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David
Blumlein yearns for more Italian success at Le Mans
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| Whilst admiring the stunning
selection of MCM models of the Alfa-Romeos of the early thirties,
I paused to reflect that, with the first Le Mans race of the 21st
century upon us, it is thirty-six years now since an Italian car has
conquered the 24-hours. It was Luigi Chinetti's NART-entered Ferrari
250 LM that saved the day for the Prancing Horse in 1965 after the
works prototype cars had torn their hearts out trying to stem an early
wave of the mounting Ford attack. It is indeed a sad omission that a nation so imbibed with the spirit of motor-racing has failed to make an impact for so long on one of the major motoring theatres. In fairness, Ferrari did not give up immediately and the 512S was a thrilling threat to the powerful Porsche 917 hordes in 1970/71 and the beautiful 312P was unlucky not to topple Matra in 1973. Yet, Ferrari's decision to withdraw from sports-car racing from 1974 onwards and to concentrate on Formula 1 must surely be a major factor - a real pity because the Maranello firm has a much better record of overall success in sports-car racing than it does in single-seaters, where it only dominated when the opposition was Italian!  |
True, Alfa-Romeo tried with the 12
cylinder T33 variants as did Lancia which never coped with the Porsche
956/962 onslaught; so we are starved of Italian participation at the
front! Yet, turning back to those Alfa-Romeos, this was certainly not the case in the decade before the Second World War. Italy was the overall seat of motor-racing and success was in direct proportion to the Italians' natural fervour. My heart alights on the 1933 Le Mans winning car, so attractive in its beige and red apparel. The Alfa-Romeo 8C 2300 was the car to have in the post-Bentley era. It was a product of the brilliant brain of Vittorio Jano, one of the great all-time car designers whose fertile mind went on later to create the Lancia Aurelia and the Lancia D50 Formula 1 car. Jano had created for Alfa the 1750 6C sporting chassis and it was a natural development to add two cylinders - out came the twin o.h.c. supercharged 2.3 litre version which was to triumph in all the sports-car races that mattered: Le Mans, Mille Miglia, Targa Florio, Spa 24-hours. Already the type had taken two Le Mans wins in 1931 and 1932 and, despite Alfa-Romeo's official withdrawal from racing at the start of 1933, the 8C 2300 still had plenty of winning potential to be exploited. |
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MCM37M - The Le Mans 1932 winning Alfa Romeo 8C Certainly
Tazio Nuvolari felt as much and he seems to have obtained the use
of the car - a new one for the race - from the factory. |
A 16-minute delay let
the Chiron car into the lead but Nuvolari was at his best in such
circumstances and drove madly to pass the two leading cars by nine
o'clock. Cortese crashed Chiron's car trying to keep up and this left
Chinetti as the main challenger, now more than a lap behind. But, alas, the leak became worse and was only furtively remedied after more critical delay by fervent chewing of gum by every empty mouth available! Nuvolari fought back with the lead changing constantly until the last lap: Chinetti went past the 'Flying Mantuan' in front of the stands whereupon Nuvolari regained the initiative shortly after, only to be taken once more by the Italo-American. But Chinetti then missed a gear at Arnage and Nuvolari was through to win by some nine seconds despite his car being almost brakeless! It would be good to have the Italians back challenging at the front - how about it Ferrari? Turn back to what you did best! |