1936 Grand Prix season

Mercedes-Benz had been the best cars in 1935 and for this season, they introduced a new 5.6-litre V12 engine. However, this bigger engine was heavier and with a 750 kg maximum weight, savings had to be found elsewhere. Along with a revised gearbox and suspension, the car was shortened by 25 cm. However, the car was found to be virtually undriveable, so the team had to urgently bore out the current 4-litre engine to 4.7-litres and dropped into the new chassis.[1]

Auto Union Type C

Auto Union had its new Type C, who had successfully been able to fit a remarkable supercharged 6.0-litre V16 that put out 520 bhp and still staying under the 750 kg weight limit. Four inches longer, with a limited-slip differential and torsion-bar suspension now installed, the handling was greatly improved.[1][41][20][42][43]

Alfa Romeo, having released their interim 8C-35 model late in the previous season, continued its development. Called the 12C-36, the new 4.1-litre V12 supercharged engine was made with magnesium alloy and put out 370 bhp. It was hoped that Alfa's best engine coupled with independent suspension would allow their drivers match the German teams.[44] Maserati and Bugatti made desultory efforts at development of their Grand Prix cars – as the former concentrated on voiturette racing and the latter on the new French sports car regulations.[1][41]

Alfa Romeo Type 12C-36

After its successes the previous season, the ERA team focused on building more cars for sale, to fill up the grids. Nine Type Bs had been sold to customers.[45] Their primary opposition was from Maserati, who unveiled the new 6CM. Looking like a miniature version of the V8 RI, it gave away horsepower to the heavier ERA, but had better handling with its independent suspension.[46] Former racing driver Giulio Ramponi worked with the up-and-coming Richard Seaman, and convinced him to buy the 1927-vintage Delage 15S8 from Earl Howe.[47][48] Despite its age, fitted with a modern supercharger, it was still very competitive – with not even the mighty Auto Union able to exceed the 100 bhp per litre barrier as the Delage did.

Manufacturer	Model[49][50][51]	Engine	Power Output	Max. Speed (km/h)	Dry Weight (kg)
Mercedes-Benz	W25C	Mercedes-Benz 4.7L S8 supercharged	460 bhp	315	750
Auto Union	Type C	Auto Union 6.0L V16 supercharged	520 bhp	300	750
Alfa Romeo	12C/36	Alfa Romeo 4.0L V12 twin-supercharged	370 bhp	290	740
Alfa Romeo	8C/35	Alfa Romeo 3.8L S8 supercharged	330 bhp	275	750
Maserati	V8-RI	Maserati 4.8L V8 supercharged	320 bhp	270	735
Bugatti	Type 59/50B	Bugatti 4.7L S8 supercharged	370 bhp	260	750
ERA	B	Riley 1488cc S6 supercharged	150 bhp	200	780
Maserati	6CM	Maserati 1493cc S6 supercharged	155 bhp	215	650
Maserati	4CM	Maserati 1496cc S4 supercharged	135 bhp	155	680
Delage	15S8	Delage 1487cc S8 supercharged	185 bhp	241	630

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Driver	Rounds
Private Entrant	Alfa Romeo	Tipo B	Alfa Romeo 3.2L S8 s/c	Raymond Sommer	1, 2, 3; A, B, C
Private Entrant	Maserati	V8-RI	Maserati 4.8L V8 s/c	Philippe Étancelin	1, 3; A, B, C
Private Entrant	Maserati Alfa Romeo Maserati	6C-34 Tipo B 4CS	Maserati 3.7L S6 s/c Alfa Romeo 2.9L S8 s/c Maserati 1.5L S6 s/c	/ Hans Rüesch	1v, 3v, [3]; A, Dv, Gv, G
Private Entrant	Maserati	8CM	Maserati 3.0L S8 s/c	/ Thomas Cholmondeley-Tapper	2
Private Entrant	Alfa Romeo	Tipo B	Alfa Romeo 2.9L S8 s/c	Charlie Martin	[3]; D, E
Private Entrant	Alfa Romeo	Tipo B	Alfa Romeo 3.2L S8 s/c	Austin Dobson	E, G
Private Entrant	Delage	15S8	Delage 1496cc S8 s/c	Richard Seaman	[1v], 3v; Dv, Fv, Gv
Private Entrant	Maserati Fiat	4CM 508 Balilla	Maserati 1496cc S4 s/c Fiat 1493cc S6 s/c	Luigi Villoresi	1v, 3v; Dv, Fv, Gv
Private Entrant	ERA	A	ERA 1488cc S6 s/c	/ Nicholas Embiricos	1v, 3v; Dv, Fv, [Gv]
Private Entrant	ERA	B	ERA 1488cc S6 s/c	Prince "B. Bira"	1v, 3v; Dv, Gv
Private Entrant	Maserati	4CM	Maserati 1496cc S4 s/c	Christian Kautz	1v, 3v; Dv
Private Entrant	Maserati	4CM 6CM	Maserati 1496cc S4 s/c Maserati 1493cc S6 s/c	Freddie McEvoy	1v, 3v; Fv, Gv
Private Entrant	Maserati	4CM	Maserati 1496cc S4 s/c	Ettore Bianco	1v, 3v; Fv

