1948 British Grand Prix

  1948 RAC International Grand Prix
Race details
1948 Grand Prix season

Date 2 October 1948
Official name RAC International Grand Prix
Location RAF Silverstone, Northamptonshire
Course Converted aerodrome
5.907 km (3.670 mi)
Distance 65 laps, 383.91 km (238.55 mi)
Weather Dry, light cloud.
Pole position
Driver Louis Chiron Talbot-Lago
Time 2:56.0
Fastest lap
Driver Luigi Villoresi Maserati
Time 2:52.0
Podium
First Luigi Villoresi Maserati
Second Alberto Ascari Maserati
Third Bob Gerard ERA

The Royal Automobile Club International Grand Prix was a motor race held on 2 October 1948, at Silverstone Airfield, Northamptonshire, UK. The race was held to the then recently introduced Formula One regulations,[1] which effectively replaced the pre-war Grand Prix motor racing standards, two years prior to the inauguration of the FIA World Championship, and is commonly cited as the first British Grand Prix of the modern era[2] (although it did not have official Grande Epreuve status). The race meeting marked the opening of the Silverstone Circuit, although at the time the site was only on a one-year loan to the RAC from the Air Ministry, having been a bomber station during World War II. The 65-lap Grand Prix was won by Italian Luigi Villoresi, driving a Maserati 4CLT/48. The main race was preceded by a 13-lap 500 cc race which was won by Spike Rhiando in a Cooper, while Stirling Moss failed to finish after mechanical problems.

Contents

Background

The Royal Automobile Club had previously run two International Grands Prix at the banked Brooklands circuit, in Surrey, in 1926 and 1927, and the Donington Park circuit had hosted four non-ranking Grands Prix between 1935 and 1939, but with the hiatus caused by the Second World War motorsport in Britain had lost ground to continental countries. Its two major race circuits were unusable, with Donington still littered with detritus from its wartime role as a supply depot, while the Brooklands circuit had been a major centre for aircraft development during the war and much of the track had been built over. With the abundance of redundant airfields in the years following the end of hostilities, however, there were plenty of potential venues for new race circuits. One such was at RAF Silverstone, a former bomber station.

The circuit

The Royal Automobile Club took a one-year lease on the Silverstone airfield site in early 1948 and set about creating a race track. The airfield conformed to the standard model for WWII RAF sites: three long, wide runways formed a triangle, their ends joined by a narrow perimeter roadway. In this inaugural year the RAC decided to lay out a relatively long circuit, using the full lengths of the two longest runways, as well as large portions of the perimeter road.

The competitors started on the western perimeter road and headed north towards a right-hand turn, the high-speed Woodcote Corner. From there the track used the northern edge of the perimeter to a sharp right turn onto the main runway at Copse Corner. Then came the main runway, known for the race as Segrave Straight, with the track continuing to the point at which the two largest runways intersected. Here, in an attempt to better emulate a true road circuit,[3] the course designers narrowed the track with hay bales, which funneled the cars into a 130° left hairpin bend onto the second runway. At the end of the second runway the cars rejoined the perimeter road, just before the old Becketts Corner, before continuing on the long straight road in front of the main aircraft hangar complex, known appropriately as Hangar Straight.

At the end of the straight at what is now Stowe Corner, competitors rejoined the main runway (this southern portion now named the Seaman Straight), and headed back towards the central hairpin complex. Once again, at the intersection of the two runways the track was narrowed, before a left-hand hairpin onto the second runway, heading back out to the perimeter road. The perimeter road was rejoined at Club Corner. From this point the track once again headed north towards the finish line, passing through the flat-out Abbey Curve en route. Total track length was approximately 3.7 miles (5.9 km), substantially longer than the 2.9 miles (4.7 km) of Silverstone's classic layout, and longer even than the current 3.2 mile (5.1 km) circuit design. This was the only Grand Prix event ever held on this track layout, as from 1949 onward Silverstone circuits used only the perimeter roads. To commemorate the opening of this new circuit, all drivers completing either the Grand Prix or 500 cc race received the RAC Silverstone Plaque.[4]

