Motorsport Authorities in the 30s

[Michael M]

In another topic of this forum the questions came up for the governing motor sport body in the thirties on international resp. European level. Who fixed the rules and the formulas (750 kg 1934-37, 3 litres 1938-39), and who decides which Grand Prix counts for the championship?
In this connection, was the 1939 Tripolis GP (the famous 1.5 ltr voiturette race which was won by the Mercedes W165) part of that year's championship or not?

[Michael M]

Didn't thought is was that difficult, no replies at all. So, I surfed I bit through the net and found out the following.

Governing body was the AIACR (Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus). They took over the GP responsibity from the ACF (Automobile Club de France) somewhere in the early 20s, and they organized the European Drivers' Championship. It seems to be the predecessor of today's FIA, although FIA itself claims to be founded already 1904. So still some questions open.

Interesting thing is that for a win you got 1 point, non-starters got 8! So winner was the driver with least number of points.

The GP Tripoli never counted for the championship, so announcing the 1939 race for voiturettes only was fully up to the organizers, and did not offence against any rules.
Surprisingly only 4 or 5 GPs per season counted for the European Championship which was introduced in 1935, although number of GPs in total was much more.
1935: B, D, CH, I, E
1936: MC, D, CH, I
1937: B, D, MC, CH, I
1938: F, D, CH, I
1939: B, F, D, CH
France accept the AIACR rules only from 1938 on, so exclusion was clear, but about Great Britain? Why Spain only in 1935? Spa had no EC status in 1936 and 1938, why? Monaco counted only in 1936 and 1937.
So also here still a lot of questions are still open, i.e. what had been the criteria for an EC race, and who finally decides this?

Most of the information has been extracted from Leif Snelman's absoluteley perfect site, which I found during surfing today. http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/main.htm



[This message has been edited by Michael M (edited 04 February 2000).]

[jarama]

The Spanish Grand Prix was elligible only in 1935 due to the outbreak of the spanish civil war (1936-1939).

[jarama]

About Monaco, nor in 1938 neither in 1939 the race was held, though I don't know the reason.

[Michael M]

Jarama, of course, the Spanish civil war. In Belgium the 1936 GP was cancelled because of strikes an political unrest, what happened there in 1938 is still unclear.
Some sources say that the Monaco GP was not held due to WWII, but as this started only in September 1939 such reason could not be correct. And the question of the British GP which never counted for the EC is also still open.

[Peter Mallett]

I may be wrong here but I think Bernd Rosemeyer died on the Jabbeke autoroute in 1938 and the Belgian race was suspended due to that event.

[Michael M]

Hello Peter, it was not at Jabbeke, but in Germany on the Autobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstadt (today the A5). If you ever travel this route towards Basel, if you pass Frankfurt Airport, after 3-5 miles the 1st or 2nd rest area, a few meters inside the wood, there you still can see the memorial.

Although of course this accident was a tragedy, even not the German GP was cancelled, so cannot believe it has something to do with the Belgian GP.

Originally posted by jarama
About Monaco, nor in 1938 neither in 1939 the race was held, though I don't know the reason.

In 1938 and 1939 financial reasons were claimed. In 1939 there probably had also been political reasons with the ever-present thread from Nazi-Germany looming over Europe after they had just swallowed Czechoslovakia and Austria. The military build-up in Germany created great tension in Europe.

The 1939 event had been planned for 16. April and was cancelled by the ACM on 24 February 1939 because "with consideration of the present situation (should probably mean: political) and the uncertainty regarding the expected participation." Without question, there would have been Mercedes-Benz and Auto-Union entries with the Italian participation not very sure because of the then present situation. They would have probably been absent and in this case the usually large Italian crowd would not have been there either. It seems that the reason was primarily of political nature.

Originally posted by Michael M
.....today's FIA, although FIA itself claims to be founded already 1904. So still some questions open......

Michael,
Don't be confused by the FIA historian presenting a big distortion here. It is bull. FIA was founded after WW II.