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1936 - 2 agosto
Percorso: Rotonda Ardenza Mare - Via della Torre - Ardenza Terra - Via del Littorale - Via Aurelia - Piazza Bartolomei (Antignano) - Via Aurelia (Miramare) - Via Amerigo Vespucci - Via Duca Cosimo - Piazza Dino Leoni - Piazza del Castello - Viale Vittorio Emanuele - Rotonda dell’Ardenza (lunghezza 7 km).
“XVI Coppa Ciano” Formula Corsa oltre 1500 cmc (30 giri- 210 km)
1°) NUVOLARI Tazio - PINTACUDA Carlo, su Alfa Romeo in 1h. 44’.40” (media 120,382 km/h);
2°) BRIVIO Antonio, su Alfa Romeo, in 1h. 44’.57”.4/5;
3°) DREYFUS René, su Alfa Romeo, in 1h. 46’.10”.3/5;
4°) STUCK Hans-ROSEMEYER Bernd, su Auto Union, in 1h.47’.44”.1/5;
5°) CALAMAI Giosué, su Alfa Romeo, a tre giri.
Giro più veloce il 22° di Nuvolari Tazio in 3’.23”.1/5 a 124,015 km/h.
Vetturette 1500 cmc. (15 giri - 105 km)
1°) TROSSI Carlo Felice, su Maserati, in 58’.05”.2/5 (media 108,452 km/h);
2°) EMBIRICOS Nicholas, su ERA, in 59’.03”.4/5;
3°) VILLORESI Luigi, su Maserati, in 59’.13”.4/5;
4°) HARTMANN Laszlo, su Maserati, in 1h.01’.14”.2/5;
5°) ROVERE Luigi, su Maserati, in 1h.01’.53”;
6°) SEAMAN Richard, su Delage, in 1h.02’.32”;
7°) BERGAMINI Maris, su Maserati, a un giro;
8°) Mac EVOY Frederick, su Maserati a un giro;
9°) PROSPERI Agostino, su Maserati a un giro;
10°) PLATE’ Luigi, su Talbot a due giri;
11°) DE SANCTIS Gino, su Fiat a tre giri;
Giro più veloce il 7° di Trossi Carlo Felice in 3’.48”.3/5 a 110,326 km/h.
(Da: Maurizio Mazzoni: “Lampi sul Tirreno”, Firenze 2006)
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XVI° CIRCUITO DEL MONTENERO - (Xa) COPPA CIANO
(Voiturette 1500cc + 1100cc)
Livorno (I), 2 August 1936
15 laps x 7.0 km (4.35 mi)= 105 km (65.2 mi) (Note 1)
Trossi wins as Seaman struggles
by Leif Snellman
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The 1936 Coppa Ciano voiturette race was run to 1500cc formula. Seaman in his Delage led the first laps but then fell back due to fuel starvation and Trossi in his works Maserati
dominated the rest of the event with Embiricos (ERA) second and Luigi Villoresi (Maserati) third.
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For the first time, the Coppa Ciano was held on the new Livorno circuit (see the GP report for more details). After having restricted the voiturette race to 1100cc
during the the earlier years the formula was now changed to 1500cc.
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Entries:
Richard Seaman's Delage had finally been repaired after the Picardie crash where the steering box had split. Giulio Ramponi had replaced the engine with a rebuilt one that gave 10 hp more than the old one.
Seaman was held up at customs and could only take part in the final practice session. Final adjustments could not be made.
There were two ERAs taking part, Nicolas Embiricos (R2A, grey) and Reggie Tongue (R11B, green with black and silver stripe).
Their main opponents were the three Maserati 6CM with independent front suspension: Trossi's works car (#1531), Hungarian Lázló Hartmann's works car (#1532) and the one belonging to Australian born British playboy Frank McEvoy (#1535).
The rest of the field consisted of five 4 cylinder Maseratis, Platé's old Talbot and two Fiat-Balillas.
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Race:
The weather was uncertain. It had rained all night and the rain continued to fall during the morning.
The start of the voiturette race was given at 3 p.m. by Mrs. Visconti, daughter of the Podestà of Livorno (Podestà was an official appointed by the fascist regime replacing the major).
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14
L Villoresi
Maserati
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38
Seaman
Delage
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16
Trossi
Maserati
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18
Embiricos
ERA
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30
Belmondo
Maserati
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?
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8
Hartmann
Maserati
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26
Rovere
Maserati
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| Rest of grid unknown.
