Great Britain Grand Prix 1927

Race winner Robert Benoist

The two Delage by Edmond Bourlier (car number 3) and Albert Divo (car number 4)

The II. RAC Grand Prix  - as the race was officially called - took place on October 1st, 1927 at the Brooklands racecourse in England and was the last race of the automobile world championship that year. The race was held using the applicable International Grand Prix racing formula (racing cars up to 1.5 liters capacity; minimum weight 700 kg, body width at least 80 cm) over 125 laps of 4.21 km, which corresponded to a total distance of 526.25 km . Although the race distance was extended by 15 laps compared to the previous year, the British Grand Prix did not meet the minimum distance of 600 km actually stipulated in the regulations in 1927. Nevertheless, the race was counted as a run for the world championship.

The winner was Robert Benoist in a Delage Type 15 S 8 , who was the first driver to win four Grands Prix in direct order.

run

The last Grand Prix race based on the 1.5 liter formula was again a largely unspectacular affair. As in the previous year, attempts had been made to make the Brooklands racecourse a little more demanding and more Grand Prix suitable by means of two chicanes made from sandbags, but the Delage Type 15 S 8 from Robert Benoist , Edmond Bourlier and Albert Divo were here due to the superior engine power practically unbeatable , especially since Fiat had immediately mothballed the new twelve-cylinder model Fiat 806 after its brief appearance at the Gran Premio di Milano . Company owner Giovanni Agnelli had decided once and for all not to contest any more automobile races.

At most, the three Bugatti Type 39A from the works team with Emilio Materassi , Caberto Conelli and Louis Chiron at the wheel came into question as competition for Delage , while the other participants - three other Bugatti in private hands and two Thomas Specials with the outcome of the race - didn't get much had to do. Accordingly, in the pouring rain, the three Delage were together in the front after just a few laps and were then only seen by their opponents when lapping them. Apart from a few failures among the backbenchers, there was practically no change of position until the end of the race at Delage Stallorder that the race should end in the order Benoist - Bourlier - Divo. Benoist was the first driver ever to achieve the rare feat of winning all the Grands Prix of a season for his team.

Also worth mentioning is the act of Caberto Conelli, who pushed his Bugatti, which had broken down due to a carburetor problem, almost three kilometers around the course to the pits, where the car was repaired and then taken over by the Briton William Grover-Williams, who drives under the pseudonym W. Williams .

Results

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Baron d'Erlanger	01	George Eyston	Bugatti T39A	Bugatti 1.5L I8 compressor
		Sammy Davis
Automobiles Delage	02	Robert Benoist	Delage Type 15 S 8 1927	Delage 1.5L I8	M.
	03	Edmond Bourlier
	04th	Albert Divo
		André Morel
		Robert Sénéchal
Malcolm Campbell	05	Malcolm Campbell	Bugatti T39A	Bugatti 1.5L I8 compressor
Bummer Scott	06th	Bummer Scott	Thomas Special
Harold Purdy	07th	Harold Purdy	Thomas Special
Duesenberg Motor Company	08th	George Souders	Duesenberg special	Duesenberg 1.5L I8	F.
Thomas George John	09	Maurice Harvey	Alvis GP	Alvis 1.5L I6
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	10	Emilio Materassi	Bugatti T39A	Bugatti 1.5L I8 compressor	M.
	11	Caberto Conelli
	12	Louis Chiron
		William Grover-Williams
Ioan Ghyka Cantacuzene	14th	Ioan Ghyka Cantacuzene	Bugatti T37A	Bugatti 1.5L I4 compressor
Fiat	15th	Felice Nazzaro	Fiat 806	Fiat 806 1.5L 2xI6	P
	16	Pietro Bordino
	17th	Carlo Salamano

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Robert Benoist	Delage	125		3: 49: 14.6 h	2
02	Edmond Bourlier	Delage	125		+ 7.0 s	3
03	Albert Divo	Delage	125		+ 3: 05.4 min	4th
04th	Louis Chiron	Bugatti	125		+ 28: 35.4 min	10
05	Emilio Materassi	Bugatti	118		+ 7 rounds	8th
-	Caberto Conelli William Grover-Williams	Bugatti	106		NC	9
-	Malcolm Campbell	Bugatti	97		DNF	5		stuck valves
-	George Eyston Sammy Davis	Bugatti	95		DNF	1		Compressor damage
-	Ioan Ghyka Cantacuzene	Bugatti	28		DNF	11		defective intake manifold
-	Harold Purdy	Thomas	9		DNF	7th		Gearbox damage
-	Bummer Scott	Thomas	8th		DNF	6th		Clutch damage

literature

• Adriano Cimarosti: Car races - The great prices of the world, cars, tracks and pilots from 1894 to today , Hallwag AG, Bern, 1986, ISBN 3-444-10326-3
• Paul Sheldon with Yves de la Gorce & Duncan Rabagliati: A Record of Grand Prix and Voiturette Racing, Volume 2 1926–1931 , St. Leonard's Press, Bradford, 1990, ISBN 0-9512433-3-0 (English)
• Karl Ludvigsen: Classic Grand Prix Cars - The front-engined Formula 1 Era 1906–1960 , Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2000, ISBN 0-7509-2189-7
• Hodges, David: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars , The Crowood Press, Ramsbury, 2001, ISBN 1-86126-339-2

Web links

Commons : Grand Prix of Great Britain 1927  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: BRITISH GRAND PRIX. In: www.kolumbus.fi. January 16, 2018, accessed on March 21, 2020 .