‘’Note:‘’ * indicates only raced in the event as a relief driver,
"♠" Works driver raced as a privateer in that race,
"v" indicates the driver ran in the Voiturette race,
"†" driver killed during this racing season,
Those in brackets show that, although entered, the driver did not race

After a 3-week gap, the European teams came to a tense Barcelona for the Penya Rhin GP. Mercedes just had the two cars again, while Ferrari had three cars including a new 12C for Nuvolari, recovered after his crash at Tripoli. It was the first time the Auto Union team had attended, bringing three cars including a special short-wheelbase version at Varzi's suggestion. Their cars were held up by the Spanish railway strike until the team mechanics found them at a railway siding. Bugatti entered Wimille again and privateers Étancelin and Sommer were joined by Spaniard José de Villapadierna. In practice, Rosemeyer over-cooked his exit from the banked Font del Gat corner and slammed into a lamppost, knocking it over. The short Auto Union was proving almost undriveable and Varzi pulled rank and demanded Rosemeyer's car. When this was declined, he refused to drive – the team publicly saying he was still injured from his crash at Carthage. This all pointed to the end of his time at Auto Union.[68] On a sunny race-day, there were eleven starters with reserve driver Ernst von Delius taking Varzi's place. Although Caracciola led initially, Nuvolari caught him on lap 7. Those two pulled away from the rest of the field; Rosemeyer was out with a loose, and leaking, fuel tank. Putting in lap-record times, by half-distance the leading pair were a lap ahead of the rest. On lap 60, Nuvolari had to pit to change a front tyre – quick enough to be still in the lead by 30 seconds. The Mercedes pit was flagging Caracciola to go faster and he responded, inexorably closing the margin. Although the Ferrari pit signalled Nuvolari to pit for his ruined rear tyres, the Italian carried on. He held on to the 80th lap for a thrilling win by a mere 3 seconds. Those two were in a class of their own, with Farina in third, a distant three laps down. If his victory the previous year at the Nürburgring was considered fortunate, then this win was down to pure skill and speed.[68] Two weeks later, Spain erupted into civil war and motor-racing ceased there for ten years.

A week of speed events was next, on two wheels and four, for the Eifelrennen. On the Sunday morning was the voiturette race. The month previous, Dick Seaman and his 1927 Delage had won the Light Car Race on the Isle of Man ahead of a swarm of ERAs. They all arrived at the Nürburgring for one of the premier 1.5-litre races of the season. The Maserati team had four cars entered with the new 6CM model for Trossi and the Hungarian Hartmann. There were also two local entries in the 750cc class: Bobby Kohlrausch had a new MG R-Type while Walter Bäumer had an Austin 7 loaned from the factory after his strong showing the week before at the recent Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb (even beating Stuck and his Auto Union in the rain). After hot sunshine during practice, race-day had heavy rain. Seaman and Rüesch both slid off in the first lap. On the twisty circuit, in difficult conditions, the Maseratis had the measure of the ERAs and Trossi had an easy 1-2 with Tenni. Bira and Lehoux were next with Bäumer an impressive fifth in the little Austin.[69] With AVUS being rebuilt and used in the upcoming Olympics,[70] the main event of the Eifelrennen was the first showing for the season for the German teams in Germany, and they were there in force. Mercedes had four cars, although Faglioli did not arrive, and his place was taken by reserve driver Lang. Auto Union, likewise, had four cars with von Delius joining the regular trio. To combat this German might, Ferrari had four cars with both Nuvolari and Brivio now given the new 12C. The race was held after the voiturette race by which time the rain had eased to drizzle. In front of an estimated 300,000 spectators the grid lined up, the cars still allocated by ballot teams with the team putting their fastest drivers in the front cars. From the start, Caracciola darted from the third row to the front and led for the first 3 of 10 laps. However, in his haste he skated wide damaging the fragile suspension, retiring soon after. Nuvolari passed him and after an hour, (at half-distance), still led as the rain eased. Meanwhile, Rosemeyer had been putting in remarkable laps, and overtook the Alfa on lap 7 whereupon a heavy fog dropped over the circuit. As other drivers slowed to the conditions, Rosemeyer kept up his pace and took a fine victory, over two minutes ahead of the Alfas of Nuvolari, Brivio and Farina. Lang was the first Mercedes home, nearly six minutes back in fifth.[69][71][72]

