24 Eugen Bjørnstad
E. Bjørnstad
Alfa Romeo Monza

22 Ian Connell
I. Connell
ERA B

46 Arne Sundstedt
A. Sundstedt
Bugatti T35B

Bjørnstad totally dominant on the ice...

In addition to the Nordic entries British driver Connell (ERA) and German driver Berg (Alfa Romeo) turned up for this ice race. With Carlsson (Alfa Romeo) doing a stop for repairs and Berg retiring no one was able to challenge Bjørnstad, who beat Connell by almost two laps.

This season opening ice race was run on the small lake "Flaten", 8 km south of downtown Stockholm. This was the first part of a series of three Swedish ice races and for some reason it was considered to be the most important one of the trio, British racing magazine "Motor Sport" listing it as the "Swedish Grand Prix", and it is therefore the only one included here in detail.

Entries: As this was one of three races, the organizers had, apart from Norwegians and Finns, managed to attract Ian Connell from England with an ERA (R6B) he had newly bought from Douglas Briault and Herbert Berg from Germany with an silver colored Alfa Romeo Monza. Bjørnstad raced his Alfa Romeo Monza, rebuilt to monoposto and using double rear wheels on the ice, and Adolf Westerblom was to race a 1929 Amilcar, which Bjørnstad had bought from "Västerås Racer Kompani" late 1936. Helmer Carlsson entered his yellow ex-Widengren Alfa Romeo Monza, this one also rebuilt to monoposto. Karl-Emil Rolander entered his Bugatti T35C (known as #4696 but actually #4928), which actually had won the Targa Florio back in 1929. Arne Sundstedt raced his father's ex-Chiron 1926 T35B Bugatti (#4922). Gunnar Bennström raced a Bugatti T37A (#37318), which "Västerås Racer Kompani" had bought in December 1936 and renovated and Axel Jonsson entered a Bugatti T43. The entry list also included Tore Wistedt's little MG and the specials of John Forsberg and Finnish drivers Aleksi Patama and Arvo Sorri.

Practice: Favourites for the race were the two Alfa drivers Eugen Bjørnstad and Helmer Carlsson. Carlsson did the fastest practice lap with a time of 1m31s. Bjørnstad did a 1m39s lap and Connell a 1m42s one. However, as the grid had already been decided by ballot, Carlsson found himself back in the second row.

Race: Sunday came with excellent conditions for an ice race with sunshine and - 6°C, and 15000 spectators turned up to the ploughed track. The cars lined up like this:

26 Berg Alfa Romeo 24 Bjørnstad Alfa Romeo 22 Connell ERA 30 Rolander Bugatti 28 Carlsson Alfa Romeo 42 Forsberg Ford 38 Wistedt MG 34 Patama Ford 46 A. Sundstedt Bugatti 44 Bennström Bugatti

Using his double rear wheels to their best, Bjørnstad took the lead of the start and then command of the race. carlsson took second position while Berg made a slow start and soonn retired his Monza. At the end of the straight on the first lap Carlsson noticed a misfire on his Alfa and he had to stop for repairs. The problem proved to be a cable that he had installed as an overspeed protection and once it had been removed Carlsson was able to rejoin the race but without hopes of a podium position any longer. Extremely angry about the incident he made a series of fast laps, the fastest being a 1m28.8s against Bjørnstad's 1m30s.       With both Berg and Carlsson out of the game there was no one to challenge Bjørnstad. Connell who was trying his best to come to grips both with his new car and with ice racing held second position with his green ERA and Patama third with his brightly red Ford. On the fourth lap Rolander passed Patama for third position. Halway through the race a shock-absorber broke on Connell's ERA and he was passed by Rolander in the curve before the main straight on the seventh lap. However a few laps later Rolander spun his Bugatti and punctured a tyre forcing him to make a pit stop. After 10 laps Bjørnstad had lapped all drivers except Sundstedt and Connell. Those he passed as well on the 11th and 12th lap. After 15 laps he took the flag almost two laps in front of Connell. Sundstedt and Patama shared the third position with equal times.

