Villoresi beats Martin on the last lap.

Caracciola wins the last pre-war Masaryk Grand Prix.

The grid positions were not decided by the practice times but by ballot allotting positions to teams rather than drivers. Pietsch had a bad crash during practice with his Maserati destroyed by the following fire. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) took an early lead of the race followed by Rosemeyer (Auto Union) and von Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz). On the fourth lap Rosemeyer tookm over the lead while Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) took over third position from von Brauchitsch who had destroyed his tyres. Lang then crashed, killing two people and injuring 12 others who were sitting in a prohibited area. Halfway through the race Rosemeys crashed leaving Caracciola to lead from Müller (Auto Union) and Seaman (Mercedes-Benz). Rosemeyer took over Müller's car, dropping to fourth behind the Mercedes trio. Rosemeyer took up the chase passing Seaman and closed in to within 6 seconds on von Brauchitsch when the race ended with Caracciola victorious,

The CAMS (Ceskoslovensky Automobilovy Klub pro Moravu a Slezsk) or Czechoslovakian Automobile Club for Moravia and Silesia organized their seventh international automobile race on the Masarykuv okrůh (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 29.142 km Circuit with 36 left-hand corners and 47 to the right had to be lapped 15 times, bringing the total length of the race to 437.13 km. The circuit was leading though forests and fields and also passed through a few small villages. It was in part rather narrow and passing cars was very difficult. The circuit no longer met the conditions required for the present high speed race cars. It was a road circuit like they were used in the earlier years and with a length of almost 30 kilometers it was too long and generally did not belong to the faster circuits. Parts of it consisted of rather narrow roads, considered side roads, which in the turns were often cambered the wrong way, instead of being banked, creating the danger of cars leaving the road. The condition of the circuit was still dangerous with the road surface in many places very uneven and road edges were often covered with loose gravel, causing cars to skid easily.

Entries: This was the seventh and what would prove to be the last Masaryk GP. Six days earlier Thomas Garigue Masaryk, co-founder and first president of the Czechoslovakian republic had passed away.       The Auto Union team arrived with four V-16 type C cars for Bernd Rosemeyer, H.P. Müller and Varzi, who had a 3-race contract. Team manager Dr. Karl Otto Feuereissen had problems with their drivers as Stuck had left the team two weeks earlier after the Italian Grand Prix, Hasse was ill still handicapped with leg and foot injuries he had received at his Monaco crash and Varzi showed up with two bandaged fingers. During the first practice day Varzi was very slow and during the second practice day he declared that he was unable to drive with his wounded fingers and asked for permission to leave at once as he had a train to catch to Vienna.       The Daimler-Benz team, managed by Alfred Neubauer, arrived with four W 125 cars for Rudolf Caracciola, Manfred von Brauchitsch, Hermann Lang, Richard Seaman as drivers and Christian Kautz as reserve driver.       Scuderia Ferrari, the racing arm of the Alfa Romeo factory, arrived on Friday with two 12C-36 Alfa Romeos for Tazio Nuvolari and Antonio Brivio.       There were five independent entries but none had a chance of victory. Hungarian László Hartmann's old Maserati 8CM was red, silver and green. The Rumanian Count Ern? Festetics also drove an 8CM Maserati. The German Paul Pietsch and the Italian Luigi Soffietti both entered 6C-34 Maseratis. Hans Rüesch was ill with an infection and had his reserve driver Renato Balestrero to drive his 3.8-liter 8C-35 Alfa Romeo.

