1932 Freeport hurricane, Meteorological history
The storm eventually reached winds of 145 mph (233 km/h), making it a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale. The hurricane proceeded to make landfall early on August 14 just east of Freeport with winds of 150 mph (240 km/h). A ship just offshore of the coast reported a minimum pressure of 942 mbar (27.8 inHg), but the official estimate for the hurricane's landfall intensity was set to 935 mbar (27.6 inHg) given the fact that the system was still rapidly intensifying at the time. Due to the storm's small size, it quickly weakened to tropical storm strength later that day. The storm finally weakened into a tropical depression before dissipating the next day over the Texas Panhandle.


1932 Freeport hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath
In preparation for the storm, 150 vehicles evacuated out of Freeport, while water craft were taken up the Brazos River as far inland as possible. 100 families in Caplen and Gilchrist were also evacuated. The 38th division of the Texas National Guard, stationed in Palacios, was alerted due to the oncoming storm.


1932 Freeport hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath
Heavy rainfall occurred across the coast and further inland due to the storm. Four locations set 24-hour rainfall records for the month of August, the highest of which was set near Angleton, recording 9.93 in (252 mm) of rain on August 13. Angleton also faced a water shortage after its pumping station was destroyed. The remnants of the storm produced as much as 12 in (300 mm) of rain in Oklahoma. Occupants in four vehicles were rescued by the United States Coast Guard near San Luis Pass. In Wharton, 800 birds went missing in the heavy rain.


1932 Freeport hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath
Galveston suffered primarily wind damage in the form of unroofed structures and broken windows. The Galveston Causeway was flooded by the heavy rain, preventing access from Galveston Island to the mainland. Several other roads were blocked by fallen trees. The city was also affected by a power outage after the storm caused loss of power and damaged communication lines. In addition, communication lines in San Antonio were damaged.


1932 Freeport hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath
At William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, 11 planes were damaged when a hangar collapsed, resulting in losses of $250,000. Hermann Park was also affected by the storm, where nine goats began to roam within the park due to a broken fence caused by a fallen limb. 35 convicts were freed from the Ramsey Unit state prison during the storm due to the chance of the prison collapsing. However, after the storm, only eight returned to the prison, leaving 27 others missing.


1932 Freeport hurricane, Preparations, impact, and aftermath
After the storm, the American Red Cross brought supplies to areas affected by the hurricane, requesting as much as $10,000 in relief work. Several other local relief committees also brought supplies to affected areas. An estimated $2 million in damages from the storm were attributed to crop damage alone, especially rice and cotton. The storm was estimated to have killed 40 people and caused $7.5 million in damage.


1932 French Championships (tennis)
The 1932 French Championships (now known as the French Open) was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay ourts at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 22 May until 6 June. It was the 37th staging of the French Championships and the second Grand Slam tournament of the year.


1932 French Championships (tennis)
Henri Cochet and Helen Wills Moody won their final French Championships. For Cochet, it was his fifth win, for Wills Moody, her fourth.


1932 French Championships (tennis), Finals, Men's Singles
Henri Cochet (FRA) defeated  Giorgio de Stefani (ITA), 6–0, 6–4, 4–6, 6–3


1932 French Championships (tennis), Finals, Women's Singles
Helen Wills Moody (USA) defeated  Simonne Mathieu (FRA) 7–5, 6–1


1932 French Championships (tennis), Finals, Men's Doubles
Henri Cochet (FRA) /  Jacques Brugnon (FRA) defeated  Christian Boussus (FRA) /  Marcel Bernard (FRA) 6–4, 3–6, 7–5, 6–3


1932 French Championships (tennis), Finals, Women's Doubles
Helen Wills Moody (USA) /  Elizabeth Ryan (USA) defeated  Betty Nuthall (GBR) /  Eileen Bennett Whittingstall (GBR) 6–1, 6–3


1932 French Championships (tennis), Finals, Mixed Doubles
Betty Nuthall (GBR) /  Fred Perry (GBR) defeated  Helen Wills Moody (USA) /  Sidney Wood (USA) 6–4, 6–2


1932 French Championships – Men's Singles
Henri Cochet defeated Giorgio de Stefani 6–0, 6–4, 4–6, 6–3 in the final to win the Men's Singles tennis title at the 1932 French Championships.


1932 French Championships – Men's Singles, Seeds
The seeded players are listed below. Henri Cochet is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.


1932 French Championships – Women's Singles
Helen Wills Moody defeated Simonne Mathieu 7–5, 6–1 in the final to win the Women's Singles tennis title at the 1932 French Championships.


1932 French Championships – Women's Singles, Seeds
The seeded players are listed below. Helen Moody is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.


1932 French Grand Prix
The 1932 French Grand Prix (official name: XVIII Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France) was a Grand Prix motor race held at Reims-Gueux on 3 July 1932. The race lasted for 5 hours, and was not run over a fixed distance.


