Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari was an Italian racing driver. He first raced motorcycles and then concentrated on sports cars and Grand Prix racing. Originally of Mantua, he was nicknamed Il Mantovano Volante and Nuvola ("Cloud"). His victories—72 major races, 150 in all—included 24 Grands Prix, five Coppa Cianos, two Mille Miglias, two Targa Florios, two RAC Tourist Trophies, a Le Mans 24-hour race, and a European Championship in Grand Prix racing. Ferdinand Porsche called him "the greatest driver of the past, the present, and the future".
Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola was a German racing driver. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship, an unsurpassed three times. He also won the European Hillclimbing Championship three times – twice in sports cars, and once in Grand Prix cars. Caracciola raced for Mercedes-Benz during their original dominating Silver Arrows period, named after the silver colour of the cars, and set speed records for the firm. He was affectionately dubbed Caratsch by the German public, and was known by the title of Regenmeister, or "Rainmaster", for his prowess in wet conditions.
Achille Varzi was an Italian Grand Prix driver. He was the winner of Formula 1's first recorded race.
Luigi Cristiano Fagioli, nicknamed "the Abruzzi robber", was an Italian motor racing driver. Having won his last race at 53 years old, Fagioli holds the record for the oldest Formula One driver to win a race. He is also the only Formula One Grand Prix winner born in the 19th century, and the only Grand Prix racing driver to have won a championship race in both the AIACR European Championship and the World Drivers' Championship.
Giuseppe Campari was an Italian opera singer and Grand Prix motor racing driver.
The Alfa Romeo 8C was a range of Alfa Romeo road, race and sports cars of the 1930s.
The 1936 Grand Prix season was the third year of the 750 kg Formula. The next iteration of the Mercedes-Benz did not prove successful and the team withdrew during the season to instead prepare for the next one. It therefore fell to the resurgent Auto Union team to dominate the racing. In particular, it was their young, new superstar, Bernd Rosemeyer, who mastered the tricky car and who showed superlative skill in wet conditions. Rosemeyer easily won this season's European Championship by winning three of the four Grands Prix.
The 1935 German Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at the Nürburgring on 28 July 1935.
Guillaume Laurent "Guy" Moll was a French racing driver.
The 1935 Grand Prix season was the second year of the new 750 kg Formula. The success of the previous year encouraged the AIACR to reinitiate the European Championship. It was composed of the seven national Grands Prix and was won by Rudolf Caracciola, driving for the Mercedes-Benz team. The team dominated the season winning five of those Grand Épreuves, as well as four of the other major races of the season. However, in one of the great motor-races in sporting history, Tazio Nuvolari in a Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo beat the combined numbers of the German teams in their home Grand Prix. The season also saw the arrival on the international stage of the bright young talent Bernd Rosemeyer in the Auto Union team.
The 1931 Grand Prix season was a watershed year, with the advent of the AIACR European Championship. After several years of Grand Prix racing in the doldrums with little technical development, 1931 saw new models come from all three main manufacturers: Bugatti, Maserati and Alfa Romeo.
The 1932 Grand Prix season marked the second year of the AIACR European Championship. It saw the debut of Alfa Romeo's sensational new Tipo B and with it, Tazio Nuvolari won the Championship driving for the Alfa Corse works team. The 40-year old Nuvolari won two of the three rounds and was second in the other. Still running to a Formula Libre rules for the cars, the regulations were revised to set the races to be between five and ten hours. However, all three national committees ran their races to the minimum time-limit.
The 1933 Grand Prix season was an intermediate year, as it would be the last season for the current AIACR regulations before a new weight-formula was introduced in 1934. As such, the European Championship was not held and the manufacturers held back on further developments of their existing models. Alfa Romeo, following an Italian government financial bailout and like Mercedes-Benz the previous year, had shut down its Alfa Corse works team. Scuderia Ferrari, their regular customer team took up the role of racing Alfa Romeos and a number of ex-works drivers moved across to join their ranks. They were not allowed, however, to buy the impressive Tipo B that had been so dominant in the previous season.
The 1934 Grand Prix season saw the advent of the new 750 kg Formula. In an effort to curb the danger of rising speeds, the AIACR imposed this upper weight limit that effectively outlawed the large capacity engines. The incumbent manufacturers Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Bugatti had been preparing their new models with varying success – the best of which was the Alfa Romeo Tipo B. However, it was the state-sponsored arrival of the two German teams, Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union, and their innovative and progressive cars that ignited a new, exciting era of motor racing.
Alfa Romeo Tipo A or Alfa Romeo Tipo A Monoposto was the first monoposto (single-seater) racing car, designed by Alfa Romeo. The car had two 6C 1750 straight-6 engines and gearboxes assembled side by side. Producing 230 bhp (172 kW), the car had top speed of 149 mph (240 km/h).
The 1929 Grand Prix season was another interim year, where most races were run to Formula Libre rules due to a lack of regulations from the AIACR that would be popular for race organisers and manufacturers. This blurred the line between racing cars and sports cars with both competing in the same races. Bugatti won the major international races, with their drivers Louis Chiron and "W Williams". The Italian Championship proved very competitive, attracting many top drivers. There it was Alfa Romeo, using their 4-year old P2 model that claimed more victories, than their main competition coming from Bugatti and Maserati.
The 1930 Grand Prix season continued the malaise that had taken over the sport. Although there was little technical advance more privateer teams were forming, getting some factory support. The AIACR continued to mandate its fuel-regulated Formula Libre rules. Across the Atlantic, the AAA abandoned the AIACR regulations. Their new regulations were derisively called the “Junk Formula” by purists, opening up to their own version of Formula Libre: with modified stock-standard cars of up to 366 cu in (6-litres) with two seats.
The 1933 French Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race which was run on 11 June 1933, in Montlhéry, France. Organized by the French Automobile Club, it was XXVII running of the Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France. The race, which was held over 40 laps, was won by the Italian driver Giuseppe Campari in a privately entered Maserati. It was to be Campari's final victory, as he was killed just three months later at Monza. Philippe Étancelin and George Eyston, both in privateer Alfa Romeos, finished in second and third, respectively.
The 1933 Belgian Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 9 July 1933. The 40-lap race was won by Tazio Nuvolari, of Scuderia Ferrari, driving a Maserati. Second and third were taken by the works Bugatti drivers Achille Varzi and René Dreyfus.
The 1935 French Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race which was held at Montlhéry, France on 23 June 1935. The race lasted 500 km and was won by Rudolf Caracciola driving a Mercedes-Benz.
