Grand Prix season 1927
In the 1927 Grand Prix season , the World Automobile Association ( AIACR) once again announced a World Automobile Championship for which the results of the five Grandes Épreuves held that year were evaluated.
These main races were the Indianapolis 500 in the USA , the French Grand Prix , officially the Grand Prix de l ' ACF , at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry , the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuito Lasarte in San Sebastián , the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo di Monza north of Milan , which this year held the honorary title of European Grand Prix , and the Great Britain Grand Prix on the Brooklands high-speed rail in Weybridge , Surrey . The 1.5-liter formula from the previous year remained in effect, only the minimum weight of the racing cars had been increased to 700 kg. With victories in France, Spain, Italy and Great Britain - thus in all four Grands Prix - Robert Benoist almost single-handedly secured the world championship title for the French company Delage .
In addition - mostly in Italy and France - other important races were held, including the Targa Florio in Sicily , the Coppa Montenero in Livorno , the Coppa Acerbo in Pescara and the Grand Prix of Rome and Milan . The San Sebastián Grand Prix was also of international importance.
The German Grand Prix, held for the second time at the Nürburgring in 1927, was advertised as a sports car race .
Season description
The last Grand Prix season for the time being, in which the World Championship races were still fully carried out, was dominated by the French manufacturer Delage . After the problems in the previous year with the extreme heating of the footwell in the cockpit, designer Albert Lory had radically redesigned the previous year's Grand Prix model. By turning the cylinder head around, the exhaust was now on the opposite side of the vehicle, far away from the driver's feet, so that the pilots could now fully utilize the potential of the car. The Delage Type 15 S 8 has since been considered one of the best racing cars of all time and was so far ahead of its time that it was still capable of winning over ten years after its first appearance in the hotly contested Voiturette class. In 1927, Robert Benoist achieved the rare achievement of winning all the Grands Prix in a season, thereby securing the world championship title for the Delage brand.
For Bugatti , the reigning world champion in 1926, it quickly became clear that his current Bugatti Type 39A Grand Prix model with a performance deficit of more than 50 hp, especially on fast tracks, had little chance of success. Only on the classic street circuit in San Sebastián was Emilio Materassi , who replaced Bartolomeo Costantini , who had risen to head of the racing team, the one single serious challenge to Benoist. Otherwise, Bugatti even refrained from taking part in the home race in Montlhéry and the Italian Grand Prix and instead concentrated on the numerous so-called “formula-free” races, in which both Materassi and private drivers were successful for the brand. For the automobile world championship, however, Bugatti's disinterest practically resulted in a repetition of the previous season - albeit under the opposite direction, when Delage "gave" Bugatti the world championship in the same way. In addition, Talbot - alongside Delage and Bugatti, practically the only manufacturer remaining under the 1.5-liter formula in Grand Prix racing - was unable to close this gap. The company's financial situation, which was exaggerated by the development of the new racing cars, was just enough to take part in the French Grand Prix. After the disappointing performance there, the racing team had to split up.
While the Grand Prix races with mostly only six or seven participants continued to paint a bleak picture, there was a real boom in formula-free races in Italy and France. If at all, Bugatti only encountered individual retired and now privately used former Grand Prix cars, while the first Maserati were not yet fast enough, so that the Bugatti Type 35 in its various over-the-counter versions was literally going from victory to victory hurried. In addition to Materassi, who was able to win one of the most prestigious races of the year in addition to the Italian championship held for the first time on Bugatti, including the Targa Florio , some of the upcoming Grand Prix greats, Tazio Nuvolari , Louis Chiron and Philippe Étancelin , competed as private drivers for the first time the winning lists of such races.
Also at the Grandes Épreuves , the actual Grand Prix races, there have recently been more attempts to upgrade the events by adding more supporting races with an attractive line-up. Even the venerable Automobile Club de France finally opened up to the point where, on the day before its Grand Prix, in addition to a race based on a fuel consumption formula, it scheduled a race for formula-free racing cars in which private drivers were also allowed. The Italians went the furthest, however, who included their actual Grand Prix in a whole network of preliminary runs with a joint final, for which the Grand Prix participants also had the opportunity to qualify. To everyone's surprise, Fiat came up with a sensational new design after a long period of abstinence, after the factory had actually withdrawn from Grand Prix racing since 1924. The engine of the Fiat 806 consisted of two six-cylinder blocks, the crankshafts of which were housed in a common housing. However, with the special format of the event, Fiat and Delage managed to avoid each other and avoid the eagerly awaited duel between the two traditional brands. In the end, Fiat was able to drive home with the success of Pietro Bordino in the Gran Premio di Milano , but Delage with Benoist as the Grand Prix winner. Fiat then finally withdrew from Grand Prix racing, and Delage, too, had reached the goal it had pursued for a long time by winning the world championship and was no longer willing to continue investing huge sums in the development of racing cars. With the departure of these last two manufacturers from the “glorious age”, Grand Prix sport in its form as a pure competition between automobile companies was practically at an end.
Racing calendar
Grandes Épreuves
| date | run | route | winner | statistics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 05/30 |
 Indianapolis 500
|
Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
George Souders ( Duesenberg ) |
statistics |
| 2 | 03.07. |
 ACF Grand Prix
|
Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry |
Robert Benoist ( Delage ) |
statistics |
| 3 | 07/31 |
.svg){kind=small} Spanish Grand Prix
|
Circuito Lasarte |
Robert Benoist ( Delage ) |
statistics |
| 4th | 04.09. |
 Grand Prix of Italy( Grand Prix of Europe ) |
Autodromo di Monza |
Robert Benoist ( Delage ) |
statistics |
| 5 | 01.10. |
 Great Britain Grand Prix
|
Brooklands |
Robert Benoist ( Delage ) |
statistics |
More races
.svg){kind=small}
Web links
- Hans Etzrodt: GRAND PRIX WINNERS 1895-1949. www.kolumbus.fi, January 5, 2014, accessed April 11, 2015 .
- 1927 Grand Prix. www.teamdan.com, accessed April 11, 2015 .
- Hans Etzrodt: The 1927 Automobile World Championship. www.kolumbus.fi, May 7, 2013, accessed April 11, 2015 .