1932 French legislative election
French legislative elections to elect the 15th legislature of the French Third Republic were held on 1 and 8 May 1932.


1932 French legislative election
These elections saw the victory of the second Cartel des gauches, but the socialists and Radicals could not form a coalition government. Édouard Herriot instead formed a government with the support of the centre-right, and Radicals held the premiership up to the 6 February 1934 crisis.


1932 Fresno State Bulldogs football team
The 1932 Fresno State Bulldogs football team represented Fresno State Normal School during the 1932 college football season.


1932 Fresno State Bulldogs football team
Fresno State competed in the Far Western Conference (FWC). The 1932 team was led by fourth-year head coach Stanley Borleske and played home games at Fresno State College Stadium on the campus of Fresno City College in Fresno, California. They finished the season with a record of three wins, five losses and two ties (3–5–2, 0–3–1 FWC). The Bulldogs were outscored by their opponents 56–91 for the season, and were shut out in six of their ten games.


1932 GP Ouest–France
The 1932 GP Ouest-France was the second edition of the GP Ouest-France cycle race and was held on 30 August 1932. The race started and finished in Plouay. The race was won by Philippe Bono.


1932 George Washington Colonials football team
The 1932 George Washington Colonials football team was an American football team that represented George Washington University as an independent during the 1932 college football season. In its fourth season under head coach Jim Pixlee, the team compiled a 6–2–1 record and outscored opponents by a total of 149 to 76. In intersectional play, the team defeated Iowa, tied with Oklahoma, and lost to Alabama and Tulsa.


1932 George Washington Colonials football team
When Iowa traveled to Washington, D.C., for its game with George Washington, coach Pixlee requested that Iowa withhold its two African-American players from the game and also not allow them to enter the dressing room or sit on the bench. Iowa coach Ossie Solem agreed that the two would not play but refused the other requests, stating "there isn't anyone big enough in Washington to keep me from taking all my players into the dressing room and onto the playing field."


1932 Georgetown Hoyas football team
The 1932 Georgetown Hoyas football team represented Georgetown University during the 1932 college football season. The team began the season under third-year head coach Tommy Mills, who resigned after five games. He was replaced by Jack Hagerty, who guided the Hoyas for the final four games of the season. Georgetown finished the year with an overall record of 2–6–1.


1932 Georgia Bulldogs football team
The 1932 Georgia Bulldogs football team represented the Georgia Bulldogs of the University of Georgia during the 1932 college football season. The Bulldogs completed the season with a 2–5–2 record.


1932 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team
The 1932 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team represented the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of the Georgia Institute of Technology during the 1932 college football season.


1932 Georgia gubernatorial election
The 1932 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 1932, in order to elect the Governor of Georgia.


1932 Georgia gubernatorial election
Incumbent Democratic Governor Richard Russell Jr. did not run for re-election to a second term, but instead ran for the U.S. Senate.


1932 Georgia gubernatorial election
As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran unopposed in the general election so therefore the Democratic primary was the real contest, and winning the primary was considered tantamount to election.


1932 Georgia gubernatorial election, Democratic primary
The Democratic primary election was held on September 14, 1932. As Talmadge won a majority of county unit votes, there was no run-off.


1932 Georgia gubernatorial election, Democratic primary, County unit system
From 1917 until 1962, the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia used a voting system called the county unit system to determine victors in statewide primary elections.


1932 Georgia gubernatorial election, Democratic primary, County unit system
The system was ostensibly designed to function similarly to the Electoral College, but in practice the large ratio of unit votes for small, rural counties to unit votes for more populous urban areas provided outsized political influence to the smaller counties.


1932 Georgia gubernatorial election, Democratic primary, County unit system
Under the county unit system, the 159 counties in Georgia were divided by population into three categories. The largest eight counties were classified as "Urban", the next-largest 30 counties were classified as "Town", and the remaining 121 counties were classified as "Rural". Urban counties were given 6 unit votes, Town counties were given 4 unit votes, and Rural counties were given 2 unit votes, for a total of 410 available unit votes. Each county's unit votes were awarded on a winner-take-all basis.


1932 Georgia gubernatorial election, Democratic primary, County unit system
Candidates were required to obtain a majority of unit votes (not necessarily a majority of the popular vote), or 206 total unit votes, to win the election. If no candidate received a majority in the initial primary, a runoff election was held between the top two candidates to determine a winner.


1932 German Grand Prix
The 1932 German Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at the Nürburgring on 17 July 1932.


1932 German Ice Hockey Championship
The 1932 German Ice Hockey Championship was the 16th season of the German Ice Hockey Championship, the national championship of Germany. Three teams participated in the championship, and Berliner Schlittschuhclub won the title.


1932 German football championship
The 1932 German football championship, the 25th edition of the competition, ended with the first national title for FC Bayern Munich. The title was won with a 2–0 over Eintracht Frankfurt. It was a replay of the Southern German championship final, in which Eintracht had defeated Bayern 2–0 on 24 April 1932.


