Le Bardo Street Circuit (1928-'29) Carthage Street Circuit(1931-'37) Circuit du Belvedere (1955) | |
Race information | |
---|---|
Number of times held | 9 |
First held | 1928 |
Last held | 1955 |
Most wins (drivers) | Achille Varzi (3) |
Most wins (constructors) | Bugatti (3) |
Last race (1955) | |
Pole position | |
Podium | |
Fastest lap | |
|
The Tunis Grand Prix or Grand Prix de Tunis was a motor race held in the 1920s and 30s in Tunis, the capital of the African colony of the French protectorate of Tunisia.
A race was held originally as an open-wheel motor race on a street circuit at Le Bardo, west of Tunis. The first race was held on 3 June 1928, when Algerian-based driver Marcel Lehoux won the 200-mile race in his Bugatti T35C by a large margin over Marcel Joly and Guy Cloitre in a field mainly of Bugattis and Amilcars. [1] November the following year saw Italian driver Gastone Brilli-Peri win in a works Alfa Romeo P2 after the early retirements of team mates Achille Varzi and Baconin Borzacchini. [2]
After a year off, the race returned in 1931 at a new venue, a much larger triangular highway circuit laid out between the then separate cities of Tunis and Carthage. [3] The 1931 season-opening race was much more serious in its entry with eleven European grand prix and 16 1.5-litre cars racing with the smaller motor cycle-powered cars having disappeared. Achille Varzi in a back-door works Bugatti T51 won on the debut of the new car and Varzi's first race in a Bugatti, ahead of Luigi Fagioli in a works Maserati 26M and Marcel Lehoux in a (Bugatti). Varzi won the following year against Lehoux and Philippe Etancelin (Alfa Romeo). 1933 saw the Alfa Romeos sweep Bugatti aside with the Scuderia Ferrari entries of Tazio Nuvolari and Baconin Borzacchini finishing one-two ahead of the Maserati of Goffredo Zehender.
The 1934 race was cancelled and when racing returned in 1935, Varzi was back with his new team, Auto Union. The only German car in the field dominated the race and Varzi's A Type finished four minutes clear of Jean-Pierre Wimille's Bugatti T59 and two laps ahead of Philippe Etancelin's Maserati 6C. The increasing dominance of German cars and the reduced status of races outside of the European championship saw entries plummet for 1936 with just eleven cars starting. Varzi had an enormous accident in his Auto Union on a terrible day for the team which saw another of its C Types destroyed by fire. Rudolf Caracciola won in his Mercedes-Benz W25 ahead of Carlo Pintacuda's Alfa Romeo 8C and Jean-Pierre Wimille (Bugatti T59).
The 1937 race became a sportscar event held over three heats which was won by Raymond Sommer in a Talbot T-150C ahead of a fleet Delahaye 135s led by René Dreyfus and Laury Schell.
The race was not held again until 1955, again as a sports car race with a small 14-car entry in a public park as the Circuito du Belvedere. The race, held over three heats, saw a pair of Ferrari 750 Monzas take home the silverware with Luigi Piotti and Luigi Bordonaro driving with the rest of the placings filled with 2.0-litre cars. [4]
From 2000 to 2008, a historic revival event was organised in the Circuito du Belvedere parkland circuit. [5]
Another event called the Tunisian Grand Prix was held in 1943. This very informal event was organised by allied soldiers after the fall of Tunisia. To give lie to German claims they had left nothing usable behind in Tunisia, allied personnel utilised vehicles abandoned by the Germans to stage a motor race around an airfield. Australian officer Jack Bartle won the race, driving a Citroën. [6]
Results sourced from: [7]
Year | Driver | Constructor | Location | Report |
---|---|---|---|---|
1928 | Marcel Lehoux | Bugatti | Bardo street circuit | Report |
1929 | Gastone Brilli-Peri | Alfa Romeo | Bardo street circuit | Report |
1930 | Not held | |||
1931 | Achille Varzi | Bugatti | Carthage Street Circuit | Report |
1932 | Achille Varzi | Bugatti | Carthage Street Circuit | Report |
1933 | Tazio Nuvolari | Alfa Romeo | Carthage Street Circuit | Report |
1934 | Not held | |||
1935 | Achille Varzi | Auto Union | Carthage Street Circuit | Report |
1936 | Rudolf Caracciola | Mercedes-Benz | Carthage Street Circuit | Report |
1937 | Raymond Sommer | Talbot | Carthage Street Circuit | Report |
1938 –54 | Not held | |||
1955 | Luigi Piotti | Ferrari | Circuito du Belvedere | Report |
Jean-Pierre Wimille was a French racing driver and a member of the French Resistance during World War II. He was a two-time victor of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, winning in 1937 and 1939. He is generally regarded as one of the best French drivers of his era.
The Grand Prix du Comminges was an automobile race held in France.
Philippe Jean Armand Étancelin was a French racing driver, and a winner of the 1934 24 Hours of Le Mans. He competed primarily on the Grand Prix circuit, and was an early Formula One driver.
Baconin Borzacchini was an Italian racing driver who often competed under the nom de courseMario Umberto Borzacchini.
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.
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.
The 1928 Grand Prix season saw the Monegasque driver Louis Chiron, and his Bugatti, take seven Grand Prix victories.
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.
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