Caracciola fastest at Eifelrundfahrt

10 Giuseppe Campari SA Italiana Ing. Nicola Romeo Alfa Romeo P2

2 Albert Divo Automobiles Delage Delage 2LCV

9 Robert Benoist Automobiles Delage Delage 2LCV

Campari wins the European Grand Prix with Alfa Romeo

The European Grand Prix took place for the second time in 1924, on French soil over 35 laps on the Lyon circuit which was slightly shortened since last used ten years earlier. It was the greatest assembly of twenty 2-Liter racecars from France, England and Italy which fought for the victory but Germany was not invited. Segrave (Sunbeam) held the lead for the first two laps, Bordino (Fiat) led on lap three and Ascari (Alfa Romeo) on the fifth lap. The battle was intense amongst the fastest cars, all supercharged. Bordino regained first place which he kept up to lap 13 when he stopped for a long brake repair. Then Guinness (Sunbeam) and the Alfa Romeos of Campari and Ascari exchanged the lead. When Guinness retired on lap 21, Ascari and Campari were dominating. Ascari slowed on lap 33 and handed the lead to Campari, who won the race ahead of Divo and Benoist in Delages with Wagner (Alfa Romeo) fourth, Segrave (Subeam) fifth, Thomas (Delage) sixth, followed by Chassagne and Fridrich in Bugattis. Resta (Sunbeam) and Garnier (Bugatti) were flagged off while the remaining ten cars retired including the unfortunate Ascari.

After the Great War in 1921, l'Automobile-Club de France transformed the French Grand Prix into an invitational race. As a result, German and Austrian cars and drivers could not participate since they were not invited. The ACF had limited their invitations to the same teams as in 1923, Delage, Sunbeam, Rolland-Pilain which had now changed to Schmid, Bugatti and Fiat, while Voisin had retired from racing. A total of three nations were going to compete in 1925: France, Italy and England. The European Grand Prix trophy would be given to the Automobile Club of the winning country. The first placed manufacturer received 100,000 francs in cash, the second 25,000 and the third 10,000.       The 37.631 km Lyon-Givors circuit had been used for the 1914 Grand Prix and was shortened to 23.145 km for 1924 when the circuit had to be lapped 35 times, a total distance of 810.075 km. About 14 km south of Lyon was the start on National Road RN86. From here the course headed south on short straights with slight bends passing the outskirts of Givors, where the road turned right, south-west, twisting along the River Gier valley for a few kilometers before it branched off the old circuit through a right turn, leading north-west uphill along a rough secondary road. After a few kilometers at Le Pont Rompu a right turn led onto the old circuit high speed return straight which headed north-east. At the end after about 6 km, a sharp right turn led into the famous Piège de la Mort, (Death Trap) a difficult left turn and the Les Esses, followed by a few twists before the Le Sept Chemins, a right hairpin, shortly ahead of the start and finish line, grandstand and pits. Another grandstand was overlooking Piège de la Mort from where one could see in the valley below a lengthy part of the circuit including the start and finish area.

