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Brooklands (GB), 18 April 1938 (Monday)
10 laps x 3.648 km (2.267 mi) = 36.48 km (22.67 mi)
"Bira" beats Dobson in one of Brooklands' finest short races
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This race was part of the Easter meeting. Luigi Villoresi and Emmanuel de Graffenried in their Maseratis gave the event an international character. The event turned out to a duel between
ERA drivers Arthur Dobson and "B. Bira". Dobson led for the first half of the race, the Siamese prince then took over the lead and held it to the flag.
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The Campbell Trophy was a ten lap sprint that was part of the Brooklands B.A.R.C. Easter meeting.
The handicap races that day were won by Oliver Bertram (Bowler-Hofman Spl. 4.5L), John Horsfall (Aston Martin 2.0L), George Abecassis (Alta 2.0L), Miss Dorothy Stanley-Turner (MG Q 0.75L), Wooding (Talbot 3L)
and Peter Monkhouse (MG Magnette).
The big race of the day however was then the scratch Campbell Trophy scratch race over ten laps of the Campbell circuit with a £ 100 prize for the winner.
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Entries:
Arthur Hyde entered his ex-Cholmondeley-Tapper Maserati 8CM and there were international voiturette Maserati entries from Baron de Graffenried and Luigi Villoresi,
the latter with different coloured front and rear wheels.
ERA entries included "B Bira" with R12C "Hanuman", Arthur Dobson with his white R7B, Billy Cotton with the green ex-Seaman R1B.
The Alfa Romeo P3 of John Snow was a non starter as were the 4 litre Darracq of A.C. Lace and the B.H.W. of R.S. Wilkins.
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Race:
Over 20,000 spectators had arrived to Brooklands for the Easter meeting. John Cobb's new Railton Special world speed record car was at display at the paddock.
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Grid in line across the track
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As the flag was dropped Arthur Hyde in his green Maserati took the lead, followed by Dobson's ERA and the Maseratis of de Graffenried and Villoresi.
Hyde had to let Dobson by on the first lap and on the next lap Bira also passed, putting Hyde down to third position.
Now a hectic duel started between the two ERAs in the front. Dobson was overdriving, trying to keep his car in front of Bira's faster and better accelerating C type.
De Graffenried was falling back with a sick engine and on the fourth lap Cotton passed Villoresi whose Maserati on this track seemed to have no chance against the ERAs.
On the fifth lap reaching the Railway turn Bira moved up beside Dobson and they run side by side up the Road Straight before Bira got the upper hand on took over the lead that he
then held until the finish of the race. Dobson finished 1.6s behind with Hyde taking third position. During the race Bira had also beaten the old lap record.
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Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Type | Engine | Laps | Time/Status | Diff |
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| 1. | 10 | "B Bira" | Prince Chula | ERA | B | 1.5 | S-6 | 10 | 18m27.4s |
| 2. | 5 | Arthur Dobson | A. C. Dobson | ERA | | 1.5 | S-6 | 10 | 18m29.0s | + 1.6s |
| 3. | 8 | Arthur Hyde | A. Hyde | Maserati | 8CM | 3.0 | S-8 | 10 | 19m00.8s | +33.4s |
| 4. | 6 | William Cotton | W. Cotton | ERA | B | 1.5 | S-6 | 10 |
| 5. | 9 | Bill Everitt | W. Parnell | M.G. | K3 Magnette | 1.1 | S-6 | 9 |
| 6. | 7 | Luigi Villoresi | Scuderia Ambrosiana | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-6 | 8 | |
| DNF | 4 | Emmanuel de Graffenried | John Du Puy | Maserati | 6CM | 1.5 | S-4 | 2 | |
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Fastest lap: "B. Bira" (ERA) in ~1m47.8s = 121.8 km/h 75.71 mph
Winner's medium speed: 118.6 km/h (73.7 mph)
Weather: fine but cold
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Main sources:
Bill Boddy's "The history of Brooklands Motor Course"
"Motor Sport" May 1938.
Special thanks to:
Vladislav Shaikhnurov
Adam Ferrington
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CORK GRAND PRIX
Carrigrohane (EIR), 23 April 1938 (Saturday)
33 laps x 9.797 km (6.088 mi) = 323.3 km (200.9 mi)
Dreyfus and Delahaye wins again
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With Mercedes Benz and Alfa Romeo deciding not to participate, no one could hinder René Dreyfus and Delahaye to take their second victory of the season.
