Sommer wins in Paris

A German victory in Belgium

15 cars in three classes took part in the race. Seaman led early on with his new Era but soon had to retire. Fevrier in a Bugatti took over the lead only to retire as well. With Hartmann struggling in his 3 litre Maserati, Steinweg with a Bugatti took command of the race to win from Veyron and Mme. Itier, all three in 1.5 litre Bugattis, while Hartmann dropped to fourth after a pit stop.

The Frontičres Grand Prix, run on the fast Chimay road circuit, was first run in 1926 on the initiative of race enthusiast Jules Buisseret. So the 1935 race was the tenth in order. For 1935 the number of laps had been increased from 15 to 20 for a total race length of 217.4 km. The race run in three classes, 1100cc, 1500cc and unlimited engine capacity.

Entries: Bugattis dominated the entry list both in the unlimited and the 1.5 litre class. In the unlimited class started Frontičres specialist Arthur Legat in an ex- Georges Bouriano Bugatti T35B (#4947) and André Fevrier in a T35C. They were challenged by Hungarian László Hartmann in a red-white-green painted Maserati 8CM and Viglielmo Matozza with a very old Alfa Romeo RL Targa Florio.       In the 1.5 litre class there were no less than nine Bugattis. It included the 8-cylinder T51A:s of Pierre Veyron in works car #51159, Anne-Cecile Itier in #51142, a former T35 (#4827) converted to a T51A, "Barowski" alias Claude Bossu in #51154 bought in July 1934 and German Rudolf Steinweg in #51134, a former T35C (#4821) converted to a T51A monoposto with a high tail.       Bruno Sojka raced fellow Czech Florian Schmidt's ex-works car (#51151). Schmidt limited his driving to very few races and as he knew Sojka was a better driver he let the latter drive the fast T51A while Schmidt raced his second car, a four cylinder T37A. Other four cylinder Bugattis were raced by Cholmondeley-Tapper (T37A), Raymond de Saugé (T37A) and E. Dubois (probably a T37A as well).       Richard Seaman entered his brand new black painted ERA "B" type (R1B), while Dutch driver Harry Herkuleyns with his Q type M.G. was the only entry in the 1.1 litre class.

Race: Race day came with beautiful sunshine. The event started with motorcycle racing in five classes after which the cars were lined up 2 and 2 on the narrow start area. At 2 p.m. Jules Buisseret dropped the flag and they were on their way.

12 Steinweg Bugatti 2 Veyron Bugatti 24 Seaman ERA ? 8 Cholmondeley Bugatti ? Bugatti ? ? 5 Schmidt Bugatti 11 Matozza Alfa Romeo 16 Dubois Bugatti 15 de Saugé Bugatti Rest of grid unknown

Hartman did the best start with his Maserati but Seaman showed the speed of the new ERA and passed him to lead at the end of the first lap followed by Hartmann, Fevrier, Legat, Veyron, Steinweg, Sojka, "Barowski", Cholmondeley-Tapper, Itier and Schmidt.       Seaman made the second lap in 4m48s, beating Willy Longueville's 1933 lap record. But on the third lap Seaman had to retire, possibly with engine trouble. On the same lap Legat stopped his Bugatti at La Bouchere and abandoned the race. Schmidt also called it a day.       Fevrier, who meanwhile had passed Hartmann, became the new leader but it lasted only until the fifth lap when he retired his Bugatti with a broken shock absorber, handling over the lead to Hartmann. On the same lap Veyron in the works Bugatti, who was following Hartmann, had to make a pit stop rejoining the race in 8th position. Hartmann only led for a brief moment until he was passed by Steinweg's white Bugatti.       Sojka retired after 6 laps and Cholmondeley-Tapper after 7 laps. The race order after 8 laps was Steinweg, Hartmann and Itier with Veyron closing in and taking over third position on the next lap.       Halfway through the race Steinweg was leading Hartmann by 1m52s. They were followed by Veyron, Itier, "Barowski", Dubois, Matozza and Herkuleyns, while de Sauge had been forced to make a lengthy pit stop and was last.       The race settled down with the drivers keeping their positions. The main interest of the spectators concentrated on Veyron in the works Bugatti, who was catching Hartmann. The latter was struggling with both ignition and fuel feed problems with his Maserati. On the 19th lap Hartmann made a lengthy pit stop and had to see both Veyron and Itier pass him.       Steinweg took the victory followed 1m37s later by Veyron while Itier finished third to the joy of the spectators. Hartmann was fourth overall and first in the unlimited class while Herkuleyns to the surprise of no one was the victor of the 1.1 litre class.

