1952 British Grand Prix

 1952 British Grand Prix

Racing data
5th of 8 races of the 1952 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	Vth British Grand Prix
Date:	July 19, 1952
Place:	Silverstone
Course:	Silverstone Circuit
Length:	4,003.925 km in 85 laps of 47.105 km
Weather:	covered, dry
Pole position
Driver:	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari
Time:	1: 50.0 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Time:	1: 52,000 min (lap 9)
Podium
First:	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari
Second:	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari
Third:	Mike Hawthorn	Cooper - Bristol

The 1952 British Grand Prix took place on July 19 at the Silverstone Circuit and was the fifth of eight races in the 1952 World Automobile Championship .

background

The enormous number of 32 entries came for the Grand Prix on the slightly modified Silverstone track . In addition to the works teams from Ferrari and Gordini , Connaught competed here for the first time with four cars for Downing , Poore , Thompson and McAlpine in a world championship run. But neither the team nor any of the drivers established themselves in the drivers' world championship over the next few years. In the Ferrari works team, the regular drivers Ascari , Farina and Taruffi each had a 500 with a 2.0-l engine, the private team Ecurie Espadon reported a 500 for Rudolf Fischer and another 212 with a 1.5-l V12 engine for his Swiss compatriot Peter Hirt. Peter Whitehead and Roy Salvadori gave further private Ferrari mentions. The latter made his debut here in a world championship run. At Gordini, Maurice Trintignant replaced Jean Behra, who had been injured a week earlier . In addition to Connaught, six other British brands started with 4 HWM , 5 Cooper and an Alta , ERA , Frazer-Nash and Aston each . The Maserati factory team hadn't shown up.

training

Despite the large number of English vehicles, none of them stood a real chance against the again dominant Ferraris. Farina and Ascari set the fastest times with 1:50 min each, followed by Taruffi, who was 3 seconds slower. Manzon in the Gordini completed the front row. The Connaught were roughly level with the Cooper and shared the second row.

run

Ascari won the start ahead of Farina and the excellent start Dennis Poore in Connaught. Taruffi clearly lost positions at the start for the third time in a row and first had to fight his way forward. In the 14th lap he was able to work his way up to third position. From then on the race seemed to take on a similar monotonous course as in France . But on lap 26 Farina turned into the pits to change his spark plugs. This dropped him back to seventh position. However, changing the candles did not bring any significant improvement and so he could only improve by one place in the further course of the race. Ascari won his third consecutive Grand Prix, the second in which he lapped the entire field. Behind the Ferraris, the Connaught held up surprisingly well in their first race. The best-placed was Poore, who was temporarily in third place, but had to admit defeat to Mike Hawthorn in the Cooper in the 49th lap. Of the 32 vehicles that started, 22 were still there in the end. For the time, that meant the racing cars were extremely reliable.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Team Peter Whitehead	1	Graham Whitehead	Alta F2	Alta 1.5	D.
	21st	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari 125	Ferrari
Aston	2	William Aston	Aston NB	Butterworth 2.0 L4	D.
Connaught	3	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught A	Francis 2.0 L4	D.
	4th	Ken Downing
	5	Eric Thompson
	6th	Dennis Poore
Ecurie Ecosse	7th	David Murray	Cooper T20	Bristol 2.0 L6	D.
AHM Bryde	8th	Reg Parnell	Cooper T20	Bristol 2.0 L6	D.
Team LD Hawthorn	9	Mike Hawthorn	Cooper T20	Bristol 2.0 L6	D.
Ecurie Richmond	10	Eric Brandon	Cooper T20	Bristol 2.0 L6	D.
	11	Alan Brown
English Racing Automobiles	12	Stirling Moss	ERA G-Type	Bristol 2.0 L6	D.
Caprara	14th	Roy Salvadori	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	D.
Ferrari	15th	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	P
	16	Giuseppe Farina
	17th	Piero Taruffi
Ecurie espadon	19th	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	P
	20th	Peter Hirt	Ferrari 212	Ferrari
Team Anthony Crook	23	Tony Crook	Frazer-Nash 421	BMW 2.0 L6	D.
Gordini	24	Robert Manzon	Gordini T16 (1952)	Gordini 2.0 L6	E.
	25th	Maurice Trintignant
	26th	B. Bira
Ecurie Belge	27	Johnny Claes	Simca-Gordini T15 GC	Gordini	E.
Team FAO gauze	28	Tony Gaze	HWM 52	Alta 1.5	D.
HWM	29	Peter Collins	HWM 52	Alta 1.5	D.
	30th	Duncan Hamilton
	31	Lance Macklin
Enrico Platé	32	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati 4CLT	Plate 2.0 L4	P
	33	Harry Schell
Escuderia Bandeirantes	34	Gino Bianco	Maserati A6GCM	Maserati	P
	35	Vain Cantoni