With Wimille struggling with his Bugatti, Dreyfus was dominating the event, beating "Bira's" Maserati by almost two minutes.
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Entries:
The Cork GP was held at the 6 mile 154 yard Carrigrohane track. The event had starts both for GP cars, voiturettes (see above) and handicap.
After the Pau GP, Mercedes Benz had intended to enter the Grand Prix at Cork. Indeed the race promoters, The Irish Hospital Trust, had visited
Germany and Italy early in 1938 and met the racing departments of Mercedes, Auto Union and Alfa Romeo. Mercedes wished to enter but
along with Alfa Romeo tried to pursuade the Irish organisers to run the race at a later date when the teams could better guarantee their entries.
When the organizers insisted on a date of April 23nd, Mercedes dropped out, but Alfa did enter two cars for Nuvolari and Farina.
These cars appear in the official race programme. However after the Pau incident Nuvolari had left Alfa Romeo and one car was badly damaged by fire.
Rather than send a single car, Alfa withdrew from the race.
So the main contenders for the GP race were the two Delahayes of
the Ecure Bleue team, Wimille's new Bugatti T59/50B3, Bira's ancient Maserati, Evans' even older Alfa Romeo Tipo B and Gérard's
non supercharged 3 litre Delage.
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Race:
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12
Comotti
Delahaye
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20
"B Bira"
Maserati
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14
Dreyfus
Delahaye
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7
Evans
Alfa Romeo
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15
Paul
Delahaye
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18
Wimille
Bugatti
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16
Viale
Delahaye
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17
Gerard
Delahaye
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(Note 1)
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Dreyfus started from the pole position but it was Bira in the Maserati who took the start. However, it did not take more than a lap
for Dreyfus to put the Delahaye up into the lead. Both Wimille, who was struggling with
the new Bugatti, and Comotti in the second Delahaye had to retire but Dreyfus dominated the race to take his second GP
victory of the year. The French optimism for the rest of the season was high, even knowing that the Germans had a huge
horsepower advantage.
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Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Type | Engine | Laps | Time/Status | Diff |
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| 1. | 14 | René Dreyfus | Ecurie Bleue | Delahaye | 145 | 4.5 | V-12 | 33 | 2h09m40s |
| 2. | 20 | "B Bira" | Prince Chula | Maserati | 8CM | 3.0 | S-8 | 33 | 2h11m30s | + 1m50s |
| 3. | 17 | Louis Gerard | Count Heyden | Delage | | 3.0? | S-6 | 30 | 2h10m47s |
| 4. | 7 | Kenneth Evans | K Evans | Alfa Romeo | Tipo B/P3 | 2.9 | S-8 | 30 | 2h12m15s |
| 5. | 15 | Joseph Paul | Count Heyden | Delahaye | 135 | 3.6 | S-6 | 25 | |
| DNF | 18 | Jean-Pierre Wimille | Automobiles E. Bugatti | Bugatti | 59/50B | 3.0 | S-8 | 21 | piston |
| DNF | 12 | Gianfranco Comotti | Ecurie Bleue | Delahaye | 145 | 4.5 | V-12 | 12 | oil leak |
| DNF | 16 | Jean Viale | Count Heyden | Delahaye | 135 | 3.6 | S-6 | 2 | clutch |
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Fastest lap: René Dreyfus (Delahaye) in 3m49s = 153.9 km/h (95.6 mph)
Winner's medium speed: 149.5 km/h (92.8 mph)
Weather:
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Footnote:
1. Film evidence shows this to be the correct grid (not the mirror image) with thanks to Anthony Taylor.
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7 May 1938: Percy Maclure (Riley 1.7L) wins the J.C.C. International Trophy handicap race at Brooklands, England.
Two spectators, including car designer T. Murray-Jamieson, died and several were injured after Joseph Paul's V12 Delage collided with A. C. Lace's Darracq and rolled over the safety bank.
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8 May 1938: René Le Bègue (Talbot) wins the Coupe de Paris sports car race
and Forestier (Riley) the Grand Handicap Olazur sports car race at Montlhèry - Paris, France.
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10 - 14 May 1938: Auto Union held their yearly test for new drivers at Nürburgring
with the following results:
Kluge 11.01
Bigalke 11.04
Zimmermann 11.37
Huschke von Hanstein 12.40
Kohlrausch DNS
Ewald Kluge and "Ulli" Bigalke were selected as reserve drivers for the 1938 season.
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14 May 1938: Raymond Mays (ERA 1.5L) wins the 100 miles Coronation Trophy race at Donington Park, England.
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