Just a week later, the "circus" moved east, across the border, for the inaugural Hungarian Grand Prix. Races had been planned in 1931, '32, and '34 but never eventuated. It was held on the roads of Népliget Park, the biggest green space in Budapest. Impressive race-organisation included modern electric timing using photocells, to give lap-times accurate to a tenth of a second.[69] Unfortunately, very hot summer weather in the preceding week had melted the tar on the track and as soon as practice started, the surface started breaking up and became very slippery. In front of around 70-100,000 spectators, Rosemeyer took off from pole into the lead, soon with Caracciola in close pursuit.[69] This was still the situation at half-distance (25 laps), with von Brauchitsch and Nuvolari closing in. Then, yet again, Caracciola's engine gave up on him, after Chiron's car was already out with a broken supercharger. Then on lap 30, von Brauchitsch spun off trying to lap Tadini's Alfa – whether tapped from behind by Nuvolari or sliding on the slippery surface is uncertain. Having got past, Nuvolari set about catching Rosemeyer and with his car handling far better on the tight track, he was able to pass him on lap 35. He then put in a new lap record to, once again, beat the German cars. Rosemeyer was second, and had to be lifted out of his car, with his hands bleeding from being torn up by the harsh steering. No Mercedes finished, as the unlucky von Brauchitsch retired with just two laps to go when the steering broke from his earlier off.[69][73]

Rosemeyer (Auto Union) pursuing Caracciola (Mercedes) at the Hungarian GP

Despite his worsening team reputation, Varzi convinced the Auto Union team to enter him in the Milan GP, against the three Italian teams. It was a yet another thrilling duel for the spectators between the two Italian masters and for the whole race, they were never more than fifteen seconds apart. In the end, it went the way of Nuvolari and his Alfa Romeo.[74] Motor-racing attention, indirectly, then turned to France: the Le Mans 24-hours was postponed and eventually cancelled. The French Grand Prix and Marne Grand Prix were held on consecutive weekends to the new French sports-car regulations. Jean-Pierre Wimille in the new Bugatti Type 57G was unbeatable, and with Raymond Sommer as co-driver won at Monthlèry, then went on to win at Reims and St-Gaudens.[74][75] Racing was growing in South America with regular Grands Prix held in Argentina and Brazil, all run to a mixed formula of European racing cars and American stock cars. European drivers were starting to travel to the continent in the summer break, often selling their cars to local drivers rather than bringing them home. This year, the São Paulo GP attracted Scuderia Ferrari – represented by Carlo Pintacuda and Attilio Marinoni. It also drew the popular French female racer, Hélène Delangle, who raced under the nom-de-plume "Hellé Nice". The Ferrari team-mates were clear favourites and when Pintacuda was allocated #12, in an act of sportsmanship he voluntarily swapped for #38 to start at the back of the grid alongside Marinoni.[74] It took only three laps for him to get to the front of the field. The three Europeans were running 1-2-3 for most of the race, until with 8 laps to go, "Hellé-Nice" had to make a late pit-stop, dropping to 4th, behind leading Brazilian driver Manuel de Teffé and both driving Alfa Romeo Monzas. On the final lap, she caught him at the last corner. Both cars went wide, possibly touching at 160 km/h. The French woman's car jerked left, hitting the border straw-bales that sent it tumbling into the crowd pressing right up to the edge of the track. "Hellé-Nice" was thrown out and into the crowd. The terrible accident injured dozens and killed six spectators including a soldier who took the full impact of the driver hitting him. "Hellé-Nice" spent two months in hospital with a fractured skull.[74]

