1949 British Grand Prix

The 1949 British Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race which was held at Silverstone on 14 May 1949. The race was won by Emmanuel de Graffenried driving a Maserati 4CLT.

1949 British Grand Prix
Race details
Date	14 May 1949 (1949-05-14)
Official name	RAC British Grand Prix
Location	Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, England
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.828 km (3.000 mi)
Distance	100 laps, 482.8 km (300.0 mi)
Attendance	120,000
Pole position
Driver	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati
Time	2:09.8
Fastest lap
Driver	B. Bira	Maserati
Time	2:10.4
Podium
First	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati
Second	Bob Gerard	ERA
Third	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot

Background

The layout used from 1950-51 was the same as in 1949 except for bypassing the Club chicane

The 1949 Grand Prix was held just seven months after the 1948 event on a substantially modified layout. For 1949 the layout used perimeter roads only, no longer running down the runways. The layout was much the same as that used until 1973 with the exception of a tight chicane at what became Club corner in order to ensure cars were tested at both high and low speeds.

Also new for 1949 was the RAC being granted Grande Epreuve status for their race, officially adopting the title of British Grand Prix.

Entries

Although a large entry was attracted, in spite of the increased importance placed on the event the entry did not include any true factory entries.

No	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine
1	B. Bira	Private	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT/48	Maserati L4s
2	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Private	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT/48	Maserati L4s
3	Tony Rolt	Private	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo B	Alfa Romeo L8
4	Raymond Mays Ken Richardson	T. Vandervell	Thinwall Special Ferrari	Thinwall Special Ferrari 125	Ferrari V12s
5	Bob Ansell	Private	Maserati	Maserati 4CM	Maserati L4s
6	Geoff Ansell Brian Shawe-Taylor	Private	ERA	ERA B	ERA L6s
7	Bob Gerard	Bob Gerard Racing	ERA	ERA B	ERA L6s
8	David Hampshire Billy Cotton	Private	ERA	ERA B	ERA L6s
9	David Murray	Private	Maserati	Maserati 4CL	Maserati L4s
10	Reg Parnell	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT/48	Maserati L4s
11	Fred Ashmore	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT/48	Maserati L4s
12	Luigi Villoresi	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Maserati	Maserati 4CLT/48	Maserati L4s
15	Louis Chiron	SFACS Ecurie France	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot L6
16	Louis Rosier	Private	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot L6
17	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Private	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot L6
18	George Abecassis	Private	Alta	Alta GP	Alta L4s
19	Johnny Claes	Ecurie Belge	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot L6
20	George Nixon	Private	ERA	ERA A	ERA L6s
21	Peter Whitehead Dudley Folland	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	Ferrari 125	Ferrari V12s
22	Duncan Hamilton Philip Fotheringham-Parker	Private	Maserati	Maserati 6CM	Maserati L6s
23	Cuth Harrison	?	ERA	?	?
24	Philippe Étancelin	Private	Talbot-Lago	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot L6
25	Roy Salvadori	Private	Maserati	Maserati 4CL	Maserati L4s
26	Anthony Baring	Private	Maserati	Maserati 4CM	Maserati L4
27	John Bolster	P.H. Bell	ERA	ERA B	ERA L6s
28	Peter Walker	P.N. Whitehead	ERA	ERA B	ERA L6s

Practice and qualifying

Practice began on the Thursday before the race, although not all competitors arrived, some having travelled from the 1949 Roussillon Grand Prix in Perignan. Peter Walker set the fastest time on Thursday in 2 minutes 13.2. Luigi Villoresi was still tired, having arrived directly from Perignon, but was able to set second fastest time in 2 minutes 14.4, followed by Tony Rolt (2 minutes 15.8) and Cuth Harrison (2 minutes 16.4).

Times improved the following day as more of the international drivers had arrived. Villoresi would improve on his Thursday time to be fastest of all in 2 minutes 9.8, followed by Bira, who had also arrived from Perignan, in 2 minutes 10.2. The next fastest times set on Friday were by Emmanuel de Graffenried (2 minutes 13.6) and Bob Gerard (2 minutes 14.4).

The starting grid was arranged in rows of five, then four, then five, and so on.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	12	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati	2:09.8	–
2	1	B. Bira	Maserati	2:10.2	+ 0.4
3	28	Peter Walker	ERA	2:13.2	+ 3.4
4	2	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati	2:13.6	+ 3.8
5	7	Bob Gerard	ERA	2:14.4	+ 4.6
6	10	Reg Parnell	Maserati	2:14.8	+ 5.0
7	3	Tony Rolt	Alfa Romeo	2:15.8	+ 6.0
8	24	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:15.8	+ 6.0
9	23	Cuth Harrison	ERA	2:16.4	+ 6.6
10	8	David Hampshire	ERA	2:17.2	+ 7.4
11	17	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:17.4	+ 7.6
12	18	George Abecassis	Alta	2:17.6	+ 7.8
13	6	Geoff Ansell	ERA	2:18.0	+ 8.2
14	21	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari	2:18.4	+ 8.6
15	15	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:19.2	+ 9.4
16	27	John Bolster	ERA	2:20.0	+ 10.2
17	11	Fred Ashmore	Maserati	2:20.8	+ 11.0
18	19	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:22.2	+ 12.4
19	4	Raymond Mays	Thinwall Special Ferrari	2:24.6	+ 14.8
20	16	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	2:25.2	+ 15.4
21	26	Anthony Baring	Maserati	2:27.0	+ 17.2
22	22	Duncan Hamilton	Maserati	2:29.0	+ 19.2
23	25	Roy Salvadori	Maserati	2:29.2	+ 19.4
24	20	George Nixon	ERA	2:29.8	+ 20.0
25	9	David Murray	Maserati	2:30.4	+ 20.6

