1925 European GP in Spa

The 1925 European GP at Spa on June 28 was the race where after the non-appearance of three Sunbeams and two Guyots only seven cars made the start. Three red Alfa Romeos and four blue Delages. After 33 of the total 54 laps, all four Delages and the 1924 Alfa P2 of Brilli-Peri had expired. This then left only the two Alfa Romeos of Ascari and Campari, who circled around the Spa circuit at undiminished speed to complete the remaining 21 laps without any opposition. You might have heard the following story before and I quote from ALFA ROMEO a history by Peter Hull & Roy Slater.

It was during this race that the legendary incident took place when Ascari and Campari were so far ahead that Jano invited them into the pit at a refueling stop for an impromptu five-minute meal round the table, whilst their cars stood by being cleaned and polished. This was Jano’s reply to the Belgian crowd, who were rather foolishly demonstrating against the Italians because they were gaining such an easy victory.

Nice story, it is. But I cannot find any references to this in my various primary sources. So, where does this story then appear in the contemporary press of 1925? Are there truly several independent press reports about this little episode or is it just another little half-truth? Did it really happen? And then at which time or what lap during the race had this incident supposedly taken place?

There was a piece in Autocar after the race written by none other than Ascari
He didn't mention the meal story either

By the beginning of the seventies, the French magazine “L’Automobile” published a series of “profiles”, describing among others the 1.5-litre Delage, the Jaguar C and the Alfa P 2. The Alfa P 2 article was written by Griffith Borgeson and revised by Christian Moity.
Borgeson quoted an interview with Vittorio Jano in which Jano had told him about the picnic.

In the contemporary French press (La Vie Automobile, Omnia), the story is not mentioned.

Probably, at Spa in 1925, there was the usual pit stop during which Ascari and Campari, with a comfortable margin in the background, took their time to drink an additional glass of vine, and fifty years later Jano made a picnic of it.
In my eyes simply a result of Jano’s joie de vivre and Italian enthusiasm and not of some antipathy concerning Delage and the Belgian crowd as Borgeson, who was a master in making a mountain out of a molehill, tried to reveal between the lines.

The originator seems to be Peter Hull who had ties with Luigi Fusi and probably Vittorio Jano as well.

Therefore Robert Dick’s explanation sounds quite convincing in that the originator came from the Alfa camp itself. Maybe Peter Hull told the original account similar to Alfred Neubauer’s stories by adding a bit more salt and pepper to arrive at a more entertaining version.

I tried to find out when and where that Alfa picnic story had originated in my various secondary sources and here I list my findings, which is of course in chronological order, so we can see who copied whom.

1967 – Peter Hull & Luigi Fusi, The P2 Grand Prix Alfa Romeo, p7
1973 - Adriano Cimarosti, Autorennsport, p77
1975 - Peter Hull, ALFA ROMEO, p63
1980 - Cyril Posthumus, The Roaring Twenties, p58-59
1981 - Kevin Desmond, The Man with Two Shadows, p24
1982 - Edmond Cohin, L’historique de la course automobile 1894-1978, p147
1982 - Peter Hull & Roy Slater, Alfa Romeo, A History, p32-33
1986 - Adriano Cimarosti, Autorennen, p63
1987 - Jean-Paul Delsaux, Francorchamps 1922-1947, p14-15
1987 - Paul Sheldon, A Record of Grand Prix and…Vol.1, p253-254
1993 - Jean-Paul Delsaux, 50 Grands Prix de Belgique
1993 - Ivan Rendall, The Checkered Flag, p111-113
1998 - Anthony Pritchard, A Century of Grand Prix Motor Racing, p36
1999 – Giuseppe Guzzardi/Enzo Rizzo: The Century of Motor Racing, p42

Hans: Here is David Venables' version, in "First Among Equals" (2000) -

As a gesture of confidence in the team, during the race Jano had a table laid on the track in front of the Alfa Romeo pit and ate his lunch in full view of the unappreciative crowd, who understandably found the demonstration quite boring. During their refuelling stops Ascari and Campari were invited to join him for a hasty snack; presumably Nicola Romeo, who attended the race and had probably paid for the meal anyway, made up the party.

Not a primary source, but a different spin on the same event. It would seem to gel with Hull & Slater's version, depending on how you read their text!

No direct relation to Jano's picnic, but a nice (high resolution) photo of the Benoist/Carra Delage at :
http://www.retromobi...3?id_article=30

In the background : Madame Benoist and Albert Guyot?

Originally posted by Hans Etzrodt
The originator seems to be Peter Hull who had ties with Luigi Fusi and probably Vittorio Jano as well.

No Hans. The story can be always found in earlier Italian sources.
In Canestrini's memoirs, Uomini e Motori, 1957 there is the complete story with picnic table and car-wash. Canestrini had been appparently an eye-witness to this.
In fact the true story should be the one described by Canestrini himself in the Gazzetta dello Sport of the Monday after the race:
"Scomparsa ogni traccia di resistenza dei disgraziati avversari l'uno dopo l'altro al 40. giro i nostri guidatori sostano al box, si rifocillano, fanno un poco di toilette alle vetture. Ascari cambia anche tutte e quattro le gomme. Cinque minuti trascorrono cosi'. il pubblico e' freddissimo, indifferente".
My translation: " After that any trace of resistence by the adversaries had disappeared, our drivers would stop at the pits simultaneously on the 40th lap, to get a refreshment and tidy up the cars. Ascari also changes the four tyres. This had taken five minutes. The public is extremly cold, unconcerned".

Any idea where a copy of the book: Canestrini's memoirs, Uomini e Motori, 1957 can be found??

Gentlemen, thank you all for your contributions. For my own use, I shall stick with the version presented by Alessandro's primary source information, written by no less than Canestrini himself in 1925.

In Borgeson’s interview with Jano mentioned in L’Automobile (Borgeson wrote that the interview took place 39 years after the race), Jano mentioned a picnic during the earlier laps, when most of the Delages were still running and their drivers were rather surprised because of the picnic table in front of the pits (btw : the road in front of the pits was narrow and it is doubtful if the race official allowed a picnic table there).

On the other hand, Canestrini wrote about a normal, although slightly longer than normal, pit stop on lap 40, when the Alfas of Ascari and Campari were alone.

= = = = = = = =

Tyres :
In his general Alfa P2 specifications, Fusi quoted the P2 tyre dimension as 5.25x19 front and 6.00x19 rear. According to some photos of the 1925 Spa race, Alfa and Delage both used Pirelli tyres (unusual for Delage!), apparently but not sure with the dimensions 31x4.75 front and 31x5.25 rear.
Any technical infos about the Pirelli tyres which were used during the 1924 and 1925 seasons and their dimensions?

I have a period magazine which doesn't mention the picnic halt, but neither gives anything close to a race report. For the pleasure of your eyes, here's a scan of one of the pictures it contains:



I might find the race reports in the period newspaper at the local library, but I'm afraid I'm unable to plan such a visit there before a couple of weeks due to workload.