Swiss Grand Prix 1934

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The Bremgarten circuit in the driven version
Location in the city area

The 1st Swiss Grand Prix took place on August 26, 1934 on the Bremgarten circuit in Bremgarten near Bern . This year, the race only belonged to the Épreuves a priority category , but was nevertheless carried out over 70 laps of 7.280 each in accordance with the provisions of the International Grand Prix racing formula (racing cars up to a maximum of 750 kg empty weight; 85 cm minimum width; race distance at least 500 km) km, which corresponded to a total distance of 509.60 km.

The winner was Hans Stuck on a Auto Union Type A . The race in the Voiturette category, which was held on the same day as a supporting program, was won by Richard Seaman on a MG K3 "Magnette" used by Whitney Straight . The event was overshadowed by the fatal accident of Briton Hugh Caulfield Hamilton on a Maserati 8CM also entered by Whitney Straight in the main race.

run

Although initially not yet in the status of a Grandes Épreuves , he immediately succeeded in establishing himself among the Grand Prix nations in Switzerland by hosting its first official Grand Prix on the demanding and dangerous circuit in the Bernese Bremgartenwald . In order to emphasize the ambitions , an independent race for so-called Voiturette racing cars (a predecessor category of the later Formula 2 ) was held on the same day under the title Prix ​​de Berne , which in the following years also became a permanent institution and a real one Season highlight for this racing category.

Although the Grand Prix du Comminges in St. Gaudens was scheduled in France on the same day - the Swiss Grand Prix was not yet entitled to an exclusively reserved date in the annual racing calendar as the Épreuve a priority , the teams from Daimler-Benz had dealt with it , Auto Union , Alfa Romeo (officially represented by Scuderia Ferrari ), Bugatti and Maserati , the entire Grand Prix elite gathered in Bern. An extraordinary element was the awarding of the best starting position to the fastest in training, Hans Stuck with Auto Union, while the other starting positions continued to be determined by lottery in the usual way.

Other favorites besides Stuck were Mercedes drivers Rudolf Caracciola and Luigi Fagioli , as well as Louis Chiron and Achille Varzi for Alfa Romeo Scuderia Ferrari. Tazio Nuvolari , who as well greatest driver applies his time, was after his falling out with Ferrari in the preseason with his already obsolete Maserati 8CM at a disadvantage and was the bargain of his at the race in Alessandria hampered supported thereby leg injuries.

When it started to rain, which made the track with its numerous pavement changes even more dangerous, Stuck obviously had an advantage thanks to the better traction of his rear-engined racing car and came back with a considerable lead of ten seconds on his pursuers from the first lap. Behind them, Nuvolari and Chiron fought a round-long fight in which the Italian with his actually defeated Maserati still had the upper hand for most of the time. At least as astonishing was the advance of René Dreyfus in his old-fashioned looking, still two-seater Bugatti Type 59 , which was able to move past Caracciola (Mercedes) and Varzi (Alfa Romeo) into fourth place. Caracciola, who was also still suffering from the injuries caused by his accident in Monaco in 1933 , then handed the wheel of his racing car over to reserve driver Hanns Geier .

While Stuck continued to expand his lead over the rest of the field even on the drying road, which also did not change much when his scheduled refueling stop at halfway through the race, there were some postponements behind it. At first Nuvolari fell behind with technical problems and finally had to give up the race completely and Dreyfus finally even managed to displace the less motivated Chiron from second place. The Mercedes-Benz racing cars were once again a disappointment and their progress was increasingly hampered by technical problems. So the second Auto-Union driver August Momberger , who started at the very end of the field, was able to make up space after space, even though Stuck had already lapped it at this point, and finally even moved up to second place a few laps before the end because Dreyfus had the pits had to go to refill cooling water.

On the last lap of the race, there was a particularly tragic incident when the Maserati 8CM of the Briton Hugh Hamilton , who had already been lapped several times, got off the track at high speed and crashed into a tree. The driver succumbed to his injuries on site.

