36 replies to this topic

[jrosenzweig]

Well someone asked for it so here it is I'm curious as to the history of the circuit too so if anybody has some interesting stories etc please share them. As far as photos go, i have found only one site for Pescara.

http://www.abol.it/c...erbo/index.html

And its quite a nice site too - some good pics there.




Jamie

[MattFoster]

Great site, thanks for posting it here

Alfas seemed to like it there!

[Ray Bell]

Truly an excellent site for photos, pics from each year (except 1949...anyone can help them?) from the beginning! And that 7-litre Mercedes looks like a handful!
Wonder why they mention that Nuvolari's fastest lap of 1932 wasn't beaten until Moss came along.... or more to the point, what changes there might have been etc.
And Denny Hulme won there in a Formula Junior!
I emailed the site in an endeavour to get permission to post pics and text, but the email bounced... shame...[p][Edited by Ray Bell on 12-13-2000]

[Michael Müller]

Hereafter my text which I wrote for the October edition of 8W:

The history of Pescara, or the Coppa Acerbo as it was named in the prewar period, is rather long and changeable. It all started in 1924, although the race track at Monza was in use already since 1922, the Italian car industry was looking for a really challenging track to test their cars in competition, nearer to the industrial heartland than the rural Sicilian Targa Florio Madonie track. Initiator of the event was one Signore Acerbo, Fascist party leader at Pescara, and brother of Tito Acerbo, an Italian hero of WW1, after whom the race was named. From the beginning the Coppa Acerbo had substantial backing from politics, industry, and also from the drivers, who loved the challenging 25 km track, a triangle of long straight Adriatic coast roads and twisty Abruzzian mountain tracks. Starting and price money was high, so a competitive entry list was always guaranteed. Consequently spectator interest was high too, and very soon the organizers decided to fix a very specific date for the race, August 15, the date of the Ferragosto holiday, and traditionally the middle of the Italian summer holiday season. From now on for all tourists spending their summer holidays at the Adriatic seaside it was easy to remember: Ferragosto day was race day!
In the early 30s Acerbo became minister in Mussolini’s government, meaning that he could even increase his backing for the event, which topped in the achievement – probably through political channels – to get the works teams of Mercedes and Auto Union to the starting grids. surprisingly, as the Coppa Acerbo was no championship event, even not an official Grand Prix.

Ferragosto day was race day, so in order to continue this tradition the first post-war event was organized as early as 1947. The “Acerbo” name was dropped for political reasons, and it was held as sports car race, which besides a lot of pre-war machinery attracted also some brand new constructions like one of the very early Ferraris (which even today is named the “Pescara roadster”). The 1948 and 1949 editions were part of the Italian sports car championship, open for 2 ltr cars. But organizers and spectators wanted to return to the old glorious days, so in 1950 the 19th event was the first “Pescara Grand Prix”, held for F1. However, success was limited, as the Scuderia Ferrari decided not to enter, so the battle was only between the red Alfettas, the blue Talbot-Lagos, and a few private entries. The situation in 1951 was no better, this time the Scuderia was present, but Alfa Corse stayed at home. Contrary to the lack of real competition in the Grand Prix, the supporting 6 hours sports car race held the previous day could be called a success, and this led to the decision to step over to endurance sports car racing again. Surprisingly this philosophy within 2 years changed again, and in 1954 F1 grand prix cars roared along the Adriatic coast again, but an all-private entry field did not bring the success the organizers had hoped for. The 1955 event was cancelled due to the Le Mans desaster, and in 1956 the “Pescara Grand Prix” again was held for sports cars.