Practice: The organizers limited practice to Friday and Saturday, because it was expensive to police the 30 km long circuit. After that scrutineering took place.       Friday practice from 9-12 was the first practice when all entered drivers were expected to be present. Practice was delayed but started at 9:30 for the small cars. At around 10:30 the large cars began their practice with Rosemeyer's Auto Union being the first car to take to the track to the vivid applause from the grandstand. Then followed the Mercedes-Benz of Lang and Seaman and the Alfa Romeos of Nuvolari and Brivio. A few seconds later started Paul Pietsch in his gray Maserati, von Brauchitsch, Varzi and Caracciola. Eventually the cars returned. Rosemeyer drove after the first lap, just passed the pits for a second practice lap while Neubauer had all his cars stop after their first lap. After the Alfa Romeos of Nuvolari and Brivio had passed, appeared Pietsch, who likewise wanted to do his second lap.       A few seconds later one could hear from the grandstand "He is on fire!", "He is on fire!" About 250 meters away from the grandstand stood indeed the car of Pietsch crosswise on the road in flames. The spectators on the grandstand were overcome by immense excitement and many tried to reach the burning car on the road, although racecars were still on the track. The controllers and police could keep the spectators away only with the greatest effort. Based on eyewitness reports and braking tracks left by Pietsch's car, the details of the accident could be reconstructed. Pietsch who had passed the grandstand at great speed, probably had taken the insignificant turn just after the grandstand, in to sharp to the right and bringing his car again to the middle of the road he came into a skid and drove very near the left road border. Pulling the car back to the right he lost control of the car on the tilting road, which suddenly turned crosswise and with full impact hit a telephone post, which was cut into half. Pietsch himself was ejected from the car in a wide arc to the slope where he was laying unconsciously. The car turned over several times and finally came to rest upside down in the middle of the road. In the next moment the entire car was enclosed in flames which also lit the fuel pool next to the car. It took some time before an emergency car and officials with fire extinguishers arrived at the accident scene. Pietsch received first aid before he was transported to a hospital where he rested in deep unconsciousness for some time. It was learned that had suffered a serious concussion and contusions of his back. There were insufficient means to extinguish the blazing car and eventually only a black iron wreck was left which was moved in the road ditch to open the track for further practice.       When the race management opened the racetrack again, the large cars were practicing till 12 noon. The Friday times showed that Brauchitsch made the best time in 12m25s, his teammate Lang in 12m44 while Caracciola did 13,34s. Rosemeyer drove a lap in 12m43s, Nuvolari in 13m02s and Brivio 13.10s. The Saturday practice tomes are not known.       The times however did not count for a place on the grid, a thing not too popular as the Brno track was very narrow and passing was difficult. The teams draw positions for the top eight positions and the privateers for the last four. Scuderia Ferrari picked positions #1 and #4, and Auto Union positions #3 and #6. The Mercedes team picked positions #2, #5, #7 and #8 and after some internal arguments Lang got the front row position as he had been fastest in practice and Caracciola already had secured his European Championship.

Race:

18 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 8 Lang Mercedes-Benz 10 Rosemeyer Auto Union 20 Brivio Alfa Romeo 4 Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 14 Müller Auto Union 6 Seaman Mercedes-Benz 2 Caracciola Mercedes-Benz 28 Soffietti Maserati 34 L Hartmann Maserati 26 Balestrero Alfa Romeo 32 Festetics Maserati (Note 1)