Results

Registration list

team No. driver chassis engine tires
Nazi stateNazi state Auto Union AG 02 Nazi stateNazi state Hermann zu Leiningen Auto Union A Auto Union 4.4L V16 compressor C.
04th Nazi stateNazi state August Momberger
06th Nazi stateNazi state Hans Stuck
Nazi stateNazi state Daimler-Benz AG 03 Nazi stateNazi state Hanns Geier Mercedes-Benz W 25 Mercedes-Benz M 25 A 3.4L I8 compressor C.
08th Nazi stateNazi state Manfred von Brauchitsch
10 Nazi stateNazi state Rudolf Caracciola
12 Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Luigi Fagioli
Third French RepublicThird French Republic Automobiles Ettore Bugatti 14th Third French RepublicThird French Republic René Dreyfus Bugatti T59 Bugatti 3.3L I8 compressor
United KingdomUnited Kingdom Earl Howe 16 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Earl Howe Maserati 8CM Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor D.
United KingdomUnited Kingdom Clifton Penn-Hughes 18th United KingdomUnited Kingdom Clifton Penn-Hughes Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor
Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Tazio Nuvolari 20th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Tazio Nuvolari Maserati 8CM Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor
Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Luigi Soffietti 22nd Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Luigi Soffietti Alfa Romeo Monza Alfa Romeo 2.6L I8 compressor
Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Gruppo Genovese San Giorgio 24 Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Renato Balestrero Alfa Romeo Monza Alfa Romeo 2.6L I8 compressor P
26th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Clemente Biondetti Maserati 8C-3000 Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor
Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Scuderia Ferrari 28 MonacoMonaco Louis Chiron Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3 Alfa Romeo 2.9L I8 compressor E.
30th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Pietro Ghersi
32 Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Achille Varzi
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Hans Ruesch 36 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Hans Ruesch Maserati 8CM Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor
Hungary 1918Hungary László Hartmann 38 Hungary 1918Hungary László Hartmann Bugatti T51 Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor
United KingdomUnited Kingdom Whitney Straight Ltd. 40 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Hugh Caulfield Hamilton Maserati 8CM Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor

Race result

Item driver constructor Round Stops time begin Fastest lap Failure reason
01 Nazi stateNazi state Hans Stuck Nazi stateNazi state Auto Union 70 3: 37: 51,600 1
02 Nazi stateNazi state August Momberger Nazi stateNazi state Auto Union 69 + 1 lap 16 2: 53,000
03 Third French RepublicThird French Republic René Dreyfus Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 69 + 1 lap 14th
04th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Achille Varzi Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Alfa Romeo 69 + 1 lap 2
05 MonacoMonaco Louis Chiron Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Alfa Romeo 69 + 1 lap 5
06th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Luigi Fagioli Nazi stateNazi state Mercedes Benz 68 + 2 rounds 15th
07th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Pietro Ghersi Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Alfa Romeo 66 + 4 rounds 10
08th Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Clemente Biondetti Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Maserati 66 + 4 rounds 3
- United KingdomUnited Kingdom Earl Howe Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Maserati 63 NC 17th
- Nazi stateNazi state Rudolf Caracciola Hanns Geier
Nazi stateNazi state 
Nazi stateNazi state Mercedes Benz 62 NC 9
- United KingdomUnited Kingdom Hugh Caulfield Hamilton Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Maserati 64 DNF 12 deadly accident
- Nazi stateNazi state Manfred von Brauchitsch Nazi stateNazi state Mercedes Benz 52 DNF 11 defective oil pump
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Renato Balestrero Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Alfa Romeo 47 DNF 8th Gearbox damage
- Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Tazio Nuvolari Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Maserati 35 DNF 7th Engine failure
- Nazi stateNazi state Hermann zu Leiningen Nazi stateNazi state Auto Union 18th DNF 13 Gearbox damage
- Hungary 1918Hungary László Hartmann Third French RepublicThird French Republic Bugatti 13 DNF 6th mechanics
- SwitzerlandSwitzerland Hans Ruesch Italy 1861Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) Maserati DNS 4th

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. The type designation of the Auto Union racing cars was only introduced later by specialist authors to differentiate between the individual models