Moments before catastrophe: Hellé Nice losing control at the São Paulo GP

In mid-July was another inaugural event – a rectangular street-circuit along the promenade of the Normandy resort town of Deauville. As a minor race, it was one of the few French races not run to their new sports-car formula. It attracted the best French drivers, led by Wimille and Robert Benoist from the works Bugatti team, along with top privateers Sommer and Étancelin. English drivers also came across the Channel, with Charlie Martin and Austin Dobson in their P3s along with Marcel Lehoux driving a works 2-litre ERA. Two bonus entries were René Dreyfus and Giuseppe Farina for Scuderia Ferrari. Despite a cold, overcast day, a big crowd arrived. Farina took the lead from the front row, but immediately there were problems. Dobson cut a corner and broke his suspension. Worse was Raymond Chambost, who had lost control of his Maserati 8CM which rolled. Taken to the local hospital with a fractured skull, he died three days later. Farina built his lead and had almost lapped the entire field by half-distance. Wimille was second and a lap ahead of Lehoux. On lap 60, Farina was approaching Lehoux to lap him again. Coming out of the corner onto the back straight Lehoux drifted wide and the two cars touched. Both rolled, throwing their drivers out, and with only cloth helmets, they both had head injuries. Lehoux was dead when they got to the hospital while Farina was released several days later. Only three cars finished and Wimille took a hollow victory.[76][40][77]

The return to the Nürburgring for the German Grand Prix was the second round the European Championship. Just a fortnight earlier, Rosemeyer had married Elly Beinhorn in the celebrity wedding of the year.[78] Once again, it was the most important event of the year for the German teams, and they dominated with nine of the twenty entries. Mercedes had their regular four and reserve driver Lang. Likewise, Auto Union brought in their reserve drivers Hasse and von Delius, as Varzi was sick. Against them was Ferrari with four cars: the 12C-36 for Nuvolari and Dreyfus (replacing the injured Farina) and 8C-35 for Brivio and Severi. The Scuderia Torino had two Maseratis, for Trossi and a V8-RI for guest driver Richard Seaman. Jean-Pierre Wimille was the sole entry from the Bugatti team.[76] On the first day of practice, Rosemeyer put in a stunning lap of 10m 08s, fully 24 seconds under the lap record. This was then bettered the next day by Caracciola, with a 10m 03s – all due to the track resurfacing that had been done recently.[76] However, grid positions were instead allocated by ballot. On a cool, overcast day, it was reported that there were about 350.000 spectators present. Using electric lights to start the race, von Brauchitsch on the second row was the fastest away, and led the first lap of 22. On the second lap, he stopped at the Karussel hairpin to check his steering, resuming after four minutes. Rosemeyer took over at the front, steadily building a lead until he pitted on lap 9. Hermann Lang found himself leading a Grand Prix for the first time as the field cycled through their pit-stops. Caracciola, having taken over Lang's car, brought it in smoking from a blown supercharger. Then, roaring down the straight toward Tiergarten, Chiron's Mercedes suddenly jerked left, crashing through a fence and rolled. Chiron was hauled out from under the car just with bruising to his head and shoulder (he would not race for Mercedes again[70]). Nuvolari, running second, suffered a rear-axle failure at the Karussel, and was given a lift back to the pits on the back of Sommer's Alfa – no repeat of the 1935 victory. With his competition out of the race, the last lap was the chance for Rosemeyer to receive the plaudits of an adoring crowd. He finished four minutes ahead of team-mate Stuck with Brivio almost five minutes further back in third.[76]

