1936 Grand Prix season
Strikes forced the Le Mans 24 Hours to be postponed, then cancelled, and when Spain erupted into civil war later in the year, racing ceased there.
Countries were experiencing embargoes, shortages and riots; in March Hitler sent German troops into reoccupy the Rhineland and in July Spain erupted into full-blown civil war.
[47][48] Despite its age, fitted with a modern supercharger, it was still very competitive – with not even the mighty Auto Union able to exceed the 100 bhp per litre barrier as the Delage did.
Rosemeyer was being built up as a German propaganda idol, and with him dating the famous aviator Elly Beinhorn, they were touted as an ideal Nazi couple.
Further drama ensued in the winter-testing at Monza: after the team was almost trapped going over the St Gotthard Pass, junior driver Karl Rudolf Heydel was driving Stuck's Auto Union when he lost control at the Curva del Violone.
[56][57] Scuderia Ferrari still had their trump card in Tazio Nuvolari, who had consistently shown he could wring a strong performance out of the Alfa Romeos to compete with the German teams.
With René Dreyfus testing the new Talbot sports-car in the first half of the season,[1][58] Marchese Antonio Brivio moved up to be the regular second driver, supported by Mario Tadini and Carlo Pintacuda.
Ferrari driver Antonio Brivio was in the Italian bobsled team, but it was Australian Freddie McEvoy, competing under the British flag, who won a bronze medal in the 4-man bobsleigh.
This still left a strong field of French privateers, along with Jean-Pierre Wimille in a works Bugatti and Welshman Charlie Martin who had recently bought an Alfa P3.
When Sommer broke his axle when he mounted the footpath trying to overtake a backmarker, it left Étancelin to take the win, easing off with Martin finishing just thirteen seconds behind.
Ferrari had four of the 8C-35 cars, for Nuvolari, Brivio, Farina and Tadini, while the Maserati-supported Scuderia Torino had the older 6C-34 for Siena and Ghersi, and a V8-RI for Trossi, whose own radial-special was entered, but did not practice as it had a broken supercharger.
One of the workers, while spreading sand to soak up the oil, accidentally threw some at Fagioli as he passed, who lost control and crashed his Mercedes at the chicane.
The rain returned in strength by lap 30 and the leading two put on a master class of wet-weather driving – Nuvolari doing four-wheel drift through the corners while Caracciola used his brilliant car-control to catch and then pass the Italian.
This left the Siamese driver a clear path to take his maiden victory, almost a lap ahead of Marcel Lehoux with ERAs sweeping the podium.
Varzi was humiliated at the after-race banquet when the Libyan governor, Marshall Balbo, proposed a toast to the "real winner", Hans Stuck (who verifies that in his autobiography as well).
When Chiron retired with a broken fuel pump, and Rosemeyer suffered another carburettor fire, it left Caracciola with a comfortable two-lap lead to coast to an easy victory over Pintacuda, Wimille and Sommer – the only other finishers.
The month previous, Dick Seaman and his 1927 Delage had won the Light Car Race on the Isle of Man ahead of a swarm of ERAs.
There were also two local entries in the 750cc class: Bobby Kohlrausch had a new MG R-Type while Walter Bäumer had an Austin 7 loaned from the factory after his strong showing the week before at the recent Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb (even beating Stuck and his Auto Union in the rain).
The Ferrari team-mates were clear favourites and when Pintacuda was allocated #12, in an act of sportsmanship he voluntarily swapped for #38 to start at the back of the grid alongside Marinoni.
The three Europeans were running 1-2-3 for most of the race, until with 8 laps to go, "Hellé-Nice" had to make a late pit-stop, dropping to 4th, behind leading Brazilian driver Manuel de Teffé and both driving Alfa Romeo Monzas.
It attracted the best French drivers, led by Wimille and Robert Benoist from the works Bugatti team, along with top privateers Sommer and Étancelin.
Owing to safety concerns with the powerful cars, the twisty, narrow mountain section was omitted for an abbreviated 7 km coastal course around the streets of Livorno.
When Nuvolari retired in the hills with a broken engine on lap 11, it left Auto Union to take a sweep of the podium, with Rosemeyer beating Delius and Varzi home by over six minutes.
Rosemeyer won, ahead of Varzi and Stuck, with only the Mercedes of Lang in 4th (co-driven by Faglioli) breaking up the Saxon procession[82][83] Later that evening, tempers between the two Germans were still high and an unseemly shouting match erupted in their hotel lobby.
This time the ERA team was far more competitive, with Fairfield taking pole position in practice and Earl Howe initially leading the field.
[82] The following weekend, at the Ards Circuit in Northern Ireland, Jack Chambers crashed into the crowd during the RAC Tourist Trophy sports car race.
[86] Two unusual occurrences happened during practice – Rosemeyer was invited by Alfa Romeo to test-drive their 12C-36, and his new wife, Elly Beinhorn, did a lap in the Auto Union (at a reasonable speed).
Their season having finished, and with the big cash prizes, it drew an entry from Scuderia Ferrari for Nuvolari, Brivio and Farina with 12C-36s and privateer Raymond Sommer had his Tipo B. Bugatti had a Type 59/50 for Wimille, Maserati V8RIs were entered by Étancelin and "Raph" while Fred McEvoy and Englishman Teddy Rayson had voiturettes.
These included 1934 Indianapolis winner Bill Cummings, veterans Russ Snowberger, Tony Gulotta and Shorty Cantlon, as well as future legends Wilbur Shaw, Mauri Rose and Ted Horn.
The worst ones, at São Paulo, Deauville and the Tourist Trophy, were when the cars vaulted into the crowds, always standing far too close to the high-speed action when race safety was still minimal for both participant and spectator.