32 Eugen Bjørnstad
E. Bjørnstad
ERA A

40 René Dreyfus
Officine A. Maserati
Maserati 6CM

2 Reggie Tongue
R. Tongue
ERA B

.. and Bjørnstad shows he can win a park race as well

In the voiturette race the works Maseratis took the early lead from Bira's ERA. Bira passed Dreyfus on lap 4 and attacked Bianco, who used some dirty manoeuvres to keep the lead, but when Bianco lost his goggles the angry Siamese was finally able to pass only to retire soon afterwards with gearbox problems. But then Bjørnstad in an ERA came through the field and was able to take the lead with 5 laps to go and finished the race as a surprise winner.

The first Italian event of the season was run in Parco Valentino, Turin, on the bank of the river Po after a two years interval. There were races both for 1500cc voiturette class and for the Grand Prix cars. The track configuration was a new shorter one than in 1935.

Entries: This was the first 1937 clash between the ERAs and the Maseratis but the ERA works team with their "C" spec cars did not start. the Maserati works team was back in racing after a one year interval, with two 6CMs for Ettore Bianco and René Dreyfus. Scuderia Ambrosiana entered two 6CM for Luigi Villoresi and Franco Cortese and two 4CM for Giovanni Lurani and Luigi Soffietti. Ecurie Helvetia entered a 4CM for Ciro Basadonna and a 4CS with a 6 cyl engine for Georges Filippinetti while Scuderia Torino entered a 6CM for Piero Dusio. Alberto Filippi Gabardi and Enrico Gessner raced 4CM Maseratis as well.       Bira's ex-Seaman Delage was not ready so he raced his ERA (R2B "Romulus") instead. Eugen Bjørnstad, racing for the first time the red painted ERA (R1A) he had bought from the works team, and Reggie Tongue (R11B) were the two other private ERA drivers and the list also included Genuardi's little Fiat Balilla.

Practice: There was practice on Thursday and qualifying for the grid started 9 a.m. on Friday. Practice times determined the grid order and on the twisty park circuit the works Maserati proved to be fastest with experienced Grand Prix driver Dreyfus taking pole position with a lap time of 1m53.6s followed by his team mate Bianco.

Race: It turned out to be a hot and sunny day and when the event started in the afternoon the 40 lap voiturette class race took place before the main event. The grid looked like this (Marazza is listed last in the grid by "Automobil-Revue" but he obviously never started):

40 Dreyfus Maserati 1m53.6s 22 Bianco Maserati 1m54.0s 16 "B Bira" ERA 1m55.4s 32 Bjørnstad ERA 1m55.6s 28 Dusio Maserati 1m56.8s 24 L Villoresi Maserati 12 Cortese Maserati 2 Tongue ERA 36 Filippi Gabardi Maserati 8 Filippinetti Maserati 20 Basadonna Maserati 38 Lurani Maserati 34 Gessner Maserati 6 Genuardi Fiat 10 Soffietti Maserati (Or mirror) (Note 1)

At 14:15 the race was started by the Italian crown prince Umberto. The works Maseratis of Bianco and Dreyfus took the early lead followed by Bira, Tongue and Bjørnstad. The top three all did the first lap in 2m01s. Filippinetti was already out of the race and Basadonna immediately made a pit stop. On the second lap Bjørnstad spun and hit the straw barriers losing several positions. Bianco was opening up a gap as Bira ferociously attacked Dreyfus while waving his hand to the flag marshals (remember this was the 1930s when modern type of blocking was considered unacceptable). Villoresi retired to the pit with fuel starvation because of a carburettor failure and was followed by his team mate Cortese. Both Scuderia Ambrosiana drivers were out of the race. On the fifth (seventh?) lap Bira finally found a way past Dreyfus and started to reel in Bianco. Tongue was still fourth and Dusio now fifth. It took only a few laps for Bira to catch the leading works Maserati and then a new duel began in which Bianco used some quite dirty manoeuvres to keep the lead while the Italian flag marshals looked in the opposite direction. According to "Motor Sport" "Trossi and Farina, who were watching the race, were protesting vigorously against the unfair tactics".       But after this tight fight had gone on for several laps Bianco's Maserati started to leak oil and Bianco's goggles became so coated with oil that he had to get rid of them. The angry Siamese was finally able to find a way past on lap 24 and immediately started to open up a gap to the Maserati driver, who was struggling with oil in his face. Bjørnstad had come back through the field using an unorthodox ice racing style driving technique and was fifth at halfway through the race. Soon afterwards he passed Tongue for fourth, at the same time setting the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m52.2s. After 25 laps he was still 34 seconds behind the leader, but the Norwegian was now up at speed and closing in fast. Five laps later the gap to the leader has dropped to 14 seconds. Meanwhile Soffietti had to give up with a broken oil pump.       Then on lap 30 Bira suddenly entered the pit with a stuck gearbox. After a failed attempt to restart the Siamese had to call it a day. The struggling Bianco was now back in the lead and Bjørnstad was attacking Dreyfus in second position. The Maserati team, taken by surprise by Bjørnstad's speed, had failed to warn their drivers before it was too late and Bjørnstad passed Dreyfus for second position on lap 34 and a lap later also Bianco to take the lead of the race. Dreyfus also passed Bianco and started an unsuccessful chase on the red ERA. With just two laps left of the race Bianco, blinded by the oil, entered the pit and collapsed in the seat. Rovere quickly took over the Maserati and brought it home in fourth position behind surprise winner Bjørnstad, Dreyfus and Tongue.

