16 Hermann Lang
Daimler-Benz AG
Mercedes-Benz W154

2 Tazio Nuvolari
Auto Union AG
Auto Union D

12 Rudolf Caracciola
Daimler-Benz AG
Mercedes-Benz W154

Lang wins the Eifelrennen after close battle with Nuvolari

The International Eifelrennen of 1939 with 13 cars at the start delivered a great duel between Lang, Nuvolari and Caracciola over 10 laps. Mercedes had already won at Pau and Tripoli and were hoping for a third win. For Auto Union this was their first race in 1939 but although they came well prepared, they were still slower than the Mercedes. The three Mercedes of Lang, Brauchitsch and Caracciola led the 1st lap followed by the Auto Unions of Müller, Nuvolari, Bigalke, Hasse and the Mercedes of Hartmann while Seaman retired with a broken clutch. On the 2nd lap Caracciola passed Brauchitsch and Nuvolari who also had a slow start, pulled ahead of Müller with the order changed to Lang, Caracciola, Brauchitsch, Nuvolari. On the 3rd lap Nuvolari passed Brauchitsch for third place. Lang stopped after the 4th lap for fuel and tires and was passed by Caracciola and Nuvolari on the 5th lap, with the new order Caracciola, Nuvolari, Lang, Brauchitsch. Then the latter changed wheels on the 6th lap while Lang passed Nuvolari for second place behind Caracciola. On the 7th lap Caracciola refueled, enabling Lang to take the lead with Nuvolari again second as he did not have to stop. On the 8th lap Lang was just nine seconds ahead of Nuvolari with Caracciola 20 seconds behind the Italian. The battle between the three leading drivers continued in an excitingly tense and very fast race until the very end. After 10 laps Lang won, 11 seconds ahead of Nuvolari with Caracciola a further 20 seconds back. This time the spectators remained until the very end of the race as they wanted to see if Lang or Nuvolari would be the victor.

The 12th Internationales Eifelrennen of 1939 was the third race for the German teams. The ONS (Oberste Nationale Sportbehörde) had organized the International Eifelrennen, but the DDAC (Der Deutsche Automobil-Club) and the NSKK (National-Sozialistisches Kraftfahr-Korps) were charged with the execution of this race. It was run over 10 laps of the 22.810 km Nürburgring Nordschleife, a total of 228.1 km and was held to the 3-liter supercharged and 4½-liter un-supercharged Grand Prix formula. In accordance with this sliding scale formula, 1500 cc cars were allowed to race with the larger cars.       The Grand Prix class prize money for the first five drivers was 5000, 4000, 3000, 2000 and 1000 Mark. The German drivers received an additional award from the fuel and oil companies with 2000, 1000 and 500 Mark for the first three finishers.

Entries: There were 15 entries listed after the withdrawal of Alfa Corse and the Delahaye team and Maserati did not even attempt to enter. Delahaye had withdrawn their early entry of two cars as they had not received their new engines. Alfa Corse had also withdrawn their early entries and instead raced on the same weekend at the Anvers Grand Prix, north of Bruxelles, where Farina won the race ahead of Sommer.       As usual the German teams came in force to this event after a one-year break. Auto Union with Engineer Eberan von Eberhorst und team manager Dr. Karl Otto Feuereissen entered five type D cars powered by 3-liter, V-12-cylinder engines, now also with two-stage supercharging. The drivers were Tazio Nuvolari, Hans Stuck, H. P. Müller, the motorcycle champion Georg Meier who was to start in his first race with a race car and Ulrich Bigalke who drove here in his first race while Rudolf Hasse was reserve. This was their first race of the year, while Mercedes had a proven car after already winning at Pau and Tripoli.       Daimler-Benz team manager Alfred Neubauer with Engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut were present with seven Mercedes-Benz W 154 cars with this year's new 3-liter, V-12-cylinder engine, also with new two-stage supercharging. They had no less than seven drivers during practice. Rudolf Caracciola, Manfred von Brauchitsch, Hermann Lang, and Richard Seaman were the team main drivers, with Hans Hugo Hartmann in the fifth car, his first start in a GP car, while Walter Bäumer and Heinz Brendel were reserve drivers. The radiators of the four main Mercedes were painted and framed in different colors to enable the pit crew to recognize the cars from a long distance. Brauchitsch's radiator was framed in red, Seaman's green, Lang blue and Caracciola gray.       Automobiles Talbot-Darracq entered two of their 4.4-liter un-supercharged 6-cylinder Talbots for Philippe Etancelin and René Carrière.       There were three independent Maseratis from the German Paul Pietsch with his 1500 cc 6CM and Süddeutsche Renngemeinschaft with Heinz Dipper driving also a 6CM and Leonard Joa a 4CM.