Race

Bira made the best start in his Maserati, leading Villoresi's similar car by a clear two lengths at the first corner, followed closely by two more Maseratis, driven by de Graffenried, and by Reg Parnell taking advantage of starting directly behind the fastest drivers. Fifth was the ERA of Gerard. Villoresi overtook Bira for the lead on the third lap, as the pair pulled away from the rest of the field.

On lap 24, Bira regained the lead, and Villoresi began slowing, stopping for fuel at the end of lap 27 and dropping to fourth place behind Parnell moving into second place just slightly ahead of de Graffenried. Behind Villoresi was the Alta of George Abecassis in fifth and another Maserati, that of Fred Ashmore, in sixth. After thirty laps Bira had lapped every car outside of the top four. Not long after this Abecassis lost most of his exhaust pipe but continued on unfazed, while at the same time Villoresi stopped again, this time retiring with a loss of oil pressure.

Bira began suffering from brake fade, allowing Parnell to slowly close the gap but after 40 laps they were still around 40 seconds apart, with de Graffenried now around 20 seconds behind Parnell, followed now by Gerard and the Talbot-Lago of Philippe Étancelin. On his 48th lap Bira was unable to slow for the Club chicane, colliding with the straw bales and a barrel, damaging his suspension too much to continue, giving the lead to Parnell. At the halfway point (50 laps), Parnell lead de Graffenried by 23.6 seconds, followed by Gerard in third from Billy Cotton (who had taken over David Hampshire's ERA), and the Talbot-Lagos of Louis Rosier and Étancelin.

Parnell did not lead for long, however, as his axle oil plug popped out, losing him the lead. He would stop three more times over the next few laps and eventually retired after 69 laps due to a broken rear axle. So then after 60 laps the order was de Graffenried over three minutes ahead of Gerard, the soon to retire Parnell, Cotton, the two Talbot-Lagos, Ashmore and the Alta of Abecassis back up to seventh after losing a significant amount of time with carburettor trouble. Soon after Rosier took his Talbot-Lago into fourth place ahead of Cotton.

For the final 30 laps Gerard began to catch de Graffenried but was still some way back. His progress was helped by de Graffenried making a second stop for fuel on lap 85, but only managed to come within a minute of leading. So then de Graffenried won the race in a time of nearly four hours, 65 seconds ahead of Gerard who was himself a lap clear of third placed Rosier, the only driver to complete the race without stopping for fuel.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	2	Emmanuel de Graffenried	Maserati	100	3:52:50.2	4
2	7	Bob Gerard	ERA	100	+ 1:05.2	5
3	16	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	99	+ 1 Lap	20
4	8	David Hampshire Billy Cotton	ERA	99	+ 1 Lap	10
5	24	Philippe Étancelin	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	97	+ 3 Laps	8
6	11	Fred Ashmore	Maserati	97	+ 3 Laps	11
7	18	George Abecassis	Alta	96	+ 4 Laps	12
8	21	Peter Whitehead Dudley Folland	Ferrari	95	+ 5 Laps	14
9	6	Geoff Ansell Brian Shawe-Taylor	ERA	94	+ 6 Laps	13
10	19	Johnny Claes	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	92	+ 8 Laps	18
11	22	Philip Fotheringham-Parker Duncan Hamilton	Maserati	92	+ 8 Laps	22
Ret	4	Raymond Mays Ken Richardson	Thinwall Special Ferrari	82	Accident	19
Ret	10	Reg Parnell	Maserati	69	Transmission	6
Ret	25	Roy Salvadori	Maserati	65	Valve	23
Ret	9	David Murray	Maserati	64	Engine	25
Ret	27	John Bolster	ERA	53	Accident	16
Ret	28	Peter Walker	ERA	50	Brakes	3
Ret	1	B. Bira	Maserati	47	Collision	2
Ret	15	Louis Chiron	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	41	Engine	15
Ret	17	Yves Giraud-Cabantous	Talbot-Lago-Talbot	39	Oil leak	11
Ret	26	Anthony Baring	Maserati	39	Water leak	21
Ret	12	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati	36	Engine	1
Ret	23	Cuth Harrison	ERA	25	Engine	9
Ret	20	George Nixon	ERA	16	Supercharger	24
Ret	3	Tony Rolt	Alfa Romeo	15	Rear axle	7
DNS	5	Bob Ansell	Maserati		Engine