ALBI G.P.  FRANCE

By Emilio J. Lezcano  /  carsNtravel

Introduced in 1933 "Grand Prix de l’Albigeos", (Albi) soon became one of the classic pre-war Voiturette races. It was raced using the fast three lined ‘Les Planques’ public roads course beside the river Tarm,  bumpy and narrow triangular  circuit with the pits and the start on the shortest of the straights, the one closest to Albi.

Albigeos, Albi circuit 2.90km

After a right hander the track went twisting trough Saint Antonie and climbed to the village of St Juery where a tight hairpin  led  the  track  southwards  over  a  railroad  level crossing  and  a  hump.  Then a long fast straight to Mont Plaisir was followed by another long straight that ended in   a right hander leading back to the start line.

The two first years the Albi GP was run with both GP and Voiturette classes.  Veyron  dominated the Voiturette class
by making a hat trick of victories 1933-35. In 1935 Albi introduced a system of having the race run in two heats with times added to determine the final order.

Louis Rosier Ferrari 1952

In 1936 "Prince B. Bira" won as he pleased with his ERA car  named  "Remus"  when  the  opposition  fell out with technical problems.  It was an ERA victory again in 1937 before Maserati took the last two pre-war wins with Luigi Villoresi and John Wakefield.

After  the  war  the Albi GP was revived in 1946,  when Nuvolari’s  Maserati 4CL won at 91.57mph (147.36kph) and continued as a non-championship Formula 1 race. The track was shortened in 1951 and Albi Grand Prix was held annually (apart from 1954) until 1955, then became one of the tracks that was closed after the Le Mans disaster in 1955.