Practice: Already the week prior to official practice some sports cars were seen testing on the Nürburgring. May 18 - Thursday was the first official practice from 2 to 5 p.m. for Grand Prix cars with slightly cool but dry weather. At the south end of the pits Auto Union had taken up quarters while the Mercedes-Benz racing team worked at the north end. In between were the two French Talbot entries and the three German independent drivers. After one or two laps, most cars stopped again to receive attention by engineers, technicians, and mechanics to prepare the cars for the great battle. Lang recorded no official time as his car had a new experimental engine which was not working particularly well. Brauchitsch and Seaman both lapped at 137.2 km/h, Nuvolari and Caracciola both at 135.7, Müller 133.4, Meier 133.3, Stuck 132.2, Lang 132.02 and Bigalke 128 km/h, these speeds were converted and shown as time in the list below. Thursday times Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 9m58.2s - 9m58.3s - 9m58s Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 9m58.2s - 9m58.3s - 9m58s Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 10m04.9s - 10m04s - 10m21s Nuvolari (Auto Union) 10m04.9s - 10m05s - 10m05.1s Hartmann (Mercedes-Benz) 10m16.0s Müller (Auto Union) 10m15.3s - 10m16s Meier (Auto Union) 10m15.7s - 10m16.2s Stuck (Auto Union) 10m20.9s Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 10m21.7s Carrière (Talbot) 11m42.0s Etancelin (Talbot) 11m45.0s May 19 - Friday practice in the morning was not possible due to dense fog and rain with visibility barely 50 meters. In the afternoon the fog disappeared but the rain persisted. After the sports cars the Grand Prix cars practiced on the wet track but an improvement of Thursday's times was impossible. Lang drove with 11m24s at 120.05 km/h the fastest lap, Brauchitsch did 11m25.2s and Seaman 11m26s. Caracciola did not practice. Nuvolari was timed at 11m39.3s, Müller 11m42s and Hasse 11m43.3s, while Meier, Bigalke also Carrière , Etancelin, Dipper and Pietsch drove over 12 minutes. Hans Stuck had bad luck on the foggy morning he had taken part in the opening celebration of the new bowling-alley held in the basement of the grandstand. During a contest between race drivers, with help of their wives, and the press, Hans Stuck badly strained his foot, unable to drive on Sunday. In the afternoon Rudolf Hasse immediately practiced for Stuck, although he had not driven a race car since October last year. Friday times Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 11m24.0s Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 11m25.2s - 11m24s Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 11m26.0s - 11m25s Nuvolari (Auto Union) 11m39.3s Müller (Auto Union) 11m42.0s Hasse (Auto Union) 11m43.3s May 20 - Saturday was the last practice day. After the Sports cars, the Tripoli winners Hermann Lang and Rudolf Caracciola in the small 1500 cc winning Mercedes race cars, drove a lap of honor around the Nordscheife. During the following practice session Lang was able to go very fast, 9m54.4s, as his car was fitted with an experimental engine, which he had chosen to drive after both Caracciola and Brauchitsch had declined it on the grounds that it was likely to blow up. Hasse practiced a lot as Stuck was unable to drive with an injured foot. The French driver Carrière crashed with his Talbot during Saturday practice at the Adenauer Forst and left the road near Schwedenkreuz where the car overturned. He was transported to hospital with severe leg injuries and contusions. At this place Nuvolari also had nearly bad luck on Saturday when his car spun around but he could catch it in times and completed the lap. Saturday times Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 9m54.4s Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 9m57.0s - 10m05.4s Nuvolari (Auto Union) 9m57.0s - 10m05.2s Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 9m58.4s Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 9m58.6s Müller (Auto Union) 10m16.0s Meier (Auto Union) 10m16.4s Hasse (Auto Union) 10m20.2s Bigalke (Auto Union) 10m41.8s Carrière (Talbot) 11m42.8s Etancelin (Talbot) 11m42.8s Joa (Maserati 1500) 11m52.2s

Race: Sunday provided splendid race weather. Days before and the whole night thousands of spectators had arrived from all directions on bicycles, cars, trucks, buses and by train to Adenau. There was a crowd of estimated 200,000 spectators around the entire circuit. In the morning from 9 to 10:15 a.m. was a race for sports cars, followed by a lap of honor around the Nordscheife by the Tripoli winners Hermann Lang and Rudolf Caracciola in the small 1500 cc winning Mercedes, as they had already done on Saturday practice. From 11:00 a.m. to 12:25 p.m. a race for the motorcycles was followed at 1:00 p.m. by the Grand Prix cars.       The motorcycle champion Georg Meier who in the Auto Union was to have given his debut as race car driver, could not appear at the start because his overrevved engine during practice could not be repaired in time for the race. The German time keepers published only the order of the staring grid supposedly according to the best practice laps however, they did not publish the qualifying practice times. The best times shown in the starting grid below were published in the various practice press reports, shown above. The missing times of two drivers, Pietsch and Dipper, were nowhere found in our sources. The rather unusual starting grid below, displayed in six rows with only one driver in row 4 and row 6, is true and accurate as seen in two photographs. This arrangement differs with others reported elsewhere.