For Mercedes, their race had been a disaster, never being on the pace. The team chose to take time to work on the new car in development.[79] So the Coppa Ciano, the next major event of the calendar, was effectively a two-way duel between Alfa Romeo and Auto Union. This year the race was not run over the full 20 km Montenero course. Owing to safety concerns with the powerful cars, the twisty, narrow mountain section was omitted for an abbreviated 7 km coastal course around the streets of Livorno. After travelling barely metres off the start-line, Nuvolari was out with a broken differential. Pintacuda was called in to hand his car over. Varzi dominated the early race until his rear brake started locking, forcing his eventual retirement. In the meantime, Nuvolari had made up the minute he was behind and with inspired driving, took the lead. Rosemeyer was having an off-day, concerned about his wife embarking on an endurance flight attempt,[79] and handed over to Stuck. Nuvolari was untouchable and, to the delight of the partisan crowd, led home a Ferrari 1-2-3 to once again beat the German team.[79][80] It would prove to be the final time that Alfa Romeo beat either of the German teams.[42][81] In the voiturette race earlier in the day, Trossi has convincingly won for Maserati after Seaman had fuel-pump issues in his Delage. Nicholas Embiricos, in his privateer ERA, was second.[79]

The next track, at Pescara, was far more suited to the raw power of the Auto Unions with its long straights. So the organisers inserted chicanes onto those, to break up the speeds. Both Ferrari and Auto Union brought four cars. Scuderia Torino also entered four Maseratis, although only Seaman and Ghersi arrived. Clemente Biondetti represented the Scuderia Marammana with a Maserati 8CM, while privateers Hans Rüesch and Austin Dobson brought their Alfa P3s.[79] Varzi put in the best time, with a 10m59s, to take pole with Nuvolari (11m06s) and Brivio (11m10s) beside him, for Ferrari. The best Maserati was Ghersi with a distant 12m23s. Near the end of practice, Stuck had a big accident. Breaking heavily from 280 kph at the Capelle chicane, the car slapped a stone wall and slid down a slope. Stuck was thrown out and fortunate only to bruise his elbow from a heavy landing. The car was repaired overnight for Delius to drive, while Varzi's car needed a full engine-change.[79] It was a hot, sunny day and 80,000 fans arrived for the race. The voiturette race was run at 8am. Seaman was doing double-duty, having his revenge and winning after a mid-race tussle with Trossi, who finished second, and Bira.[79] In the main race, Nuvolari got a lightning start, and together with Varzi and Rosemeyer, soon distanced the field. Varzi had to pit on lap 4 when a stone smashed his windscreen and the wind-buffeting at speed made driving impossible. Rosemeyer passed Nuvolari for the lead at Villa Montani, as they entered the twisty uphill part of the circuit. Delius was third, just ahead of Brivio, but 3 minutes behind, after an hour. At half-distance (8 laps), the cars stopped to refuel. Varzi was absolutely flying now, putting in a 10m44s race lap, and reaching 285 kph in the timed kilometre. When Nuvolari retired in the hills with a broken engine on lap 11, it left Auto Union to take a sweep of the podium, with Rosemeyer beating Delius and Varzi home by over six minutes. Brivio was fourth and Rüesch, four laps behind, was the only other finisher of the twelve starters.[79]

The third Swiss Grand Prix was next race of the European Championship and, for that reason, the Mercedes team was in the entry list with four cars. Auto Union also had four cars, with reserve Hasse called in place of von Delius. Ferrari just had three entries – for Nuvolari, Farina and Dreyfus. Bugatti brought two models for Wimille, with a 3.3-litre Type 59 and a 4.7-litre Type 59/50B. Caracciola was fastest in practice and started on pole.[82] Getting away first, he was hounded by Rosemeyer as they pulled away from the rest of the field. Caracciola did everything to keep his lead, despite having waved flags to let the Auto Union pass. After nine laps, and furious shaken fists from Rosemeyer, it took the intervention of the lead official to flag Caracciola to pull over.[82][41][39] Nuvolari had been third, but was falling back through the field with his engine overheating. Caracciola started having a stuck throttle, and was turning the ignition off and on to manage it.[82] Rosemeyer, meanwhile, was setting new lap records and had even lapped his team-mate Stuck. In a race of high mechanical attrition, there were only five finishers, including the whole Auto Union team, cementing their dominance. Rosemeyer won, ahead of Varzi and Stuck, with only the Mercedes of Lang in 4th (co-driven by Faglioli) breaking up the Saxon procession[82][83] Later that evening, tempers between the two Germans were still high and an unseemly shouting match erupted in their hotel lobby. The two would not speak to each other for the rest of the year.[82][41][39][84] In response to their ongoing poor performance, the Mercedes team officially withdrew from the rest of the season to concentrate on their 1937 car.[82][85]

