1929 Monaco Grand Prix

Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz SSK at the harbor

Race winner William Grover-Williams crossing the finish line

Diego de Sterlich with his Maserati Tipo 26

The I. Grand Prix of Monaco ( I Grand Prix de Monaco ) took place on April 14, 1929 on the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo and was held as an informal invitation race over 100 laps of 3.180 km, which is a total distance of 318.0 km corresponded. It was not yet a Grande Épreuve this year, nor was it nominated as a run for the World Automobile Championship.

The winner was William Grover-Williams on a Bugatti Type 35B .

run

The idea of holding an international automobile race in the streets of Monte Carlo goes back to Antony Noghès , the son of the President of the Automobile Club de Monaco . According to legend, his endeavors to raise the club from a small French local association to an independent national automobile club initially met with resistance from the International Automobile Federation, because the somewhat elitist society of the AIACR is small and because of the tax exemption and its famous casino disreputable principality refused to accept it as a fully fledged automobile nation. Among other things, Noghès is said to have justified the rejection with the fact that his country would not even be able to host an international automobile race on its territory. Noghès is said to  have defiantly announced - after consulting Louis II of Monaco - that such a race would be held before the end of a year.

At the same time, this incident occurred in a phase of fundamental change in international Grand Prix sport, in which, after the extensive withdrawal of the automobile companies, the numerous Formula Libre races became a playground for countless private drivers who were financed by the entry fees offered by the organizers . And as in the pioneering days of motorsport, car races in a glamorous tourist destination on the Côte d'Azur like Monte Carlo seemed to be exactly the right means to attract a wealthy and pleasure-seeking audience. In the search for a suitable venue, the idea of ​​holding the race in the streets of the city finally arose.

The fact that the Monaco Grand Prix became a success story from the start was also due to the carefully selected composition of the field of participants, in which the Monaco automobile club paid particular attention to the broadest possible international cast. In any case, unlike most other races, only those who had been invited by the organizer were allowed to compete, which also guaranteed a certain degree of exclusivity. Although the greats of the sport could not yet be won for the first edition of the race and unfortunately the local top star Louis Chiron also preferred his participation in the Indianapolis race , but with commitments from drivers from eight nations, the composition was as international as it is hardly in any other race before.

The numerically strongest group among the 20 invited participants was of course the six French Bugatti drivers, among whom Philippe Étancelin , Marcel Lehoux and René Dreyfus were the better known. Behind the pseudonym "Georges Philippe" hid no less than Baron Philippe de Rothschild . Other Bugatti drivers were also the Belgian Georges Bouriano , the Swiss Mario Lepori , Jan Bychawski from Poland - whose car had already collapsed on the way there - and finally the favorite of the race, the Briton William Grover-Williams , who lives in France , who rode under the Pseudonym "W. Williams ”and his car was in all probability looked after by a team of mechanics from the Bugatti works team. With the exception of Dreyfus, who had to make do with a Type 37A four-cylinder in the 1.5-liter voiturette category, all Bugatti drivers had the latest Grand Prix models of types 35B or 35C with a 2.3 or 2 Liters of displacement.

The other half of the field consisted of a colorful mix of different makes, including the Frenchman Raoul de Rovin with one of the legendary Grand Prix Delage , the world champion car of the 1927 season, but which was overwhelmed with the maintenance and operation of such a sophisticated model. Guglielmo Sandri and Diego de Sterlich had come from Italy in their older, slightly too heavy Maserati 26 and 26B, and Goffredo Zehender and Pietro Ghersi with their Alfa Romeo six-cylinder racing models. However, Ghersi had to forego the start after damaging his car during practice. Hans Stuck , who is referred to as “Austrian” because of his Austro-Daimler racing car, had to cancel his participation after a training accident at the previous race in Antibes . In the end, the German Rudolf Caracciola was only given few chances , whose mighty Mercedes-Benz SSK with a displacement of 7.1 liters and - despite the fenders and headlights removed - weighing in at two tons on the narrow and winding street, appeared completely out of place.