Grand Prix entrants

The entry list for the 65-lap Grand Prix was very mixed. Brand new, full works cars were entered by Maserati, Talbot-Lago and Ferrari, while the majority of the remaining field was made up of privateer entrants, mostly running pre-war cars. The organisers were particularly pleased to have attracted entries from leading continental firm Maserati;[5] two of their brand new 4CLT/48 Sanremo models were entered: a works car for Luigi Villoresi, and one by British privateer Reg Parnell. A third 4CLT/48 was later entered for a second factory driver, Alberto Ascari, and a fourth as a reserve in the hands of local driver Leslie Brooke. Four Talbot-Lago T26C cars were also entered, including one for pre-war star driver Louis Chiron, and a fifth held in reserve, entered by Lord Selsdon. Although Scuderia Ferrari entered two of its Ferrari 125s, the team decided at the last minute to concentrate their efforts on mainland Europe and did not arrive.

Of the older vehicles, two of the most notable were the Maserati 4CLs from the Scuderia Platé and White Mouse Stable teams. These cars were to be driven by Toulo de Graffenried and Prince Bira respectively, both previously winners of major races. The ERA marque, well represented among the local privateers, was bolstered by a factory entry from the firm's progenitor Raymond Mays. Another significant ERA entry was that of David Hampshire who drove R1A, the first ERA car to be constructed, dating from 1934.[6] Leslie Johnson, owner of ERA in 1948, entered and drove one of the firm's 1939 E-type models. Although Peter Walker was also entered in an E-type, the car was unavailable on race day so he reverted to his own B-type, R10B.[7]

Notable by their absence were the Alfa Romeo works team, who decided not to attend with their dominant 158 Alfetta cars. One Alfa oddity was on show, however: the 1935 Bimotore, albeit with only one of its two engines in operation, was driven by Tony Rolt, an ex-Colditz prisoner of war and the future developer of four-wheel-drive.[8]

Entry list

No Driver Entrant Car Qual.
1 Louis Chiron Ecurie France Talbot-Lago T26C 1
2 Gianfranco Comotti G. Comotti Talbot-Lago T26C 11
3 Louis Rosier L. Rosier Talbot-Lago T26C 12
4 Philippe Étancelin P. Étancelin Talbot-Lago T26C 3
5 (r) Lord Selsdon Lord Selsdon Talbot-Lago T26C -
6 Reg Parnell R. Parnell Maserati 4CLT/48 7
7 (r) Fred Ashmore F. Ashmore Maserati 4CL -
8 Duncan Hamilton D. Hamilton Maserati 6CM 18
9 Bob Ansell R.E. Ansell Maserati 4CL 21
10 Raymond Sommer R. Sommer Ferrari 125 DNA
11 Giuseppe Farina G. Farina Ferrari 125 DNA
12 Raymond Mays Raymond Mays ERA B-Type 17
14 Peter Walker P.D.C. Walker ERA E-Type 8
15 Leslie Johnson Leslie Johnson ERA E-Type 5
16 Bob Gerard F.R. Gerard ERA B-Type 4
17 (r) George Watson G. Watson Alta 69/IS 16
18 Luigi Villoresi Scuderia Ambrosiana Maserati 4CLT/48 24
19 B. Bira H.R.H. Prince Chula Maserati 4CL 6
20 Emmanuel de Graffenried E. Platé Maserati 4CL 2
21 (r) Anthony Baring A.A. Baring Maserati 6CM -
22 Geoffrey Ansell G. Ansell ERA B-Type 15
23 Cuth Harrison T.C. Harrison ERA B-Type 10
24 David Hampshire D.A. Hampshire ERA A-Type 19
25 (r) John Bolster P.H. Bell ERA B-Type 13
26 Sam Gilbey S.J. Gilbey Maserati 6CM 23
27 Roy Salvadori Rowland Motors Ltd. Maserati 6CM 22
28 Leslie Brooke Alfieri Maserati Maserati 4CLT -
29 Tony Rolt A.P.R. Rolt Alfa Romeo 3.45 L 9
30 (r) George Nixon G. Nixon ERA A-Type 20
31 (r) Guy Richardson G. Richardson Riley-ERA 14
32 Bobby Baird R. Baird Emeryson-Duesenberg DNQ
(11)1 Alberto Ascari Scuderia Ambrosiana Maserati 4CLT/48 25

1 Late entry, assumed the running number of non-arrival Giuseppe Farina.
(r) Reserve entry.

RAC 500 cc race

The main Grand Prix event was supported by a race for 500 cc (later to become Formula 3) cars. It was dominated by privateer Cooper entries that included future Grand Prix star Stirling Moss and John Cooper himself, both driving the new MkII. Future four-time British Hill Climb Champion Ken Wharton was also in the running, driving his self-built 500 cc special, in a strong field of well over 30 cars.

