Belgian Grand Prix 1931
The III. Belgian Grand Prix took place on July 12, 1931 at the 14.914 km Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps . As Grande Épreuve , it was a valuation run for the European Grand Prix Championship in 1931 and was held in accordance with the applicable regulations without a predetermined racing formula for the cars (only a minimum width of 100 cm had to be adhered to) over a duration of 10 hours, with two pilots at each Took turns driving a car.
The winner was the driver pairing William Grover-Williams (under the pseudonym "W. Williams") and Caberto Conelli in a Bugatti Type 51 . However, the European title went to Ferdinando Minoia in an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 .
run
Alfa Romeo driver Giuseppe Campari (as the winner of the previous Italian Grand Prix and runner-up in the race in France ) traveled to the decisive race of the European Championship in 1931 with a clear lead of three championship points over his stable mate Ferdinando Minoia as the clear favorite for the title. Under the conditions of the regulations, a finish in the middle of the ranking would have been enough for him in any case. Minoia also had to with his partner Giovanni Minozzi with the slightly longer and heavier, but also some endurance the racing version of the Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 satisfied -Rennsportversion as previously in the Targa Florio had been used. Campari, on the other hand, had the somewhat racy "Monza" type - so named after his debut success in the Italian Grand Prix - at whose wheel he took turns with Goffredo Zehender during the race. Tazio Nuvolari and Baconin Borzacchini had the same model , who - with no hope of winning the championship - had only been targeted for Grand Prix victory.
After the home win in the French Grand Prix, the main opponents of Alfa Romeo were of course the favored Bugatti with the current Bugatti Type 51 model and the successful driver pairing Louis Chiron / Achille Varzi , plus two other cars for Albert Divo / Guy Bouriat and William Grover-Williams ( "W. Williams") / Caberto Conelli . After the defeat in Montlhéry, Maserati again decided not to participate in Belgium, as at the season opener, allegedly to instead prepare for the start of the German Grand Prix . In addition to the privately registered team Jean-Pierre Wimille / Jean Gaupillat , also on a Bugatti 51, the rest of the 12-car field was filled with additional independent participants who had already been in the 24-hour sports car race at the same place a week earlier had been.
As with the two previous Grandes Épreuves of the year, the public interest in Spa-Francorchamps was enormous and, as before, the numerous spectators were initially offered good sport in the initial phase of the race, which was scheduled to last over 10 hours due to the regulations. Above all, the two arch-rivals Varzi (Bugatti) and Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) fought a thrilling battle for the top for two and a half hours, in which both had the upper hand alternately for a few laps. Both came to the pits around the same time to change drivers, after which Varzi's team-mate Chiron was able to clearly set himself apart from Borzacchini. So the tension subsided significantly, especially since the order behind them with “Williams” / Conelli (Bugatti), Minoia / Minozzi (Alfa Romeo), Divo / Bouriat (Bugatti) and Wimille / Gaupillat as the best private team was largely the whole time remain unchanged.
Halfway through the race, it was the Campari / Zehender (Alfa Romeo) team, aiming for safety and winning the title, who had to give up the sails first, and Campari actually slipped the championship out of their hands. But even at Bugatti there were soon long faces, because shortly afterwards Chiron, who had been the safe leader until then, came to the pits on foot to fetch tools and spare parts for his Bugatti that had broken down. His attempt at repairs was unsuccessful, however, and when the second Bugatti, Divo / Bouriat, also dropped out of the race after six hours of racing, Nuvolari / Borzacchini were almost a full lap ahead of “WWilliams” / Conelli. The Nuvolari team gave the signal to slow down in order to protect the car with a victory they believed to be safe. But towards the end of the race, "Williams" - thanks to the brake drums integrated in the wheels with fresh brakes after every tire change - was finally able to intercept the Alfa Romeo, which also had to make another additional stop due to problems with the fuel supply.
Behind the two leading teams, Minoia / Minozzi and their Alfa Romeo crossed the finish line three laps behind, which meant that Ferdinando Minoia had drawn level with Campari on points in the European Championship standings. For such a case, the rules, which were not very well thought out anyway - which rewarded victories too little compared to other placements - stipulated that in such a case the title would be awarded to the driver with the greatest total distance covered over all races. Minoia was declared European champion, although he had not won any of the three races, while Campari was about 70 km away from driving or five laps to win the title.
Results
Registration list
team | No. | driver | chassis | engine | tires |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SA Alfa Romeo | 2 |
Ferdinando Minoia Giovanni Minozzi |
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 | Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor | P |
10 |
Tazio Nuvolari Baconin Borzacchini |
||||
14th |
Giuseppe Campari Goffredo Zehender |
||||
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti | 4th |
William Grover-Williams Caberto Conelli |
Bugatti T51 | Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor | M. |
6th |
Albert Divo Guy Bouriat |
||||
12 |
Louis Chiron Achille Varzi |
||||
Henri Stoffel | 8th |
Henri Stoffel Boris Iwanowski |
Mercedes-Benz SSK | Mercedes-Benz M06 7.1L I6 compressor | |
Tim Birkin | 16 |
Tim Birkin Brian Lewis |
Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM | Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor | D. |
Jean-Pierre Wimille | 18th |
Jean-Pierre Wimille Jean Gaupillat |
Bugatti T51 | Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor | M. |
Charles Montier et Cie | 20th | Ferdinand Montier | Montier 1 Speciale | Ford 3.3L I4 | M. |
22nd |
Charles Montier François Ducolombier |
||||
Jean Pesato | 24 |
Jean Pesato Pierre Félix |
Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 | Alfa Romeo 1.8L I8 |
Race result
Item | driver | constructor | Round | Stops | time | begin | Fastest lap | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
William Grover-Williams Caberto Conelli |
Bugatti | 88 | 10: 00: 00,000 | 2 | |||
2 |
Tazio Nuvolari Baconin Borzacchini |
Alfa Romeo | 88 | + 7: 00,000 | 5 | |||
3 |
Ferdinando Minoia Giovanni Minozzi |
Alfa Romeo | 85 | + 3 rounds | 1 | |||
4th |
Tim Birkin Brian Lewis |
Alfa Romeo | 83 | + 5 rounds | 8th | |||
5 |
Henri Stoffel Boris Iwanowski |
Mercedes | 81 | + 7 rounds | 4th | |||
6th |
Jean Pesato Pierre Félix |
Alfa Romeo | 73 | + 15 rounds | 12 | |||
7th |
Jean-Pierre Wimille Jean Gaupillat |
Bugatti | 65 | + 23 laps | 9 | |||
8th |
Charles Montier François Ducolombier |
Montier | 58 | + 30 rounds | 11 | |||
- | Ferdinand Montier | Montier | 56 | DNF | 10 | mechanics | ||
- |
Albert Divo Guy Bouriat |
Bugatti | 51 | DNF | 3 | defective differential | ||
- |
Louis Chiron Achille Varzi |
Bugatti | 44 | DNF | 6th | 6: 18,600 1 | defective igniter drive | |
- |
Giuseppe Campari Goffredo Zehender |
Alfa Romeo | 40 | DNF | 7th | Wagon fire |
1 Louis Chiron
Web links
- III Belgian Grand Prix. www.teamdan.com, accessed on August 3, 2014 (English).
- Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: III GRAND PRIX DE BELGIQUE. www.kolumbus.fi, June 4, 2014, accessed June 4, 2014 .