12 Caracciola Mercedes-Benz 9m57.0s 2 Nuvolari Auto Union 9m57.0s 16 Lang Mercedes-Benz 9m54.4s 14 Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 9m58.2s 18 Seaman Mercedes-Benz 9m58.2s 4 Hasse Auto Union 10m20.0s 10 Bigalke Auto Union 10m41.8s 6 Müller Auto Union 10m15.3s 22 Pietsch Maserati 26 Joa Maserati 11m52.2s 28 Etancelin Talbot 11m42.8s 20 H Hartmann Mercedes-Benz 10m16.0s 24 Dipper Maserati

The noon sun was shining on the starting grid. Tension lay spread out over the wide grandstand area. The starting signal went by light. Red light - still 30 seconds, when the engines were started to bellow and the mechanics jumped to the sides; yellow - ten seconds, then the green light beamed at 1:00 p.m. with the starting shot - and the field of 13 cars took off. But not the three drivers of the first row, Lang, Caracciola or Nuvolari grabbed the best start, instead Brauchitsch and Seaman with Müller, from the second and third row shot to the front heading for the Südkehre, but Lang caught up with all of them passing just before the turn. After his wild start, Brauchitsch's clutch slipped intermittently throughout the race while Seaman was passed by everybody as he dropped behind with a broken clutch. As the cars left the Südkehre, the order was Lang, Brauchitsch, Müller, Bigalke, Caracciola, Nuvolari, Hasse, Pietsch, Hartmann, Seaman, Etancelin, Joa and Dipper. The loudspeaker informed that Lang was leading the field at the Karussell. Lap 1 - At the end of the 1st lap the Mercedes of Lang passed after 10m17.1s at 133 km/h race average speed ahead of Brauchitsch, then Caracciola who had passed the Auto Unions of Bigalke and Müller, then Nuvolari, Bigalke, Hasse and Hartmann. Seaman who had started too fast, broke his clutch, and crawled literally behind the field completing just one slow lap to reach his pit where he retired. Lap 2 - At the Karussell Lang led Caracciola by 25 seconds. After the 2nd lap Lang led at 134.4 km/h average speed with a lead of 15 seconds to Caracciola who had passed Brauchitsch, while Nuvolari demoted Müller to fifth place, followed by Hasse, Bigalke, Hartmann und Pietsch. Lap 3 - After three laps Lang was only eight seconds ahead of Caracciola who was trying to catch the leader. Nuvolari passed Brauchitsch ahead of the Karussell for third place and was half a minute behind Lang and Caracciola. Lang finished the third lap at 135.1 km/h average race speed ahead of Caracciola, Nuvolari and Brauchitsch in the leading group. 1. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 30m22.2s 2. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 30m30.0s 3. Nuvolari (Auto Union) 30m58.2s 4. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 31m00.0s 5. Müller (Auto Union) 31m25.2s 6. Hasse (Auto Union) 31m33.8s 7. Bigalke (Auto Union) 31m56.6s 8. Pietsch (Maserati) 31m59.8s 9. Hartmann (Mercedes-Benz) 33m15.8s 10. Etancelin (Talbot) 35m42.2s 11. Joa (Maserati) 35m43.6s 12. Dipper (Maserati) 37m10.4s Lap 4 - On lap four Caracciola kept chasing after Lang and drove a new record lap which closed the gap to only five seconds behind Lang, as was reported from the Karussell. At Döttinger Höhe, on the long straight before the finish, Caracciola shot past Lang who would now stop at the pits at the beginning of the 5th lap, while Nuvolari followed with 36 seconds behind Caracciola in third place. Lap 5 - On the 5th lap Lang changed rear wheels and refueled, as he had started the race with a half-filled tank in order to run faster laps. It took 33 seconds before he left, while Caracciola had taken the lead with Nuvolari in second place, 45 seconds behind. Caracciola was at full speed and drove another new fast lap, this in 9m53.5s at 138.3 km/h, a new record. The race had become unusual gripping. In the meantime, Müller had fallen behind with a misfiring engine and was passed by Hasse for fifth place. At mid-race Caracciola held the lead at 136 km/h average speed with the field in the following order after 5 laps: 1. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 50m18.1s 2. Nuvolari (Auto Union) 51m03.0s 3. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 51m07.1s 4. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 51m24.3s 5. Hasse (Auto Union) 52m04.2s 6. Müller (Auto Union) 52m06.2s 7. Bigalke (Auto Union) 52m47.1s 8. Pietsch (Maserati) 56m15.1s 9. Joa (Maserati) 58m44.1s 10. Etancelin (Talbot) 58m58.3s Lap 6 - On the 6th lap Brauchitsch stopped at the pits with engine running, solely changed rear wheels in 25.5 seconds and remained in fourth place ahead of Hasse and Müller. Brauchitsch had to drive from the start with full tank to assure the team's success and therefore did not have to refuel. So Caracciola only led the 5th and 6th lap while Lang regained the lead on lap seven and held it till the end. Lap 7 - On lap seven Caracciola made his pit stop changing rear wheels and filled up, as he had also started with a half-filled tank before the start in order to run faster laps. It took 36.5 seconds before he could leave. In the meantime, Lang, who after a brief battle had already passed Nuvolari, regained the lead as they both passed Caracciola in the pits. Hasse had pulled ahead of Brauchitsch for fourth place. Lang's Mercedes was going like a rocket, establishing a lap in 9m52.2s at 138.5 km/h average speed which was the fastest lap ever driven on the Nürburgring. But even with this lap he could not shake off Nuvolari. Lap 8 - On lap eight the order was Lang at 135.1 km/h race average speed, but only 4.5 seconds ahead of Nuvolari who had a 12 seconds advantage to Caracciola. It was obvious from the demeanor of the Auto Union pit, that Nuvolari was going to try to go through non-stop, and this he succeeded in doing. In the meantime, Brauchitsch had repassed Hasse to regain fourth place. Müller slowly passed the pits with banging exhaust notes like a machine gun due to wet spark plugs with the engine running on only 11, 10 or even less cylinders. From the exhaust stumps of the cylinder with the wet spark plug one could see upon sharp acceleration the pure fuel shooting out. The Manager of his pit knew about it but signed the driver to carry on. Müller was passed by Bigalke who had no problems. At the end trailed Hartmann and Pietsch. Lap 9 - On the ninth lap Nuvolari was about 400 meters behind Lang when Nuvolari had decided to stop the battle with Lang, as his tires would then not last till the end. Lap 10 - Lang started his last lap with 11-seconds advantage. Nuvolari received the last attack signs from his pit. At the Karussell Lang had 13-seconds advantage. Tension was hanging in the air. Finally, at the finish Lang's advantage to Nuvolari was 11 seconds. This was Lang's third victory in consecutive order after 1h40m57.1s at 135.5 km/h average speed. He collected 5,000 Mark in prize money, Nuvolari 4,000, Caracciola 3,000 and Brauchitsch 2,000.