1932 German football championship
For both clubs it was their first appearance in the German final. While Bayern, the winner, never appeared in another one, Eintracht made up for the 1932 loss by winning the 1959 final.


1932 German football championship
To qualify for the national championship, a team needed to win or finish runners-up in one of the seven regional championships. On top of those 14 clubs, the two strongest regions, West and South were allowed to send a third team each. In the West, this was the local cup winner while in the South, the third placed team of the championship received this place.


1932 German football championship Final
The 1932 German football championship Final decided the winner of the 1932 German football championship, the 25th of the German football championship, a knockout football cup competition contested by the regional league winners to determine the national champions. It was played on 12 June 1932 at the Städtisches Stadion in Nuremberg. Bayern Munich won the match 2–0 against Eintracht Frankfurt, to claim their 1st German title.


1932 German football championship Final, Route to the final
The German football championship began with 16 teams in a single-elimination knockout competition. There were a total of three rounds leading up to the final. Teams were drawn against each other, and the winner after 90 minutes would advance. If still tied, extra time, and if necessary a replay were used to determine the winner.


1932 German football championship Final, Route to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away; N: neutral).


1932 German presidential election
The 1932 German presidential election was held on 13 March, with a runoff on 10 April. Independent incumbent Paul von Hindenburg won a second seven year term against Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). Communist Party (KPD) leader Ernst Thälmann also ran and received more than ten percent of the vote in the runoff. Theodor Duesterberg, the deputy leader of the World War I veterans' organization Der Stahlhelm, ran in the first round but dropped out of the runoff. This was the second and final direct election to the office of President of the Reich (Reichspräsident), Germany's head of state under the Weimar Republic.


1932 German presidential election
Under the Weimar Republic, which had arisen from Germany's defeat in World War I, the presidency was a powerful office. Although the Weimar Constitution had provided for a semi-presidential republic, structural weaknesses had resulted in a paralyzed Reichstag and this combined with the Great Depression resulted in a government that had governed exclusively via presidential decrees since March 1930, giving the President much power. Hindenburg had been elected to the office in 1925 with the support of a coalition of several parties on the right who hoped that he would overturn the Weimar Republic, which was never particularly popular.


1932 German presidential election
The NSDAP, whose members were known as "Nazis", had risen from being a fringe group to the second-largest party in the Reichstag. Led by Hitler, who exercised sole control over its policy and direction, its ideology combined extreme hostility towards the Weimar Republic with fervent antisemitism and German nationalism. The threat of Hitler caused many on the left to support Hindenburg; at the same time, Hindenburg's failure to overturn the Weimar Republic had disappointed many of those who had supported him in 1925.


1932 German presidential election
The combined effect of these two influences resulted in a reversal of those who supported Hindenburg between the two elections. Some on the left were still lukewarm towards Hindenburg; the Communists exploited this by running Thälmann and promoting him as "the only left candidate". Hindenburg failed to receive the requisite majority of votes in the first round, but was able to win reelection in the runoff.


1932 German presidential election
Hindenburg's reelection failed to prevent the NSDAP from assuming power. Two successive federal elections later that year left it as the largest party in the Reichstag and anti-republic parties in the majority. Under this political climate, Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. Upon Hindenburg's death in 1934 Hitler de facto assumed the presidency, which he combined with the chancellorship to become the Führer und Reichskanzler. This would be the last presidential election in what would become West Germany and East Germany until 1949. It remains, until today, the last direct election of the German President.


1932 German presidential election, Background
World War I had resulted in the collapse of all monarchies in Germany. In place of the German Empire arose the Weimar Republic, named for the city in which its constitution had been drafted. It was never particularly popular among the various groups that constituted its political landscape, receiving lukewarm support even from those who supported democracy and being hated by extremists.


1932 German presidential election, Background
According to the Weimar Constitution, the president was to be elected for a seven-year term by the people, though the first President, Friedrich Ebert, was elected by the Weimar National Assembly in 1919, as the situation in Germany was too chaotic to hold popular elections. Ebert died suddenly in 1925, necessitating an election to be held that year, a year earlier than scheduled.


1932 German presidential election, Background
Paul von Hindenburg, the commander of the German military during the war, had won the 1925 election despite not running in its first round. He had defeated Wilhelm Marx, the candidate backed by the parties of the pro-republic "Weimar Coalition". After 1929, the Great Depression devastated the Republic as parties argued over the proper response to it; the "Grand Coalition" government of Hermann Müller, which had been in power since the 1928 elections, dissolved in the face of the crisis and Müller resigned on 27 March 1930.


1932 German presidential election, Background
Heinrich Brüning, who was appointed Chancellor in his place, had no majority for his austerity policies in the Reichstag and began to use the Presidential powers to rule by decree. This was received positively by many conservatives who disliked democratic government and supported Hindenburg's reelection to further this conservative renaissance. At the same time, Hindenburg's work within the Republic had been much better than had been expected by pro-republican politicians.