Finally, 16 cars gathered for the starting grid, the positions of which were drawn, as was still common back then. “Williams” used his favorable position on the second row of the grid to take the lead past Lehoux on the first lap. Behind them, Caracciola, who started almost from the very rear, had managed, to everyone's astonishment, to leave ten participants behind in the first lap, and after the second lap he was immediately behind the leading Bugatti. Despite a twist in the meantime, the German managed to keep up and even take the lead on the 30th lap. The counterattack by "Williams" followed immediately and six laps later the Briton's green Bugatti was back in front. The decision was finally made when the fuel stops in the middle of the race. "Williams" was the first to stop, which meant that Caracciola initially came back to the top. Two laps later, however, he too had to pit, and because of the enormous gasoline consumption of the gigantic Mercedes engine and because the heavy weight of the car had put too much strain on the rear tires, so that they both had to be changed, this cost him, as well shortly afterwards another short stop of more than three minutes and thus over a lap. The race was now practically decided. Caracciola only came back into the race in fourth position, behind the two Bugatti from Bouriano, who had been in the lead for a while until his own stop, and “Philippe”, whom Caracciola was able to overtake again at the beginning of the last third of the race. However, the two cars at the front were already too far ahead for him to catch up with them, and so after 100 laps “Williams” was flagged as the winner by race director Charles Faroux with just under two minutes ahead of Bouriano. With Caracciola, "Philippe", Dreyfus and Etancelin, four more drivers finished the race in the classification, while the last three participants were finally flagged and no longer classified 30 minutes after the winner had crossed the finish line.

Results

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
René Lamy	02	René Lamy	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor
Philippe Étancelin	04th	Philippe Étancelin	Bugatti T37A	Bugatti 1.5L I4 compressor
Christian Dauvergne	06th	Christian Dauvergne	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor
Marcel Lehoux	08th	Marcel Lehoux	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor
Guglielmo Sandri	10	Guglielmo Sandri	Maserati 26	Maserati 26 1.5L I8
William Grover-Williams	12	William Grover-Williams	Bugatti T35B	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor
Philippe de Rothschild	14th	Philippe de Rothschild	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor
Goffredo Zehender	16	Goffredo Zehender	Alfa Romeo 6C-1750	Alfa Romeo 1.8L I6	P
Georges Bouriano	18th	Georges Bouriano	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor
Jan Bychawski	20th	Jan Bychawski	Bugatti T35	Bugatti 2.0L I8
Raoul de Rovin	22nd	Raoul de Rovin	Delage Type 15 S 8 1927	Delage 1.5L I8	M.
Louis Rigal	24	Louis Rigal	Alfa Romeo 6C-1750	Alfa Romeo 1.8L I6
Diego de Sterlich	26th	Diego de Sterlich	Maserati 26	Maserati 26 1.5L I8
René Dreyfus	28	René Dreyfus	Bugatti T37A	Bugatti 1.5L I4 compressor
Mario Lepori	30th	Mario Lepori	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor
Michel Doré	32	Michel Doré	Corre-La Licorne	Corre-La Licorne 1.5L I6
Rudolf Caracciola	34	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes-Benz SSK	Mercedes-Benz M06 7.1L I6 compressor	C.
Albert Perrot	36	Albert Perrot	Alfa Romeo 6C-1500	Alfa Romeo 1.5L I6
Pietro Ghersi	38	Pietro Ghersi	Alfa Romeo 6C-1500	Alfa Romeo 1.5L I6
Hans Stuck	40	Hans Stuck	Austro-Daimler ADR	Austro-Daimler 3.0L I6	S.
SA of the automobile Tracta	42		Tracta	SCAP

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	William Grover-Williams	Bugatti	100	1	3: 56: 11,000	5	2: 15,000
02	Georges Bouriano	Bugatti	100	1	+1: 17,000	8th
03	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes Benz	100	2	+ 2: 22,600	15th
04th	Philippe de Rothschild	Bugatti	100	1	+ 5: 33,400	6th
05	René Dreyfus	Bugatti	100	1	+ 14: 38,000	12
06th	Philippe Étancelin	Bugatti	100	1	+ 17: 44,400	1
-	Mario Lepori	Bugatti	94		NC	13		angled
-	Michel Doré	Corre-La Licorne	89		NC	14th		angled
-	Louis Rigal	Alfa Romeo	87		NC	10		angled
-	Raoul de Rovin	Delage	87		DNF	9		accident
-	Goffredo Zehender	Alfa Romeo	87		DNF	7th		mechanics
-	Christian Dauvergne	Bugatti	46		DNF	2		Ignition damage
-	Guglielmo Sandri	Maserati	41		DNF	4th		mechanics
-	Albert Perrot	Alfa Romeo	18th		DNF	16		Tire damage and broken rim
-	Diego de Sterlich	Maserati	16		DNF	11		mechanics
-	Marcel Lehoux	Bugatti	7th		DNF	3		Power transmission

Web links

Commons : Monaco Grand Prix 1929  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• I Grand Prix de Monaco. www.teamdan.com, accessed September 7, 2014 . 
• 1929 and the first Monaco Grand Prix. sidepodcast.com, May 28, 2012, accessed September 7, 2014 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Street theater (English)