the race. Enrico Platé was another driver entered by Luigi Castelbarco and Archimede Rosa was entered by Scuderia Maremmana. The entry lsit also included Ettore Bianco in his private car.

Race: After a dark morning with some rain the weather turned sunny in the afternoon and tens of thousands of race enthusiast gathered at Parco Sempione. In front of military and civilian dignitaries the 12 cars were lined up in four rows like this:

6 Trossi Maserati 32 E Villoresi Maserati 34 Tenni Maserati 26 Bianco Maserati 10 Carnevalli Bugatti 22 Gilera Maserati 2 Rovere Maserati 8 Belmondo Maserati 30 E Platé Maserati 24 Rosa Maserati 18 d'Avanzo Maserati 14 A Bianchi Maserati (Note 1)

At 3 p.m. the flag was dropped and young Emilio Villoresi made a good start took the lead followed by Trossi and Tenni while Rovere stalled on the grid and came away last. On the first three laps Villoresi held the lead but then Trossi found a way by and immediately thereafter Tenni passed as well for second position. For the next laps Tenni was following Trossi closely but on the seventh lap he overdid it, went off the track and had to make a 3 minute pit stop for a damaged wheel and new plugs. Tenni returned to the race but soon afterwards the driver was seen walking back to the pits after the gearbox on his Maserati had failed, probably because of the earlier accident.       As had been feared the narrow track made passing very hard and even lapping the backmarkers proved to be a challenge. Luckily, apart from a few contacts with straw bales, there were no major incidents. Trossi was controlling the race leading Emilio Villoresi by 13 seconds after 10 laps. The major battle was instead for third position between Bianco and Belmondo. On the sixteenth lap Belmondo found a way by and started to pull away leaving Bianco behind fast. On the same lap Trossi made the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m41.4s. At half distance the situation was: 1. Trossi (Maserati) 34m33.4s 2. E. Villoresi (Maserati) 35m08.6s 3. Belmondo (Maserati) 35m14.2s 4. Bianco (Maserati) 35m51.2s After his bad start Rovene came through the field to finally catch and pass Gilera, who had led the 1100cc class until then. After 30 laps Trossi had opened up a minute lead and at the end of the race took the flag 78 seconds in front of Emilio Villoresi, who however had done an excellent job in his debut race at this level. Belmondo was the only other non lapped driver in third position with Bianco a lap behind finishing fourth and Rovene another lap behind being fifth overall and winner of the 1100cc class.

Nuvolari vs. Varzi

Varzi persuaded Auto Union to enter a single car in the Milan GP. There he faced the Ferrari team led by Nuvolari. Varzi had been over-optimistic about his chances. Varzi took an early lead but the Auto Union car was not at its best on the twisty 2.6 km circuit round the Sempione park and a bit after half distance Nuvolari closed in and took over the lead. After a long duel with Varzi, Nuvolari took the chequered flag nine seconds in front of his arch rival.

The voiturette race was followed by the main event to be run 60 laps. For the race the participants, just like the voiturette race, were restricted to 12. (For circuit details, see the voiturette race).

Entries: This was "Alfa Romeo country" with the Portello factory located just 2 km from the track. Scuderia Ferrari entered a 12-cylinder car for Tazio Nuvolari and three 8-cylinder cars for Giuseppe Farina, Mario Tadini and Antonio Brivio. Scuderia Maremmana entered two Alfa Romeo P3s for Clemente Biondetti and Giacomo de Rham and a "Monza" for Sergio Banti. while Gianni Battaglia and Vittorio Belmondo entered their private Alfa Romeos.       It could have been a Alfa Romeo parade. Luckily for the excitement of the race Achille Varzi persuaded Auto Union to enter a single car. The Maserati works team did not appear but Scuderia Torino entered two 6 cylinder Maseratis for Piero Dusio and Eugenio Siena.