12 John Wakefield
J. Wakefield
Maserati 4CL

18 Piero Taruffi
Scuderia Ambrosiana
Maserati 6CM

10 Franco Cortese
Officine A. Maserati
Maserati 4CL

Wakefield surprises the Italians on their home ground

The early part of the race was a clash between the Maserati 4CLs of Luigi Villoresi, Giovanni Rocco and British driver John Wakefield. But then a jammed gearbox made Rocco to loosed nine laps and Villores's car suffered from engine trouble. That gave Wakefield the cance to take victory with his brand new car, delived the same day to him. Piero Taruffi finished second in a 6 cylinder Maserati and Franco Cortese third in a works 4CL.

Just as the year before this was a Maserati only event. Alfa Corse was still trying to sort out their cars after the Tripoli failure. According to David Venables, Maserati had sold one of their new 4CL cars to British driver Reggie Tongue on the condition he did not entered it against the Maserati works team. No such restrictions seems to have been forced on John Wakefield however, the car sold to him being ready for delivery to Naples on 24 May.

Entries: The entry list consisted only of Maseratis. There were four of the new Maserati 4CLs in the race, the works entries for Luigi Villoresi (#1568) Franco Cortese (#1564), a semi works entry for Giovanni Rocco (#1566) a while John Wakefield entered a 4CL delivered to him on the very raceday (#1569). The Works team also entered the 4CL alike 6CM with a 6C 24-valve engine for Luigi Belucci (#1565) and the works spare car, a 1st batch 6CM for Ettore Bianco (#1552). Secondo Corsi entered a 4CM with independent front suspension (#1527). Giorgio Pelassa raced a Scuderia Torino car with 6CM body and 4C engine (#1536). First batch 6CM cars were entered by Guido Barbieri (#1543), Enrico Platè (#1534) and Egidio Gallinari (#1544). Second batch 6CMs cars were entered by Emilio Romano (#1557), and two under the Scuderia Ambrosiana name for Ovidio Capelli (#1558) and Piero Taruffi (#1562).

