The Alfa Romeo Tipo B was the most successful single-seater
Grand Prix racing car of its time. Alfa Romeo built and raced it between 1932
and 1936. Initially as a factory race car for Alfa Romeo, then later under the
Scuderia Ferrari label after having taken over Alfa Romeos racing activities.
The car, designed by the legendary engineer Vittorio Jano, was based on the
equally legendary Alfa Romeo 8C models. The P3 was Alfa Romeos second
single-seater after the Tipo-A monoposto of 1931.
Product
Description
The Automobilclub von Deutschland hosted the 1932 Grand Prix
Germany on the 22.81 km-long North Loop of the Nürburgring; which was
considered the most difficult race circuit after the Targa Florio. Racecars
were divided into three groups. Group I consisted of the cars that were
contesting the European Championship without limitation of engine displacement
(unlimited class). They had to drive 25 laps for a total distance of 570.25 km.
Cars that did not have to drive 25 laps, did not qualify for overall victory or
the European Championship. Equipped with engines ranging from 800 cc up to 1500
cc, Group II cars had to drive 23 laps. The smaller cars of Group III with engines
ranging from 350 cc up to 800 cc had to drive 19 laps. There were no
limitations in terms of engine design, car weight, or fuel type.
Contestants came from Austria, Belgium, Britain,
Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
The first entry of Group I was placed by Rudolf Caracciola, 1931 winner with
Mercedes, who would start this year with Alfa Romeo. Due to the economic
recession, Daimler-Benz had withdrawn from racing. Among the prominent teams
that joined Group 1 was the Alfa Romeo works with a fearsome line-up of
Nuvolari, Caracciola, Borzacchini and Campari. Bugatti entered Chiron, Varzi
and Divo with Bouriat as reserve. The third works team was Maserati in Bologna,
which came with only one 3.0-liter car for Ruggeri.
Another Maserati entry was Count di Cerami’s entirely new
1.1-liter 4-cylinder monoposto with Ernesto Maserati as its driver. There were
quite a few independent entries, including Bugatti drivers, such as Dreyfus and
Lehoux from France, Longueville from Belgium, Hartmann from Hungary and so on.
During practice prior to the race, most drivers observed
that tires would last about seven to nine laps in the hot weather of the
Nürburgring. This would become a big problem unless the weather cooled down for
the race day. People like Ettore Bugatti, however, had a different concern.
Aware that the P3 monoposti were the quickest in practice and that Alfa Romeo
had been victorious in nearly all major events that year, they could not but
wonder which of the three Alfa drivers had the best chance of being the victor
this time. A native of Germany and a triple winner with Mercedes-Benz,
Caracciola was at home with the Nürburgring circuit and appeared to have the
best odds to be a favored hero except that the daredevil Nuvolari could ignore
team orders and pose a threat to him.
July 17 was a Sunday that broke with a foggy, cold, and
windy morning, but it did not rain. A total of 31 cars assembled on the
starting grid in numerical order. Nine of the sixteen Group 1 entries showed up
and lined up in the front, because they were both more important and presumably
faster.
Upon the start-off, Caracciola’s (#2) immediately went into
the lead, followed by Nuvolari (#10), Borzacchini (#12), and Chiron, Dreyfus,
and Lehoux – a gathering of three Alfa monoposti and three Bugattis at the very
front. Caracciola finished the first lap seven seconds ahead of Nuvolari and
continued to maintain an early advantage ahead of his teammates. On lap four
Caracciola was drawing further away from Nuvolari, and the gap widened to 54
seconds after five laps.
Caracciola had been in the lead since the beginning, and on
lap seven, he started to ease up a little, probably by 20 seconds. This was
enough for Nuvolari to catch up. He was faster than the German on lap eight
with a time of 11m10s, gaining on Caracciola visibly on lap nine, and drove his
fastest lap on lap ten in 10m49.8s. Caracciola was quite surprised to be
overtaken by Nuvolari, who arrived at the grandstand ahead of him and, then,
made a pit stop for fuel, oil, water, and tires. The stop cost him 2m40s, and
Count Lurani described it as a deliberate delay, “… the directors of Alfa who
wanted to avoid internal strife likely to prejudice the final results of the
race, arranged matters to delay the little man unduly.”
Nuvolari was briefly in first place after ten laps.
Caracciola, however, managed to regain the lead after having talked with
Giovannini, the team manager during his pit stop, which took 1m35s. W.F.
Bradley reported in The Autocar: “From this time on there was no more
competition, and with the exception of a stop of 20 seconds on the part of
Nuvolari to verify his oil level, the three Alfa Romeos went through without
interruption and without at any time being seriously threatened by their
rivals.
The final result after 25 laps put Alfa Romeo in the first
three places, with Caracciola as popular and deserving victor, followed by
Nuvolari and then Borzacchini. They all finished the race under five hours
despite the international five-hour rule. Caracciola had won the 1931 German
Grand Prix with an average speed of 67.3 mph on the Nordschleife. This time, in
the face of Nuvolari’s challenge, Caracciola had to drive faster than was
necessary to win the victory, so his resultant average was a new record of 74.2
mph, which enabled him to cross the finish line in 4h47m22.8s.
With this triple win, Alfa Romeo was victorious in the
European Championship of Makes while Nuvolari became European Champion of
Drivers.