Race: With the Portello factory nearby many of the numerous spectators that gathered in the park surely had connections to Alfa Romeo. The race started at 5.30 p.m. The cars were lined up in the grid with Nuvolari on pole position in the center of row one:

54 Varzi Auto Union 1m34.6s 44 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 1m33.4s 68 Brivio Alfa Romeo 1m36.4s 40 Farina Alfa Romeo 1m38.8s 52 Tadini Alfa Romeo 1m38.4s 50 Biondetti Alfa Romeo 1m40.2s 48 Siena Maserati 1m41.0s 62 Belmondo Alfa Romeo 1m42.0s 60 Banti Alfa Romeo 1m45.0s 42 Dusio Maserati 1m45.0s 56 Battaglia Alfa Romeo 1m48.8s 58 de Rham Alfa Romeo 1m49.6s (Note 3)

Nuvolari took the lead at the start followed by Varzi, Brivio, Farina, Tadini, Siena, Battalia and Dusio. De Rahm and Belmondo immediately retired. On the second laps Varzi took over the lead after doing a sub 1m38s lap. Already on the third lap Varzi started to pull away lowering the lap time with another second. On the fifth lap Farina found a way past Brivio to take third position and soon left his team mate far behind. Varzi increased his lead by over a second a lap. After ten lap the gap had increased to 12 seconds but then Nuvolari started to speed up and for the next ten laps the two Italians pushed each other to the cheers of the crowd, gaining a tenth of a second here or losing a tenth of a second there, but unable to get the upper hand over the opponent. After 20 laps, with one third of the race done, the distance between them still remained about 12 seconds.       Nuvolari kept pushing his arch opponent. He did the 25th lap in 1m35.3s lowering the gap to 10 seconds. On the next lap the gap decreased by another two seconds and on the 27th lap Nuvolari gained 0.6 seconds. After 28 laps the gap was down to 5.6 seconds. Varzi gained back 0.8 seconds on lap 29 only to lose it again on lap 30. At half distance the situation was: 1. Varzi (Auto Union) 48m21.2s 2. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 48m26.8s 3. Farina (Alfa Romeo) 49m35.8s 4. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 49m56s On the next lap Nuvolari caught Varzi and on the 32nd and 33th laps they raced close to each other. Then on the 34th lap Nuvolari passed the Auto Union, setting in a new fastest lap with a time of 1m34.5s. One can only imagine the reaction of the crowd as the Alfa turned up in the lead. Nuvolari successfully defended his position during lap 35 and pulled away a bit on the next lap but Varzi pulled in the gap again on next lap. The two cars spent laps 38 and 39 nose to tail but then Nuvolari got a break as they lapped third positioned Farina, the Ferrari driver letting his team mate by but making it harder for Varzi. Nuvolari made the 40th lap in 1m34s. The time was equaled by Varzi on lap 43. After 45 laps the gap had grown to 7 seconds and it stayed within 10 seconds for the rest of the race. On the 57th lap Varzi put in the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m33.4s but that did not hinder Nuvolari to take the flag 8.8s seconds in front of the Auto Union driver. Farina, Brivio and Tadini took the next three positions for Scuderia Ferrari but were clearly distanced.       Varzi had been over-optimistic about his chances. The Auto Union car was clearly not at its best on Sempione park where it couldn't use its power advantage and where the Alfa could challenge it on more or less equal terms.

Ferrari supreme in South American race with a tragic end.

Several of the participants of the Rio de Janeiro GP a month earlier also took part in the Sao Paulo GP, including Europeans "Helle-Nice" and the Scuderia Ferrari drivers Pintacuda and Marinoni. Pintacuda totally dominated the event but Marinoni spun and stalled but was able to continue again after a controversial push from Pintacuda to finish second. On the last lap "Hellé-Nice" during a fight with de Teffe for third position lost control and had a horrible crash into the spectator area resulting in several fatalities.

The São Paulo Grand Prix was held five weeks after the successful 1936 Rio de Janeiro GP and several of the international entries decided to take part in both races.