Practice: The practice session was run on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. No details are known about the practice but La Stampa published the final results, that can be seen on the grid below.

Race: As seen on pictures from the event a huge crowd had turned up in, expecting an exciting race in sunny weather with, of course, an Italian victory. The 14 cars lined up, three and three, on the grid on Viale Virgilio.

10 Cortese Maserati 2m21.2s 6 Rocco Maserati 2m20.4s 20 L Villoresi Maserati 2m19.4s 18 Taruffi Maserati 2m26.2s 4 Bianco Maserati 2m26.2s 12 Wakefield Maserati 2m24.4s 14 Barbieri Maserati 2m33.0s 24 Belucci Maserati 2m31.0s 16 Romano Maserati 2m30.2s 26 Gallimari Maserati 2m39.0s 8 Capelli Maserati 2m37.4s 2 Pelassa Maserati 2m36.3s 30 Corsi Maserati 3m10.0s 22 E Platè Maserati 2m39.1s

Wakefield had only had the chance to do a couple of warmup laps with his new unfamiliar car. Despite that, at the starting signal Wakefield took the lead, followed by Villoresi, Belucci, Cortese, Rocco, Bianco, and Taruffi. After a gap followed Plate, Barbieri, Romano, Capelli, and Corsi. Pelassa stalled his car on the grid and was dead last.       Belucci soon dropped down to fifth position. Wakefield led the field for three laps, where after he was passed by Villoresi. Rocco, going strong, passed Cortese for third position on lap 5 and then closed in on Wakefield. The situation continued for the next 15 laps with Villoresi, Wakefield and Rocco running with less than ten seconds between the trio. On lap 19 Rocco made the fastest lap of the race so far. Villoresi was in the lead followed by Wakefield a couple of hundred meters back with Rocco glued to his heels.       On the twenty-first lap, Rocco was suddenly missing. His Maserati stopped at the Posillipo Alto corner on the uphill section with a jammed gearbox, and he lost contact with the leading duo. Villoresi's Maserati was not going well and consuming fuel at a high rate and on lap 22 he made a pitstop for refueling.       During the 1 minute 50 second pitstop with consultation between driver and mechanics it was realized that a broken float messed up the fuel mixture and carburation. Wakefield was now back in the lead with Cortese in second position already far behind the leader, and Taruffi in third. Wakefield then made a 1 minute 37 seconds stop for fuel on lap 25 without loosing the lead.       Villoresi was now driving flat out do shrink Wakefield’s lead, doing a lap of 2m18s followed by 2m17s, 2m16 and a fraction, and on the 30th lap the fastest lap of the race with a time of 2m15.6s On the 31st lap Villoresi, despite the engine still stuttering occasionally, passed Wakefield for the lead. Rocco was finally back in the race again after having lost 9 laps.       But at the end of the 39th lap Villoresi spun in a curve. He managed to resume the race a broken gearbox that only gave him second gear and he not only lost his lead but he fell behind Cortese and Taruffi, who had an internal duel. Corstes spun, giving Taruffi second position. Rocco going at full speed actually managed to pass Wakefield to unlap himself. But Wakefield was in no rush, taking the chequered flag ower 50 seconds in front of Taruffi with Cortese an distant third.

36 Maurice Trintignant
M. Trintignant
Bugatti T51

10 Jacques du Brusle
J. du Brusle
Bugatti T51A

18 Harry Herkuleyns
H. Herkuleyns
MG Q

Trintignant scores after Joa retires

Entries: Entries included some privateers in Bugattis, Maseratis and Amilcars. Dipper and Joa had their silver colored Maseratis and Cristea his rebuilt sports BMW.

Practice:

Race:

36 Trintignant Bugatti 26 Joa Maserati 6 Loyer Maserati 22 Dipper Maserati 20 Legat Bugatti 5? La Boissière Bugatti 11 Cristea BMW 32 "Legros" Bugatti 10 du Brusle Bugatti 18 Herkuleyns MG 2 Cleton Bugatti (Note 1)

Trintignant and Joa started from the front row of the grid and it was Joa who took an early lead followed by Trintignant, Dipper, ex. motor cycle champion Loyer (Maserati 6CM), Cristea and Legat. On the second Lap Joa made the fastest lap of the day and opened up a 11 seconds gap but on the third lap Trintignant has closed the gap and the six cars were back together again. The first retirement was Loyer with a broken chock absorber. Cristea was the next retirement with a puncture after a spin and Dipper gave up with brake problems. On lap 5 Joa retired with an engine failue and Trintignant now had a huge lead over Legros and du Brusle. There were not much action in the latter part of the race as there were huge gaps between the competitors. Trintignant held the lead to the end but Legros had to make a pitstop and dropped to 6th.