1932 German presidential election, Background
The National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), originally called German Workers Party (DAP), was founded in 1919. World War I corporal Adolf Hitler joined it later that year and became first its primary speaker and, in 1921, party leader with dictatorial powers. Hitler's preeminent position and infallibility within the party was confirmed in 1926 at a conference where the party manifesto was ruled immutable. The party's ideology was a mixture of pan-Germanism, antisemitism, disgust with parliamentary parties, and resentment towards big business.


1932 German presidential election, Background
A fringe group for most of the 1920s, the NSDAP, whose members were colloquially known as "Nazis", was brought to public attention on the German right by a referendum against the Young Plan in 1929, when it had been associated with and aided by Alfred Hugenberg's mainstream German National People's Party (DNVP), dramatically increasing its number of seats in the Reichstag in the 1930 federal election. The DNVP and NSDAP made a formal alliance known as the Harzburg Front in 1930.


1932 German presidential election, Electoral system
During the Weimar Republic the law provided that if no candidate received an absolute majority of votes (i.e. more than half) in the first round of a presidential election then a second ballot would occur in which the candidate with a plurality of votes would be deemed elected. It was permitted for a group to nominate an alternative candidate in the second round.


1932 German presidential election, Candidates
Hindenburg was 84 and had no desire to run for a second term, but expressed interest in continuing office if his term was extended. Brüning developed plans to evade direct elections by a Reichstag resolution to extend Hindenburg's time in office by amending the constitutional provisions requiring elections once every seven years. Hugenberg refused such proposals during the first week of January and insisted that an election be held per the constitution, a position that Hitler would also assume.


1932 German presidential election, Candidates
After elections were guaranteed Hindenburg's cadre, led by Major General Kurt von Schleicher, courted the militant right's support of another Hindenburg candidacy. However, Hugenberg persuaded the Stahlhelm to reject such proposals while the NSDAP supported a possible Hitler candidacy. This lack of support made Hindenburg reluctant to run for reelection, which worried both people who wished to preserve the Republic and those who supported Brüning's style of rule by decree.


1932 German presidential election, Candidates
Heinrich Sahm of Berlin approached Schleicher with the possibility of forming a reelection committee for Hindenburg; Schleicher attempted to postpone Sahm's goal pending talks with the Stahlhelm, but as more Hindenburg committees were set up across the country and the prospect of a Hitler candidacy rose Schleicher and Meissner approved the project on 27 January, and the committee was organized on 1 February.


1932 German presidential election, Candidates
Hindenburg insisted on the support of veterans' organizations; with the begrudging support of the Stahlhelm and the unconditional support of the Kyffhäuser League, and the fact that Sahm's committee had obtained more than 3 million signatures for Hindenburg in two weeks, gave Hindenburg enough motivation to run for reelection, declaring his candidacy on 16 February. Among those who signed the petition were the writer Gerhart Hauptmann, painter Max Liebermann, Artur Mahraun, leader of the Young German Order, the industrialist Carl Duisberg, as well as the former ministers Otto Gessler and Gustav Noske.


1932 German presidential election, Candidates
Hitler was hesitant to run given Hindenburg's popularity and the fact that the NSDAP was still not the biggest party in the Reichstag. Furthermore, he was not technically allowed to run as he lacked German citizenship, which was rectified upon his appointment to a post in the civil service of Braunschweig on 26 February. However, the Nazis were rapidly growing in popularity throughout late 1931, and Hitler was able to persuade industrialists that Nazism was compatible with capitalism.


1932 German presidential election, Candidates
The Harzburg Front was starting to show disunity regarding the election, with the DNVP agreeing to support the Stahlhelm's choice of candidate in exchange for support in state elections. Hugenberg attempted to keep Hitler in line with the Harzburg Front at a meeting on 20 February, but to no avail; at a party rally on 22 February NSDAP member Joseph Goebbels revealed that Hitler would run in the race. The Stahlhelm's choice – Theodor Duesterberg – was announced later that day, overshadowed by Hitler's candidacy.


1932 German presidential election, First round campaign
Although Hindenburg preferred to have either been the right-wing or an apolitical candidate, he attracted the support of Republican parties in order to defeat Hitler. The liberal parties – German People's Party and German State Party –  declared their support for Hindenburg.


1932 German presidential election, First round campaign
The Social Democratic leaders Ernst Heilmann and Otto Braun (himself a candidate in the 1925 election), despite the initial resistance of the party's left wing, were able to launch a broad electoral campaign and received the support of the Iron Front alliance, including the democratic Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold association, the Free Trade Unions (ADGB, AfA-Bund) and the Arbeiter-Turn- und Sportbund organization.


1932 German presidential election, First round campaign
The Social Democrats and Brüning's Centre Party would support Hindenburg – in contrast to the 1925 presidential election, when Hindenburg had been the candidate of the political right and had been strenuously opposed by much of the moderate left and political centre. In 1932 this part of the political spectrum decided to unite with the moderate right in supporting Hindenburg to prevent Hitler's election.