A giant crowd of estimated 200,000 spectators turned up on Sunday for the races. After the Voiturette race, won by Luigi Villoresi, it was time for the Grand Prix class. At 12:15 the flag was dropped and the twelve cars went away with Lang leading and with Soffietti last after having missed the start. At Pisárky the order was Lang, Rosemeyer, Müller, von Brauchitsch and Caracciola. Caracciola had decided to hold back a little during the first laps. On the narrow track it was hard to find a way past so the marshals were alert about anyone trying to block his opponents, and both Müller and Balestrero were warned. At Zebetin Müller had been forced to let von Brauchitsch by and Müller was fast falling further down the field.       At Ostrovacice Lang held the lead followed by Rosemeyer, von Brauchitsch, Caracciola, Nuvolari, Müller, Seaman and Brivio. A bulletin said that Lang had hit a stone marker at the 15 km, a thing Lang would later deny. At end of first lap Lang was leading with Rosemeyer just 0.6 s behind. 1. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 12m33.8s 2. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 12m34.4s 3. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 12m57.1s 4. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 13m02.4s 5. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 13m21.2s 6. Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 13m23.7s 7. Müller (Auto Union) 13m24.4s 8. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 13m58.2s 9. Hartmann (Maserati) 14m35.5s 10. Balestrero (Alfa Romeo) ? 11. Festetics (Maserati) 15m31.0s 12. Soffietti (Maserati) ? On the second lap Rosemeyer missed a corner and seemed for a second being on his way to the Brno city. A 180 degree turn and he was quickly back on the right track without losing any position but he had lost half a kilometer to Lang. The order remained the same on the second lap as on the first except that Seaman had passed Müller for sixth position. On lap three Rosemeyer took up the chase on Lang and at the end of the lap the gap was down to 3.9 s. Von Brauchitsch, unable to keep the pace of the leading duo, now let Caracciola by so that the latter could try to take up the chase of Rosemeyer. Order after 3 laps: 1. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 37m33s   (Note 2) 2. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 37m37s 3. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 37m53s 4. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 37m55s 5. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 38m53s 6. Müller (Auto Union) 38m54s 7. Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 38m55s 8. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 41m11s 9. Hartmann (Maserati) 44m35s 10. Festetics (Maserati) 45m55s Passing Kyvalka on lap four, Rosemeyer had taken over the lead from Lang, who had a hard time trying to follow the Auto Union champion on the twisty and difficult Brno track. Behind them Caracciola was even faster than Rosemeyer while von Brauchitsch tried to follow, but Caracciola's pace had proved to be too much for him and he destroyed his tyres fast. Further behind in the fight for fifth to seventh place between Nuvolari, Seaman and Müller, Müller had been able to repass Seaman. At end of lap four Soffietti pitted with a bent axle and retired.       On the next lap Lang had the worst accident of his career. In a right-hand curve near the 13 km post the Mercedes started to slide on gravel on the road and went into the ditch killing two people and injuring 12 others who were sitting in the ditch in a prohibited area. The organizers told Neubauer to get Lang out of the country as quickly as possible before he got arrested.       After having done a pit stop Balestrero abandoned his Alfa on the 6 km mark on lap 5. Nuvolari had a bust left rear tyre and had to cruise to the reserve pit on the rim, losing some three minutes and dropping to the back of the field. Caracciola was in great form, passing Rosemeyer for the lead on lap six and doing the fastest lap of the race with a time of 11min 59.3s. Von Brauchitsch, having destroyed his tyres, had to make a stop at the reserve pit. Nuvolari, who had passed the back-markers, had to do a new pit stop and Hartmann also went into the pit. Order after six laps: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 1h14m06s 2. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 1h14m23s 3. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 1h15m22s 4. Müller (Auto Union) 1h16m31s 5. Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 1h16m49s 6. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 1h19m32s 7. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 1h22m04s 8. Hartmann (Maserati) 1h28m43s -1 lap 9. Festetics (Maserati) 1h32m01s -1 lap At the end of lap seven Caracciola came into the pit for his routine stop followed some 25s later by Rosemeyer. Both were quickly away again, the Mercedes team doing a slightly faster job. Von Brauchitsch had to make a new stop as there had been no fuel at the reserve pit and he fell back in the field. Brivio did his routine stop and Hartmann was back in the pits.       On the eighth lap Rosemeyer's brakes locked and the Auto Union left the track and crashed. A wheel was so badly damaged that the driver had to retire on the spot. Caracciola was now leading from Müller and Seaman with von Brauchitsch and Nuvolari fourth and fifth. At the end of the lap, it was time for Müller and Seaman to do their stops, and they returned to the track without losing positions. Caracciola, now having a huge lead and high fuel load, was cruising, putting in four slow laps in a row each well over a minute slower than his fastest. On lap nine Nuvolari lost a tire and drove on the rim for a long distance to the emergency depot at Ostrovacice and fell behind Brivio. Order after 9 laps: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 1h52m59s 2. Müller (Auto Union) 1h55m23s 3. Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 1h55m37s 4. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 1h56m00s 5. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 1h59m35s 6. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 2h02m54s 7. Hartmann (Maserati) 2h15m09s -1 lap 8. Festetics (Maserati) 2h20m35s -2 laps Two hours into the race, after his crash, Rosemeyer had managed to return to the pits, driven by a happy spectator back to starting area, and Müller was signaled to stop on the next lap. Seaman managed to pass Müller for second place on lap ten and on the eleventh lap von Brauchitsch passed both Seaman and Müller to become second. The Mercedes cars now held the top three positions.       At the end of lap 11 Müller came into the pit and jumped out and Rosemeyer took over. Order after 12 laps: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 2h31m38s 4. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 2h32m35s 3. Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 2h33m04s 2. Rosemeyer (Müller) (Auto Union) 2h33m50s 5. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) 2h44m53s -1 lap 6. Brivio (Alfa Romeo) 2h45m16s -1 lap 7. Hartmann (Maserati) 2h58m08s -2 laps 8. Festetics (Maserati) 3h07m49s -2 laps Rosemeyer started to put in some fast laps and as it on the 30 km track took some time for the Mercedes pit crew to warn their drivers, Rosemeyer had closed the gap to Seaman in third place to 48 seconds as the last lap started after having done lap 13 in 12m07.4s and lap 14 in 12m04.9s (Caracciola and Seaman doing 12m38s laps and von Brauchitsch 12m26s). Incredibly Rosemeyer then caught and passed the surprised Seaman and was within five seconds to von Brauchitsch when the cars took the flag. But no one could challenge Caracciola who took the flag in a 35 seconds lead from his team-mate. Nuvolari took his Alfa home in fifth place a lap behind the winner. It would be the last time the "Flying Mantuan" finished a race in an Alfa Romeo.