Entries: Marinoni and Pintacuda raced Ferrari entered Alfa Romeo 2.9 litre sportscars and spare parts had arrived from Italy to cure the differential trouble that had occured at Rio. "Mlle. Hellé-Nice" would again race her own blue Alfa Romeo "Monza". A few Argentinans, Victório Rosa (Hispano-Suiza), Augusto Mac Carthy (Chrysler) and Victório Coppoli (Bugatti), took part in the race as they had done in Rio.       The Brazil entries included Manuel de Teffé, Arthur Nascimento Júnior, Chico Landi and Domingos Lopes. The rest of the field consisted of local drivers mostly in old Bugattis and American specials.       Nascimento Júnior was assigned #32 but as it was the number used by Irineu Corrêa in his fatal accident 1935 he used #42 instead. He however kept his drawn position on the grid.       Pintacuda got race number #12 but as he was the clear favorite with a superior car he prefered for sportmanship reasons to take #38 next to his team mate at the back of the grid instead.       Valentim Passadori obviously tested car #18 but was replaced by Luiz Mastrogiacomo on race day.

Race:

6 Coppoli Bugatti 4 Ferrão Hispano Suiza 2 McCarthy Crysler 10 Sartorelli Sacre 8 de Teffé Alfa Romeo 16 Almeida Ford 12 Corrêa Bugatti 20 Landi Fiat 18 Passadori Ford 26 Rosa Hispano Suiza 24 Lage Hispano Suiza 22 Oliveira Ford 30 Tavares Moraes Plymouth 28 Lopes Castilho Ford 1m51s 36 Lopes Bugatti 34 Hellé-Nice Alfa Romeo 32 Nascimento Alfa Romeo 40 Marinoni Alfa Romeo 1m51s 38 Pintacuda Alfa Romeo

People turned up in masses for the until then largest automobile race in São Paulo. The start, announced for 9 o'clock, had to be delayed as the governor had difficulties to arrive at the place, due to traffic jams. When the flag finally fell, Pintacuda worked himself up the field to take the lead on the third lap followed by Marinoni. However, the later spun on the fourth lap but was able to rejoin and catch Pintacuda. They were followed by Hellé-Nice, Rio winner Vittorio Coppoli, Manoel of Teffé, Chico Landi and Benedito Lopes. Then Marinoni spun again, stalling his engine and losing 7 minutes before Pintacuda arrived and gave him a gentle push start with his own car. Eight laps later Marinoni was back up in second position. "Hellé-Nice" had to make a pit stop on lap 52 and dropped to fourth. She then catched de Teffe by five seconds per lap and caught the third positioned Alfa during the last lap. De Teffe went wide in the last corner and the two Alfa Romeo "Monza" cars came onto the main straight side by side.       No one seems to be sure what happend next. Some say an overexcited de Teffe fan pushed a straw bale out on the track in front of "Hellé-Nice", some say a policeman walked out on the track trying to control the crowd, some say "Hellé-Nice" simply made a mistake. A picture series of the incident shows de Teffe to the right of the road and "Hellé-Nice" to the left with her front wheel about next to de Teffe's rear wheel with about 2/3 car width distance between them. About 1 1/2 car with to the left of "Hellé-Nice" is a straw wall, a rope and a compact wall of spectators who all are pushing forward and stretching their necks to see better. There is no indication of any straw bale or person in front of the car. At a speed of 160 km/h when the Alfa Romeo passes the starting grid approximately where car #16 had started it suddenly turned sharply to the left and crashed into the spectators resulting in six dead, 16 seriously injured and 18 lightly wounded. Another picture shows the car immediately after the hit going backwards in a 45° roll standing on the right wheels with the left wheels up in the air and with "Hellé-Nice" still in the car but thrown back by the forces. Immediately afterwards she flew through the air over the road and fell straight upon a soldier, who absorbed the full impact. The car continued in a series of spins or somersaults over the finish line before coming to a halt in front of the boxes. "Hellé-Nice" survived even if she had to spend over two months at hospital with a fractured skull while the poor soldier was less fortunate, succumbing to his injuries. A deeply shocked Hellé-Nice gave up GP racing.       Pintacuda's push start of Marinoni during the race was not appreciated by the other competitors. After some discussions it was finally decided that Marinoni would keep his second place but that part of his prize money was going to a fund for the crash victims.