1923 Grand Prix season

The 1923 Grand Prix season was part of a watershed year for motor racing that saw significant advances in motor-racing engineering, design and events.

Fiat's chief designer, Guido Fornaca, developed the 805, the first supercharged car to win a Grand Prix.

With the United States also adopting the 2-litre formula, Harry Miller could use the smaller engine size to design the first single-seater race-car, ideally suited to American oval racing.

The inaugural Spanish Grand Prix for racing cars was held at a newly built oval at Sitges, near Barcelona.

Alfa Romeo got a 1-2 result at the Targa Florio with Ugo Sivocci winning after Antonio Ascari's car stuttered almost within sight of the finish line.

Though extremely fast, the Fiats suffered on the stony roads of the Tours course and the superchargers ingested too much dust, wrecking the engines.

[1] The veteran Alessandro Cagno, winner of the first Targa Florio in 1906, won the Gran Premio della Vetturette at Monza in his last victory in a career spanning the history of motor-racing to date.

[8] The pre-war ban on forced induction had not been re-applied when racing resumed and several manufacturers were now working on the loophole for more power.

Harry Miller saw an opportunity with the smaller engine and passenger restrictions lifted to build a lightweight single-seater that was a pencil-thin racer tailor-made for the high-speed boardwalk ovals.

Its distinctive aerodynamic shape was modelled on an aeroplane wing, earning it the nickname le tank de tours.

The car's very short wheelbase and long 8-cylinder engine meant a regular gearbox could not be fitted so Bugatti used a 3-speed unit.

Finally, with no firewall between the engine and the crew, meant it was very cramped, hot and exhausting with the drivers complaining of poor visibility.

[15][16] Delage went down a completely different track with a standard chassis but fitted with a twin-cam V12 engine designed by Charles Planchon.

The winner of the last two times, the Conte Giulio Masetti was invited to join the official Alfa Corse works team.

[7][20][21] From the great publicity across Italy, and in celebration of the 1–2 victory, Alfa Romeo named the car the “RL Targa Florio”.

[22] Jimmy Murphy's victory the previous year in the Indianapolis 500 had attracted a lot of interest in Harry Miller's engines.

[23][24] The two other Mercedes initially provided a close contest but engine issues dropped Werner and Sailer back to third and fourth by halfway and they eventually finished down the field.

It was at a cost, as his hands were badly injured, firstly by blisters from his driving gloves shrinking and then scalded from the glue out of the steering wheel.

[17] Milton, Murphy, Hearn and the Miller drivers won all the races in the 8-race AAA season, blocking out Duesenberg.

[31] The French Grand Prix was moved again, this year to Tours, on a 23 km triangular track on public roads just northwest of the city.

From Italy, Fiat had their supercharged Type 805 for works drivers Pietro Bordino, Enrico Giaccone and Carlo Salomano.

Dropping to sixth he then had to stop again as his mechanic had been knocked unconscious by stones when putting his head out to pull the rope.

[33] It was Britain's greatest motoring triumph to date with (American-born[13]) Segrave also the first British driver to win a Grand Prix.

[16] By the time of the Italian Grand Prix, the Fiats had been redesigned with a new Roots-type supercharger,[35][9] and on the smooth paved circuit would not have the same engine issues as had afflicted them in France.

Another notable arrival was the Benz team with three of their streamlined Tropfenwagen cars, driven by Minoia, Franz Horner and Willy Walb.

Alfa driver Ugo Sivocci was killed when he hit a tree during a wet practice, and the rest of the team was withdrawn and the P1 was never raced.

This marked the first Grand Prix win for a supercharged car,[35][41] and Salomano's new lap record of 3:46.4 (159.08 km/h) eclipsed Bordino's one of 3:55 (146.9 km/h) from the year before.

Jimmy Murphy and Martin de Álzaga were going to race Millers but in the end only Zborowski arrived, finishing second albeit with the fastest lap.

Just opened by King Alfonso, who was a keen racing enthusiast himself, the newly built oval was the first closed circuit in Spain.

In the aftermath of Sivocci's death, the Alfa Romeo team adopted his personal emblem, the green four-leaf clover, on their cars.