Footnotes to a bronze yard ornament

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

In AD7-199 Richard G. Ballantine mentioned a lifesize bronze sculpture of
Nuvolari winning the 1933 GP of Monaco in an Alfa, which Richard thought was a
1750. In AD7-200 Simon Favre suggested that it was an 8C2300 "Monza" for
several good formal reasons which made him think it was not a Tipo B
monoposto, and ended with "The 1750 wasn't really a GP car. It competed in
sports car races"

Starting in the back, with the last sentence, the late twenties and early
thirties were funny years for racing. Racing had started after the war with a
three-liter formula, but then went to two liters from 1922 to 1925, which was
the formula for which Alfa built the P2, which won over Bugatti, Sunbeam and
Delage, which were the only competition, Fiat having withdrawn in '23. In 1926
the formula was reduced to 1.5 liters, and Alfa dropped out, Delage built a
fine car, Fiat built an interesting car which it ran in one race, Sunbeam-
Talbot-Darracq built a good car (called a Talbot) which won one race, and
Bugattis, mostly private entrants, filled out the grids. By 1928 Delage and
Talbot, along with Fiat, had quit racing for good, and Alfa did not have a
car. The formula was dead, for all practical purposes.

Almost all of the races of the next few years were run as "Formula Libre"
events, which is French for "run what you brung." (There wasn't a displacement
limit again until 1938). The distinction between GP racing and sports car
racing was almost obliterated for several years. Most of the successful cars
were resurrected cars from the two-liter formula, or bored-out versions of the
1.5 liter cars, or Bugattis which, as always, came in many sizes, or stripped
sports cars. Alfa bought back the old P2s which it had sold, restyled them to
look a lot like 1750s, and did well. But cars which "weren't really GP cars"
also did well; in the French Grand Prix of 1930 a respectable second place was
taken by a 4.5 liter blower Bentley with a four-seater body, essentially one
of the Le Mans team cars with the lights and fenders removed; the German Grand
Prix of 1928 and 1931 were won by Caracciola in a seven liter Mercedes which
may have been the same one he ran quite successfully twice in the Mille
Miglia, breaking a string of Alfa victories. The Alfa 6C 1500 and 1750 road
cars did quite respectably in Grands Prix in this period, taking a first
overall in the Irish Grand Prix in 1929 and in the Italian Grand Prix in 1931,
and first in class in the German Grand Prix in 1932. 

As for the car in the "lifesize bronze sculpture of Nuvolari winning the 1933
GP of Monaco in an Alfa", and whether it was a Monza or a P2, I haven't seen
the sculpture but Simon has the correct scoop on exhaust pipes, etc. I thought
I would put the question to bed by looking up the record. It wasn't Nuvolari,
it was Achile Varzi. In a Bugatti.

So much for artistic license-

John H.

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