Nuvolari wins when Trossi gives up

The event was run with two heats plus a final. The first heat was dominated by Nuvolari (Ferrari - Alfa Romeo), who took the victory from his team mate Trossi with Maserati drivers Farina and Dusio also making it to the final. Scuderia Ferrari drivers dominated the second heat as well with Chiron winning from Tadini, while Varzi, who had been released from Auto Union to race a Maserati and finished third, was so disgusted with the car that he refused to race in the final. In the final Farina took the start but soon Nuvolari passed him for the lead. Trossi was able to challenge Nuvolari and temporarily pass him but then had to retire due to illness. Nuvolari won from Chiron with Farina third.

Organized by the Biella section of the RACI the second Circuito di Biella was initially planned for 16 June, clashing with Eifelrennen. When Reale Premio di Roma was cancelled the organizers were able to move back the Biella event to 9th June, to be clashing only with the minor Frontieres Grand Prix.       The Circuit of Biella was run in two 25 lap qualifying heats and a 50 lap final. The circuit was the same as in 1934, measuring 2.199 km. The twisty circuit with its sharp corners put high pressure on the brakes and on the transmission.       The race was open for monopostos and two-seaters with cylinder capacity over 1100 cc. Due to the shortness of the circuit only 8 cars were allowed for each heat. The sixteen cars were selected by invitation.       For the final, the first three was to be admitted from each heat and further the fourth who drove the best time, so therefore seven riders would compete in the final.       There was a total of 100,000 Lire in prizes.

Entries: For the race Scuderia Ferrari sent a full team of four 3.2 litre cars, none of them with independent suspension. Brivio was still ill after his Tripoli crash and was unable to start in his home race. He had gone to the Putti clinic in Bologna for treatment (Note 1). However, round-the-houses specialist Carlo Felice Trossi was there trying to repeat his 1934 victory in his home town. Tazio Nuvolari, Louis Chiron and Mario Tadini were the other Ferrari drivers. All of them except Chiron used 16" rear tyres to gear the cars down for the twisty circuit.       Apart from Chiron the only non-Italian driver was Mlle. "Helle-Nice" with her familiar blue Alfa Romeo Monza. Monzas were also entered by Giovanni Minozzi and Luigi Pages,       Varzi was released by Auto Union to drive the Scuderia Subalpina 3.7 litre 6C-34 Maserati. He joined the ordinary Scuderia Subalpina drivers Eugenio Siena, who raced the team's other 6C-34, Piero Dusio and Pietro Ghersi, both in Maserati 8CM. Giuseppe Farina, who had been impressive at Bergamo, raced once again Gino Rovere's 2.5 litre Maserati 4CM. Gino Rovere himself raced a 1.5 litre car. There were two other voiturettes in the race, Count Lurani with a 4CS two-seater and Count Castelbarco with a rebuilt 4CM that had a more streamlined body and an independent suspension.       Finally, Luigi Soffietti entered his Maserati 8CM.

Heat 1: Sunday came with sunny and extremely hot weather and thousands of spectators lined the streets of Biella to see the race. At 2.10 p.m. the Podesta (mayor) of Biella flagged away the first heat.

2 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 6 Trossi Alfa Romeo 12 Ghersi Maserati 16 Farina Maserati 30 Castelbarco Maserati 28 Soffietti Maserati 26 Helle-Nice Alfa Romeo 22 Dusio Maserati (Note 2)

As the cars went into the first left hand bend Nuvolari from his position on the left on the first row took the lead, followed by Farina and Trossi. Trossi soon passed Farina for second position. Behind the trio followed Ghersi, Dusio, Soffietti, Hellé-Nice and Castelbarco.       The order remained much the same throughout the race, the only major duel being between Ghersi and Dusio. On the fifth lap Trossi made the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m27.8s, closing up right on Nuvolari while Farina already has lost contact.       After nine laps Soffietti retired from sixth position because of a broken oil pump. Nuvolari had no problems keeping his lead and started to open up a gap to Trossi. After 15 laps he was leading by 11 seconds and after 20 laps he had increased the lead to 15 seconds.       Ghersi had brake and steering problems and was pushed by Dusio, who was faster but unable to find a way past until the 24th lap when he finally managed to pass for fourth position. In the end Nuvolari won by 21.4 seconds from Trossi with Farina third, Dusio fourth and Ghersi fifth. "Hellé-Nice" was sixth, two laps behind and Castelbarco with the voiturette Maserati seventh.

