1938 Donington Grand Prix

The 1938 Donington Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held on 22 October 1938 over 80 laps of the Donington Park circuit. The race was won by Tazio Nuvolari driving an Auto Union.[3][4]

1938 Donington Grand Prix
Race details
Date 22 October 1938
Official name Fourth International Donington Grand Prix
Location Donington Park
Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.029 km (3.125 miles)
Distance 80 laps, 402.3 km (250.0 miles)
Weather Sunny, dry.[1]
Attendance 61,000[2]
Pole position
Driver Mercedes-Benz
Time 2:11.0
Fastest lap
Driver Italy Tazio Nuvolari Auto Union
Time 2:14.4
Podium
First Auto Union
Second Mercedes-Benz
Third Mercedes-Benz

The race was organised by the Derby & District Motor Club and not by the Royal Automobile Club, and so is not generally accorded the title "British Grand Prix", notwithstanding that the race was run to the then-current international formula[5] and attracted entries from the top teams, and that there were no other Grand Prix races organised that year in Great Britain.

The race was originally scheduled for the 1st of October,[6] with the German Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union teams arriving a few weeks early to prepare, but due to the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, war seemed imminent, so the Germans made to leave, and the French entries seemed unlikely, so the decision was made to cancel the race. With the diplomatic crisis resolved by the Munich Agreement, the race was hastily rescheduled for the 22nd of October.[3]

Report

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Nuvolari led off the start line, gradually building up a lead over the other German cars, with Müller, Brauchitsch, Seaman, Lang, Bäumer, Hasse and Kautz trailing Nuvolari for the first 3 laps or so. Then, on lap 4, Kautz crashed his Auto Union at Melbourne corner after his throttle jammed open, putting him out of the race. Villoresi, who was fastest of the non-German cars in practice, had made a poor start, but was now charging, reaching fifth place by lap 18, but would retire shortly after.[3]

On lap 26, Nuvolari made a pitstop for new plugs, dropping him to fourth place, with Müller now leading Seaman and Lang. A few laps later, Robin Hanson's Alta had an engine failure, gushing oil all over the circuit near Hairpin Bend. Nuvolari nearly rolled his car, but recovered, while Brauchitsch spun twice, and Hasse suffered a race ending crash. Seaman also spun, losing a considerable amount of time being pushed away by marshals. The order then was Müller leading from Lang, Nuvolari, Brauchitsch and Bäumer.[3]

With the race approaching half distance, the leaders started to make their fuel stops, first with Lang, and last to pit was Nuvolari, who also changed all four wheels. Just one lap after his pitstop, Bäumer's Mercedes approached Melbourne corner very slowly, and as he turned towards the pits, it became clear his engine was on fire, so he jumped clear as his car was engulfed. The pitstops and other incidents had left the top three as Lang leading from Müller and Nuvolari, who was charging. On lap 60 Nuvolari was past Müller and chasing down Lang. The gap dropped from 12 seconds on lap 63 to 10 seconds on lap 64, 6 seconds on lap 65, and 3 seconds on lap 66. Then finally Nuvolari was into first place on lap 67, passing Lang, likely affected by a shattered aero-screen, on the Starkey Straight. Nuvolari's lead continued to increase until the end of the race, and Seaman was able to overtake Müller for third place.[3]

Classification

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Practice/Starting Grid

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 7   Hermann Lang Mercedes-Benz 2m11.0s
2 4   Tazio Nuvolari Auto Union 2m11.2s +0.2s
3 6   Manfred von Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 2m11.4s +0.4s
4 8   Richard Seaman Mercedes-Benz 2m12.2s +1.2s
5 1   Hermann Müller Auto Union 2m12.6s +1.6s
6 5   Walter Bäumer Mercedes-Benz 2m13.8s +2.8s
7 14   Rudolf Hasse Auto Union 2m15.4 +4.4s
8 3   Christian Kautz Auto Union 2m18.6s +7.6s
9 11   Luigi Villoresi Maserati 2m21.0 +10.0s
10 19   Arthur Dobson ERA 2m24.6s +13.6s
11 9   René Dreyfus Delahaye 2m25.4s +14.4s
12 15   L.F. Connell ERA 2m27.2s +16.2s
13 18   W.E. Cotton ERA 2m28.6s +17.6s
14 17   Humphrey Cuddon-Fletcher MG 2m29.8s +18.6s
15 12   Percy Maclure Riley 2m30.4s +19.4s
16 14   Robin Hanson Alta 2m32.2s +21.2s
17 10   "Raph" Delahaye 2m36.4s +25.4s
Source:[3][4]


Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid
1 4   Tazio Nuvolari Auto Union 80 3h06m22s 2
2 7   Hermann Lang Mercedes-Benz 80 +1m38s 1
3 8   Richard Seaman Mercedes-Benz 79 +1 Lap 4
4 1   Hermann Müller Auto Union 79 +1 Lap 5
5 6   Manfred von Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 79 +1 Lap 3
6 19   Arthur Dobson ERA 74 +6 Laps 10
7 18   W.E. Cotton
  W.E. Wilkinson
ERA 74 +6 Laps 13
8 15   L.F. Connell
  P.R. Monkhouse
ERA 74 +6 Laps 12
DNF 5   Walter Bäumer Mercedes-Benz 43 Engine Fire 6
DNF 14   Rudolf Hasse Auto Union 29 Accident 7
DNF 14   Robin Hanson Alta 25 Engine 16
DNF 9   René Dreyfus Delahaye 23 Oil Pressure 11
DNF 11   Luigi Villoresi Maserati 18 Engine 9
DNF 17   Humphrey Cuddon-Fletcher MG 17 Brakes 14
DNF 12   Percy Maclure Riley 12 Drive shaft 15
DNF 10   "Raph" Delahaye 10 Oil pressure 17
DNF 3   Christian Kautz Auto Union 2 Accident 8
Sources:[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ "Motoring Commentary". The Bystander. 2 November 1938. Retrieved 14 July 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ "A Bright Future for 1,500 c.c Racing?". Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. 4 November 1938. Retrieved 14 July 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Nye, Doug (1977). The British Grand Prix. pp. 29–31. ISBN 0713432837.
  4. ^ a b c Snellman, Leif. "IV DONINGTON GRAND PRIX". THE GOLDEN ERA OF GRAND PRIX RACING. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  5. ^ Official Programme, The Fourth International Donington Grand Prix, Donington Park Road Circuit, Saturday October 22nd, 1938, pp9-11 “All about the race”
  6. ^ "Donington Grand Prix". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 5 October 1938. Retrieved 14 July 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.


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