In retrospect:

2 Wilbur Shaw
Boyle
Maserati

10 Jimmy Snyder
Thorne Engineering
Adams

54 Cliff Bergere
Offenhauser
Miller FD

Shaw wins Indy 500 with a Maserati Tipo 8CTF

Entries:

Practice:

Race:

10 Snyder Adams 45 Meyer Stevens 2 Shaw Maserati 4 Horn Miller FD 3 C Miller Summers FD 17 Bailey Miller 4D 47 Cantlon Stevens 16 Rose Shaw 9 Ardinger Wetteroth 54 Bergere Miller FD 29 Brisko Stevens FD 18 Connor Adams 25 Hepburn Stevens 49 Hansen Shaw FD 41 Barringer Weil 31 Stapp Alfa Romeo 14 Wearne Wetterot 37 Hall Nowiak 15 Mays Adams 8 Thorne Adams 44 Andres Stevens 32 Swanson Stevens 1 Roberts Wetteroth 35 Petillo Wetteroth 21 Snowberger Snowberger FD 51 Willman Lencki 62 Gulotta Stevens 42 A Miller Adams 56 Davis Mille 58 Tomei Alfa Romeo 53 Litz Maserati 38 McQuinn Blume 26 DeVore Weil

Situation after 20 laps:       Snyder, Meyer, Shaw, Horn, Swanson, Mays, C. Miller, Roberts, Bergere; Bailey Situation after 40 laps:       Shaw, Meyer, Mays, Horn, Snyder, C. Miller, Roberts, Hansen, Bailey; Petillo Situation after 60 laps:       Shaw, Meyer, Horn, Mays, Snyder, C. Miller, Roberts, Hansen, Petillo, Hepburn Situation after 80 laps:       Snyder, Mays, C. Miller, Horn, Meyer, Shaw, Roberts, Petillo, Hepburn, Hansen Situation after 100 laps:       Snyder, Meyer, Shaw, Horn, C. Miller, Mays, Hepburn, Bergere, Hansen, Connor Situation after 120 laps:       Meyer, Shaw, Horn, Snyder, Bergere, Willman, Petillo , Connor, Stapp, Gulotta Situation after 140 laps:       Meyer, Shaw, Snyder, Horn, Bergere, Willman, Connor, Stapp, Barringer, Thorne Situation after 160 laps:       Meyer, Shaw, Snyder, Horn, Bergere, Willman, Connor, Stapp, Barringer, Thorne Situation after 180 laps:       Meyer, Shaw, Snyder, Bergere, Horn, Connor, Willman, Stapp, Barringer, Thorne At finish:       Shaw, Snyder, Bergere, Horn, Stapp, Barringer, Thorne, Rose, Wearne, Devore

In retrospect:

1 "B Bira"
"B Bira"BR>ERA C

15 Raymond Mays
R. Mays
ERA D

16 Peter Whitehead
P. Whitehead
ERA B

Siamese domination

The German and Italain teams refused an invitation and the new E-type ERA became a non starter after engine trouble during practice. Prince Bira in his ERA totally dominated the race, being fastes even if he was on a non stop strategy. Mays, afraid to push the car in his new status as privateer, was as sure of his second position while Whitehead made it a ERA 1-2-3. Hanson was a late retiremwent after holding 4th position.

The Nuffield Trophy a.k.a. "The British Light Car Classic" was first raced in 1934 as a handicap race. For 1939 the event was changed to a 64 lap scratch race in a move to tempt the new Mercedes voiturettes and the Italians to take part. A suggestion was made to Mercedes -Benz during the Eifelrennen but the Germans had no time to prepare two cars and were unwilling to send a single one. Also Alfa Romeo made only vague promises so only Maserati was showing any real interest. The thing was not made better by the fact that the event clashed with Picardie GP and that the continental European privateers selected the latter.       There was no starting money but the prize money was good.