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Seaman took the lead followed by Villoresi, Trossi, Bianco and Rovere. Embiricos had made a bad start from his position and had dropped to 8th. But soon the strongest cars were able to advance through the field and
soon the order was Seaman, Trossi, Villoresi, Embiricos, Hartmann and Rovere.
Seaman held the lead for the first laps but then the Delage started to suffer from fuel starvation due to a faulty air pressure pump. On the fourth lap Trossi took over the lead and held it to the end.
Embiricos passed Belmondo on the fifth lap, Luigi Villoresi on the seventh and Seaman on the eight lap but he was unable to do anything against Trossi even though the ERA theoretically was faster than
the Maserati. A struggling
Seaman was soon down to fourth position. Seaman was then passed by Hartmann and Rovere as well and ended up in 6th position.
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Results
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In retrospect:
Information differs about Embiricos' finish time. Automobile Revue and Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung (Berlin) say the time was 58m45.8s.
Paul Sheldon's black book suggests 59m05.8s correcting two unnamed Italian sources that had claimed 58m05.8s.
La Stampa and L'Auto on the other hand say 59m03.8s as does local newspaper Il Telegrafo that should be reliable for Livorno matters (with thanks to Alessandro Silva).
Published errors are often contagious to several papers. Could winner Trossi's 58m05.4s in this case somewhere have been copied in
part to Embiricos' result?
Grid from photo provided by Vladislav Shaikhnurov.
Vittorio Belmondo is listed as a non-starter in Sheldon's book and he is not listed in Automobile-Revue's results. However the photo clearly shows car #30 on grid .
He is listed as a retirement by Il Telegrafo.
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X° COPPA CIANO
Livorno (I), 2 August 1936
30 laps x 7.0 km (4.35 mi) = 210 km (130.5 mi) (Note 1)
Boy, did those Italians cheer?
by Leif Snellman
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Three Auto Unions were challenged by four Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeos at the Coppa Ciano, held on a new circuit. Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) had to retire immediately but he took over Pintacuda's car and started a wild chase
on the field led by Varzi (Auto Union). Stuck (Auto Union) was also an early retirement and he took over Rosemeyer's car. The Auto Unions suffered from brake problems and Brivio (Alfa Romeo) and Nuvolari were able to
catch Varzi and pass him. Varzi eventually had to retire and the Scuderia Ferrari drivers Nuvolari, Brivio and Dreyfus went on to an unsuspected triple victory.
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For the first time the Coppa Ciano was held on the new Livorno circuit, also known as the Circuito del Miramare. For safety reasons the whole Montenero mountain section of the course had been left out shortening the
circuit from 20 km to some 7 km. On this course variant, rather than circling the rotunda the cars went through a hairpin and returned back on the west side before moving left and into the Ardenza district. Instead of
climbing along Via di Montenero the route took the cars along the railroad before passing over it on the way through Antignano along the main street. South of Antignano after a sharp turn it joined the old race track
back towards Livorno.
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Entries:
Daimler-Benz had initially entered two cars for Luigi Fagioli and Manfred von Brauschitsch but after the disastrous results at the German Grand Prix the team decided to miss Coppa Ciano and instead make preparations
for extensive tests at Nürburgring, in an attempt to sort out the problems with their cars. Auto Union entered cars for their usual trio of Bernd Rosemeyer, Hans Stuck and Achille Varzi. The team was confident after
their double victory at the German Grand Prix a week earlier so the cars arrived to Livorno straight from Nürburgring after only routine maintenance.
Scuderia Ferrari entered four cars for the race, two V-12s for Tazio Nuvolari and Antonio Brivio and two 8-cylinder cars for René Dreyfus and Carlo Pintacuda, the latter now having returned from South America. It is
possible the areas round the radiators were colour coded and in that case Pintacuda's would probably have been white but this is pure speculation.
Clemente Biondetti was to race Ghiocomo di Rahm's Tipo B Alfa Romeo (#50010) under the Scuderia Maremmana banner and Pietro Ghersi a 6-cylinder Maserati for Scuderia Torino. The start list also included amateur driver
Giosuè Calamai from nearby Florence in an old Alfa Romeo 6C-1750.
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Race:
Despite the uncertain weather, it had rained all night and the rain continued to fall at intervals during the morning, a record crowd turned up for the 16th Coppa Ciano.
Enzo Ferrari has said that a racing driver gets a second slower when he gets married. At Coppa Ciano Rosemeyer was more than a second slower. Having been married for less than three weeks his wife was flying from
Berlin to Istanbul with her Messerschmitt Bf108 "Taifun" preparing herself for a record flight that she had planned for months and Rosemeyer was visibly stressed and worried. Auto Union team manager told Rosemeyer
not to do anything foolish but rather retire if he did not feel well.