In the Berne Grand Prix for the voiturette class, the Maserati works team did not appear. Dick Seaman dominated the race, winning ahead of the privateer ERAs of Embiricos and Reggie Tongue. Bira had retired from second with engine issues and the works ERA team had another wretched day, never being competitive.[82] A week later, the British Junior Car Club revived their "200 Mile" race, this time at the Donington Park circuit. Voiturettes were run alongside Grand Prix cars, and easily had their measure. This time the ERA team was far more competitive, with Fairfield taking pole position in practice and Earl Howe initially leading the field. However, his car needed to refuel but the Delage did not, and Seaman went on to claim his third victory in three weeks, with Howe second. The only Grand Prix car to be classified was the Maserati 8CM of Cholmondeley-Tapper, with the rest a number of laps behind and outside the mandatory ten-minute time-limit.[82] The following weekend, at the Ards Circuit in Northern Ireland, Jack Chambers crashed into the crowd during the RAC Tourist Trophy sports car race. Eight people were killed and fifteen seriously injured in the worst motor-racing accident in British history.[82]

The Italian Grand Prix was the fourth and final event in the abbreviated European Championship. Once again there were no privateers entered, only cars from the racing teams. As usual, Auto Union had their four drivers, including von Delius this time. To defend Italian honour, the Scuderia Ferrari now had four of the 12C-36 cars for Nuvolari, Brivio, Farina and Dreyfus. Maserati was represented by the Scuderia Torino (with a V8-RI for Trossi and an older 6C-34 for Piero Dusio) and the Scuderia Marammana (with a pair of the 6C-34s for Biondetti and Ghersi). Bugatti could not prepare the car after the Swiss Grand Prix. The officials decided to use the same circuit as the previous year, with the five chicanes to try and limit the car speeds. The track employed most of the road circuit before connecting onto the banked Curva Sud.[86][87] After their engine issues in the previous races, Vittorio Jano and his Alfa Romeo engineers had worked for a fortnight at Monza. They found by enlarging the exhaust pipes and fitting larger oil coolers, the engine cooling could be controlled. However, during practice, Brivio misjudged the chicane at the Curva della Roggia and rolled the car. It took almost ten minutes for the Alfa team to notice he had not come around and then with the help of the Auto Union crew, they found him still stuck under the car. Stunned and with a bruised arm, he was checked over at the local hospital. His place for the Grand Prix would be taken by Pintacuda, driving one of the older 8C-35s.[86] Two unusual occurrences happened during practice – Rosemeyer was invited by Alfa Romeo to test-drive their 12C-36, and his new wife, Elly Beinhorn, did a lap in the Auto Union (at a reasonable speed).[86]

Rosemeyer had taken pole and shared the front row with Stuck and Nuvolari. At the start, it was Stuck who took the lead until overtaken by Rosemeyer on the 4th lap. Nuvolari set a new lap record when he moved up to second. Varzi's car was losing power from a lost cylinder, dropping him down the field. He pitted, and fed up with the car, refused to go back out, so Hasse took his place three laps behind. On lap 18, Nuvolari lapped Trossi in his Maserati. Stuck, just two seconds behind, tried to follow before the Curva del Vialone chicane, but the pass put him offline and beyond his breaking point. Stuck hit the inner curb and then speared across the track. The car smashed into a tree and rebounded back onto the circuit, beside the driver who had been thrown out like a rag-doll. The following Trossi and Delius pulled up in time, with the track blocked. Stuck, despite a concussion, had amazingly only received superficial grazes and bruises.[86][88] The race carried on, through the first pit-stops without further change. Trossi stopped with a loose fuel tank and after 40 minutes, was relieved by Bianco who proceeded to be a mobile roadblock for the rest of the field. When Nuvolari and Dreyfus had to change tyres a second time, Rosemeyer had the race in the bag and was able to ease off to win the race. Nuvolari was second, two minutes behind with Delius two laps back in third. Rosemeyer, having won three of the four rounds, was crowned European Champion.[88] For Stuck, his season was over, but he was able to recuperate as a guest of fellow-driver, Conte Giovanni "Johnny" Lurani.[86] The season ended with an easy victory for Nuvolari at the local Modena GP, as Ferrari dominated the other two Italian Scuderia. The second Donington Grand Prix had an interesting combination between Alfa Romeos, the new French sports cars and the leading voiturettes. In a 4½-hour race, it was the pair of Dick Seaman and Hans Ruësch, in their Alfa 8C-35 that won, ahead of Charlie Martin's Tipo B and the privateer ERA of Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead.[89]