Heat 2: The second heat started at 3.12 p.m.

10 Varzi Maserati 4 Chiron Alfa Romeo 8 Tadini Alfa Romeo 18 Lurani Maserati 14 Siena Maserati 32 Rovere Maserati 20 Pages Alfa Romeo 24 Minozzi Alfa Romeo

Chiron took the lead followed by Tadini and Varzi. Chiron did the fifth lap in 1m29.2s setting the fastest time of the race. Rovere did the seventh lap in 1m33.2s and that proved to be the fastest lap set by a voiturette car during the event. It seemed that Varzi had started off in a calm tempo, saving his car and just keeping on to third position, but later when trying to challenge the Alfa Romeos he struck problems and gradually fell back.       At the 13th lap in the first corner after the finish line at Via Torino, Rovere pushing hard with his little voiturette Maserati crashed into the 6-cylinder Maserati of Siena. Both cars ended up in the straw barriers but while Siena had to retire Rovere was able to continue.       Pages retired on the 19th lap with brake failure.       On the 21th lap Rovere crashed again in the same corner as his earlier incident and this time he had to call it a day.       So Chiron took the victory 18 seconds before his team mate Tadini while Varzi, who had suffered a suspension problem as well as a differential trouble, finished a distant third, almost a lap behind the winner. Minozzi was fourth one lap behind and Lurani with his voiturette car fifth two laps behind.

Final: Of the two who had finished fourth, the one who had done a better time in the heats would be selected as seventh competitor to the final. Possibly it meant the one that had done the faster lap time, as Dusio from the first heat was selected rather than Minozzi from the second heat, even when the latter had done a faster race. Varzi was so disgusted by the performance of the Maserati that he refused to start in the final, so the much expected duel between Nuvolari and Varzi came to nothing.       So in the end there were just six cars in the 50 laps final, Nuvolari, Trossi, Farina and Dusio from the first heat and Chiron and Tadini from the second. Of the six finalists four raced for Scuderia Ferrari so there was little doubt who would be the winner.       At 4.25 p.m. the Duke of Spoleto flagged the finalists away.

6 Trossi Alfa Romeo 2 Nuvolari Alfa Romeo 16 Farina Maserati 22 Dusio Maserati 4 Chiron Alfa Romeo * 8 Tadini Alfa Romeo * 10 Varzi DNS

Farina was a surprise leader after the first lap followed by Chiron and Nuvolari. Nuvolari however soon passed both Chiron and Farina to take the lead of the race. Trossi was in fourth position followed by Tadini and Dusio.       On the fourth lap Chiron passed Farina and on the fifth lap Trossi did the same and soon afterwards he was also able to pass Chiron for second position.       Trossi now started to close in on Nuvolari. On the 10th lap he was right behind the leader. On the next lap Trossi drove the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m25.6s.       On the 13th lap Trossi managed to pass the Mantuan to take over the lead. Further back Tadini passed Farina so that Scuderia Ferrari now held the four top positions in the race. Trossi and Nuvolari did two laps nose to tail with Nuvolari pushing the leader hard. On the 15th lap Nuvolari exited the turn leading to the short start/finish straight better than Trossi and the two cars passed the finish line side by side.       In the next corner Trossi had to give in the duel and Nuvolari was back in the lead. Soon afterwards Trossi started to fall back. After 23 laps to the disappointment of the spectators Trossi retired to the pits claiming he was feeling ill. Possibly it was a case of sunstroke in the extremely hot weather.       On the 27th lap Tadini had to make a lengthy pit stop so Farina advanced to third position and Dusio to fourth. Nothing more happened during the latter part of the race, the cars keeping their positions during the last 23 laps. The only thing of interest was Farina's attempts to challenge Chiron, who was suffering from brake problems, but the attempts proved to be unsuccessful.       Nuvolari was cruising at the end of the race with one hand on the steering wheel to take his third victory of the season. Chiron finished second, Farina in his little 2.5 litre car third after an excellent race, Dusio fourth two laps behind and Tadini was last, three laps behind.