Once the voiturette race had finished the cars were lined up for the main event with Nuvolari's Alfa in the middle of the first row with the Auto Unions of Rosemeyer and Varzi on each side.
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48
Varzi
Auto Union
3m22s?
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56
Nuvolari
Alfa Romeo
3m26s
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54
Rosemeyer
Auto Union
3m25s
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50
Brivio
Alfa Romeo
3m30s
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66
Stuck
Auto Union
3m28s
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46
Biondetti
Alfa Romeo
3m42s
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64
Pintacuda
Alfa Romeo
3m40s
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60
Dreyfus
Alfa Romeo
3m32s
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52
Calamai
Alfa Romeo
3m58s
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44
Ghersi
Maserati
3m51s
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(Note 2)
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At the start Rosemeyer led the field into the first hairpin but soon Varzi took over the lead. Varzi did the first lap in 3m34.8s. He was followed by Rosemeyer 4 seconds behind, Stuck, Brivio, Dreyfus, Pintacuda, Biondetti,
Ghersi and Calamai. To the terrible disappointment for the spectators
Nuvolari was out with a broken differential on his 12-cylinder Alfa Romeo only seconds after the start. Nuvolari run back to the pits and demanded a new car. The team was naturally hesitant to bring in Brivio but when
Nuvolari made it clear he wanted an 8-cylinder car instead of the V-12 Pintacuda was called in after two laps and Nuvolari took over, returning to the race some 40s behind the leader Varzi, who did the second lap in 3m24.6s.
was followed by Stuck
and Rosemeyer with Brivio already 10s behind.
On the third lap Stuck, going through the narrow and twisty Antignao town section of Livorno, hit a curb stone and damaged his car so much he had to retire.
The order after three laps was:
| 1. | Varzi (Auto Union) | 10m33.0s |
| 2. | Rosemeyer (Auto Union) | 10m47.8s |
| 3. | Brivio (Alfa Romeo) | 10m50.4s |
| 4. | Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) | 10m57.0s |
After four laps the race order was Varzi (14m03.6s) , Brivio, Dreyfus, Nuvolari (14m55.2s), Biondetti and Rosemeyer, who had made a pit stop. Rosemeyer had a much uninspired race and retired after 6 laps.
Rosemeyer admitted that he was so nervous that he could not race so Stuck took over the car. Varzi was doing 3m27s
laps, Brivio 3m29s and Nuvolari 3m30s.
After seven laps Varzi had opened up a 17 seconds gap to Brivio with Dreyfus third. But now the Italian spectators were cheering and jumping for joy as Nuvolari was driving one of his greatest races. The narrow
twisty sections were fitting the Mantuan and the 8-cylinder Alfa perfectly.
The order after 10 laps was:
| 1. | Varzi (Auto Union) | 35m03.6s |
| 2. | Brivio (Alfa Romeo) | 35m35.s |
| 3. | Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) | 35m44s |
| 4. | Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) | 35m48s |
Varzi did the 11 lap in 38m32.4s. Nuvolari was now close behind Dreyfus.
On the 12th lap Ghersi retired his Maserati with engine problems while Biondetti obstinately defended his fifth position against Stuck.
As Nuvolari caught Dreyfus, the French driver turned over to the right waving by his team mate. On the 14th lap Varzi was leading Brivio by 23 seconds but the Auto Union driver was in trouble with
the brakes. At half distance he situation was:
| 1. | Varzi (Auto Union) | 52m33.6s |
| 2. | Brivio (Alfa Romeo) | 52m47.6s |
| 3. | Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) | 52m58.6s |
| 4. | Dreyfus (Alfa Romeo) | 53m17s |
After 16 laps the gap from Varzi to Brivio was down to 12s and to Nuvolari 20s but by now Varzi's rear left wheel brake was locking up badly. The spectators were standing and cheering. On the 19th lap Varzi, Brivio
and Nuvolari appeared together. On the next lap Nuvolari passed both opponents to take the lead while Varzi came into the pit with brake failure. After a 1m10s stop Varzi returned to the race only to retire after
one or two more laps.
Brivio in the stronger V-12 car took the lead from Nuvolari on lap 21 opening up a 200m gap but on the next lap Nuvolari was back in the lead after having made 3m32.2s, the fastest lap of the race. Brivio got a sign
from the pit that the cars should remain in those positions. Nuvolari despite not having any more opposition kept on going very fast.