Entries: ERAs dominated the entry list. Former works drivers Mays and Bira had their Zoller blown ERAs, R4D in black and R12C "Hanuman" in new Siamese colors blue and yellow. ERAs with Murray-Jamieson supercharger included Pollock's gray R2A, Wilson's dark blue R4A, Rolt/Horsfall in Ex-Bira R5B "Remus" now in gray livery, Hanson's red R6B, Ansell's dark blue R9B with red wheels, Whitehead's black R10B and Aitken's pale blue ex-Tongue R11B.       There were high expectations on seeing the new E-type ERA in action against the European teams. The ERA works team entered the car for their new no 1 driver Arthur Dobson . But the car was not ready developed as works had recently moved from Bourne to Donington and the team was in crisis. Cook , having already spent £75000 of his own money, had announced that he urgently needed another £8000 to save the team. Maserati had entered two cars for Villoresi and Rocco but they never appeared as the Italians were unwilling to spend the costs of transporting the cars all the way to England for just a voiturette race. In the end the only continental entries proved to be Parisian Roger Loyer driving a dark blue ex Herbert Berg Maserati 6CM and Bob Gerard's Riley. Maclure had a dark blue supercharged Riley with the engine from the famous "White Riley".       Tongue had his new fast Maserati 4CL (1567) while Loyer , Dodson and Hanson had 6CMs. The rest of the field consisted of Hadley's Austin, Brooke's Alta-engined special and Nicolls' MG, while Reg Parnell's mysterious Challenger, a new ERA-engined car of advanced design, was not ready.

Practice: There was a cold wind blowing on Thursday but apart from that the weather was good. Bira proved fastest with a time of 2m21.5s followed by Dobson in a troublesome new Era with 2m25s.       During Friday practice Bira lowered his time to 2m20.4s. He was followed by Mays, Horsfall (in Rolt's ERA), Whitehead, Dobson, Maclure and Tongue (see grid for times). Tongue broke the final drive on his Maserati, making him a non-starter. A broken oil pump destroyed the engine of the E-type ERA and while a spare was available it had not been run in, so instead of destroying that one as well in the long race, Cook withdrew the works entry.

Race: There were more spectators than in the former years as the cars lined up on the grid according to their fastest practice times.

5 Rolt ERA 16 Whitehead ERA 2m24.2s 15 Mays ERA 2m22.8s 1 "B Bira" ERA 2m20.4s * 17 Maclure Riley 2m25.4s ** * 4 Tongue (Maserati) 2m25.4s DNS ** 3 Dobson (ERA) 2m25.0s DNS Rest of grid unknown.

As the flag dropped Mays and Bira were slow off the line and Whitehead stalled totally. It was instead Maclure in the Riley who took the lead followed by Ansell, Aitken, Bira and Mays. Bira and Mays soon moved up to second and third and that became first and second when Ansell, who had opened up a 10 seconds gap, suddenly retired after only five laps with gearbox trouble. Gone was already Hampshire with a blown piston on his Maserati and Rolt had made the first of several pit stops because of plug trouble.       Bira had full control over the race, opening up the gap to Mays by a second a lap. At ten laps Bira was leading with Mays 13 seconds behind followed by Whitehead, who had fought his way up to third, and Ansell.       When passing backmarkers Mays got the gap down to 6 seconds but it was clear that neither Bira nor Mays, who was now without works support and worried about the spare parts situation, was pushing. Following pit signals Bira easily opened up the gap back to 13s after 20 laps. Whitehead was a further 37s behind. Gone was Nicolls with engine trouble on his M.G. and next to retire was Wilson with a broken gearbox.       By thirty laps Bira was leading by 16s. Hanson had passed Ansell for fourth position. Loyer had overheated his engine and on lap 33 the field lost two further cars as Brooke got gearbox troubles and Rolt, after having made three pit stops and trying to regain positions by throwing the ERA round the corners, overdid it and crashed.       At 40 laps the order was Bira, Mays (20s behind), Whitehead, Hanson, Ansel, Pollock, Aitken, Dodson, Hadley and Gerard and it remained still the same ten laps later.       On lap 52 Mays was in for a rushed 29s stop, fuel splashing all around the pits during tanking. After the stop his engine started to misfire. It soon became clear too that Bira just like last year had decided to do the race non-stop and with a lead of 85s Bira started to cruise as did Mays, securing his second position.       On lap 59 Hanson in fourth position had to retire with gearbox problems.       So Bira took a dominant victory from Mays. The only non ERA in the top seven was Dodson's Maserati.

34 John Wakefield
"J. Wakefield
Maserati 4CL

20 Raymond Sommer
Baron de Graffenried
Maserati 6CM

30 Marc Horvilleur
M. Horvilleur
Maserati 4CM

Wakefield is unchallenged in the two race event

The Picardie voiturette race was run as a 10 lap heat and a 15 lap final in rainy weather. Wakefield with his Maserati 4CL was totally dominant in both races, winning the final by two laps. Sommer, racing de Graffenried's Maserati finished second despite suffering from misfiring problems and Horvilleur finished third in another Maserati.

The plan was to race two 10 laps heats with the three top finishers from each heat plus the four fastest of the rest regardless of the heat would qualify for the 15 lap final. Cars 2 to 16 would take part in the first heat starting at 1:30 p.m. and cars 18 to 34 in the second, starting at 2:45 p.m. The final was planned for 4:30 p.m.