Since the 1920s, the American and European racing fraternities had moved apart following separate paths. Prior to that, there had been trans-Atlantic travel from the top European drivers to participate in the Indianapolis 500 and Vanderbilt Cup. To try and re-establish inter-continental racing, George Vanderbilt, nephew of the race founder, sponsored a return of the Cup. For a time the races had been run on a street circuit on Long Island. The new, combined road and dirt track at the Roosevelt Raceway, built with the help of Eddie Rickenbacker, used the Roosevelt Field runway where Lindbergh had famously left on his 1927 Transatlantic flight.[90][42] The idea was to run the best of AAA series against the current European grand-prix cars. It had been postponed from 4 July as the circuit was not ready. Their season having finished, and with the big cash prizes, it drew an entry from Scuderia Ferrari for Nuvolari, Brivio and Farina with 12C-36s and privateer Raymond Sommer had his Tipo B. Bugatti had a Type 59/50 for Wimille, Maserati V8RIs were entered by Étancelin and "Raph" while Fred McEvoy and Englishman Teddy Rayson had voiturettes. Joining them were three ERAs, privately entered for Earl Howe, Pat Fairfield and Baron Essendon.[86] A huge field of 58 cars arrived, and qualifying was needed for the 45 starter places. Ranged against the Europeans were some of the best Indy-style oval racers. These included 1934 Indianapolis winner Bill Cummings, veterans Russ Snowberger, Tony Gulotta and Shorty Cantlon, as well as future legends Wilbur Shaw, Mauri Rose and Ted Horn. This year's Indianapolis 500 winner, Louis Meyer, took Essendon's Bugatti T59 out for a test-drive, but crashed it in practice. Most were driving unsupercharged Miller or Offenhauser-powered roadsters, and after practice it was readily apparent there was a significant performance gap between the two types.[90] Off the front row, Billy Winn got the best start, but Nuvolari was leading after the first lap. On lap 4, Wilbur Shaw spun out, bringing on the first yellow flag for the field. After an hour (about 15 laps), Nuvolari had a 30-second lead over Brivio, with Winn and Farina next and Wimille fifth in the Bugatti. Farina went wide at a corner and crashed, and another yellow came out. This full-course yellow was standard action in the United States, but quite unknown to the Europeans and many passed under the yellow flags and were penalised accordingly.[90] With so many cars on the track, and the American cars being lapped, it was getting more confusing for the crowd. The leading order stayed constant aside from pit-stops. The ERAs were climbing up the order against the bigger-engined cars with Fairfield and Howe in the top-10. Then, on lap 64, Winn retired when his rear axle failed and with it, the American hopes of a win were lost. Even with his Alfa running on 11-cylinders, Nuvolari continued on to take an easy victory, two laps ahead of Wimille in his Bugatti. Brivio had suffered a cracked fuel pipe and lost ten minutes in repairs, slipping down to third. Fourth was Sommer in his private Alfa with Fairfield a credible fifth, 40 seconds ahead of the McEvoy/Trossi Maserati. First American home was Bill Cummings in 7th, fully 25 minutes behind Nuvolari. Built for simple cornering, the American cars had been well outclassed.[90] After the race, Sommer sold his Alfa Romeo Tipo B to Joel Thorne.[91]

This was a triumphant year for Auto Union, at Mercedes' expense. It saw the remarkable rise of Bernd Rosemeyer, emphasised by the Nazi propaganda machine. Alfa Romeo had had moments of brilliance from Nuvolari, and was the "best of the rest" at the other Grands Prix where the German teams were absent. However, it was also a tragic year with a number of serious accidents. The worst ones, at São Paulo, Deauville and the Tourist Trophy, were when the cars vaulted into the crowds, always standing far too close to the high-speed action when race safety was still minimal for both participant and spectator.

