1930 Grand Prix season
Maserati finally claimed victory in their first major races, and had four wins in Italy and the San Sebastián Grand Prix in Spain.
But by June, the French organisers had received not a single entry and were forced to postpone the Grand Prix and then open it up to Formula Libre.
Derisively called the “Junk Formula” by purists, the new regulations opened races up to modified stock-standard cars of up to 366 cu in (6-litres) with two seats.
Companies like Bugatti and Maserati weathered the economic disaster by selling the limited production of their current models to wealthy individuals.
A dozen cars were entered, headed by the Maserati works team (with Baconin Borzacchini in the twin-engine V4 and Luigi Arcangeli in a 2-litre Tipo 26B) and the Scuderia Materassi with their 1.5-litre supercharged Talbot 700s for Conte Gastone Brilli-Peri and Clemente Biondetti.
Once again the Bugatti works team ran the Type 35C with its supercharged 2-litre engine for their drivers Louis Chiron, William Grover-Williams and Guy Bouriat.
For the tight and narrow circuit, Maserati this time gave both drivers the Tipo 26B, with Arcangeli's bored out slightly to 2.1-litres to enter the next highest class.
[33] The rest of the field were privateer drivers: from Austria came Graf Arco-Zinneberg in his big 7-litre Mercedes-Benz, and Hans Stuck in a 3.6-litre Austro-Daimler tourer.
There were a raft of international Bugatti drivers including the Italian Goffredo Zehender, Chilean Juan Zanelli, Algerian Marcel Lehoux and Belgian Georges Bouriano, all driving the 2.3-litre Type 35B, while Philippe Étancelin and Swiss Hans Stuber ran the 35C.
Two other notable absentees were the Italian rivals Achille Varzi and Tazio Nuvolari, both choosing to practice for the upcoming Mille Miglia instead.
The young Count Arco-Zinneberg was the first to retire, on the second lap, when a stone fired up by another car smashed his goggles and making him crash coming out of the tunnel.
When a brief downpour swept the circuit, Bouriano crashed giving Varzi a comfortable win from Juan Zanelli with Enzo Ferrari third.
Bugatti relied on their proven Type 35B with the supercharged 2262cc engine for their full works team, including two-time winner Albert Divo, Chiron, “Williams” and Caberto Conelli.
Alfa Romeo had two P2 racers for Varzi and Campari and three new 6C-1750 sports cars, driven by Nuvolari, Pietro Ghersi and Aymo Maggi.
In its sole appearance, Officine Meccaniche had its uprated version of their 665 for team regulars Giuseppe Morandi and Ferdinando Minoia along with several privateers.
Alfa Romeo had stationed a number of refuelling points for their team so the mechanic grabbed a tank and poured in the petrol while Varzi raced on.
This time, Alfa Corse only ran the pair of P2s for Varzi and Nuvolari, while Campari and Tadini were hired by Ferrari to race their 6C 1750 sports cars.
Swapping the lead back and forth, Arcangeli made a brave pass on the outside of the last corner and pulled away to claim the first major race win for Maserati.
Dreyfus led Lehoux home by two minutes with Michel Doré the only other finisher, a quarter hour behind, before the crowds invaded the track.
To make an appearance at their auspicious home race, Belgian manufacturer Impéria-Excelsior adapted three sports models with the unusual unsupercharged sleeve-valve engine.
The French company Ariès had a single 3-litre for the 48-year old veteran Arthur Duray, and the Montier father and son had a pair of their modified Fords.
Following team orders, Bouriat came to a stop to give the win to Chiron, with Divo taking third and Duray finishing over ten minutes back in fourth.
[70] Again, in the absence of the Italian Grand Prix and with the track still being renovated, the Monza GP was held on a modified circuit that omitted the banking.
A personal hand-written reply from Benito Mussolini himself, stating “Your proposed action does not meet with my approval”, changed Ferrari's mind.
In the absence of any Italian drivers, the field still had the best of the French circuit: Étancelin, Lehoux, Zanelli and Count Stanisław Czaykowski led a dozen privateer 2-litre Bugattis.
Étancelin had deliberately set the gearing on his car to limit his top speed, to protect the engine and tyres, and took the race-win from Birkin, just ahead of Zanelli with Czaykowski a lap behind in fourth.
The first Masaryk Circuit (also known as the Czechoslovakian Grand Prix) was held at the newly set up 29 km track out from the west of the city of Brno.
[80][81] In sports car racing, despite the growing ascendance of Alfa Romeo, Bentley won its fifth Le Mans victory after seeing off Caracciola's Mercedes.
As well as those mentioned above, including the death of Conte Gastone Brilli-Peri at the start of the season, the Baroness Aniela d’Elern had been killed in the Algerian GP handicap race in May.
A month later, the English Grand Prix winner Sir Henry Segrave died in a water speed record attempt.
