Four years after the end of the First World War, the Great Sports Week of Strasbourg was held, which took place from July 9 to 19, 1922. This holiday was used to celebrate the Grand Prix of the Automobile Club de France , in Alsace.
At this time it was not yet possible to speak of Formula 1 as such, and they had to wait until the middle of the 20th century to do so, but it was one of the first races to plant the seeds of the future premier class of motorsport.
After being born in Le Mans in 1906, the French Grand Prix had been held seven times before landing in Strasbourg. Three of them were in the Sarthe, but Dieppe, Amiens and Lyon had also played host.
A failure in his first attempt in 1921 did not make the organizers back down, and his proposal for 1922, with a 13.38-kilometre route in the south-west of the city, linking the municipalities of Duttlenheim, Entzheim and Innenheim, succeeded. .
Triangular in shape and using roads normally open to the public, the circuit had three long straights, two right-angled corners and a third hairpin bend.
Interior of the Fiat 804
The entry list had 18 cars , which had to follow very precise regulations and included a minimum weight of 650 kilos and a maximum cylinder capacity of two liters, but also things that we are less used to in modern competition, such as a second seat to be able to take a mechanic, in case you need any type of repair.
On the track you could find Fiat 804 or Bugatti Type 30, but also Ballot 2LS, Aston Martin GP, Sunbeams and Rolland-Pilain A22. Fiat cars had a two-liter inline six-cylinder engine, which gave them 100 horsepower at 4,500 rpm. For its part, the Bugatti had a two-liter eight-cylinder in-line engine, also capable of producing 100 horsepower, but at 5,000 rpm, for a race that was held near the hometown of the brand, Molsheim.
Looking at the images, it is quite clear that aerodynamics was not the priority, but it was beginning to be an object of curiosity and there were certain experiments in some cars, such as the Bugatti, they had a teardrop-shaped body to reduce aerodynamic drag.
The Ballot 2LS , manufactured by Frenchmen Édouard and Maurice Ballot, arrived in Strasbourg in a new outfit: a wrap-around body that encased the spare wheel, a must-have accessory at the time, inside the car’s domed nose.
Giulio Foresti, Ballot 2LS
The race distance was set at 60 laps , which translated to just over 800 kilometres. At this time there were no qualifying sessions, so the usual method was followed to determine the starting positions: a draw, which defined Felice Nazarro as the lucky one who would start from the first position on the grid, at the wheel of his Fiat 804.
The starting signal was given at 8 in the morning on Saturday, July 15, in a novel way in European lands. The group start was already used in some competitions, and had become the usual way of starting races at Indianapolis, but it was the first time it had been used at a major European event.
By the second lap, all three Fiat cars were already in the top three positions. The conditions were difficult: the circuit was long and fast, the roads were dusty and the surface was very uneven, but the biggest problem was the potholes. The holes put the mechanics to the test (who, let’s remember, were also in the car) and several drivers had to retire due to mechanical failures.
Ernest Friderich, Bugatti 30
If the race had taken place today, Pietro Bordino would have dyed his numbers purple, as he was the one who took the shortest time to complete a lap of the track. He needed just under six minutes to cover the more than 13 kilometers of the circuit, at an average speed of 141.10 km/h.
Less than ten laps from the end, tragedy struck. One of the three Fiat cars lost a wheel in the middle of the straight, and Biagio Nazarro and his mechanic hit a tree head-on after going off the road. Both were killed instantly and the race was marred by the loss of the future winner’s nephew.
With six laps to go Pietro Bordino was in the lead, but his Fiat had suffered too much from repeated jolts due to very poor roads, and the other Fiat still in the race, Felice Nazarro ‘s, overtook him. Just moments later, the rear axle of Bordino’s car broke cleanly, but he was luckier than Biagio Nazarro and emerged from the incident unscathed.
Biagio Nazzaro, Fiat 804
After 6 hours and 17 minutes of a particularly hard race, Felice Nazarro prevailed over the rest, after achieving an average speed of 125 km/h. He was informed of the death of his nephew, just 30 years old, after crossing the finish line, and he did not celebrate his victory.
The lack of joy after winning was partly out of respect for his nephew, barely 30 years old, but there was another compelling reason. His mechanics informed him that he had narrowly avoided the tragedy, as they had found some worrying cracks in the rear of his Fiat.
Behind the winner, only the Bugatti of Pierre de Vizcaya and Pierre Marco qualified on the same lap. Officially, there were 13 dropouts out of 18 competitors. A hecatomb, and what would be the last great success of Felice Nazarro, although he would continue competing until 1929.
As for the Strasbourg circuit , it was only used on two more occasions, in 1926, for the Grand Prix Automobile d’Alsace and for the Grand Prix de l’Union Motocycliste de France. Today, not far from the accident site, there is a monument in memory of Biagio Nazarro.
Biagio Nazzaro, Fiat 804 leading the carrera
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