Pos	Driver	Team	MON	GER	SUI	ITA	Pts	TRI	TUN	PYR	EIF	HUN	CCN	CAC
1	Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union AG	Ret	1	1	1	10	Ret	Ret	5	1	2	4	1
2	Hans Stuck	Auto Union AG	3	2	3	Ret	15	2	Ret	DNS	8	4	Ret [4]	DNS
3	Tazio Nuvolari	Scuderia Ferrari	4	Ret	Ret	2	17	8		1	2	1	Ret [1]	Ret
4	Achille Varzi	Auto Union AG	2		2	Ret	19	1	Ret	DNS	7	3	Ret	3
5	Raymond Sommer	Private Entry	7	9	Ret		21	Ret	4	7
6	Rudolf Caracciola	Daimler-Benz AG	1	Ret [5]	Ret		22	4	1	2	Ret	Ret	-	-
7	Antonio Brivio	Scuderia Ferrari	5	3		DNS	23	7	Ret	Ret	3		2	4
=	Ernst von Delius	Auto Union AG	DNS	6	[5]	3	23			4	9	[5]		2
=	Carlo Felice Trossi	Scuderia Torino	Ret	8		7	23					DNS
10	Rudolf Hasse	Auto Union AG		4	5	[DNF]	24				DNS
=	René Dreyfus	Scuderia Ferrari		Ret	Ret	4	24						3	Ret
=	Manfred von Brauchitsch	Daimler-Benz AG	Ret	7	Ret		24	Ret			Ret	Ret	-	-
13	Hermann Lang	Daimler-Benz AG		[7]	Ret		25	DNS	Res	Res	5	Res
14	Luigi Fagioli	Daimler-Benz AG	Ret	5	Ret [4]		26	3					-	-
=	Jean-Pierre Wimille	Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	6	Ret	Ret		26		3	Ret
=	Giuseppe Farina	Scuderia Ferrari	Ret [5]		Ret	Ret	26			3	4			Ret
17	Pietro Ghersi	Scuderia Torino Scuderia Maremmana	8			Ret	27	Ret					Ret	Ret
18	Carlo Pintacuda	Scuderia Ferrari				5	28	5	2				1
=	Piero Dusio	Scuderia Torino				6	28
=	William Grover-Williams	Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	9				28
=	/ Thomas Cholmondeley-Tapper	Private Entry		10			28
=	Francesco Severi	Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Maremmana		Ret			28	Ret		Res	Ret		Res
=	Louis Chiron	Daimler-Benz AG	Ret	Ret	Res		28	9	Ret	6	6	Ret	-	-
=	Philippe Étancelin	Private Entry	Ret		Ret		28	Ret	Ret	Ret
25	Clemente Biondetti	Scuderia Maremmana			Ret	Ret	29						Ret	Ret
26	Johannes Rens	Private Entry		Ret			30				DNS
=	Earl Howe	Private Entry			Ret		30
28	Mario Tadini	Scuderia Ferrari	Ret				31	6				4
=	Eugenio Siena	Scuderia Torino	Ret				31	Ret
=	Juan Zanelli	Scuderia Villapadierna Private Entry		Ret			31				10			Ret
=	Richard Seaman	Scuderia Torino		Ret [8]			31							Ret
=	Jacques de Rham	Private Entry			Ret		31
	Hans Rüesch	Private Entry			DNS			Ret						5
	Giosuè Calamai	Private Entry											5
	Austin Dobson	Scuderia Torino										6		Ret
Pos	Driver	Team	1	2	3	4	Pts	A	B	C	D	E	F	G

Bold font indicates starting on pole position, while italics show the driver of the race's fastest lap.
The results of reserve or relieving drivers are shown with [square brackets]
All drivers who started a Championship race are shown, while only those drivers with a best finish of 6th or better in the non-Championship races, or a fastest lap, are shown. Sources:[2][3][4][5]

Pos	Manufacturer	MON	GER	SUI	ITA	Pts	TRI	TUN	PYR	EIF	HUN	CCN	CAC
	Auto Union	2	1	1	1		1	Ret	4	1	2	4	1
	Alfa Romeo	4	3	Ret	2		5	2	1	2	1	1	4
	Mercedes-Benz	1	5	4			3	1	2	5	Ret
	Maserati	8	8	Ret	6		Ret	Ret	Ret	10	7	Ret	Ret
	Bugatti	6	Ret	Ret				3	Ret

Footnotes

Citations