But how did they manage it? The next year the race was again a Formula 1 event, and even part of the world championship! The Belgian and Dutch GPs were both cancelled because of disputes over starting money, but claims from the organisers of the Reims GP (Rouen had the French GP) were ignored despite an excellent entry. Surprisingly the event was realized, although racing on public roads was banned in Italy after the tragic accident of de Portago in the same year’s Mille Miglia.
The Pescara organisers arranged for an early morning start to beat the afternoon heat, hopefully appreciated by the 200,000 strong Italian crowd that lined the circuit. Musso lead at the start in the lone Ferrari but was passed by Moss. The Italian retired and Moss took a comfortable victory, 3 minutes 13.9 seconds ahead of Fangio.
Most probably the financial efforts to organize a world championship Grand Prix had been underestimated by the enthusiastic organizers, as economical reasons forced them to withdraw for 1958 and 1959. Whether the ban on road racing was also part of this decision is unclear, but in 1960 the 26th edition of the Pescara Grand Prix took place, still on the old famous triangle road track. Although only for Formula Junior, they received an impressive 63 entries.
1961 then the last highlight, and also the final curtain. The Pescara GP was part of the world sportscar championship, astonishing again, as with the Targa Florio Italy had already one championship event. But that was it, the 27th Pescara Grand Prix – or Coppa Acerbo – was also the last. Two reasons were reported, firstly organisational failures, but mainly I believe safety considerations. The speed in the meantime had reached a level which was unacceptable anymore for public roads, which although closed lacked the safety infrastructure of a standard length circuit.

What has been left over from the Coppa Acerbo or the Pescara Grand Prix? Rememberings of one the greatest road races, a highly challenging track, with a roll of honour which includes the greatest drivers of their period – to name only some of them - Campari, Varzi, Nuvolari, Fagioli, Rosemeyer, Caracciola, Hawthorn, Moss, Bandini, Hulme.

[jrosenzweig]

Ray, they did insert a chicane before the pits. I can't remember which year that was. I do remember reading that someone crashed into a vineyard on this straight...

I also read that over the 'flying kilometre' Fangio was clocked at 192mph. Sorry i would have to look the year up, it was in the 50's of course. I don't know about you but 192mph is where you need big balls. Needless to say i think a driver was killed at the end of this section before the right-hander.

I think i should go find that book...




Jamie

[Bernd]

Correct Jamie the chicane though could hardly be called a chicane in that it would be flat out in a modern F1 and was taken in 4th gear by the actual cars of the period.

The speeds reached at Pescara were really quite insane if anything at all went wrong at those speeds it would be game over, lights out.

[Ray Bell]

I'm sure Moss wrote about 190+ mph too, somewhere or other, possibly in 'Design & Behaviour..'
Or maybe in 'All But My Life'... who knows.
But it would have taken more than a simple chicane to reduce the lap times enough for Caratsch or Rosenmeyer and those boys not to equal the earlier Alfa times. Especially with 15 miles to make it up.
Seen that lovely photo (is it in 1961?) overlooking a hill with the road running down into the valley? Twisty, yes, but fast as well...

[jrosenzweig]

The 'flying kilometer' was at the end of the straight leading from the mountain down to the sea before the right hander back to Pescara.

Pity not many photos or details of the circuit can be found. I think there is a museum in Italy but i'm not sure. Ray, do you like the style of the Coppa Acerbo site? A nice AGP site looking like that would receive a few hits i reckon

Oh, and they've turned the lights on in Lobethal in the lead up to Christmas. Maybe someone should tell them their town should be know for something else... Ray we should get some signs made up and put them around the circuit on New Years Day.



Jamie

[Mickey]

Originally posted by Michael Müller
...The “Acerbo” name was dropped for political reasons...

Was this because he was previously a member of Mussolini's goverment? Or because the word "Acerbo" means "sour", which might not have sounded good enough for such an event?

[Michael Müller]

Mickey, yes, the name "Acerbo" had too much in common with the fascist period, firstly because of minister Acerbo, and secondly because his brother, after whom the event was named, was one of the fascist party's "heroes", although this poor guy had nothing to do at all with facism, because he died already in WW1.

[oldtimer]

Fangio clocked at 192mph. I'm guessing in 1950 in a 158 Alfa. My, those 158 and 159s were fast.

Monkhouse writes of the Mercedes W125s 'approaching 200mph' on the seaside straight between the two chicanes. This in a caption of a shot showing Von Brauchitsch all relaxed in his cloth helmet and darkened lensed goggles...

[mhferrari]

Beautiful track, sums up Italian roads.

[oldtimer]

Can't resist a postscript to thoughts of a W125 approaching 200mph: and not an aerodynamic device in site.

[Bernd]

I know great isn't it

[fines]

Originally posted by oldtimer
Can't resist a postscript to thoughts of a W125 approaching 200mph: and not an aerodynamic device in site.