Entries: Sunbeam who had won the 1923 Grand Prix, lowered the chassis for 1924 and fitted a 1,988 cc, 6-cylinder, blown engine, producing 138 hp at 5,500 rpm, bringing the top speed to 200 km/h. The drivers were Major Henry Segrave, Lee Guinness and Dario Resta. They were considered favorites.       Delage also arrived with three cars, painted with iridescent, transparent blue varnish, glinting in the sunshine like bodies of dragon flies, so described by The Motor report. Their their V-12 engines now reworked by Albert Lory, produced 120 hp at 6000 rpm, but were still running without superchargers and engines were not as noisy as the blown cars. Drivers were Albert Divo, Robert Benoist and René Thomas.       Two Schmid cars were entered by Ernest Schmid, who in 1923 designed an unblown 2.0-Liter 6-cylinder sleeve-valve engine which he installed in a Rolland-Pilain chassis at Annecy, in south-eastern France. These Rolland-Pilain Schmid racecars were entered for Giulio Foresti and Jules Goux.       Alfa Romeo arrived as a new team in Grand Prix racing. Their P1 cars did not race at Monza in 1923 and were scrapped. The designer Vittorio Jano had left Fiat in October 1923 and started the following month at Alfa Romeo where he led a team designing and building a new Grand Prix car in a few months for the 1924 races. The car was named tipo P2 with a 1,987 cc, 8-cylinder, twin o.h.c. s/c engine, producing 140 hp at 5,500 rpm, giving a top speed of 225 km/h. In March 1924 the first engine was running on the test bench and the first road tests took place on June 2nd at Monza with Campari and Ascari. This was followed with another test drive over the Parma-Poggio di Berceto road and on June 9th the car made its racing debut at the Cremona Circuit, which Ascari won with ease. Campari in the second P2 should have won the Coppa Acerbo on July 13th, but he punctured a tire and as he carried no spare had to retire the car. The cars were fitted with the new style balloon tires, which were not seen before in Grand Prix racing. The drivers were Antonio Ascari, Giuseppe Campari, Louis Wagner and Enzo Ferrari. Ascari's car was the only one with a short tail and a spare wheel carried behind while the other three cars had streamlined tails. Ferrari became ill a few days before the race and as there was no spare driver, only three cars started in the race.       Fiat raced in 1923 their tipo 805 which had a 1,979 cc, straight 8-cylinder supercharged engine, producing 146 hp at 5,500 rpm and won that year's Italian Grand Prix at Monza. For 1924 the cars were further developed to produce nearly 150 hp. Like Alfa Romeo, Fiat used balloon tires for the rear wheels. At the 1924 Targa Florio Pietro Bordino finished third overall. Drivers were Pietro Bordino, Felice Nazzaro, Fiat test driver Giuseppe Pastore, and Onesimo Marchisio.       Bugatti designed a new car for 1924, the famous Type 35 which appeared here for the first time for its first race, painted light blue, with an unblown 2.0-Liter, 8-cylinder engine, delivering 105 hp at 5,200 rpm, which in 1923 had been used in the T30 car. Six of the new racecars with the unique Bugatti Aluminum wheels were driven per road to the racetrack and Ettore Bugatti drove one of them. The team kept one car as a spare and entered five for Jean Chassagne, Ernst Fridrich, Pierre de Vizcaya, Leoncio Garnier and Meo Costantini.       The Miller of Count Zborowsky was privately entered, which was an exception and the ACF accepted his car only after a written blessing of the American manufacturer. The Miller with an un-supercharged 8-cylinder engine was Zborowsky's 1923 car and had already been driven for many miles.       At scrutineering the cars' weight was recorded as follows:   1 SUNBEAM (Henry Segrave) 805 kg   2 DELAGE (Albert Divo) 680 kg   3 ALFA ROMEO (Antonio Ascari) 745 kg   4 SCHMID (Giulio Foresti) 855 kg DNS - Did not start   5 FIAT (Felice Nazzaro) 779 kg   6 MILLER (Louis Zborowski) 740 kg   7 BUGATTI (Jean Chassagne) 675 kg   8 SUNBEAM (Lee Guinness) 800 kg   9 DELAGE (Robert Benoist) 685 kg 10 ALFA ROMEO (Giuseppe Campari) 732 kg 11 SCHMID (Jules Goux) 880 kg 12 FIAT (Pietro Bordino) 775 kg 13 BUGATTI (Ernst Fridrich) 683 kg 14 SUNBEAM (Dario Resta) 787 kg 15 DELAGE (René Thomas) 680 kg 16 ALFA ROMEO (Louis Wagner) 739 kg 17 FIAT (Giuseppe Pastore) 794 kg 18 BUGATTI (Pierre de Vizcaya) 683 kg 19 ALFA ROMEO (Enzo Ferrari) 7xx kg DNS - Did not start 20 FIAT (Onesimo Marchisio) 768 kg 21 BUGATTI (Leoncio Garnier) 691 kg 22 BUGATTI (Meo Costantini) 697 kg