Maseratis at Lake Lugano.

The race was to be run in 3 heats and a final with an entry consisting entirely of Italian drivers in Maseratis. Works drivers Bianco and Trossi were expected heat winners with Rocco winning a heat as well. In the final, where the two top finishers from each heat took part, Rocco held an early lead until Trossi took command of the race. However halfway through the race Trossi made a mistake and crashed. Trossi then took over Marazza's car and started a wild pursuit for positions but had retire with supercharger problems. That left Rocco to take the victory followed by Severi and Lurani.

The Italian race season ended with the race in Campione d'Italia, a comune of the Province of Como in the Lombardy region of Italy and an exclave surrounded by the Swiss canton of Ticino. The 1937 circuit was clamed to be the smallest one in the world with a length of only 1116 meters.       The race was to be run in 3 heats each of 40 laps with the two best in each heat going to the 50 lap final. The race would also decide the 1937 Italian Champion, Bianco having an one point lead over Trossi.

Entries: The race was a totally Italian affair. The entry list consisted exclusively of Maseratis or in Sergio Carnevalli's case a Bugatti with a Maserati engine. The Maserati works team entered cars for Carlo Felice Trossi and Ettore Bianco and due to his excellent performance during the season with his Maserati 4CS including the victory at Genova Aldo Marazza was offered the third works car. Luigi Villoresi, Giovanni Lurani, Ferdinando Righetti and Eugenio Minetti raced under the Scuderia Ambrosiana name. Seven other Italian drivers completed the entry list.

Practice: As usual, due to the newspaper deadlines, only the Friday practice times are known. Lurani was fastest during Friday making a lap in 46.8s (85.8 km/h). Teagno did 48.2s, Minetti 49.0s, and Righetti, Uboldi, Basadonna and Carnevalli recorded times that were not much slower. The Maserati works team did not take part in the Friday practice.       After the practice the cars were assigned their heats, probably by ballot.

