THE HISTORY OF THE GRAND PRIX OF MONACO

 

 
9th GrandPrix - 1937
August 8th - 100 laps of 3.180 km - 318 km

Practice: The last Grand Prix before the outbreak of World War II.

The power of the Germans with their 5.66 litre, 645 bhp, Mercedes W125 running on a mix of alcohol, acetone and nitro, consuming 1l per km and the 6 litre, 520 bhp, Auto Union's effectively leave everything else in the shadows.

Before this decisive race Mercedes and Auto Union are level on points at the top of the championship. With the absence of Nuvolari, the German teams dominate the practice sessions, five of their seven cars clock times of under 1'50" and fill up the first two lines of the grid, only Farina, driving an Alfa Romeo 312, gets near them with a time of 1'53.4" and none of the three Maserati's are able to get in under two minutes.

After a fierce duel with his fellow Mercedes driver Von Brauchitsch, Caracciola takes pole position with a time of 1'47.5", beating his previous record by nine seconds.

Starting Grid

2 Rosemeyer 1’49”

10 von Brauchitsch 1’48.4”

8 Caracciola 1’47.5”

Auto Union C

Mercedes W125

Mercedes W125

 

 

 

12 Kantz 1’49.7”

 

4 Stuck  1’49.2”

Mercedes W125

 

Auto union C

 

 

 

Farina 1’53.4”

14 Zehender 1’53.3”

6 Hasse 1’51.6”

Alfa Romeo 312

Mercedes W125

Auto Union C

 

 

 

 

32 Ruesch 1’55.8”

26 Pintacuda 1’55.6”

 

Alfa Romeo 8C

Alfa Romeo 312

 

 

 

Hartmann 2’03.2”

18 Sommer 1’57.6”

Brivio 1’56.7”

Maserati 2.9

Alfa Romeo 8C

Alfa Romeo 312

 

 

 

 

Biondetti 2’10.4”

Sofietti 2’04.9”

 

Maserati

Maserati 8CM

HIGHER RESOLUTION VIDEO ON YOUTUBE

Race Result

1 Manfred von Brauchitsch (D)

Mercedes Benz W125

3h07’23.9” 101.815km/h
2 Rudi Caracciola Mercedes Benz + 1'

3 Kantz (CH)

Mercedes Benz

+ 2 laps

4 Stuck/Rosemeyer (D)

Auto Union C

+ 3 laps

5 Zehender (I)

Mercedes Benz

+ 3 laps

6 Farina (I)

Alfa Romeo 312

+ 3 laps

7 Sommer (F)

Alfa Romeo 8C

+ 5 laps

8 Ruesch (CH)

Alfa Romeo 8C

+ 8 laps

9 Pintacuda (I)

Alfa Romeo 312

+ 13 laps

Fastest lap: Caracciola, Mercedes, 1’46.5”, 107.492 km/h record

Retired:

Hasse

lap 1

accident

Sofietti

lap 3

fuel

Rosemeyer

lap 19

steering

Brivio

lap 21

radiator

Biondetti

lap 27

engine

Hartmann

lap 69

engine


Mercedes Pitlane


Hans Stuck trying to keep up with the Mercedes cars


Brauchitsch and Caracciola not giving an inch to one another


Hans Stuck


Caracciola Gazometre

Race
The first 2 lines on the grid consisted of German cars only. The infernal noise of the cars was never heard before. Spectators were protecting their ears with their hands.


Up the hill to Casino; Caracciola, Brauchitsch and the pack

Caracciola leaves every one behind and delegates von Brauchitsch to battle it out with Rosemeyer. A second group was formed between Kautz, Stuck, Farina and Zehender already having lost Hasse against a curb at the tunnel. With two Mercedes way up front the race seemed to become boring. But von Brauchitsch drives like a devil and beats Caracciola’s record, Rudi in turn does not leave this unanswered. While an agitated Neubauer tells them to slow down they continue their infernal tempo. Just before mid race Caracciola stops for new spark plugs and loses a lap on his team mate. With vigour Rudi sets out to close the gap, beats the record in lap 55 and passes von Brauchitsch, who is still a lap in advance. Mercedes was occupying the first four places since Farina went in the pits.

Mercedes W125

When it was von Brauchitsch to seek the pits, his mechanics put on a slow motion show and Manfred loses 1’30”. He comes out of the pit lane, when an unleashed Caracciola pulverises the record to 1’46.5” which remains for 18 years to come. Only in lap 80 Caracciola manages to take the lead.


Stuck and Rosemeyer in Auto Union the only contenders

Von Brauchitsch inclines to the advice of Neubauer and stays behind. But when Rudi again goes into the pits, von Brauchitsch is back in the lead. Rudi having lost a minute does everything he can to get past him again, but Manfred does not give an inch to the delight of the spectators. A real battle of the titans. Manfred wins with still 1' advance on Rudi.
This last race before the storm of World War II with German cars in first to 5th place is the end of an era and the end of the Grand Prix de Monaco for more than ten years.


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