1937 Grand Prix season

The 1937 Grand Prix season was the fifth AIACR European Championship season. The championship was won by Rudolf Caracciola, driving for the Mercedes-Benz team. Caracciola won three of the five events that counted towards the championship.

1937 AIACR European Championship
European Champion
Rudolf Caracciola
Previous: 1936 Next: 1938
1937 Grand Prix season
Previous: 1936 Next: 1938

This season saw the most powerful Grand Prix cars so far, Mercedes-Benz supercharged 5.6L inline-8 engines boasting nearly 650 bhp. Considering that an average saloon car produced around 25 bhp at the time, the performance of these single-seaters was extremely high compared with any other season in modern motorsport; so much so that for the first time ever, regulations were put in force for the following year to limit the engines' size capacity to reduce their power and to add weight to the cars to make them slower. Mercedes-Benz's development of their technology was thanks almost entirely to the state-subsidies that they were receiving from the Nazi German government at the time. The amount of power the supercharged Mercedes-Benz W125's had was not equaled in racing cars until American Can-Am cars in the late 1960s, and European Grand Prix cars did not have this kind of power again until the early 1980s (a span of nearly 45 years), when Grand Prix racing had long since become Formula One.

Season review

European Championship Grands Prix

Rd Date Name Circuit Winning drivers Winning constructor Report
1 11 July Belgian Grand Prix Spa-Francorchamps Rudolf Hasse Auto Union Report
2 25 July German Grand Prix Nürburgring Rudolf Caracciola Mercedes-Benz Report
3 8 August Monaco Grand Prix Monaco Manfred von Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz Report
4 22 August Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten Rudolf Caracciola Mercedes-Benz Report
5 12 September Italian Grand Prix Livorno Rudolf Caracciola Mercedes-Benz Report

Non-championship Grands Prix

Date Name Circuit Winning driver Winning constructor Report
14 February Flatenloppet Flaten, Stockholm Eugen Bjørnstad Alfa Romeo Report
18 April Valentino Grand Prix Turin Antonio Brivio Alfa Romeo Report
25 April Naples Grand Prix Posillipo Giuseppe Farina Alfa Romeo Report
1 May Campbell Trophy Brooklands Prince Bira Maserati Report
9 May Tripoli Grand Prix Mellaha Hermann Lang Mercedes-Benz Report
9 May Eläintarhan ajot Eläintarharata Hans Rüesch Alfa Romeo Report
16 May Grand Prix des Frontières Chimay Hans Rüesch Alfa Romeo Report
30 May Avusrennen AVUS Hermann Lang Mercedes-Benz Report
30 May Superba Circuit Genoa Carlo Felice Trossi Alfa Romeo Report
30 May Bucharest Grand Prix Bucharest Hans Rüesch Alfa Romeo Report
6 June Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix Gávea Carlo Maria Pintacuda Alfa Romeo Report
13 June Eifelrennen Nürburgring Bernd Rosemeyer Auto Union Report
20 June Milan Grand Prix Milan Tazio Nuvolari Alfa Romeo Report
5 July Vanderbilt Cup Roosevelt Raceway Bernd Rosemeyer Auto Union Report
25 July San Remo Grand Prix San Remo Circuit Achille Varzi Maserati Report
25 July Vila Real Circuit Vila Real Vasco Sameiro Alfa Romeo Report
15 August Coppa Acerbo Pescara Bernd Rosemeyer Auto Union Report
15 August Estoril Circuit Estoril Manoel de Oliveira Ford Report
28 August Junior Car Club 200 mile race Donington Park Arthur Dobson ERA Report
26 September Masaryk Grand Prix Brno Rudolf Caracciola Mercedes-Benz Report
2 October Donington Grand Prix Donington Park Bernd Rosemeyer Auto Union Report
16 October Mountain Championship Brooklands Hans Rüesch Alfa Romeo Report
31 October Kalastajatorpanajo Helsinki Karl Ebb Mercedes-Benz Report

Championship final standings

Pos Driver BEL
GER
MON
SUI
ITA
Pts
1 Rudolf Caracciola 1 2 1 1 13
2 Manfred von Brauchitsch Ret 2 1 3 Ret 15
3 Hermann Lang 3 7 2 2 19
= Christian Kautz 4 6 3 6 Ret 19
5 Hans Stuck 2 Ret 4 4 9 20
6 Raymond Sommer 5 Ret 7 8 27
7 Rudolf Hasse 1 5 Ret 28
= Bernd Rosemeyer 3 Ret Ret 3 28
= Tazio Nuvolari 4 5 7 28
= Giuseppe Farina Ret 6 Ret Ret 28
11 László Hartmann Ret Ret 9 29
12 Hans Rüesch 8 8 Ret 31
13 Vittorio Belmondo 12 10 32
14 Hermann Paul Müller Ret Ret 5 33
15 Richard Seaman Ret 4 34
= Clemente Biondetti Ret Ret 34
17 Luigi Soffietti Ret Ret 35
= Carlo Felice Trossi Ret 8 35
= Paul Pietsch Ret 10 35
20 Kenneth Evans 9 36
= Ernõ Festetics 10 36
= Attilio Marinoni 11 36
= Giovanni Minozzi Ret Ret 36
= Goffredo Zehender 5 36
= Carlo Maria Pintacuda 9 36
= Luigi Fagioli 7 36
= Achille Varzi 6 36
28 Henri Simonet Ret 37
= Adolfo Mandirola Ret 37
30 Franco Cortese Ret 38
= Ernst von Delius Ret 38
= Giovanbattista Guidotti Ret 38
33 Francesco Severi Ret 39
= Renato Balestrero Ret 39
= Edoardo Teagno Ret 39
= Antonio Brivio Ret 39
= Max Christen Ret 39
Pos Driver BEL
GER
MON
SUI
ITA
Pts
ColourResultPoints
GoldWinner1
Silver2nd place2
Bronze3rd place3
GreenCompleted more than 75%4
BlueCompleted between 50% and 75%5
PurpleCompleted between 25% and 50%6
RedCompleted less than 25%7
BlackDisqualified8
BlankDid not participate8

References

  • Etzrodt, Hans. "Grand Prix Winners 1895–1949 : Part 3 (1934–1949)". The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing. Archived from the original on 6 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  • Leif Snellman and Hans Etzrodt. "1937". The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  • Galpin, Darren. "1937 Grands Prix". The GEL Motorsport Information Page. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
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