1937 Grand Prix season

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

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

European Championship Grands Prix

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

Non-championship Grands Prix

Date Name Circuit Winning driver Winning constructor Report
14 February Sweden Flatenloppet Flaten, Stockholm Norway Eugen Bjørnstad Alfa Romeo Report
18 April Kingdom of Italy Valentino Grand Prix Turin Kingdom of Italy Antonio Brivio Alfa Romeo Report
25 April Kingdom of Italy Naples Grand Prix Posillipo Kingdom of Italy Giuseppe Farina Alfa Romeo Report
1 May United Kingdom Campbell Trophy Brooklands Thailand Prince Bira Delage Report
9 May Kingdom of Italy Tripoli Grand Prix Mellaha Nazi Germany Hermann Lang Mercedes-Benz Report
9 May Finland Finnish Grand Prix Eläintarharata Switzerland Hans Rüesch Alfa Romeo Report
16 May Belgium Grand Prix des Frontières Chimay Switzerland Hans Rüesch Alfa Romeo Report
30 May Nazi Germany Avusrennen AVUS Nazi Germany Hermann Lang Mercedes-Benz Report
30 May Kingdom of Italy Superba Circuit Genoa Kingdom of 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 Kingdom of Italy Carlo Maria Pintacuda Alfa Romeo Report
13 June Nazi Germany Eifelrennen Nürburgring Nazi Germany Bernd Rosemeyer Auto Union Report
20 June Kingdom of Italy Milan Grand Prix Milan Kingdom of Italy Tazio Nuvolari Alfa Romeo Report
5 July United States Vanderbilt Cup Roosvelt Raceway Kingdom of Italy Tazio Nuvolari Alfa Romeo Report
25 July Kingdom of Italy San Remo Grand Prix San Remo Circuit Kingdom of Italy Achille Varzi Maserati Report
25 July Portugal Vila Real Circuit Vila Real Portugal Vasco do Sameiro Alfa Romeo Report
15 August Kingdom of Italy Coppa Acerbo Pescara Nazi 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 Czech Republic Masaryk Grand Prix Brno Nazi Germany Rudolf Caracciola Mercedes-Benz Report
2 October United Kingdom Donington Grand Prix Donington Park Nazi 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

Pos Driver BEL
Belgium
GER
Nazi Germany
MON
Monaco
SUI
Switzerland
ITA
Kingdom of Italy
Pts
1 Nazi Germany Rudolf Caracciola 1 2 1 1 13
2 Nazi Germany Manfred von Brauchitsch Ret 2 1 3 Ret 15
3 Nazi Germany Hermann Lang 3 7 2 2 19
= Switzerland Christian Kautz 4 6 3 6 Ret 19
5 Nazi Germany Hans Stuck 2 Ret 4 4 9 20
6 France Raymond Sommer 5 Ret 7 8 27
7 Nazi Germany Rudolf Hasse 1 5 Ret 28
= Nazi Germany Bernd Rosemeyer 3 Ret Ret 3 28
= Kingdom of Italy Tazio Nuvolari 4 5 7 28
= Kingdom of 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 Kingdom of Italy Vittorio Belmondo 12 10 32
14 Nazi Germany Hermann Paul Müller Ret Ret 5 33
15 United Kingdom Richard Seaman Ret 4 34
= Kingdom of Italy Clemente Biondetti Ret Ret 34
17 Kingdom of Italy Luigi Soffietti Ret Ret 35
= Kingdom of Italy Carlo Felice Trossi Ret 8 35
= Nazi Germany Paul Pietsch Ret 10 35
20 United Kingdom Kenneth Evans 9 36
= Hungary Ernõ Festetics 10 36
= Kingdom of Italy Attilio Marinoni 11 36
= Kingdom of Italy Giovanni Minozzi Ret Ret 36
= Kingdom of Italy Goffredo Zehender 5 36
= Kingdom of Italy Carlo Maria Pintacuda 9 36
= Kingdom of Italy Luigi Fagioli 7 36
= Kingdom of Italy Achille Varzi 6 36
28 Switzerland Henri Simonet Ret 37
= Switzerland Adolfo Mandirola Ret 37
30 Kingdom of Italy Franco Cortese Ret 38
= Nazi Germany Ernst von Delius Ret 38
= Kingdom of Italy Giovanbattista Guidotti Ret 38
33 Kingdom of Italy Francesco Severi Ret 39
= Kingdom of Italy Renato Balestrero Ret 39
= Kingdom of Italy Edoardo Teagno Ret 39
= Kingdom of Italy Antonio Brivio Ret 39
= Switzerland Max Christen Ret 39
Pos Driver BEL
Belgium
GER
Nazi Germany
MON
Monaco
SUI
Switzerland
ITA
Kingdom of 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

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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