1932 German presidential election, First round campaign
The support of the moderate Weimar Coalition was also encouraged by the fact that, contrary to fears expressed at the time of his election in 1925, Hindenburg had not used his office to subvert the constitution, as Hitler now aimed to do. This put Hindenburg's conservative supporters in a difficult position, as their desire for a return to conservatism was at odds with Hindenburg's newfound pro-democracy supporters; indeed, Hindenburg's failure to completely break from the Weimar system would prove a damper on those who had supported him in 1925. Among those who had voted for Hindenburg in 1925 and refused to sign his petition were banker Walter Bernhard, Leipzig mayor Carl Goerdeler, and general August von Mackensen.


1932 German presidential election, First round campaign
Duesterberg's candidacy attracted the votes of industrialists who would have otherwise voted Hindenburg for fear of Hitler. On 1 March the National Rural League (RLB), despite the best efforts of Hindenburg's campaigners, encouraged its followers to vote either Duesterberg or Hitler in order to remove the government of Brüning.


1932 German presidential election, Results
In the first round on March 13 no candidate obtained an absolute majority of the votes cast, though Hindenburg with 49.6% failed only by a narrow margin. He scored higher election results in traditional Social Democratic and Centre strongholds such as the Prussian Rhine Province or Saxony. Hitler's results were a great disappointment to him, nevertheless the NSDAP recorded further gains compared with the 1930 Reichstag election. Hindenburg's failure to win reelection in the first round shocked and disappointed his supporters.


1932 German presidential election, Results
Hitler outperformed Hindenburg in several of his 1925 strongholds, getting up to an estimated 50 percent of the vote of 1925 Hindenburg voters in the first round. Taking Duesterberg's votes into account it has been estimated that Hindenburg retained fewer than a third of those who had voted for him in 1925, fewer than 30 percent excluding Bavaria, where the Bavarian People's Party (BVP) had endorsed him in both elections. The expectations of the Communists presenting "the only left candidate" were not fulfilled, nevertheless they continued their fight against the policies of the Social Democrats and nominated Thälmann for the second round on 10 April.


1932 German presidential election, Results
In reporting the outcome The Des Moines Register warned that "If Hitler wins in April the future of the nation and even of Europe to a great extent is uncertain ... [the Nazis'] extremist policies might easily lead to the gravest international complications." The New York Daily News described Hindenburg as "the grandest character of modern Germany" and said that he had completely defeated the communists and the Stahlhelm, predicting an easy reelection. It was hesitant on the matter of Hindenburg's succession, positing that Hitler would inherit Hindenburg's supporters unless the question of reparations was settled. The Chicago Tribune recorded great disappointment in Paris at the results combined with a confidence that Hindenburg would win in the runoff, and described the Nazi platform as "largely negative[,] ... anti-Republican, anti-parliament, anti-Young Plan, anti-Locarno, anti-league of nations, anti-semitic, and anti-capitalist."


1932 German presidential election, Results
The narrowness of Hindenburg's failure to obtain reelection in the first round made his reelection almost guaranteed in the runoff. Nobody, especially Hindenburg's supporters, desired a runoff given that elections in several states would be held just two weeks later. Still, a runoff provided another chance for Hindenburg's conservative supporters to promote him, especially as Duesterberg was likely to drop out.


1932 German presidential election, Results
A meeting of Stahlhelm's executives on 19-20 March concluded that Duesterberg would not run in the runoff and that the alliance with the DNVP would be rescinded; many of Hindenburg's conservative supporters hoped that Duesterberg voters would mostly swing toward Hindenburg in the runoff. These hopes were increased by the fact that Hugenberg refused to endorse Hitler in the runoff, still sore over the latter's decision to run on his own.


1932 German presidential election, Results
Hindenburg, Hitler, and Thälmann competed in the second round, after Duesterberg had dropped out. As in 1925, the Communist Party nominated Ernst Thälmann. Backed by the Communist International, it was hoped that he would gain support from left-wing Social Democrats disgusted by Hindenburg's character. Indeed, leftist splinter parties such as the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany and the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund organization declared their support, as did intellectuals like Carl von Ossietzky. Hindenburg's conservative supporters had not made any personal attacks against Hitler in the first round, although they criticized the NSDAP and its ideology.


1932 German presidential election, Results
In the runoff they portrayed Hitler as a party man whose anti-republican rhetoric disguised the NSDAP's adherence to the system. They also portrayed Hitler and the Nazis as socialists whose rhetoric against Marxism was a disguise towards their own dislike of private property and free enterprise. They contrasted Hindenburg's Christian character with Hitler's apathy towards organized religion. The NSDAP responded to these accusations by noting the reversal of Hindenburg's supporters between the elections, accusing Hindenburg of betraying his 1925 supporters and allying with the Catholics, Marxists, and Jews who had opposed him then and asserting that Hitler was a victim of a scare campaign by those elements.


