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1937 Grand Prix season

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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.

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

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European Championship Grands Prix

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

Non-championship Grands Prix

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

Championship final standings

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Pos Driver BEL
Belgium
GER
Germany
MON
Monaco
SUI
Switzerland
ITA
Italy
Pts
1 Germany Rudolf Caracciola 1 2 1 1 13
2 Germany Manfred von Brauchitsch Ret 2 1 3 Ret 15
3 Germany Hermann Lang 3 7 2 2 19
= Switzerland Christian Kautz 4 6 3 6 Ret 19
5 Germany Hans Stuck 2 Ret 4 4 9 20
6 France Raymond Sommer 5 Ret 7 8 27
7 Germany Rudolf Hasse 1 5 Ret 28
= Germany Bernd Rosemeyer 3 Ret Ret 3 28
= Italy Tazio Nuvolari 4 5 7 28
= Italy Giuseppe Farina Ret 6 Ret Ret 28
11 Hungary László Hartmann Ret Ret 9 29
12 Switzerland Hans Rüesch 8 8 Ret 31
13 Italy Vittorio Belmondo 12 10 32
14 Germany Hermann Paul Müller Ret Ret 5 33
15 United Kingdom Richard Seaman Ret 4 34
= Italy Clemente Biondetti Ret Ret 34
17 Italy Luigi Soffietti Ret Ret 35
= Italy Carlo Felice Trossi Ret 8 35
= Germany Paul Pietsch Ret 10 35
20 United Kingdom Kenneth Evans 9 36
= Hungary Ernõ Festetics 10 36
= Italy Attilio Marinoni 11 36
= Italy Giovanni Minozzi Ret Ret 36
= Italy Goffredo Zehender 5 36
= Italy Carlo Maria Pintacuda 9 36
= Italy Luigi Fagioli 7 36
= Italy Achille Varzi 6 36
28 Switzerland Henri Simonet Ret 37
= Switzerland Adolfo Mandirola Ret 37
30 Italy Franco Cortese Ret 38
= Germany Ernst von Delius Ret 38
= Italy Giovanbattista Guidotti Ret 38
33 Italy Francesco Severi Ret 39
= Italy Renato Balestrero Ret 39
= Italy Edoardo Teagno Ret 39
= Italy Antonio Brivio Ret 39
= Switzerland Max Christen Ret 39
Pos Driver BEL
Belgium
GER
Germany
MON
Monaco
SUI
Switzerland
ITA
Italy
Pts
Colour Result Points
Gold Winner 1
Silver 2nd place 2
Bronze 3rd place 3
Green Completed more than 75% 4
Blue Completed between 50% and 75% 5
Purple Completed between 25% and 50% 6
Red Completed less than 25% 7
Black Disqualified 8
Blank Did not participate 8

References

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  • 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. Archived from the original on 2022-05-05. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  • Galpin, Darren. "1937 Grands Prix". The GEL Motorsport Information Page. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-05.