NUVOLARI IN FORM AT BIELLA

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NUVOLARI IN FORM AT BIELLA

THE FERRARI CHIEF WINS, BUT GUISEPPE FARINA STEALS HIS THUNDER. VARZI FAILS TO START.

THE second Circuit of I3iella was scheduled to take place on June 16th, thereby clashing with the Eifelrennen on the Nurburg Ring. By a stroke of good fortune, in the form of the cancellation of the Prix Reale di Roma, the organisers were able to change the date to June 9th. This enabled them to secure the entries of such drivers as Nuvolari, Chiron, Trossi, Varzi, and gave the event quite a different aspect. Negotiations were started to persuade Fagioli to take part on a Mercedes-Benz, but the proximity of the French G.P. was put forward by the German concern as a reason for refusing the invitation.

A driver who was missed by the worthy inhabitants of Biella was Antonio Brivio, a native of the town. Brivio was not fully recovered from his serious accident in the Tripoli G.P. In fact, at that time he had just arrived at the Putti Clinic, Bologna, for treatment which would take some time to complete.

The Biella circuit is of the round-thehouses type, and measures a bare z km. zoo. The two heats were run over 25 laps, and the final over 5o.

Of the 16 drivers selected to take part in the race, the following eight were lined up for the first heat : Nuvolari, Trossi, and Mlle. 1-Idle-Nice (Alfa-Romeos), Farina, Dusio, Ghersi, Soffietti and Castelbarco (Maseratis). The result was an easy victory for Nuvolari, who led Trossi, both of them on 3.2-litre Alfa-Romeos, from start to finish. Trossi, who won the race last year, did his best to catch Nuvolari, and actually broke the lap record with a time of im. 27.8secs., as against the previous best of irn. 29.8secs. Young Farina performed minor miracles by keeping his old 2.5 Maserati within reach of the leaders. The only others to give the crowd a thrill were Ghersi and Dusio. In the end Ghersi’s brakes passed out, and he lost his place in the final by finishing fifth. Soffieti retired on the 9th lap.

RESULT OF HEAT 1.

25 laps: 66 kilometers.

1. Nuvolari (Alfa-Romeo), 37 in. 20 secs. 88.392 k.p.h.

2. Trossi (Alfa-Romeo), 37 in. 41.4 secs.

3. Farina (Maserati), 38 in. 17 secs.

4. Dusio (Maserati), 38 in. 68.8 secs.

5. Ghersi (Maserati), 39 m. 12.4 secs.

6. Mlle. Flellii-Nice (Alfa-Romeo), 38 in. 16.4 secs. (23 laps).

Also Ran: Soffietti (Maserati), 9 laps. Fastest lap: Trossi (Alfa-Romeo), 1 in. 29.8 secs. The second heat was rather a flop, for the crowd expected to see a thrilling duel between Chiron (Alfa-Romeo) and Varzi (Maserati) and were disappointed to see the Maserati in bad form. Chiron got off the mark like a stag, expecting Varzi to chase him round the circuit, but it was Tadini on another Ferrari Alfa who was second throughout the race. Varzi finished third, but elected not to run in the final, even though he had qualified. His fastest lap was trn. 32secs., as against Trossi’s

recoru im. 27.8secs., while Nuvolari had averaged tm. 29secs. for every lap of the first heat.

RESULT OF HEAT 2.

25 laps: 55 kilometres.

1. Chiron (Alfa-Romeo), 38 in. 1.4 secs.

86.788 k.p.h.

2. Tadini (Alfa-Romeo), 38 in. 19.4 sees.

3. Varzi (Maserati), 39 in. 23 secs.

4. Minozzi (Alfa-Romeo), 38 m. 32.6 secs. (24 laps).

Also Ran: Pages (Alfa-Romeo), 18 laps. Fastest lap: Chiron (Alfa-Romeo), 1 in. 29.2 secs.

In between the heats and the final a special voiturette race was staged, and proved to be the most luridly exciting event of the day. All the cars, by the way, were small Maseratis. Siena led at the start, from Minozzi and Rovere, on the car with which he raced at Brooklands in the International Trophy. On the 15th lap Rovere passed Minozzi, and then became involved in a teriffic scrap with Siena. Egged on by the frantic encouragements of the excitable spectators, each tried to outdo the other in the delicate matter of cut-out points. The

crowd by shooting ahead and leading the whole way round the first lap. But Nuvolari got him as they roared past the grand stands.

Farina was handling his 4-cyl. 2.5-litre Maserati with consummate skill, and stuck to his second place for four laps. Then Chiron passed him, and on the next lap. “Frossi.

Trossi overhauled Chiron, and went after Nuvolari, who was lapping at a per-. fectly steady im. 29secs., or 90 k.p.h. On the toth lap the two Alfas were together. Then Trossi put in a meteoric lap in Am. 26.8secs., and another in im. 25.6secs., succeeding in passing Nuvolari on the 13th lap.

On the 21St lap Dusio was lapped by Nuvolari, who was now in complete mastery of the race. Lapping with remarkable. consistency, which finally removes any doubt as to the form of the Mantuan ace,.

inevitable happened, and at the corner before the grand stands they both crashed into the sandbags with great spirit. Both of them restarted, but Siena dropped out soon after, owing to his car being damaged. Rovere continued his hairraising ride, and on the 22nd lap crashed once more on the very same corner, this time for good. He was consoled by having made the fastest lap. The more sedate Lurani now led the field, and finally got home 14.6secs. ahead

of Castelbarco.

Result of 1,500 c.c. Race. 23 600.

23 laps: 50 km. 600.

1. Lurani (Maserati), 39 m. 11.6 secs.

2. Castelbarco (Maserati), 39m. 23.2 secs. Also Ran: Siena (Maserati), 13 laps; Revere (Maserati), 20 laps.

Fastest lap: Revere (Maserati), 1 in. 33.2 secs. The Duc di Spoleto, president of the R.A.C.I., gave the starting signal in the final. The six drivers were Nuvolari, Trossi, Farina, Chiron, Tadini and Dusio. Guiseppe Farina delighted the

Tazio came home first to the accompaniment of terrific applause. Chiron was lying second, ahead of Tadini and Farina. Tadini saw the flag and thought the race was over. He pulled’ up, and lost a whole lap before he realised his mistake. The result was that Farina finished third, 14 seconds behind Chiron, with Dusio fourth and the unfortunate Tadini last. Farina, incidentally, finished

in the same position in the Biella race last year.

RESULT OF FINAL. 60 laps: 110 kilometres.

60 110 kilometres.

1. T. Nuvolari (Alfa-Romeo 3,200), 1 h.

14 in. 50.4 secs. 88.188 k.p.h.

2. L. Chiron (Alfa-Romeo 3,200), 1 It.

15 m. 23.6 secs.

3. G. Farina (Maserati 2,500), 1 h. 15 m, 37 secs.

4. P. Dusio (Maserati 3,000), 1 h. 16 m. 35 secs (48 laps).

5. M. Tadini (Alfa-Romeo 3,200), 1 h. 15 nt. 29 secs. (47 laps).

Also ran: Trossi (Alfa-Romeo), 24 laps. Fastest Lap: Trossi (Alfa-Romeo 3,200),. 1 in. 25.6 secs. 98.523 k.p.h. New record.