Entries: With the event raced the same weekend as the Nuffield Trophy at Donington park, there were no British entries apart from John Wakefield in his Maserati 4CL, who was in Europe after having raced at Naples. As the Italians boycotted the French race so the organizers had to rely mostly on French entries. But several of the entries failed to appear and at the end with only ten entries available the organizers decided to scratch the second heat, and all cars moved to the first heat. Apart from Wakefield, Maseratis were raced by Armand Hug (Scuderia Torino), Marc Horvilleur and Raymond Sommer who took over Baron de Graffenried's car after his expected Alfa Romeo failed to appear from Italy. The Süddeutsche Renngemeinschaft's duo Dipper and Joa seems to have been delayed in the Reims area. The magazine Intran Sports criticized the duo as it claimed that despite their no-entry the seems to have received part of their starting money.       Bugattis were entered by Jean Delorme (T51 #51149), Michel Roumani and Louis Decaroli. Jean Trémoulet raced a Salmson, Joseph Paul took over Mestivier's Amilcar from Georges Grignard. Non starter Alphonse de Burnay is listed by Sheldon in a Riley while he was listed by the race program in a Salmson.

Practice: The organizers claimed that the drivers had demanded two practice sessions. But not a single car turned up for the Friday practice. The second practice session started at 7 o'clock on Saturday. Seven drivers took part but only Wakefield made a fast lap, clocking a speed of 3m55s       Sommer was still waiting for his Alfa Romeo. Hug, arrived overnight after experiencing trouble with his truck en route, and completed a few laps at a leisurely pace. The rest of the practice times can be seen on the grid below.

Heat: Saturday had been sunny but Sunday came with gloomy sky and gusty winds. However it did not stop spectators from turning out in large numbers. As the drivers prepared for the heat is started to rain.

30 Horvilleur Maserati 4m44s * 34 Wakefield Maserati 3m55s 16 Decaroli Bugatti 5m44s 2 Delorme Bugatti 4m55s 4 Tremoulet Salmson 6m05s * 28 de Graffenried 4m28s DNS Rest of grid unknown.

After a fifteen-minute delay the ten cars were flagged off. As expected Wakefield immediately was in his own class to lead after the first lap with Hug 7 seconds behind and Horvilleur in third position a full 1 minute 4 seconds behind. Even further back followed Decaroli, Tremoulet, Paul, Roumani, Herkuleyns and Sommer, whose engine forced his to stop at the end of the lap to change spark plugs. Delorme had skidded in a corner and ended up in a ditch but was unhurt.       The distance between the drivers increased further during the next laps. Wakefield has set the fastest lap of the race doing 4m14s (138.4 km/h) despite the rain and after four laps he and Hug had lapped all the other except for Horvilleur. Then the rain begun to fall even harder, causing Wakefield to slow down by some 12 seconds.       Sommer's engine troubles continued and after struggling at the end of the field he retired after three laps as did Decaroli with a split fuel tank. Wakefield continued to win the heat with Hug 24s behind. Three laps from the end Horvilleur was forced to stop and lost third place to Tremoulet.

Final: Between the heat and the final there was a 7 lap race for the Championnat féminin with ten female drivers racing Renault Juvaquatres. Yvonne Simon was the winner with a time of 50m35s (81.080 km/h) from Hellé Nice (50m48s) and Seligman (52m04s). Seven competitors took part in the final. Decaroli and Delorme were non-starters and for some reason Paul was declared disqualified and pushed off the grid.

20 Sommer Maserati 22 Hug Maserati 34 Wakefield Maserati 4 Tremoulet Salmson 30 Horvilleur Maserati 14 Herkuleyns MG 10 Roumani Bugatti

Shortly after 4:00 p.m., the cars were flagged away. Wakefield took the lead in the final and at the end of the first lap the race order was Wakefield, Hug 18 second behind, Sommer 21 seconds, Horvilleur, Tremoult, Roumani, and Herculeyns. after two laps, Wakefield average speed was 133.704 km/h, corresponding to 4m22.9s laps. Behind him Hug suffered from engine trouble and he made a pit stop at the end of the second lap giving over second position Sommer, who also still suffered from a troublesome engine. He made a six minute problem at the end of the third lap to sort out the trouble.       After four laps Wakefield held a lead of 3m50s over Horvilleur and was to lap rest of the field. Hug had to retire his Maserati from third position. Then followed Tremoult, Roumani, Herculeyns, and Sommer. With the Maserati engine finally in order Sommer climbed through the field moving to third on the sixth lap, and then to second by the ninth lap. However Wakefield as expected was in his own class, lapping all the other by at least two laps to take the victory from Sommer and Horvilleur.