1932 German presidential election, Results
Industrialists who had supported Duesterberg were not enthusiastic about Hindenburg and did not largely cross over to him in the runoff, contrary to the hopes of his supporters. Brüning was unpopular amongst industrialists such that after meeting Hitler on 19 March Reusch told the Frankischer Kurier to refrain from making any endorsements in the runoff. Duesterberg endorsed Hindenburg in the runoff; nevertheless, the RLB, the Pan-German League, and the United Patriotic Leagues of Germany all endorsed Hitler in order to end the Republic. Their relationships with Hugenberg were all consequently strained, and he asked the DNVP to not play a role in the runoff as he was increasingly isolated within and outside the party. The industrialist Fritz Thyssen declared himself in favour of Hitler.


1932 German presidential election, Results
In the second round, Hindenburg was elected president by an outcome of 53%, while Hitler significantly increased his result by more than two million votes compared to the first round and obtained up to an estimated 60 percent of Hindenburg's 1925 voters, largely benefiting from Duesterberg's withdrawal. About half of those who had voted for Duesterberg in the first round voted for Hitler while less than a third voted for Hindenburg. Less than 15 percent of Hitler's gains came from defectors of Thälmann.


1932 German presidential election, Aftermath
Hindenburg, who owed his election to the support of the Social Democrats and the Centre Party, took the results with little enthusiasm. His failure to retain the votes of the vast majority of his 1925 supporters strained his relationship with Brüning irreparably, and he dismissed the chancellor on 30 May. This was a serious blow to those who had supported Brüning's style of presidential rule by decree. Brüning's successor was Franz von Papen, an ally of Schleicher's who had no political experience or support in the Reichstag.


1932 German presidential election, Aftermath
Schleicher and Papen courted the support of the Nazis by calling new Reichstag elections and lifting a ban Brüning had placed on the Nazi Sturmabteilung. The NSDAP emerged from the Reichstag elections in July as the largest party ever seen in the Reichstag and having over a third of the vote, while Papen's position was undermined. Papen dissolved the Reichstag again with elections in November, in which the Nazis lost seats but remained the largest party. Although Papen retained the trust of Hindenburg and the army, he was widely unpopular and a strike by the Communists and Nazis enabled Schleicher, who had tired of him, to drum up fears and force Papen from office and become chancellor himself on 2 December.


1932 German presidential election, Aftermath
After two months of an ineffective Schleicher chancery, Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on 30 January 1933 upon the recommendation of Papen. The Reichstag fire of 27 February was used as a pretext by Hitler to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree, which nullified constitutional protections of free speech and other civil liberties. Reichstag elections in March gave him a working majority, and he assumed dictatorial powers with the passage of the Enabling Act on 23 March. Hitler succeeded Hindenburg as head of state upon his death in 1934, whereafter he abolished the office entirely and replaced it with the new position of Führer und Reichskanzler, cementing his rule until his suicide during World War II in 1945.


1932 German presidential election, Aftermath
Hitler's last will and testament once again separated the two offices, giving the presidency to Karl Dönitz and the chancellorship to Joseph Goebbels. The resulting government, known as the Flensburg Government, governed but a tiny and rapidly receding part of Germany and was not recognized by the Allies. Upon the surrender of the German military they divided Germany into four zones, one controlled each by the British, French, Americans, and Soviets, and collectively governed the whole of Germany with the Allied Control Council.


1932 German presidential election, Aftermath
By 1949 three of the zones had coalesced into what became West Germany while the remaining Soviet zone became East Germany; both parts each had their own respective presidential elections starting that year. West Germany's constitution provided that the president be chosen indirectly by means of a Federal Convention consisting of parliamentarians and state delegates. East Germany's constitution provided that the president be chosen indirectly by a joint session of both chambers of parliament, though ultimately only a single person would serve as President before the post was abolished. In 1990, East Germany formally became a part of West Germany and was thus bound by its constitution; the first all-German presidential election since unification, and thus since 1932, was held in 1994. The 1932 election is thus the last election by universal suffrage in Germany as of 2021.


1932 Giro d'Italia
The 1932 Giro d'Italia was the 20th edition of the Giro d'Italia, a cycling race organized and sponsored by the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. The race began on 14 May in Milan with a stage that stretched 207 km (129 mi) to Vicenza, finishing back in Milan on 5 June after a 271 km (168 mi) stage and a total distance covered of 3,235 km (2,010 mi). The race was won by the Antonio Pesenti of the Wolsit team. Second and third respectively were the Belgian Jef Demuysere and Italian Remo Bertoni.


1932 Giro d'Italia
It was one of the last participations of Costante Girardengo, 39 years old, who classified second in the first stage, but then retired during the fifth stage. The 47-year-old age Giovanni Gerbi, nicknamed "the Red Devil", also took part, but also didn't succeed in concluding the race.