ERA conquers Europe

Mays took the start followed by Rose-Richards and Cook, all in works ERAs. Seaman in his independent ERA soon advanced to 3rd and then to 2nd. Cook dropped behind the Maseratis of Rüesch and Della Chiesa. On the second lap Seaman took over the lead. He was followed by Mays, who was in trouble with the fuel feed, and Rose-Richards. Ghersi (Maserati) advanced to third but had to retire with glass in his eye and Rüesch took over third place and started to challenge Mays. Seaman had to make a stop for oil and Mays re-took the lead followed by Rüesch and Rose-Richards. Mays was able to hold off Rüesch and went on to give ERA its first international win.

The Eifelrennen minor race cars were divided into a 1500cc voiturette class and an 800cc cycle car class. Both classes should do eight laps on the 22.81 km course. The voiturettes and cycle cars raced contemporary with five classes of sports cars.       The prize money amounted to 23,000 RM in total for all three race classes (Grand Prix, voiturette and cycle cars) with 2,500 RM going to the winner of the 1500cc class and 1000 RM for the winner of the 800cc class.

Entries: The ERA team made their international debut sending their three green cars to be driven by Tim Rose-Richards (R1A), Humphrey Cook (R2A) and Raymond Mays (R3A). Richard Seaman entered his own newly acquired black painted ERA "B" type (R1B).       Their main opponents were the 4-cylinder Maseratis with drivers Luigi Della Chiesa and Piero Ghersi entered by Scuderia Subalpina/Gino Rovere, independent Italian drivers Ferdinando Barbieri and Luigi Castelbarco and Swiss drivers Hans Kessler and Hans Rüesch. Kessler had not raced a circuit race outside Switzerland before.       Herbert Wimmer and Ernst von Delius had together with Borries Freiherr von Münchhausen financed the Zoller voiturette project. The Zoller engine was a "Doppelkolbenmotor". Called "Split-single" in English it is a variant of the two-stroke engine with two cylinders sharing a single combustion chamber. However, Arnold Theodor Zoller had died in December 1934 and the engine project lacked technical support and development. During the winter break the cars had received a major overhaul. Wimmer's car had been rebuilt with bodywork inspired by the Mercedes-Benz W25. Ernst von Delius decided to take part in the sports car race instead where he would win the 2000cc class in a BMW.       Among the Bugatti drivers, German Rudolf Steinweg and Czechoslovakian voiturette driver Bruno Sojka raced 8-cylinder T51As. Steinweg's white car was a T35C that had been rebuilt as a monoposto and received a T51 engine. German art restorer and painter Willi Seibel entered a T37A as did British amateur drivers Stanley Smith and Thomas Pitt Cholmondeley-Tapper. German dentist Heinz Krebs entered a MG K3 Magnette.       The 800cc class consisted entirely of British MGs and Austins.

Practice: The ERA team arrived at Nürburgring on Sunday evening, a week before the race. As Mays had not earlier been on the ring he spent several days driving around the circuit in a 3 ˝ litre Bentley saloon. During official practice from Wednesday to Friday the voiturettes practiced together with the GP cars. The drivers had to do at least five laps and had to set a minimum time, different for each class, to qualify for the race.

Race: On Sunday Morning the Eifel Mountains were covered in rain and low clouds but the weather improved and it had dried up at1 p.m. when the voiturette race started.       The 800cc and 1500cc race cars raced together with sports cars and even considering the fact that they did not start at the same time there were some 35 cars in seven classes together on the circuit making it very confusing for the spectators. The sports cars made five or six laps depending on class.       The cars were pushed to their grid positions with Steinweg's Bugatti and Mays' and Rose-Richard's ERAs in the front row. Nürburgring used a new system with starting lights. With the car engines running a large amber light was turned on Thirty seconds later the light changed to green and the race had begun.