60 Antonio Brivio
Scuderia Ferrari
Alfa Romeo 12C-36

50 Giuseppe Farina
Scuderia Ferrari
Alfa Romeo 12C-36

46 Carlo Felice Trossi
Scuderia Ferrari
Alfa Romeo 12C-36

Quadruple Ferrari, despite problems

Nuvolari had a very big accident, when he crashed his Alfa Romeo Tipo 12C during practice. He was taken to hospital and left it three days later with a plaster corset. His car was taken over by Pintacuda. In the race Wimille in a Bugatti retired early and the four Ferrari entered Alfas were in a class of their own. But the Ferrari team had problems with boiling radiators and all had to stop for water, except for Brivio who went on to win the race.

Grand Prix racing was back to Parco Valentino on the bank of the river Po after a two years interval. The track configuration was a new shorter one than in 1935.

Entries: Scuderia Ferrari decided to enter a full team of four drivers for the event. The highly expected new 12C-37 car was not ready at the beginning of the season but the team came with four of their twelve cylinder 12C-36s. The only possible challenger, at least on the paper, was Wimille's T59 Bugatti, probably with the 4.7 litre T50 engine. A Maserati V8 RI was entered in the hands of privateer Adolfo Mandirola. Hungarian Count Festetics Maserati and the old "Monzas" of Alessandro Wild a.k.a. "Ventidue" and Contantino Magistri completed the field as Swiss driver Martin Walther seems not to have appeared with his Bugatti. (Note 2)

Practice: Practice started 9 a.m. on Thursday morning. Nuvolari was fastest with a time of 1m45s. Brivio's best time was 1m54.4s, Farina's 1m50.2s and Trossi's 1m54s. Wimille had not yet arrived.       Then practice was suddenly interrupted. Nuvolari had had a bad crash with his Alfa Romeo. The car had spun and gone tail first into a tree and as the car rolled over Nuvolari had been thrown out. The car ended up halfway over Nuvolari, who got tapped but was lucky not to get crushed. He was freed by the fire brigade and taken to hospital. He left it three days later with a plaster corset. His car itself was not badly damaged and was taken over for the race by Pintacuda.       Qualifying for the grid started 9 a.m. on Friday for the voiturettes and was followed by the Grand Prix cars. A bump on the track at the place of Nuvolari's crash site had been fixed during the night and extra straw bales had been added. The Ferrari drivers put in some 15 laps each and Farina finally took pole position with a time of 1m46.2s. Nuvolari had of course been 1.2s faster on Thursday.

Race:

50 Farina Alfa Romeo 1m46.2s 60 Brivio Alfa Romeo 1m48.1s 46 Trossi Alfa Romeo 1m50.4s 58 Pintacuda Alfa Romeo 1m51.3s 62 Wimille Bugatti 1m56.1s 54 Mandirola Maserati 2m02.2s 44 Festetics Maserati 2m03.3s 52 Magistri Alfa Romeo 2m04.1s 48 "Ventidue" Alfa Romeo 2m08.0s

