1938 Pau Grand Prix
Motor car race
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1938 Pau Grand Prix was a motor race held on 10 April 1938 at the Pau circuit, in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France.
| 1938 Pau Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 10 April 1938 | ||
| Official name | Grand Prix de Pau[1] | ||
| Location | Pau, France | ||
| Course | Temporary Street Circuit | ||
| Course length | 2.760 km (1.720 miles) | ||
| Distance | 100 laps, 276.960 km (172.100 miles) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Delahaye 145 | ||
| Time | 1:48.0 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Rudolf Caracciola | Mercedes-Benz W154 | |
| Time | 1:47.0 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Delahaye 145 | ||
| Second | Mercedes-Benz W154 | ||
| Third | Delahaye 145 | ||
For 1938, new rules were in effect, limiting engine size, and also the size of the field, as few cars were ready to race. The non-championship Grand Prix was won by René Dreyfus, driving the Delahaye 145 Million Franc Race winning car owned by Lucy O'Reilly Schell. The Delahaye V12 did not consume as much fuel as other engines and could finish the race without having to pit.
Rudolf Caracciola and Hermann Lang each entered a new Mercedes-Benz W154, but Lang crashed in practise. When Caracciola had to make a pit stop for refuelling, Lang took over, thus they combined to finish second, narrowly beaten by a heroic drive of Dreyfus. Gianfranco Comotti in another Delahaye finished third, 6 laps down.
The new Alfa Romeo Tipo 308 had problems and did not start. A split fuel tank even made Tazio Nuvolari retire from racing.
Classification
Race
| Pos | No | Driver | Vehicle | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |  René Dreyfus |
Delahaye 145 | 100 | 3hr 08min 59.0sec | 1 | |
| 2 | 6 | Rudolf Caracciola Hermann Lang |
Mercedes-Benz W154 | 100 | + 1:51.0 s | 2 | |
| 3 | 4 |  Gianfranco Comotti |
Delahaye 145 | 94 | + 6 laps | 3 | |
| 4 | 20 | "Raph" |
Maserati 6CM | 85 | + 15 laps | 8 | |
| 5 | 28 | Maurice Trintignant |
Bugatti T35C | 83 | + 17 laps | 6 | |
| 6 | 24 | Dioscoride Lanza |
Maserati 6CM | 81 | + 19 laps | 5 | |
| Ret | 30 | Yves Matra |
Bugatti T51 | 40 | Retired | 7 | |
| Ret | 22 | Antonio Negro |
Maserati 6CM | 9 | Steering | 9 | |
| DNS | 8 | Hermann Lang |
Mercedes-Benz W154 | Did Not Start | |||
| DNS | 12 | Tazio Nuvolari |
Alfa Romeo Tipo 308 | Did Not Start | |||
| DNS | 14 | Emilio Villoresi |
Alfa Romeo Tipo 308 | Did Not Start | |||
| Sources: [1] | |||||||