Practice: On July 17, the first practice day, the circuit was officially to open from 5:00 AM till 8.30, but was instead opened half an hour early at 4:30. With the exception of the Schmid, all cars practiced; Fiat with two cars on which the four drivers exchanged; Alfa Romeo with 3 cars and one in reserve because that of Ferrari had not yet arrived; Delage with two; Bugatti with all five cars; Sunbeam with two (the third car made a brief appearance before the closing of practice) and Zborowski with his Miller. But all of them were limited to brief practicing with frequently stops at the pits. Nevertheless, remarkable times had been recorded. One of the Bugatti lapped in 13m44s; Delage with Benoist in 13m with a standing start. The best time recorded for Campari and Ascari, who drove a few laps, was at 11m45s. Fiat was recorded at 12m, but these were all very relative times as no one currently pushed. Segrave supposedly made a lap in 10m42s and Nazzaro, it was said, to have scored 10m10s, but both were also unofficial times. Bordino in one of his laps between Givors and Piramis in the uphill stretch hit an external fence, but fortunately without injuries to himself or his riding mechanic who slightly injured his head. The car was rather severely damaged in the front and was sent back to Italy for repairs. This slight incident confirmed this very difficult part of the circuit. The practice in the morning hours, was watched by many spectators.       During one of the later practice days, Foresti crashed the Schmidt and the car did not start. On Wednesday morning before the race, was the last practice for the racecars. Bordino was again fully recovered after his crash. Benoist and Divo with the Delage practiced for a long time, likewise did the entire Bugatti team. Lee Guinness was timed unofficially at 10 m35.4s with his Sunbeam.

Race: The European Grand Prix was the climax of a larger race meeting, preceded with races for motorcycles, bicycles, cyclecars and touring cars. On Sunday at 8:30 AM, an official car drove around the circuit to order the closure of the course. Ferrari's Alfa Romeo, and the Schmid of Foresti did not start. The 20 remaining cars lined up at the start on the straight in a column of two per row in order of the race numbers.

2 Divo Delage 1 Segrave Sunbeam 5 Nazzaro Fiat 3 Ascari Alfa Romeo 7 Chassagne Bugatti 6 Zborowski Miller 9 Benoist Delage 8 Guinness Sunbeam 11 Goux Schmid 10 Campari Alfa Romeo 13 Fridrich Bugatti 12 Bordino Fiat 15 Thomas Delage 14 Resta Sunbeam 17 Pastore Fiat 16 Wagner Alfa Romeo 20 Marchisio Fiat 18 de Vizcaya Bugatti 22 Costantini Bugatti 21 Garnier Bugatti