classification

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	km / h	Starting row
1.	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	1: 50,000	154.18	1 row
2.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	1: 50,000	154.18	1 RM
3.	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	1: 53,000	150.08	1 ch
4th	Robert Manzon	Gordini	1: 55,000	147.47	1 L
5.	Ken Downing	Connaught	1: 56,000	146.20	2 rows
6th	Reg Parnell	cooper	1: 56,000	146.20	2 M.
7th	Mike Hawthorn	cooper	1: 56,000	146.20	2 L
8th.	Dennis Poore	Connaught	1: 56,000	146.20	3 rows
9.	Eric Thompson	Connaught	1: 57,000	144.95	3 RM
10.	Birabongse Bira	Gordini	1: 57,000	144.95	Ch 3
11.	Duncan Hamilton	HWM	1: 57,000	144.95	3 L
12.	Graham Whitehead	Alta	1: 58,000	143.73	4 rows
13.	Alan Brown	cooper	1: 58,000	143.73	4 M.
14th	Peter Collins	HWM	1: 58,000	143.73	4 L
15th	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari	1: 58,000	143.73	5 R
16.	Stirling Moss	ERA	1: 59,000	142.52	5 RM
17th	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught	2: 00,000	141.33	5 ch
18th	Eric Brandon	cooper	2: 00,000	141.33	5 L
19th	Roy Salvadori	Ferrari	2: 00,000	141.33	6 R
20th	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari	2: 00,000	141.33	6 M.
21st	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	2: 00,000	141.33	6 L
22nd	David Murray	cooper	2: 02,000	139.01	7 R
23.	Johnny Claes	Simca-Gordini	2: 02,000	139.01	7 RM
24.	Peter Hirt	Ferrari	2: 03,000	137.88	7 ch
25th	Anthony Crook	Frazer Nash	2: 03,000	137.88	7 L
26th	Tony Gaze	HWM	2: 05,000	135.68	8 R
27.	Vain Cantoni	Maserati	2: 06,000	134.60	8 M.
28.	Gino Bianco	Maserati	2: 07,000	133.54	8 L
29	Lance Macklin	HWM	2: 08,000	132.50	9 R
31.	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati			9 ch
32.	Harry Schell	Maserati			9 L
DNS	William Aston	Aston	3: 28,000	81.54

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	time	km / h	s. Rd.	guide
1.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	85	2: 44: 11,000	146.34	1: 52,000	85
2.	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	84	2: 44: 16,000	144.54
3.	Mike Hawthorn	cooper	83	2: 44: 31,000	142.60
4th	Dennis Poore	Connaught	83	2: 45: 05,000	142.11
5.	Eric Thompson	Connaught	82	2: 44: 49,000	140.63
6th	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	82	2: 45: 02,000	140.45
7th	Reg Parnell	cooper	82	2: 45: 48,000	139.80
8th.	Roy Salvadori	Ferrari	82	2: 45: 55,000	139.70
9.	Ken Downing	Connaught	82	2: 46: 10,000	139.49
10.	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari	81
11.	Birabongse Bira	Gordini	81
12.	Graham Whitehead	Alta	80
13.	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari	80
14th	Johnny Claes	Simca-Gordini	79
15th	Lance Macklin	HWM	79
16.	Kenneth McAlpine	Connaught	79
17th	Harry Schell	Maserati	78
18th	Gino Bianco	Maserati	77
19th	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati	76
20th	Eric Brandon	cooper	76
21st	Anthony Crook	Frazer Nash	75
22nd	Alan Brown	cooper	69
DNF	Peter Collins	HWM	72	ignition
DNF	Duncan Hamilton	HWM	43	engine
DNF	Stirling Moss	ERA	36	engine
DNF	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini	21st	transmission
DNF	Tony Gaze	HWM	19th	engine
DNF	David Murray	cooper	14th	engine
DNF	Robert Manzon	Gordini	9	coupling
DNF	Peter Hirt	Ferrari	3	Brakes
DNF	Vain Cantoni	Maserati	0	Brakes

World Cup stand after the race

The first five got 8, 6, 4, 3 and 2 points respectively; there was a point for the fastest lap. Only the four best results from eight races count. * includes the point for the fastest lap, numbers in brackets are discarded results.

Item	driver	constructor									Points
1.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari			9 *	9 *	9 *				27
2.	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	9 *			4th	6th				19th
3.	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari			6th	6th					12
4th	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma		8th							8th
5.	Robert Manzon	Gordini			4th	3					7th
	Mike Hawthorn	Cooper-Bristol			3		4th				7th
7th	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari	6th								6th
	Richard Rathmann	Kurti's power		6th							6th
9.	Jean Behra	Gordini	4th								4th
	Sam Hanks	Kurti's power		4th							4th
11.	Ken Wharton	Frazer Nash	3								3
	Duane Carter	Lesovsky		3							3
	Dennis Poore	Connaught					3				3
14th	Alan Brown	Cooper-Bristol	2								2
	Art Cross	Kurti's power		2							2
	Paul Brother	HWM			2						2
	Maurice Trintignant	Gordini				2					2
	Eric Thompson	Connaught					2				2
19th	Bill Vukovich	Kurti's power		1*							1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1] report engl.
2. ↑ Unless otherwise stated: Lang, Mike; Grand Prix 1950-1965; Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford Sommerset 1981 S46f. ( ISBN 0-85429-276-4 ) (Engl.)
3. ↑ [2]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Report ndl.