1932 Giro d'Italia, Participants
Of the 109 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 14 May, 66 of them made it to the finish in Milan on 5 June. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team. There were ten teams that competed in the race: Atala-Hutchinson, Bianchi-Pirelli, France Sport-Pirelli, Ganna-Dunlop, Gloria-Hutchinson, Ilva-Pirelli, Legnano-Hutchinson, Maino-Clément, Olympia-Superga, and Wolsit-Hutchinson.


1932 Giro d'Italia, Participants
The peloton was primarily composed of Italians. The field featured four former Giro d'Italia champions in four-time winner Alfredo Binda, two-time champion Costante Girardengo, 1920 winner Gaetano Belloni, and reigning winner Francesco Camusso. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included Learco Guerra, Giovanni Gerbi, Felice Gremo, and Domenico Piemontesi. The reigning winner of the Tour de France, Frenchman Antonin Magne, raced started the Giro, along with Belgian Jef Demuysere who finished second at the 1931 Tour de France.


1932 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro.


1932 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
The race organizers allowed isolated riders to compete in the race, which had a separate classification calculated the same way as the general classification. In addition, there was a classification dedicated to only foreign, non-Italian riders, which was calculated in the same manner.


1932 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
The winner of the team classification was determined by adding the finish times of the best three cyclists per team together and the team with the lowest total time was the winner. If a team had fewer than three riders finish, they were not eligible for the classification.


1932 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
Il Trofeo Magno (English: the Great Trophy) was a classification for independent Italian riders competing in the race. The riders were divided into teams based on the region of Italy they were from. The calculation of the standings was the same for the team classification. At the end of the race, a trophy was awarded to the winning team and it was then stored at the Federal Secretary of the P.N.P. in their respective province.


1932 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.


1932 Giro d'Italia, Final standings, General classification
There were 66 cyclists who had completed all thirteen stages. For these cyclists, the times they had needed in each stage was added up for the general classification. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the winner.


1932 Giro di Lombardia
The 1932 Giro di Lombardia was the 28th edition of the Giro di Lombardia cycle race and was held on 23 October 1932. The race started and finished in Milan. The race was won by Antonio Negrini.


1932 Gonzaga Bulldogs football team
The 1932 Gonzaga Bulldogs football team was an American football team that represented Gonzaga University during the 1932 college football season. In their second year under head coach Mike Pecarovich, the Bulldogs compiled a 5–3 record and outscored their opponents by a total of 178 to 77.


1932 Gonzaga Bulldogs football team
The team was led by fullback Max Krause who was selected by the United Press as the first-team fullback on the 1932 All-Pacific Coast football team. Krause scored 25 points in the final game of the season, bringing his season total to 86 points. Krause later played eight years in the National Football League for the New York Giants and Washington Redskins.


1932 Grand National
The 1932 Grand National was the 91st renewal of the world-famous Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 18 March 1932.


1932 Grand National
The race was won by Forbra at odds of 50/1. The seven-year-old was ridden by jockey Tim Hamey and trained by Tom Rimell.


1932 Grand National
Egremont finished in second place, Shaun Goilin was third and Near East fourth. Thirty-six horses ran and all returned safely to the stables.


1932 Grand National
Edward, Prince of Wales was in attendance at Aintree for the showpiece steeplechase.


1932 Grand Prix season
The 1932 Grand Prix season marked the second year of the AIACR European Championship. It saw the debut of Alfa Romeo's sensational new Tipo B (also called the P3) and with it, Tazio Nuvolari won the Championship driving for the Alfa Corse works team. The 40-year old Nuvolari won two of the three rounds and was second in the other. Still running to a Formula Libre (open formula) rules for the cars, the regulations were revised to set the races to be between five and ten hours. However, all three national committees ran their races to the minimum time-limit.


1932 Grand Prix season
The other title contenders, Bugatti and Maserati continued to develop their models from the year before but they were rarely a match for the Alfa Romeo with its combination of high speed and light weight giving excellent balance for cornering. Nuvolari was dominant through the year, also winning the non-Championship Monaco GP and Targa Florio. His German team-mate Rudolf Caracciola won the other championship race, the German Grand Prix, along with the Eifelrennen and Monza GP. Bugatti did have some successes, with Achille Varzi winning the first major race of the year, at Tunis and Louis Chiron the Masaryk Circuit in Czechoslovakia.


1932 Grand Prix season
It was a barren year for Maserati, compounded by the untimely death in March of their team manager and lead designer, Alfieri Maserati. His last design, the big new Maserati V5 bimotore won the Rome GP with Luigi Fagioli.


1932 Grand Prix season
There was still room for the talented privateers to succeed, with Manfred von Brauchitsch causing a sensation winning the Avusrennen in a Mercedes-Benz with a bare metal, aerodynamic bodyshell that gave him the world’s fastest victory yet achieved, at an average pace of 194.5 km/h. At the end of the season French rising star, and this year's Le Mans winner, Raymond Sommer took a surprise win at the Miramas oval near Marseille.