The start signal was given by the Italian Crown Prince (Prince of Piedmont, later Umberto II). Brivio and Trossi were fastest away, followed by Farina, Wimille and Pintacuda. "Ventidue" spun on the first lap and went through a straw stack, the first of many incidents for that driver during the race. Immediately the race also lost much of its interest as Wimille stopped in the pits with oil leaking from the crank case. He stayed in the pit for two laps, then went out and did two slow laps before calling it a day.       With Wimille gone no one had any chance to challenge the Ferrari Alfas of Brivio, Trossi, Farina and Pintacuda, who were driving in formation. On the third lap Farina passed Trossi for second and on the fourth lap he took over the lead.       After five laps the situation was this: 1. Farina (Alfa Romeo)   9m47.6s 2. Brivio (Alfa Romeo)   9m48.0s 3. Trossi (Alfa Romeo)   9m57.4s 4. Pintacuda (Alfa Romeo) 10m03.4s 5. Magistri (Alfa Romeo) 10m53.6s The other were already far behind.       At that stage Farina seemed to have the victory in the bag. But that was not to be the case. The formation running had caused the Alfa Romeos to overheat and at 17 laps Brivio retook his lead as Farina was slowing down with a boiling radiator. Two laps later Farina made a 1m56s pit stop for a radiator re-fill. He returned a lap down in third position. Pintacuda also had to stop with brake problems and when Trossi pitted on lap 26 for exactly the same reason as Farina had pitted earlier. Farina could retake his second position. A reason for the problem might have been that Farina's and Trossi's cars had been equipped with a new improved lighter radiator model while Brivio and Pintacuda used the older type.       When Farina and Trossi near the end of the race had to stop anew for a further refill, Brivio, who had led the early formation and was the only one without overheating problems, could cruise to victory with an almost 2 minute margin over Farina. Trossi finished third (Note 3) and Pintacuda fourth making it a rather expected Ferrari 1-2-3-4 in a quite boring event. The voiturette race had been much more exciting.

6 Patrick Fairfield
H. W. Cook
ERA C

12 Arthur Dobson
A. C. Dobson
ERA B

2 Robin Hanson
Mrs Hall-Smith
Maserati 6CM

Fairfield wins the first Crystal Palace race

The first race at the extremely twisty Crystal Palace was run in two heats plus a final. Main contenders were two works and four private ERAs that faced two Maseratis. ERA works drivers Patrick Fairfield and Raymond Mays won the first and second heats. In the final Arthur Dobson with his ERA took the lead and held it for two laps but was then passed by the works ERAs. Mays in the lead had to retire on lap 9 with brake problems, leaving his team-mate Fairfield to win from Dobson and Robin Hanson in a Maserati.

This was the first race meeting on the new Crystal Palace Road Circuit. In honor of the Coronation of King Georg VI on 12th May the event was named the Coronation Trophy. The race was run in two heats plus a final, the winner receiving the trophy and £200. Work had begun on the track with a new "Panamac" non-skid surface in December 1936, only three days after a fire had destroyed the famous Crystal Palace itself. In order to create a two mile configuration on the limited space available the track included a long, very twisty infield section.

Entries: The ERA works team with Raymond Mays (R4C) and Patrick Fairfield (R12C) faced the rest of the British elite. ERA drivers included Denis Scribbans (R9B), Ian Connell (R6B), Arthur Dobson (R7B) and Peter Whitehead (R10B).       Charles Brackenbury raced Rayson's Maserati 4CM and Robin Hanson raced Mrs. Hall-Smith's 6CM. Austin Dobson had crashed his Maserati at the British Empire Trophy and did not appear. Walter Wilkinson raced Billy Cotton's unsupercharged Riley and Percy Maclure entered another unsupercharged Riley. Major Aubrey Esson-Scott in black overall and helmet raced a Bugatti T51A, newly rebuilt as a single-seater with a new long Mercedes inspired tail. John Appleton appeared in his "Appleton special" Riley and Bill Humphreys in a 0.75 litre MG. Jucker's new Alta was not ready for racing and Aitken (Maserati) and Sinclair (Alta) were also non-starters.