Aerodynamic devices produce drag and therefore reduce speeds on the straights, otherwise temporary GP cars would probably speed up to 300 mph. Their advantage only shows in cornering.

[oldtimer]

My point was that those guys were driving at those speeds without being clamped on the road. For me, the aerodynamic devices have spoilt the spectacle of watching drivers at work.

And whilst a current F1 is kicking out about 800 horses, the W125 was not so far behind with 650 or so. Maybe 300mph without wings is a little high?

[Don Capps]

Why is it that I find myself becoming more and more of a racing Luddite?

I did visit the Pescara circuit but missed out on the 1957 GP race because we were in the USA that Summer and Fall. What I remember most is being amazed at how they manhandled those big Alfa, Maserati, MB & AU racers through those narrow streets.

[David McKinney]

I know what you mean, Don. I haven't been to Pescara but remember having the same thoughts when I first drove around the Nürburgring (post-Stewart but pre-Lauda).
But nothing matches my wonderment at the conditions the Mercedes and Auto Union drivers had to face at the original Brno circuit, most of which you can still drive around today. Miles of almost dead-straight through valley farmland, slow down to wiggle through a village, flat out again for miles more, another village (there were eight altogether), then uphill on a narrow cobbled road through the forest that anyone else would call a country lane, before running along the mountainside and plunging back down to the start after an 18-mile lap.
Luddite? Count me in!

[fines]

Oldie, you're right about the aero devices spoiling the spectacle of racing - I would love to see F1 without wings and things these days. Luddite? Yes, in a way...

The other side is that I also enjoy the technical aspect of GP Racing, the cars and all the gizmos. Sadly, it seems that both are somewhat incompatible, and more's the pity!

[Ray Bell]

There's more drag on the modern F1 car than the wings... those wheels must be a huge problem for the wind, and again, they're there for the cornering power.

[Ray Bell]

I intend reviving this thread in a very positive way...

Today I drove around most of the circuit, the bits I didn't get to were too hard to fathom out without good maps and plenty of time.

What an amazing place, I'm so glad I made the effort while I'm on this trip. So that's Pau, Piccolo Madonie, Bari and Pesc... sorry, Coppa Acerba...

Pics soon, but then I have to make time to look at Berne and Reims and Rouen and the old Spa-Francorchamps, Solitude if I can too.

[Sharman]

I intend reviving this thread in a very positive way...

Today I drove around most of the circuit, the bits I didn't get to were too hard to fathom out without good maps and plenty of time.

What an amazing place, I'm so glad I made the effort while I'm on this trip. So that's Pau, Piccolo Madonie, Bari and Pesc... sorry, Coppa Acerba...

Pics soon, but then I have to make time to look at Berne and Reims and Rouen and the old Spa-Francorchamps, Solitude if I can too.

O frabjous joy!

[nicanary]

I intend reviving this thread in a very positive way...

Today I drove around most of the circuit, the bits I didn't get to were too hard to fathom out without good maps and plenty of time.

What an amazing place, I'm so glad I made the effort while I'm on this trip. So that's Pau, Piccolo Madonie, Bari and Pesc... sorry, Coppa Acerba...

Pics soon, but then I have to make time to look at Berne and Reims and Rouen and the old Spa-Francorchamps, Solitude if I can too.

Wow, mate! This is the stuff of my dreams. I've recently retired and intended a trip of this nature myself, next year. Then I worked out the cost...........

[Allan Lupton]

Wow, mate! This is the stuff of my dreams. I've recently retired and intended a trip of this nature myself, next year. Then I worked out the cost...........

I hit on the idea of looking at the old road circuits of Europe when I was still quite young and managed to combine visiting them with other touring over many years. I think I got to Pescara, but can't find any photos (so can't be sure!). One year I made a point of trying to visit the Grand Prix circuits of France. I have the photos somewhere and many were attempts at the current view of one of Mathieson's pre-1915 period photos. Without looking it up I think I went to Lyons, Strasbourg, Le Mans, Tours, Reims and Clermont-Ferrand. I had been to the GP at Rouen in '62 so didn't include it.