Scuderia Ferrari dominated the last third of the race. The "Flying Mantuan" led the Ferrari team home in 1-2-3 positions and took one of his greatest and most popular victories, once again humiliating the opposition.
Stuck finished fourth, 3 minutes behind the winner and Calamai finished fifth and last.
During the summer of 1936 Nuvolari probably raced better than ever in his career, beating the German teams four times within two months (Penya Rhin, Milan, Budapest and Coppa Ciano).
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Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Type | Engine | Laps | Time/Status | Diff |
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| 1. | 64 | C. Pintacuda / T. Nuvolari | Scuderia Ferrari | Alfa Romeo | 8C-35 | 3.8 | S-8 | 30 | 1h44m40.0s |
| 2. | 50 | Antonio Brivio | Scuderia Ferrari | Alfa Romeo | 12C-36 | 4.1 | V-12 | 30 | 1h44m57.8s | + 17.8s |
| 3. | 60 | René Dreyfus | Scuderia Ferrari | Alfa Romeo | 8C-35 | 3.8 | S-8 | 30 | 1h46m10.6s | + 1m30.4s |
| 4. | 54 | B. Rosemeyer /H. Stuck | Auto Union AG | Auto Union | C | 6.0 | V-16 | 30 | 1h47m44.2s | + 3m04.2s |
| 5. | 52 | Giosuè Calamai | G. Calamai | Alfa Romeo | 6C-1750 | 1.8 | S-6 | 26 | 1h46m11s |
| DNF | 48 | Achille Varzi | Auto Union AG | Auto Union | C | 6.0 | V-16 | 20 | brakes |
| DNF | 46 | Clemente Biondetti | Scuderia Maremmana | Alfa Romeo | Tipo B/P3 | 3.2 | S-8 | 12 | mechanical/engine? |
| DNF | 44 | Pietro Ghersi | Scuderia Torino | Maserati | 6C-34 | 3.7 | S-6 | 8 | engine |
| DNF | 66 | Hans Stuck | Auto Union AG | Auto Union | C | 6.0 | V-16 | 4 | mechanical |
| DNF | 56 | Tazio Nuvolari | Scuderia Ferrari | Alfa Romeo | 12C-36 | 4.1 | V-12 | 0 | differential |
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Fastest lap: Tazio Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) on lap 29 in 3m21.0s = 125.4 km/h (77.9 mph)
Winner's medium speed 120.4 km/h (74.8 mph)
Weather:
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In retrospect:
After this race Rosemeyer sent his famous telegram to his wife in Damascus:
"Nach der sechsten Runde aufgegeben. Komm bald. Du darfst mich nicht wieder allein lassen." (Gave up after six laps.
Come [home] soon. You must never leave me alone again.)
While Rosemeyer returned to Berlin with Lufthansa his mechanics did not have such comfort on their way to Auto Union factory in Zwickau via the Brenner Pass and Munich. Ludwig Sebastian:
"We took the ordinary train from Rome but were unable to find any seats and had to stand in the corridor."
Elly Beinhorn-Rosemeyer dedicated a whole 14 page chapter in her book Mein Mann der Rennfahrer on her flight clearly showing how important it was for her. Her idea was to fly over three continents starting from
Damascus and ending up back in Berlin in a single day. On 2-3 August she therefore flew from Berlin via Budapest and Istanbul to Damascus to get herself in the correct position. The 2 August flight had indeed
been an adventurous one as she had been forced to do instrument flying without radio in rain clouds over the Czech mountains. On Thursday 6 August she finally made the three continents flight starting at
Damascus in darkness and continuing to Cairo, Athens and Budapest to reach Berlin in the evening.
The headline "Boy, did those Italians cheer?" is a quote from Motor Sport September 1936.
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Footnote:
1. The 1936 race course was very similar to the 1937 one that had a length of 7.218 km (4.485 mi) but it seems there exact length of the 1936 course is unknown. Results speeds were given using a course length of 7 km, giving a
race length of 105 km for the voiturette race and 210 km for the Grand Prix, but 7.2 km should probably be closer to the correct value.
2. Grid from photographic evidence (David Venables - First Among Champions, page 118)
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Primary sources researched for this article:
Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung, Berlin
AUTOMOBIL-REVUE, Bern
Il Telegrafo, Livorno
La Stampa, Torino
L'AUTO, Paris
Motor Sport, London
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(by Leif Snellman in The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing)
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