Despite the prestigious occasion – running two hours before the main Grand Prix event, the 500 cc race was actually the first ever competitive race on the Silverstone Circuit – the start was something of a shambles.[9] When British Racing Drivers' Club President Lord Howe dropped the starting flag only two of the 34 drivers were ready to begin. Eric Brandon – an experienced 500 cc driver, and the first to win a 500 cc race in Britain[9] – was not even seated in his car, but recovered to finish fifth. Moss had dominated the British 500 cc race season up to this point, but his car lost drive during the race and challenger Spike Rhiando won in his Cooper MkII. John Cooper was second, and the 58-year-old Baronet of Bodicote, Sir Francis Samuelson (also a Cooper MkII driver) took third.[10]

Grand Prix

Qualifying

The works Maserati 4CLTs were delayed on their way to Silverstone, and in their absence qualifying was dominated by Monegasque driver Chiron, in his Ecurie France-run Talbot-Lago. He took pole position with a time of 2:56.0, a second clear of de Graffenried's Maserati in second place. Third was the Talbot-Lago of Philippe Étancelin, a further second behind de Graffenried. Despite driving a car a decade older than those in front of him, Bob Gerard managed to put his ERA R14B into fourth position, only two-tenths of a second behind Étancelin, with Johnson's ERA E-type in fifth. Having missed qualifying, the Maseratis of Villoresi and Ascari were forced to start at the back of the field, in 24th and 25th positions respectively.

Race

At the start, Chiron led Parnell and Johnson, who had both passed de Graffenried, Étancelin and Gerard, into the first corner. Here the driveshaft on Johnson's ERA failed, causing its immediate retirement. Parnell's month-old Maserati also dropped out on the first lap, with a split fuel tank. Another early retiree was Italian privateer Gianfranco Comotti, whose Talbot's brakes failed on lap three. Geoffrey Ansell's ERA R9B rolled on lap 23, throwing Ansell out of the car. He was unscathed.

The Maseratis of Villoresi and Ascari, showing their superior pace and benefiting from retirements, moved rapidly through the field and into the lead, which they swapped many times throughout the race. They were never more than a few seconds apart, except during pit stops. Villoresi, who posted the fastest lap of the race (2:52.0), proved the eventual winner, 14 seconds ahead of his team mate and half a lap ahead of Gerard. The only other finisher on the same lap as the leaders, but only a few seconds from being lapped, was Louis Rosier's Talbot-Lago.

Classification

Pos No Driver Manufacturer Laps Time
1 18 Luigi Villoresi Maserati 65 3:18:03.0
2 11 Alberto Ascari Maserati 65 + 14.0s
3 16 Bob Gerard ERA 65 + 2:03.0
4 3 Louis Rosier Talbot-Lago 65 + 4:35.6
5 19 B. Bira Maserati 64 + 1 lap
6 25 John Bolster
Peter Bell		 ERA 63 + 2 laps
7 24 Peter Fotheringham-Parker
David Hampshire		 ERA 60 + 5 laps
8 27 Roy Salvadori Maserati 60 + 5 laps
9 20 Emmanuel de Graffenried Maserati 59 + 6 laps
10 30 George Dixon ERA 58 + 7 laps
11 14 Peter Walker ERA 53 + 12 laps
12 9 Bob Ansell
George Bainbridge		 Maserati 50 + 15 laps

References

Sources

Footnotes

  1. ^ Programme..., p.10
  2. ^ GrandPrix.com
  3. ^ Programme..., p.16
  4. ^ Programme..., p.7
  5. ^ Programme..., p.19
  6. ^ The ERA Cars.
  7. ^ 1948 Revisited, p.29
  8. ^ 1948 Revisited, p.31
  9. ^ a b "Spike" Rhiando
  10. ^ 500 cc results...
Grand Prix Race
Previous race:
1948 Italian Grand Prix		 1948 Grand Prix season
Grandes Épreuves		 Next race:
1949 British Grand Prix
Previous race:
1927 British Grand Prix		 British Grand Prix Next race:
1949 British Grand Prix