With the wind for the race: Brno’s Masaryk Circuit in the changes of time
Only thanks to the courage of tough drivers and the enthusiasm of designers and mechanics, new concepts were tested and more modern, better and faster cars could be developed. During its long history, the racing circuit has changed, its track has been shortened, and finally a completely new one was built.
Solomon’s solution
The idea to create a racing circuit in Brno was born sometime around 1925. The activity came from a group of competitors led by the “queen of the steering wheel” Eliška Junková. He was one of the other initiators Lectured by MUDr. Otakar Bittmann, Bedrich Soffer, Milos Bondy AND Czech car club for Moravia and Silesia (ČAMS). However, the Autoclub of the Czechoslovak Republic did not support the race. ČAMS solved the situation in Solomon, received the patronage of the race directly from President TG Masaryk. On October 23, 1929, official permission came and the new circuit became “Masaryk’s”.
The organizers had several months to create a race track, as the date of the race (called the Grand Prix and since 1935 the Masaryk Grand Prix) was set at the end of September 1930. In addition to the grandstands and seats, a radio station, buffets and a car park were also planned. The road was to be modified to meet the demanding conditions imposed on the racetracks – it should be firm, dust-free, muddy, with a rough surface and curves tilted on one side and widened accordingly. Work began in March at the time of the greatest effort being carried out by 386 workers a day. The adjustment required over 12 million crowns, which were released from the road fund.
The track measured a total of 29 km 142 m in 1930, had 60 turns to the left, 68 to the right, a height difference of 240 m and a maximum climb of 7%. Its parameters resembled the well-known German circuit Nürnburgring, but some also compared it with the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps. We drove in the direction: Bohunice – Nový Lískovec – Kohoutovice – Žebětín – Ostrovačice – Popůvky – Troubsko – Bosonohy.
Great premiere
The famous day for Brno and the Masaryk Circuit came on Sunday, September 28, 1930. The racing elite began to descend several days in advance to take a few days off the track and participate in training. There were 39 cars registered, in which the stars of the then motoring sky sat, among them Baconin Borzacchini, Tazio Nuvolari, Hans Joachim von Morgen, Maximilian Maria Hardegg whose Ernst Günther Burgaller. The track was surrounded by 100,000 spectators. The beginning and end of the race was announced by the organizing car with a white flag, which passed the entire route. Eliška Junková led him with great enthusiasm from onlookers.
He competed in two experiences: I. stronger over 1,500 cc and II. weaker up to 1,500 cc. The first three who achieve the best absolute times regardless of the groups and the first three in each group should be evaluated. The rules were strict, the competitors had to drive a total of 17 laps, ie 495 km 414 m, in the first group within six hours, the second had a limit one hour longer. They drove on the left side, overtook on the right side and the track was forbidden. The race in each group ended 45 minutes after reaching the first competitor, at the latest at the mentioned times.
Changing drivers, refueling, replacing spare parts could only take place in the depot under the supervision of the Stewards. Only the driver, the spare driver, the co-driver and the designated mechanic could take part in the repair. Only the car crew was allowed to repair the track.
In a great international competition, the German von Morgen will surprise you in a Bugatti car at 4.54.13 hours – he therefore drove at an average speed of over 101 km / h. Favored Nuvolari and Rudolf Caracciola had to resign due to a defect.
“Rides like Shiron”
The second year of the Masaryk Circuit took place on September 27, 1931. After a successful premiere, the Brno race gained a good reputation and was included in the international calendar. He thus joined the then most prestigious circuit races, such as the Sicilian Targa Florio or the Grand Prix of Monaco and Monza. The racing elite arrived in Brno again for the second year: Louis Chiron, Achille Varzi, Tazio Nuvolari, Baconin Borzacchini, Hans Joachim von Morgen, Rudi Caracciola and more.
It was then that Louis Chiron won on the Masaryk Circuit for the first time. The representative of the so-called “gentleman’s racing” became Brno’s darling, among the riders, on the other hand, earned the nickname Old Fox.
In 1932, a French woman first appeared on the circuit Anette Itierwhich, however, did not finish the race. Louis Chiron on the Bugatti was unbeatable again and ended his triumphs on the Brno circuit with a “hat-trick” on the Alfa Romeo in 1933. His successes left a mark on us “Rides like Shiron”.
Prim German riders
In 1934, the Masaryk Circuit claimed its first victim. On Friday, September 28, before the start of the second training session at seven o’clock in the morning Slovak driver Josef Brázdil failed to drive and crashed in his new Maserati. He was dead on the spot. Three years later, another tragedy occurred in the forests between Ostrovačice and Žebětín – two spectators were killed and 11 were injured in the German Hermann Lang crash.
In the second half of the interwar era of the Masaryk Circuit, German riders played the leading role von Stuck, Rosemeyer AND Caracciola with the revolutionary Auto Union cars, the designer was known Ferdinand Porsche, and Mercedes Benz, for which the superhuman efforts of “flying Mantovan” Nuvolari were not enough. In 1936, the race did not run due to a collision of deadlines. Rudi Caracciola took care of the last winning entry in the chronicle of the Brno circuit in 1937. He drove the fastest lap at an average speed of 145 km / h on a Mercedes Benz. The eighth year of the race, on September 25, 1938, no longer took place.
Big prize
The Masaryk Circuit came to life again in 1949, when the largest post-war car race in Czechoslovakia was held, this time under the name Grand Prix. The main trophy was the President Gottwald Award. The track entered a new period with several significant changes – the famous Ostrovac serpentines and part of the Žebětín bends were no longer a part of it. The starting point and finish in front of the Bosonohs remained unchanged, but the direction of travel changed.
An incredible 400,000 spectators came to the post-war year, who experienced an exciting spectacle of a captivating start for the favored Maserati cars, which unfortunately ended in a terrible accident right at the beginning of the race. The Italian driver Giuseppe Farina flew off the road with his car and injured twelve spectators, two of whom eventually succumbed to the injuries. To this day, the event is reminiscent of the fateful turn of “Farinova”. Englishman Pernell and Siamese Prince Bira also crashed at the same site, fortunately without further consequences.
TIP: Who was Eliška Junková? Beauty, even a rough racer behind the wheel
Audience darling Louis Chiron did well, but his Maserati car couldn’t keep up the fast pace in the deadly heat. In the end, the tactical Englishman rejoiced at the victory Petr Whitehead and Ferrari. The success of the post-war year was not repeated, the further political development of Czechoslovakia made the top car races impossible for a long time – Brno was no longer registered in Formula 1 races.
The article was created in cooperation with the Technical Museum in Brno, which also provided photographs from its archive. Author Sylvie Zouharová Dyková works at the Technical Museum in Brno as a curator in the field of historic vehicles and internal combustion engines. There she also prepared a long-term exhibition on the history of road races Brno on two wheels – History of the Grand Prix Brno.