Heat 1: The weather was warm and sunny and a huge crowd estimated to some 30,000 spectators turned up for the race. Some late comers actually got in for free as the organizers run out of tickets. After some delay caused by Aitken's Frazer Nash the cars lined up like this in their letter marked boxes (A-E for the first row) for the first heat:

1 Scribbans ERA 15 Aitken Fraser-Nash 7 Maclure Riley 4 Brackenbury Maserati 6 Fairfield ERA 8 Humphreys MG 3 Connell ERA

As Harry Edwards dropped the flag Scribbans took the lead followed by Fairfield, Brackenbury, Connell and Maclure. At the end of the first lap Fairfield had taken over the lead from Scribbans and already opened up a 5 seconds gap while Connell had moved up to third. However, after only three laps Connell was out of the game when the carburettor came loose and went straight through the oil tank. Brackenbury in the green Maserati took over third position.       At half distance Fairfield already had a 40 seconds gap to Scribbans and after 12 laps he lapped Humphreys. Humphreys then retired with rear axle trouble and on the 15th lap the exhaust of Scribbans' ERA came loose and he had to stop twice trying in vain to make repairs with a rope. In the end he had to drive with one hand while holding the exhaust pipe bracket with the other hand. Fairfield won the first heat from Brackenbury (Maserati) and Aitken (Frazer Nash). Maclure was the last to qualify for the final while Scribbans was too slow.       The non-skid surface proved to be a disappointment as the tyres rapidly polished the surface to a slippery state.

Heat 2: It was now time for the second heat, the first four from each heat plus the fastest fifth finisher going to the final. The cars lined up like this:

20 Parnell MG 14 Hanson Maserati 12 Dobson ERA 16 Whitehead ERA 17 Mays ERA 11 Appleton Riley 21 Esson-Scott Bugatti 19 Wilkinson Riley

Mays took the start and went off in the lead followed by Whitehead's and Dobson's ERAs and Hanson's Maserati. On the first lap Dobson passed Whitehead, who was experiencing engine problems, for second position. Mays immediately opened up such a gap that he could take it easy after four laps. Applerton had a fight with Esson-Scott for last position, the latter passing on the fourth lap. Applerton then had to retire on the tenth lap with a broken steering and on the thirteenth lap Esson-Scott, who was now a lap down, lost the Bugatti at the Stadion Dip as his foot slipped on the pedal. The car went backwards over the bank into a group of press photographers, who managed to save themselves in the last second, only one of them getting a slight injury.       Near the end of the race Mays started to suffer from problems with the new hydraulic brakes, so that even the slightest use of the brake pedal produced locked wheels, and had to slow down letting Dobson close in but Mays had the situation in control and took the flag with 1.2s margin from Dobson's white ERA with Whitehead third making it an ERA 1-2-3. In Mays' mind the tightness and number of corners of the track made the race one of hardest he had ever done.

Final: After a demonstration run of a 1908 Italia and a 1912 Lorraine-Dietrich it was time for the final to be run over 30 laps.

14 Hanson Maserati 12 Dobson ERA 16 Whitehead ERA 6 Fairfield ERA 17 Mays ERA 15 Aitken Frazer Nash 7 Maclure Riley 19 Wilkinson Riley 4 Brackenbury Maserati

As the flag was dropped Mays and Dobson were both fast away, the latter being slightly faster to take the lead of the race. After the first lap Dobson's white ERA was leading from Fairfield's and Mays' works cars. Mays went past his team-mate to retake second position and on the third lap the two works cars took over first and second positions from Dobson. The trio was followed by Whitehead, Brackenbury, Wilkinson, Hanson, Maclure and Aitken.       On the fifth lap Brackenbury lost the brakes on his Maserati and nearly touched the sand bank at the Stadium Curve, and almost got hit by Wilkinson and Hanson. In the next corner Brackenbury then ploughed into a sand bank and got stuck. On the seventh lap Mays slowed down to let Faifield pass as did Dobson one lap later. Mays then retired with both engine and brake problems. On the same lap Wilkinson skidded into the Stadium Curve sand bank after his engine had failed. On lap 13 Aitken retired the mis-firing Frazer Nash with a broken oil pipe.       Fairfield, in the works ERA, held a good lead, and could take it easy. Whitehead lost his third position when he spun at the Ramp Bend when trying to lap Maclure and lost two laps trying to restart the ERA. On the last lap Fairfield was back up in speed, setting the fastest lap of the day with a time of 2m11.9s. Dobson finished second with his ERA and Hanson was third with his Maserati.