Heat 1: Race Sunday was sunny and a huge numbers of locals as well as spectators from Italy and Switzerland turned up for the event. Five cars took part in the first heat:

6 Marazza Maserati 20 Bianco Maserati 30 Carnevalli MB 32 Minetti Maserati 24 F. Barbieri Maserati

Bianco immediately took the command of the race to lead after the first lap, followed by Marazza , Minetti, Carnevali and Barbieri. The top three drivers soon pulled away from Carnevali and Barbieri, Marazza, with the works Maserati, doing the third lap in 48s (83.7 km/h). On the 4th lap Marazza overtook Bianco for the lead. The duel between the two drivers continued for the rest of the race, Marazza doing the 10th lap in 46s (87.3 km/h) repeating that time on lap 28 without being able to shake off Bianco, who regained the lead on lap 31 when Marazza got blocked while trying to lap a skidding Barbieri. In the end Bianco took the victory by a mere 0.4 seconds over Marazza. Those two drivers thus qualified for the final. Mineti finished third while Barbieri and Carnevalli retired.

Heat 2:

26 Lurani Maserati 14 Rocco Maserati 10 Basadonna Maserati 12 Teagno Maserati 28 Caspani Maserati?

Rocco made the best start but was then immediately passed by Teagno who led after the first lap followed by Rocco and Lurani. The trio continued to race close together with the positions unchanged until lap 13 when Rocco, who had put pressure on Teagno during the last laps, took over the lead.According to Sheldon Lurani suffered from some car damage but was still able to challenge Teagno who had trouble with his brakes so on lap 22 Lurani managed to take over second position. Rocco took the victory and Lurani in second position also qualified for the final. Tegano finished third and Basadonna a distant fourth while Caspari retired from the race.

Heat 3: There were only four cars competing in the third heat:

22 Severi Maserati 2 Trossi Maserati 18 Uboldi Maserati 8 Righetti Maserati

Trossi, in the works Maserati, was fastest away to lead the race after the first lap followed by Severi, Righetti and Uboldi. The last one retired after either 6 or 8 laps. After 15 laps Trossi held a 5.8s lead over Severi. After 20 laps the gap was 5.2s. Severi then closed in. He did the 22nd lap in 45.8s (87.7 km/h) and on the next lap he took over the lead. But Trossi was far from beaten. On 27th lap he took back his lead and 28nd lap was the fastest one sat during heats with a time of 44.4s (90.5 km/h).       Righetti retired to the pit after 34 laps but seems still to have been classified third in the results. That left only two cars in the race, Trossi winning 13.2s in front of Severi with both drivers qualified for the final.

Final: The cars were obviously positioned on the grid according to theit heat finsht times so Bianco found hiomsaelf back in the third wro despite his heat victory. Lieutenant General Attilio Teruzzi dropped the flag and the cars went away.

22 Severi Maserati 2 Trossi Maserati 26 Lurani Maserati 14 Rocco Maserati 6 Marazza Maserati 20 Bianco Maserati

Rocco boldly took command of the race to lead the first lap followed by Trossi, Marazza, Lurani, Bianco and Severi. Rocco and Trossi immediately pulled away from the rest. For three laps Rocco held on to the lead but then irresistibly Trossi overtook him on the fourth lap.       With a clear track Trossi was soon far away from Rocco. He completed the 7th lap in 43.8s (91.725 km/h), setting the lap record. On the 25th lap he had already put Severi and Bianco a lap down and was closing in on Lurani. Rocco still held on to second position followed by Marazza 15 seconds behind him. When Trossi tried to lap Lurani on lap 27 he lost control, spun and crashed into a wall. Luckly, Trossi, running at full speed, was soon able to reach the pit by foot. At the same lap Bianco made a pit stop to change a spark plug.       Rocco now led the race followed by Marazza, Lurani, Severi and Bianco. On the 29th lap the works team called in Marazza and Trossi took over the car.       The positions were now as follows: Rocco in the lead, Lurani 20s behind, Severi 25s behind, Trossi 35 seconds behind and Bianco two laps behind.       Trossi, started a dizzying pursuit completing the 37th lap in 44.8s and got prepared to pass Severi for third position. But it proved to be a waisted effort because after 42 laps he has to retire to the pit with supercharger problems. On the next lap Bianco retired as well leaving just three cars in the race. Rocco had no trouble retaining his lead to win the final followed by Severi and Lurani. Even though Bianco failed to finish the race he had points enough to become the 1937 Italian Voiturette champion ahead of Trossi (Note 1).