31 Mays ERA 33 Rose-Richards ERA 40 Steinweg Bugatti 38 Rüesch? Maserati? 32 Cook ERA 48 Kessler Maserati 43 Wimmer Zoller - 44 Della Chiesa Maserati 35 Seaman ERA 46 Cholmondeley Bugatti 37 Sojka Bugatti - 45 Castelbarco Maserati 41 Krebs MG ? ? ? (Note 1)

Mays took the start followed by Rose-Richards and Cook while Seaman in the fourth of the ERAs was down to seventh as the voiturettes entered the horseshoe formed Südkehre before passing behind the pits and continuing down left toward Hatzenbach. Behind them the 800cc cars followed.       At the end of the first lap Mays was leading from Rose-Richards. Seaman in his black car had advanced from 7th to 3rd. Behind him followed the Maseratis of Rüesch and Della Chiesa, while Cook had dropped to sixth.       On the second lap Mays noticed that the air pressure for the fuel feed was falling and he had to pump it up by hand every few minutes, a hard thing to do on this demanding circuit. Seaman, who already had passed Rose-Richards for second position, closed in on Mays and passed him on the uphill section after Adenauer Forst. Seaman made the second lap in 11m57.4s (114.45 km/h) The race order after the second lap was: 1. Seaman (ERA) 24m49.2s (110.2 km/h) 2. Mays (ERA) 24m59.0s 3. Rose-Richards (ERA) 25m10.4s 4. Ghersi (Maserati) 25m14.2s Cholmondeley-Tapper made a pit stop as his Bugatti suffered carburettor trouble. He returned to the race but had to withdraw soon afterwards. Wimmer was having ignition trouble with his Zoller and after two slow laps he made a pit stop to change plugs. During the race he would spend a long time in the pits.       A hard driving Ghersi passed Rose-Richard, advanced to third and was about to challenge Mays. But then on the fourth lap a flying stone smashed both Ghersi's windscreen and goggles. Ghersi received a nasty wound in the eye from the glass and was too badly injured to continue.       After having had a duel with Rose-Richards for fourth position Della Chiesa had to retire as well as the engine of the Scuderia Subalpina Maserati blew up. Now there were three ERAs in the top.       On the fifth lap Rüesch passed Rose-Richards for third position and came up level with Mays, who answered by going faster. At the end of the fifth lap Seaman was leading Mays by 21.6s while the latter had a 8.4s lead over Rüesch. The situation after 5 laps: 1. Seaman (ERA) 1h01m54.4s (110,5 km/h) 2. Mays (ERA) 1h02m16.0s 3. Rüesch (Maserati) 1h02m24.4s 4. Rose-Richards (ERA) 1h02m38.3s Seaman's car was losing oil and at the end of the sixth lap he had to make a pit stop topping up the empty dry sump tank, dropping to fourth during the process. That left Mays in the lead with Rüesch 15 seconds behind and Rose-Richards in third position. Steinweg had to retire his Bugatti monoposto because of a leaking tank and faulty fuel line.       Mays pumped furiously the fuel feed pressure on the straights to leave both hands available for the twisty sections. On the seventh lap Rüesch tried to pass Mays but was badly blocked (see in retrospect). Mays was able to hold off Rüesch and increase his lead on the last lap and went on to give ERA its first international win. It was also the first international victory for a British car since Henry Segrave's Sunbeam at the 1923 French GP.       Behind Rüesch followed the ERAs of Rose-Richards, Seaman and Cook, and thus there were four ERAs in the top five. Sojka finished sixth after having had a duel with Kessler for most part of the race. Castelbarco was the last finisher. In the 800cc cycle car class Dudley Froy's mechanic Jack Wren took over the single seater Q Type M.G. Midget as Froy himself was to race a Bugatti T54 in the main event. According to NS-Volksblatt für Westfalen Bäumer initially led; but soon had to hand over the lead to Brudes, with Kohlrausch almost on his heels. Other sources clame Kohlrausch immediately took control of the race. It is however clear that Kohlrausch led most of the race but then had to make a short pit stop two-thirds of the way giving over the lead to Brudes. But one lap before the end Brudes stopped at the spare parts depot, dropping to third. That meant Kohlrausch won the class with Wren, who had had a duel with Adolf Brudes during the early part of the race, finishing second. Not much else is known about the race and even Automobil Revue wondered what happened to the other entries. The sports car classes were won by Herbert Berg (Mercedes SSK), H. Stolze (Bugatti), Ernst v. Delius BMW, Werner Hillegart (Aston Martin) and Tenhoff (Fiat). The next day Hans Stuck tested the ERA and he was impressed saying that it was the best voiturette car he had seen.