One minute before the start, the engines were cranked to life and the cars screamed with powerful rumbles from their engines. A pilot motorcyclist on either side of the road led the rolling start of the racecars, then suddenly turned off the course and gave way when the flag was lowered from the timekeepers' grandstand at 9 o'clock. The 20 cars were away with Segrave first, Ascari second, then Divo and Chassagne.       At the end of the first lap Segrave (Sunbeam) held the lead after 12m18s, four seconds ahead of Ascari (Alfa Romeo) with Lee Guinness (Sunbeam) another five seconds behind, followed by Campari (Alfa Romeo), Bordino (Fiat), Divo (Delage), Wagner (Alfa Romeo), Chassagne (Bugatti), Fridrich (Bugatti) and Resta (Sunbeam), all within one minute after the leader. Goux in the dark blue Schmid lost much time heading for the pits for attention to the engine. De Vizcaya stopped at the pits with a flat left rear tire on his Bugatti but was changing the right one also. At the end of the second lap Segrave, Ascari and Guinness held their positions but Bordino passed Campari for fourth place with minor position changes in the back. After three laps, Bordino had passed the three cars ahead and was leading with Segrave a close second at his back, followed by Ascari, Guinness, Campari and Wagner. Marchisio had a problem with his Fiat, while Goux was still at the pits, already one lap down.       After the fourth lap Bordino was still in the lead. Segrave stopped at the pits to change plugs and Guinness dropped behind. As a result, the three Alfa Romeos of Ascari, Campari and Wagner held second, third and fourth position. At the end of the field, Marchisio's Fiat and Goux were still at the pits.       On lap five, Ascari had taken the lead ahead of Guinness, Bordino, Campari, Wagner, Resta and Divo. Chassagne had to change a tire on his Bugatti. Ascari's average lap time on the first five laps was 12m05s. After 115.725 km, the 20-car field was in the following order after 5 laps: 1. Ascari (Alfa Romeo) 1h00m17s 2. Lee Guinness (Sunbeam 1h01m04s 3. Bordino (Fiat) 1h01m11s 4. Campari (Alfa Romeo) 1h01m11s 5. Wagner (Alfa Romeo) 1h01m26s 6. Divo (Delage) 1h01m39s 7. Resta (Sunbeam) 1h01m43s 8. Benoist (Delage) 1h01m56s 9. Chassagne (Bugatti) 1h02m17s 10. Fridrich (Bugatti) 1h03m00s 11. Pastore (Fiat) 1h03m11s 12. Costantini (Bugatti) 1h03m27s 13. Zborowski (Miller Spl) 1h03m59s 14. Segrave (Sunbeam) 1h04m00s 15. Thomas (Delage) 1h04m47s 16. Nazzaro (Fiat) 1h05m06s 17. De Vizcaya (Bugatti) 1h05m30s 18. Garnier (Bugatti) 1h07m23s 19. Goux (Schmidt) 1h19m13s 1 lap behind 20. Marchisio (Fiat) 1h56m44s 4 laps behind After six laps Bordino had retaken the lead ahead of Ascari, which remained so for six laps during a great high-speed battle. Third place went back and forth between Guinness and Campari while Wagner, Divo and Resta were fighting for fifth, sixth and seventh places. Segrave stopped to change plugs again and dropped further behind. In the meantime, the Bugattis of Fridrich and de Vizcaya stopped to have the tires changed. The team realized that the treads would not stay on their special tires and they had a problem on hand. On lap nine, Nazzaro stopped at the pits to change spark plugs. Bordino's average lap time during the last five laps was 11m30s. After 231.450 km, the 20-car field was in the following order after 10 laps: 1. Bordino (Fiat) 1h58m42s 2. Ascari (Alfa Romeo) 1h58m59s 3. Lee Guinness (Sunbeam 1h59m41s 4. Campari (Alfa Romeo) 1h59m59s 5. Divo (Delage) 2h00m46s 6. Wagner (Alfa Romeo) 2h00m46s 7. Resta (Sunbeam) 2h01m03s 8. Costantini (Bugatti) 2h03m34s 9. Benoist (Delage) 2h04m30s 10. Pastore (Fiat) 2h04m50s 11. Chassagne (Bugatti) 2h05m53s 12. Thomas (Delage) 2h06m20s 13. De Vizcaya (Bugatti) 2h08m49s 14. Segrave (Sunbeam) 2h10m23s 1 lap behind 15. Fridrich (Bugatti) 2h11m32s 1 lap behind 16. Goux (Schmidt) 2h26m22s 2 laps behind 17. Zborowski (Miller Spl) 2h28m40s 2 laps behind 18. Garnier (Bugatti) 2h32m59s 2 laps behind 19. Nazzaro (Fiat) 2h34m00s 3 laps behind 20. Marchisio (Fiat) 3h01m12s 5 laps behind After the 11th lap the order remained the same with the two leading red cars continuing their battle. On the 12th lap, when Bordino experienced fading brakes, Ascari grabbed the lead while Bordino stopped at the pits, working for more