[Sharman]

I hit on the idea of looking at the old road circuits of Europe when I was still quite young and managed to combine visiting them with other touring over many years. I think I got to Pescara, but can't find any photos (so can't be sure!). One year I made a point of trying to visit the Grand Prix circuits of France. I have the photos somewhere and many were attempts at the current view of one of Mathieson's pre-1915 period photos. Without looking it up I think I went to Lyons, Strasbourg, Le Mans, Tours, Reims and Clermont-Ferrand. I had been to the GP at Rouen in '62 so didn't include it.

One of the main reasons for going to live in France (she never twigged ), I liked the old "Town Circuits" Albi ,San Remo , Nice etc

[nicanary]

I hit on the idea of looking at the old road circuits of Europe when I was still quite young and managed to combine visiting them with other touring over many years. I think I got to Pescara, but can't find any photos (so can't be sure!). One year I made a point of trying to visit the Grand Prix circuits of France. I have the photos somewhere and many were attempts at the current view of one of Mathieson's pre-1915 period photos. Without looking it up I think I went to Lyons, Strasbourg, Le Mans, Tours, Reims and Clermont-Ferrand. I had been to the GP at Rouen in '62 so didn't include it.

Sorry to hijack another member's thread - my proposed trip was to include driving round as many road circuits as I could find, visiting motoring museums and other motoring-related sites, but also other stuff that had evaded me, like the WW1 battlefields, and the Normandy beaches.Plus a bit of cultural stuff, like the cathedrals of Northern France and the Italian Lakes, and I've always fancied the Tyrol in the summer, with all the verdant pastures and wildflower meadows. Beats "Full English Breakfast"  on the Costa del Sol.

 

I had allowed 6 months, but the cost ran into five figures and I couldn't justify leaving my sole offspring without the means to see me off. Any member of TNF who has the time and means should seriously consider such a trip.

[Ray Bell]

I don't bother with cathedrals or battlefields, I guess that saves me a lot of time and money...

There is a thread about how many circuits you have seen and/or driven on, it will have to be dredged up again.

Not that anyone's going to challenge Mike Argetsinger's tally!

[Sharman]

On a rather more sombre note and speaking of battlefields, this year sees the 100th anniversary of the 1st day on the Somme. With la Patronne's connivance this time, our visit to friends will include Beaumont Hamel on 1st July.

[MCS]

My Grandfather (I always called him Albert - he insisted), fought there, but lost most of his seven brothers on the Somme.

 

I have tried, but failed, to finish a number of books on the subject.  I doubt I will ever succeed in finishing any of them.

 

Good luck with your visit/s, Sharman.

[D-Type]

One of the saddest reminders of WW1 that I have seen was a war memorial in a small English town that gave the dates of each death.  One date predominated and included no less than nine members with the same unusual surname so presumably the same family.  The date was obviously when a locally recruited regiment went "over the top"

Edited by D-Type, 25 May 2016 - 09:15.

[Ray Bell]

There isn't a town in Northern NSW at Newton Boyd...

There was one. A little farming settlement in the deep gorges, where all the men went off to WW1.

The women didn't stay when they didn't come back. None came back.

[kayemod]

There isn't a town in Northern NSW at Newton Boyd...

There was one. A little farming settlement in the deep gorges, where all the men went off to WW1.

The women didn't stay when they didn't come back. None came back.

 

I was born after WW2. My family suffered no great loss, the only family member who died during the conflict was an uncle who crashed his night fighter taking off from Croydon, but like many here, I'm deeply affected by WW1 and WW2 cemeteries and memorials, I think I've visited most of the ones in northern Europe.

 

 

I think most of us know what "inconnu" means, but he would have left a big hole is some peoples' lives, I've seen so many like this, and they always leave a lump in my throat. I welcome any serious discussion on the subject, but this isn't the place for it, could this thread be separated?

[nicanary]

I feel a bit responsible for this thread being sidetracked, since I mentioned wanting to visit the battlefields as part of my wish-list journey through Europe.

 

My apologies to the OP and moderators - I agree a seperate thread is required if members want to provide further input.

[Sharman]

Don't think the OP is going to object nicanary, he's not been seen since 2000

[Ray Bell]

I also agree with separating the non-Pescara posts...

It dilutes the value of the thread.

[ozpata]

http://oscarplada.blogspot.com/

[Ray Bell]

If I'd had that map I'd have been able to more closely follow the main town area of the circuit...