A new star

The race was run in challenging conditions as rain intermixed with sunshine created huge problems with the spark plug selection. German teams raced with four cars. Lang (Mercedes-Benz) made his race debut and Pietsch (Auto Union) his team debut. Von Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) dominated the first half of the race. He was followed by his team mates Caracciola and Fagioli while Auto Union drivers Stuck and Varzi fell back due to several stops to replace plugs. Varzi, being ill, eventually gave over his car to zu Leiningen. On the eighth lap von Brauchitsch retired with a broken supercharger and Rosemeyer (Auto Union) in only his second car race sensationally passed Caracciola for the lead and held on to it until the last curve on the last lap when Caracciola re-passed to win from Rosemeyer with Chiron (Scuderia Ferrari) third.

The Eifelrennen was held at the same weekend as the Le Mans 24 hour race, but that did not prevent a good entry list. The only major non starter was Nuvolari, as he was doing speed record attempts with the Alfa Romeo bi-motore on the Florence - Lucca autostrada in Italy.       Due to time constricts and expected bad weather, a few days before the event a decision was made to shorten all races by one lap. The main event raced under the free formula was therefore shortened from 12 to 11 laps. The prize money amounted to 23,000 RM in total for all three race classes (Grand Prix, voiturette and cycle cars) with 5,000 RM going to the winner of the main race.

Entries: Deadline for entries was 3rd June. Both Auto Union and Daimler-Benz came with four cars to this, for them important, event, giving their junior drivers a chance to race. Thus there were some new faces in the German cars. Paul Pietsch was making his debut as a works driver for Auto Union and former motor cycle racer Hermann Lang was making his debut as a Grand Prix driver in a 1934 Mercedes-Benz with 3.4 litre W25A engine. Auto Union entered Hans Stuck and Achille Varzi as senior drivers with Bernd Rosemeyer making his second start for the team (Note 1). For this race the team used a car figuration with open front suspension and low left cockpit side. Mercedes-Benz entered their standard trio of senior drivers, Rudi Caracciola, Luigi Fagioli and Manfred von Brauchitsch, in cars with 4 litre W25B engines.       Scuderia Ferrari entered two of their older type cart sprung Tipo Bs for Louis Chiron and René Dreyfus. Maserati was represented by Scuderia Subalpina with Philippe Etancelin and Goffredo Zehender as drivers for their two 6-cylinder cars.       The ever diminishing field of independents in the main events this time included Renato Balestrero with an Alfa Romeo Monza and Italian Piero Taruffi, Hungarian László Hartmann and British driver Dudley Froy, all racing Bugattis.

Practice: The race cars would practice from Wednesday to Friday and the sports cars from Friday to Saturday. The Grand Prix cars were expected to make at least five practice laps and they had to set a time of 13m42s to be allowed to race.       Practice started on Wednesday morning with motorcycles and in the afternoon it was time for the cars. Lang put in a series of laps with the following times: 12m06s, 11m43s, 11m34s, 11m15s, 11m12s and 11m22s. Von Brauchitsch, back at Nürburgring for the first time since his accident the year before, and Fagioli were also practicing while Caracciola did not take part until Thursday. Of the Auto Union drivers Stuck completed a lap in 10m59s.       Practice continued during Thursday and Friday afternoons in fine weather while the Saturday practice for the sports cars was spoilt by rain.       Motor Sport listed the following times: von Brauchitsch 10m45s, Caracciola 10m59s, Stuck 11m04s, Chiron 11m11s, Hartmann 11m43s and Dreyfus 11m58s. Weltdeutsche Sport Zeitung listed Rosemeyer at a speed corresponding to a 10m57s lap and Fagioli corresponding to 11m05s.       Varzi got ill on Wednesday evening, suffering appendicitis, and he was too ill to practice until Saturday when he dragged himself to the car to do some laps. Varzi was under constant control and treatment of the special physician available to the German teams.

Race: Sunday came with rain. A cold wind was blowing and Neubauer writes in his biography that it felt like April weather. Still some 300,000 enthusiastic spectators had turned up challenging the elements for the day long series of racing events.       After two motor cycle races and a combined race for voiturettes and sports cars (see above) it was time for the main event. The circuit was wet as the Grand Prix cars lined up in 3-2-3 formation.       Varzi's pain had increased during the night so the doctor decided that Varzi should not start and Auto Union's team manager Willy Walb designated Prince zu Leiningen as a substitute driver. However, shortly before the start Varzi insisted to take part even when the team doubted he would be able to do the whole race.