than half an hour on the Fiat's front brakes. At the same time Resta's Sunbeam was at the pits, including the Miller and three Bugattis. Pastore who had held tenth place retired the Fiat, including de Vizcaya's Bugatti, who crashed off the road, badly damaging the front of the car. The order Ascari, Guinness, Campari and Divo remained until the 15th lap. Further behind followed Benoist, Thomas, Wagner, Segrave, Chassagne, Fridrich, Costantini, Resta, Goux, Bordino, Nazzaro, Garnier, Zborowski and Marchisio in 18th place. Guinness led the 16th lap ahead of Campari while Ascari lost over a minute when he refueled and changed rear wheels on lap 17. Zborowski retired the Miller after the front axle loosened from the frame, caused by the rough road sections. Campari led the 17th lap ahead of Guinness, Divo, Ascari, Benoist and Wagner. Costantini drove for several laps with a tire thread that had wrapped itself around the gear lever, bending it so that he could not select all gears. When he retired, the field was down to 16 cars. Bordino, who had fallen over one hour behind the leader, retired on lap 18. When Campari stopped on lap 19, Ascari took the lead with Guinness third and Divo fourth. Goux retired on lap 19 with a damaged radiator. Ascari's average lap time during the last five laps was 12m40s. After 462.9 km, the 14-car field was in the following order after 20 laps: 1. Ascari (Alfa Romeo) 4h01m15s 2. Campari (Alfa Romeo) 4h03m05s 3. Lee Guinness (Sunbeam 4h03m36s 4. Divo (Delage) 4h03m57s 5. Benoist (Delage) 4h08m45s 6. Wagner (Alfa Romeo) 4h11m25s 7. Segrave (Sunbeam) 4h16m13s 1 lap behind 8. Thomas (Delage) 4h16m39s 1 lap behind 9. Chassagne (Bugatti) 4h18m12s 1 lap behind 10. Fridrich (Bugatti) 4h23m53s 1 lap behind 11. Resta (Sunbeam) 4h58m24s 4 laps behind 12. Nazzaro (Fiat) 5h00m04s 4 laps behind 13. Garnier (Bugatti) 5h05m14s 5 laps behind 14. Marchisio (Fiat) 5h16m26s 5 laps behind When Guinness retired on the 21st lap with a broken transmission after passing Givors, the order Ascari, Campari, Divo, Benoist, Wagner and Segrave remained until lap 25. On lap 22, Segrave stopped to change his riding mechanic, who was badly injured by a piece of flying tire thread from another car. Nazzaro retired on lap 23 with brake trouble and Marchiosio did likewise on lap 24 owing to engine trouble. On that lap Divo stopped at is pit to also changed his overworked riding mechanic. Segrave in sixth place on lap 29 beat the lap record at a time of 11m19s at 122.71 km/h average speed.The order Ascari, Campari, Divo and Benoist remained up to the 30th lap, while Wagner and Segrave battled for fifth place. Ascari's average lap time during the last five laps was 12m43s. After 694.35 km, the order of the 11-car field was as follows after 30 laps: 1. Ascari (Alfa Romeo) 6h04m02s 2. Campari (Alfa Romeo) 6h04m43s 3. Divo (Delage) 6h06m15s 4. Benoist (Delage) 6h13m40s 5. Wagner (Alfa Romeo) 6h21m19s 1 lap behind 6. Segrave (Sunbeam) 6h22m23s 1 lap behind 7. Thomas (Delage) 6h34m33s 2 laps behind 8. Chassagne (Bugatti) 6h39m02s 2 laps behind 9. Fridrich (Bugatti) 6h40m33s 2 laps behind 10. Resta (Sunbeam) 7h22m23s 6 laps behind 11. Garnier (Bugatti) 7h22m55s 6 laps behind On lap 31 the order did not change but Resta and Garnier, being six laps behind, were no longer shown on the lap charts. On lap 33 Ascari slowed with engine trouble and Campari took the lead. On lap 34 Divo passed Ascari, who at Pont Rompu proceeded with a slow running engine. On lap 35 he slowly drove to his pit. Ascari and Ramponi, his riding mechanic, changed all plugs and added lots of water into the radiator. When the car would not re-start with the crank they tried to push-start. Ramponi pushed the car, now with water running out of the exhaust. He pushed up to the slight hill past the pits, but all in vain, the car was to retire there. The crowd cheered the victorious Campari while the band played the Italian and thereafter the French anthem. Campari was celebrated with champagne and a meter-long Italian sausage. Alfa Romeo established itself in a convincing way in its first international battle. In the last laps Divo had made up some time and finished second just over one minute behind. While the spectators were leaving, Resta and Garnier both on their 33rd lap were stopped by the officials.