1930 Belgian Grand Prix

Race start

Louis Chiron (left) and Guy Bouriat (right) in their Bugattis

Race winner Louis Chiron at the scandalous finish; followed by Guy Bouriat, who had to be on Chiron for almost three minutes as the leader to let him win

The 2nd Belgian Grand Prix took place on July 20, 1930 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps . This year it was the only Grande Épreuve that, according to the international racing formula (maximum consumption 14 kg of fuel and oil per 100 km, gasoline composition at least 70% commercial gasoline, maximum 30% benzene , engine size at least 1100 cc, minimum weight of the two-seater car 900 kg, minimum width of the chassis 100 cm, race distance at least 600 km) and was originally intended as a race for the then automobile world championship . The race also had the AIACR honorary title Grand Prix of Europe . It was held over 40 laps of 14.914 km, which corresponded to a total distance of 596.560 km.

The winner was Louis Chiron in a Bugatti Type 35C .

run

In 1930 the last attempt by the International Automobile Federation to hold a brand world championship for automobiles based on a specially prescribed International Grand Prix racing formula also failed . The Belgian Grand Prix , which was also named the highlight of the season as the European Grand Prix on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Belgium's existence , with its unsatisfactory course became an example of the crisis in official Grand Prix sport , while in contrast the numerous Formula Libre races that were not constrained by the AIACR rules were more exciting and successful than ever.

Under the conditions of the fuel consumption formula, which limited the amount of fuel to 14 kg per 100 km driven, the prospect of thrilling racing scenes on the track was low from the outset. In spite of the compulsory approval of private drivers, the organizers also struggled to get a reasonably reasonable field of participants together, in which the external appearance of the cars was completely different from what one was used to from other major races.

Only Bugatti with its three works drivers Louis Chiron , Albert Divo and Guy Bouriat - and two local private drivers with Max Thirion and Émile Cornet - entered the "real" Grand Prix racing car Bugatti Type 35 35C with a compressor-charged 2-liter in-line eight-cylinder of approx 120 hp, which, due to the obligatory standard tanks that had to be installed behind the cockpit in place of the elegant boat stern, was somewhat reminiscent of the racing cars from before the First World War . The rest of the field was made up of a hodgepodge of touring and sports cars , which were brought to racing trim with the removal of headlights and fenders.

The main competitor for Bugatti was not the three tame sports cars from the Belgian Imperia plants with their compressorless 1.8-liter engines, but rather the somewhat long-legged Peugeot 174S with a side-controlled 4-liter engine used by the French Henri Stoffel . An engine that had been specially designed as early as 1925 for this type of "endurance race".

The race started as expected and the three factory Bugattis were able to set the pace for a long time without being challenged, but they also had to keep an eye on fuel consumption. Stoffel managed to never let the connection tear off completely and to stay behind the trio with a gap of about one to two minutes.

After two thirds of the distance, however, the leading Chiron (spark plug change) and a short time later Divo (tire damage) had to pit, which meant they both fell behind Stoffel. This not only thwarted the intention of the Bugatti team, which for publicity reasons had actually designated Chiron as its "champion" as the winner of the race, motivated by the unexpectedly opened perspective, Stoffel now even began to put pressure on the leading Bouriat exercise, so that the Bugatti victory even seemed to be in jeopardy overall. When Stoffel finally got within five seconds, he ran out of gas on the last lap about 10 km from the finish. With that, Bugatti's dream result was suddenly possible again and Bouriat promptly stopped immediately in front of the line to wait for his team captain. Under the eyes of the indignant audience, it took a whole two and a half shameful minutes until Chiron was finally the first to cross the finish line.

Results

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
SA des Automobiles Impéria Exelsior	01	Goffredo Zehender	Impéria Sport	Impéria 1.8L I6	E.
	02	Jacques Edouard Ledure
	03	Michel Doré
La Société des Automobile Ariès	04th	Arthur Duray	Ariès 3L	Ariès 3.0L I4
Charles Montier et Cie	05	Charles Montier	Montier 1 Speciale	Ford 3.3L I4
	06th	Ferdinand Montier
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	07th	Albert Divo	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor	M.
	08th	Guy Bouriat
	09	Louis Chiron
Baron Abel Blin d'Ormont	10	Abel Blin d'Ormont	Bugatti T44	Bugatti 3.0L I8
Ernest André	11	Ernest André	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor	E.
Joseph Reinartz	12	Joseph Reinartz	Bugatti T43	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor	E.
Georges Bouriano	14th	Georges Bouriano	Bugatti T35B	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor
Max Thirion	15th	Max Thirion	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor
	16	Max Thirion
Émile Burie	17th	Émile Burie	Georges Irat A6	Georges Irat 3.0L I6
Franz Gouvion	18th	Franz Gouvion	Lombard AL3	Lombard 1.1L I4
Henri Stoffel	19th	Henri Stoffel	Peugeot 174S	Peugeot 4.0L I4
Émile Cornet	20th	Émile Cornet	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor
Fernand Delzaert	21st	Fernand Delzaert	Bugatti T37A	Bugatti 1.5L I4 compressor
Robert Laly		Robert Laly	Ariès 3L	Ariès 3.0L I4

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Louis Chiron	Bugatti	40	1	5:08:34,000	1
02	Guy Bouriat	Bugatti	40		+ 1: 00,000	11	7: 07,900
03	Albert Divo	Bugatti	40	1	+ 5: 20,000	9
04th	Arthur Duray	Aries	40		+ 13: 52,000	8th
05	Goffredo Zehender	Imperia	40		+ 16: 45,000	6th
06th	Charles Montier	Montier	40		+ 21: 56,000	13
07th	Jacques Edouard Ledure	Imperia	40		+ 33: 13,000	7th
-	Henri Stoffel	Peugeot	39		DNF	14th		no more fuel
-	Joseph Reinartz	Bugatti	39		DNF	4th		no more fuel
-	Ferdinand Montier	Montier	39		DNF	5		no more fuel
-	Franz Gouvion	Lombard	39		DNF	10		no more fuel
-	Michel Doré	Imperia	28		DNF	2		failure
-	Max Thirion	Bugatti	27		DNF	3		failure
-	Émile Cornet	Bugatti	12		DNF	15th		failure
-	Émile Burie	Georges Irat	7th		DNF	12		failure

Web links

Commons : Belgian Grand Prix 1930  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• II Belgian Grand Prix. www.teamdan.com, accessed on August 3, 2014 (English). 
• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: VI GRAND PRIX D'EUROPE. www.kolumbus.fi, July 20, 2014, accessed on August 2, 2014 .