5 Caracciola Mercedes-Benz 7 Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 1 Stuck Auto Union 2 Varzi Auto Union 10 Chiron Alfa Romeo 16 Hartmann Bugatti 20 Balestrero Alfa Romeo 6 Fagioli Mercedes-Benz 15 Taruffi Bugatti 8 Lang Mercedes-Benz 12 Etancelin Maserati 4 Rosemeyer Auto Union 11 Zehender Maserati 21 Froy? Bugatti 9 Dreyfus Alfa Romeo 3 Pietsch? Auto Union (Note 2)

The race was started by the new colored light system (red, yellow and 15 seconds later green). Taruffi moved first on the wet track and tried to find a gap between Caracciola and Varzi and five cars went over the line side by side until Taruffi fell back while von Brauchitsch's Mercedes went into the lead followed by Caracciola, Varzi, Stuck and Fagioli. Chiron had missed the start completely while Dreyfus crossed the grid from right to left to follow Taruffi.       Just as during practice von Brauchitsch was in a class of his own. He pulled away from the others and at the end of the first lap he was leading by 22 seconds over Caracciola. Auto Union drivers Varzi and Stuck were following closely in third and fourth positions. The rest of the field was already falling behind. Rosemeyer was 9th. Froy, who had been last from the start, made a lengthy stop for plugs change. After the first lap the order of the field was as follows: 1. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 11m36.1s (118.0 km/h) 2. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 11m58.3s 3. Varzi (Auto Union) 12m01.1s 4. Stuck (Auto Union) 12m02.1s Von Brauchitsch led by 35 seconds after the second lap having completed the lap in 11m23s. Varzi stopped for a plugs change. He was in pain from his appendicitis but insisted on carry on racing. Froy, who had completed another slow lap, retired to the pits due to incurable ignition trouble. Rosemeyer had moved up to seventh. The situation after the second lap looked like this: 1. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 22m59.4s (119.1 km/h) 2. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 23m37.4s 3. Stuck (Auto Union) 23m44.1s 4. Varzi (Auto Union) 23m51.0s Von Brauchitsch raced the third lap in around 11m11s increasing his lead to 54 seconds. The weather was typical of Nürburgring. It changed rapidly between rain and sunshine on different parts of the track and the sudden temperature changes caused serious ignition troubles on the cars. One of those suffering was Stuck, who stopped in the pit at the end of the lap to change plugs. Fagioli took over third position making it a Mercedes-Benz 1-2-3. The top four cars were in the following order after three laps: 1. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 34m11.0s (120.1 km/h) 2. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 35m05.3s 3. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 35m24.0s 4. Varzi (Auto Union) 35m42.3s Von Brauchitsch was even faster on the fourth lap with a time of 11m08.1s increasing his lead to over one minute. Neubauer hang out a signal ordering him to moderate his speed. (The lap times show that the course still was slippery. Six weeks later von Brauchitsch would do 10m32.0s with the same car.) Varzi stopped once more for plugs, handing over fourth position to Chiron and fifth position to Rosemeyer. Stuck had to stop in the pit as well. Zehender retired the Scuderia Subalpina Maserati due to plug problems. Rosemeyer had had his windshield smashed by a stone. After four laps the situation looked like this: 1. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 45m19.1s (120.8 km/h) 2. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 46m25.0s 3. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 46m49.4s 4. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 47m24.4s Von Brauchitsch took it a little bit easier on the fifth lap with a lap time of 11m17s against 11m20s for Caracciola and 11m37.8s for Fagioli. Auto Union's problems continued with Stuck making his third stop for plugs but when he returned to the race he found that the car still misfired. The Auto Union team gave Rosemeyer, now their best positioned driver, an order to push. Apart from the broken windscreen Rosemeyer had had his goggles damaged by another stone and he had lost his head hood, but that did not hinder him from pushing. He attacked Chiron and after a brief duel he passed for third position, both drivers keeping a similar pace as the top duo. At the end of the lap Fagioli stopped for plugs and refueled at the same time. The race order after five laps was: 1. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 56m36.4s (120.9 km/h) 2. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 57m45.2s 3. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 58m27.2s 4. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 58m44.3s Von Brauchitsch and Caracciola both made the sixth lap in about 11m16s while Rosemeyer behind them was 10 seconds faster, putting in the fastest lap of the race so far with a time of 11m05s seconds Chiron in fourth position was doing an excellent job, keeping the same pace as the Mercedes-Benz cars with his inferior Alfa Romeo. Varzi finally gave up and handed his Auto Union over to reserve driver Prince zu Leiningen, who was ordered to go flat out in an attempt to at least keep to the position. The Auto Union mechanics had a busy day as Stuck was back in the pit in a vain attempt to cure the plug problem. The situation looked like this after six laps: 1. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 1h07m52.2s (121.0 km/h) 2. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 1h09m01.4s 3. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 1h09m51.1s 4. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 1h10m01.4s The skies opened again and heavy rain was falling on Nürburgring. Now it was von Brauchitsch's turn to suffer from plug trouble and in the bad conditions his lap time increased by over two minutes to 13m23s. His team mate Caracciola did a12m54s lap pulling in 29 ˝ seconds on his team mate and Chiron was even faster with a time around 12m45s. But almost unnoticed in the rain and hardly mentioned in the race history books Rosemeyer put in a most sensational lap. Due to the rain it was not a fast lap in itself (12m08s) but he was still 46 seconds faster than rain specialist Caracciola in front of him! At the end of the lap coming past Tiergarten Rosemeyer caught Caracciola and the Auto Union pulled up beside the Mercedes as they passed the finish line and going in to the Südkehle Rosemeyer took over second position. It took Caracciola completely by surprise as he admitted after the race.       Alfred Neubauer asks in his book: "Is this groundless light-heartedness or courage or the outburst of a natural talent?"       Fagioli, Balestrero and Etancelin stopped at the pit, all returning to the race after fast adjustments. The race order after seven laps was: 1. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 1h21m15.4s (117.9 km/h) 2. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 1h21m58.1s 3. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 1h21m59.0s 4. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 1h22m46.1s On the eighth lap von Brauchitsch tried to compensate for the power loss by over revving the engine. When he tried to lap Balestrero the engine could not stand the pressure anymore and the supercharger blew. It was considered that von Brauchitsch had panicked unnecessarily as he still was in a clear lead. He retired to the pits after a 15 minutes lap and got out of his car accompanied by applause from the stands.       The sensation was ready. Rosemeyer was leading in only the second car race he had ever started in. The rain had slowed down and lap times dropped again. Taruffi, who had held a decent midfield position, crashed his Bugatti, fortunately without any major damage to the car or to himself. Rosemeyer made the lap in 11m55s pulling up a four seconds gap to Caracciola with Chiron now up to third doing as Caracciola the lap in just over 12 minutes. After eight laps the race order was as follows: 1. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 1h33m54.4s (116.6 km/h) 2. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 1h33m58.3s 3. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 1h34m52.3s 4. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 1h36m19.1s Conditions got better and lap times improved by another half a minute. Rosemeyer, racing flat out with the wheels often going over the edge of the course, held a seven seconds lead over Caracciola. With von Brauchitsch retired Fagioli had taken over fourth position. The race situation after nine laps was: 1. Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 1h45m26.1s (116.8 km/h) 2. Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 1h45m33.4s 3. Chiron (Alfa Romeo) 1h46m35.9s 4. Fagioli (Mercedes-Benz) 1h49m32.0s For the last two laps Caracciola followed the Auto Union closely. Rosemeyer suffered from ignition problems as well and had lost two cylinders but decided to continue. Due to the broken windscreen he was unable to hear the engine and had to rely on the tachometer for the gear changes.       Newcomer Lang was (according to himself) for a moment up in third position but made a mistake at Planzgarten, spun on the wet track and got stuck with the rear end of the car in the ditch. He was pushed back to the course (a case of outside assistance?) and rejoined the race in fifth position.       The loudspeakers from the various observation posts reported the Auto-Union still in the lead during the last lap but with an ever decreasing gap. Going into Schwalbenschwanz Caracciola made an attempt to pass but was blocked by the Rosemeyer. Coming out of Schwalbenschwanz Rosemeyer changed gear too early and Caracciola was able to keep up with the Auto Union on the long straight and he passed at the breaking point for Hohenrain to take the flag 1.9 seconds in front of the Auto Union. It had been a historical race, the old master had won and the spectators had found a new hero. Rosemeyer was cheered by his former motorcycle mates.       The German teams had dominated the event but Chiron had made a great race to finish third. Fagioli was fourth and beginner Lang and Pietsch finished fifth and sixth. Dreyfus and Etancelin followed in seventh and eighth positions with zu Leiningen taking Varzi's Auto Union home ninth and last, probably being lapped by the winner.