Belgian Grand Prix 1934
The 5th Belgian Grand Prix took place on July 29, 1934 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps . It belonged to the category of the Grandes Épreuves and was held according to the provisions of the International Grand Prix Formula (racing car up to a maximum of 750 kg empty weight; 85 cm minimum width; racing distance at least 500 km) over 40 laps of 14.864 km, resulting in a total distance of 594, 6 km corresponded.
The winner was René Dreyfus in a Bugatti Type 59 . It was the last success for the Bugatti brand at an official Grand Prix.
run
Although the original idea as a competition between the world's automobile companies had already led Grand Prix racing to a dead end from the mid-1920s, the arch-conservative Belgian automobile club Royal Automobile Club de Belgique (RACB) continued to adhere to this traditional idea. In order not to have to indulge himself in the lowlands of "ordinary" racing events with his Grand Prix, he continued to pursue an extremely restrictive policy, especially towards private drivers, when inviting him to the race, even if it meant that he was in favor in the past had to accept extremely small starting fields several times. When two company racing teams, Daimler-Benz and Auto Union, withdrew their reports at short notice in 1934, another low point was reached with only seven remaining participants. The official reasons for the withdrawal were given by both companies as a pretext for a lack of time to prepare for the race and the overloading of the drivers due to the tight schedule, but rumor has it that the exorbitantly high Belgian import duties on the racing fuel - after the events of the World War I still unloved - German teams with its high alcohol content were responsible, which the Belgian authorities allegedly demanded upon entry.
However, this increased the chances of success of the other racing teams, among which the French Bugatti brand with its drivers Robert Benoist , René Dreyfus and Antonio Brivio met with great sympathy from the Belgian public. The current Grand Prix model Bugatti Type 59 , which was the only one still designed as a two-seater, largely corresponded to the technical status of the 1920s and was the two Alfa Romeo Tipo B from Scuderia Ferrari , which were driven by the driver pairing Louis Chiron and Achille Varzi officially competed as a works team for Alfa Romeo , clearly inferior. In addition to the individual Maserati 8CM from Raymond Sommer , the field was finally completed by Charles Montier with his self-made racing car based on Ford .
From the start, which Chiron had best hit, as usual, the race initially took its expected course. One after the other, the three Bugatti drivers had to go to the pits after just a few laps to change spark plugs, a problem that had already arisen massively in the French Grand Prix and which the team had apparently not got under control since then. With Sommer's old Maserati already far behind in third place, Chiron and Varzi practically only had to bring the race home safely for the remaining three hours. But while the Bugattis finally got going to some extent, albeit ten minutes behind the leaders, Chiron made a driving error on lap 21, which ended in a rollover. When Varzi also had to give up his car with a technical defect a few laps later, one of the most surprising twists and turns in Grand Prix history occurred. With the victory, which was no longer considered possible for Bugatti, Dreyfus was able to enter the name of this traditional brand into the list of winners of the international Grand Prix for the last time.
Results
Registration list
team | No. | driver | chassis | engine | tires |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti | 2 | Robert Benoist | Bugatti T59 | Bugatti 3.3L I8 compressor | M. |
4th | René Dreyfus | ||||
6th | Antonio Brivio | ||||
Auto Union AG | 8th | Hans Stuck | Auto Union A | Auto Union 4.4L V16 compressor | C. |
10 | August Momberger | ||||
Raymond Summers | 12 | Raymond Summers | Maserati 8CM | Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor | M. |
Scuderia Ferrari | 14th | Louis Chiron | Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3 | Alfa Romeo 2.9L I8 compressor | E. |
16 | Achille Varzi | ||||
Daimler-Benz AG | 18th | Rudolf Caracciola | Mercedes-Benz W 25 | Mercedes-Benz M 25 A 3.4L I8 compressor | C. |
20th | Luigi Fagioli | ||||
22nd | Manfred von Brauchitsch | ||||
Charles Montier | 24 | Charles Montier | Montier Speciale | Ford 3.6L V8 | M. |
Race result
Item | driver | constructor | Round | Stops | time | begin | Fastest lap | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | René Dreyfus | Bugatti | 40 | 4: 15: 03,800 | 4th | 5: 52,000 | ||
2 | Antonio Brivio | Bugatti | 40 | +1: 51,000 | 3 | 5: 45,000 | ||
3 | Raymond Summers | Maserati | 39 | + 1 lap | 7th | 6: 15,000 | ||
4th | Robert Benoist | Bugatti | 37 | + 3 rounds | 1 | 5: 50,000 | ||
5 | Charles Montier | Montier | 30th | + 10 rounds | 6th | 8: 00,000 | ||
- | Achille Varzi | Alfa Romeo | 29 | DNF | 5 | 5: 46,000 | Engine failure | |
- | Louis Chiron | Alfa Romeo | 20th | DNF | 2 | 5: 47,000 | accident |
Web links
- V Belgian Grand Prix. www.teamdan.com, accessed on August 3, 2014 (English).
- Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: V GRAND PRIX DE BELGIQUE. www.kolumbus.fi, June 13, 2019, accessed on July 25, 2019 .