1932 Grand Prix season, European Championship Grands Prix, Other Grand Épreuves
A grey background indicates the race was not held this year. Sources:


1932 Grand Prix season, Major Races
Multiple classes are mentioned when they were divided and run to different race lengths.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical
In September 1931, at the conclusion of the inaugural European Championship, the CSI regulatory body of the AIACR met and agreed to hold the event again in 1932. The German Grand Prix was added to the list of races in the schedule. But with the cancellation of the Belgian and Spanish rounds, there would be, once again, only the three races to contest. After the 10-hour marathons of the previous year, the CSI accepted to shorten the run-time to be between 5 – 10hours.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical
All national organisations chose the minimum time, although the German organisers embarrassingly miscalculated, making the race technically ineligible to be included. However, no teams protested the error. There was also a re-introduction of the Manufacturer's Championship, last held in 1927. Curiously, the AIACR never published its list of regulations, and information has only been able to be compiled by inference and comment from contemporary racing magazines. There were, apparently, no changes to the cars or engines from the current regulations.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical
From those magazine reports, there appears to have been a change in the points system, with 7 points for a non-start or non-arrival, and 6 points awarded to all retirees when it had formerly been 8 for not arriving and 5, 6 or 7 for retiring depending on the distance covered.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical
Once again, the AIACR was becoming concerned with the high speeds of the big-engined racing cars. The current regulations were due to expire at the end of 1933. During the year, experts including Ferdinand Porsche, were commissioned by the AIACR to start working on the new regulations to come into effect for the 1934 season. The rules revolved around a maximum weight of 750kg and a minimum width, to incentivise the building of smaller, and hence lighter, engines. It in fact resembled proposed AIACR rules dating back to 1928.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
In Italy, the year saw the opening of the country's first autostrada, between Milan and Turin. Alfa Romeo's lead designer, Vittorio Jano, had seen the 1931 Tipo A as an interim model and in 1932 he produced what many consider his masterpiece – the Tipo B. It is also commonly known as the ‘P3’, as it was seen as a worthy successor to Alfa's dominant P2 model of the mid-20s.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
With limited funds available to him, the engine was based on the race-proven winner in the 8C 2300, with a longer stroke and bored out to 2654cc, churning out a total of 215 bhp. It was fitted with two superchargers, one for each bank of four cylinders. Aluminium blocks kept the engine very light, and the whole vehicle was designed with weight in mind. A new suspension format, with the differential mounted behind the gearbox driving the rear suspension through twin driveshafts. This improved the weight distribution, giving better handling, and allowed the driver to sit lower between the driveshafts.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
Although putting out less power than its competition, its big advantage was its weight – with an aluminium engine block it only weighed 700kg, over 25% less than the big Bugatti and Maserati. Like the Type A, it was a monoposto (single-seater) design, with a narrow frontage, echoing the American Millers of the 1920s. Six cars were built with three sets of spare parts. Unveiled for the championship at its home Grand Prix, six models were made and it won on debut.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
Over the next 2½ years, the car would take part in 26 races, winning 22, while achieving a 92% finish-ratio from the 62 race-starts. The Alfa Corse works team was also managed by the talented Aldo Giovannini, who placated the strong egos of his drivers and kept his pit crews well-drilled and organised.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
In 1927 Alfieri Maserati had a serious accident racing in Sicily that resulted in him losing a kidney. Issues with his remaining kidney necessitated an operation in March. However, complications occurred and he died during the procedure; he was just 44. The surviving brothers resolved to carry on. The eldest, Bindo, returned from Isotta Fraschini to become president; Ettore stayed on in operations, while the youngest, Ernesto retired from racing to take on the technical side. Several projects were already well underway at Alfieri's death: the successor to the twin-engine V4 was the new Type V5.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
The engines were bored out to a total capacity now of 4905cc. Although very fast, it proved overly complex and unreliable to get regular race results. A hard year ended badly when works driver Amedeo Ruggieri crashed fatally while driving a V5 trying to make a one-hour speed record attempt at Montlhéry. The two works 8C-2800 grand prix cars were upgraded by being fitted with new 3-litre engines.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
Bugatti’s Type 51 had been instantly competitive on debut the previous year. Although on the high-speed circuits, the Alfa Romeo Monzas had their measure, in twisty circuits the Bugatti's good handling shone through. So Ettore Bugatti chose to sit on his laurels and not do any significant development on his car. In August, he was honoured by France being awarded the Légion d’Honneur. The Type 54 was proving problematic in competition and a new version, the Type 53, was built.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
Using the 5-litre engine of the 54 it was built with four-wheel drive, possibly influenced by, and hoping to emulate, the success of the American Miller 91 FWD. The other French manufacturers chose instead to focus on attaining speed and endurance records. In April, George Eyston drove an 8-litre sleeve-valve Panhard at Montlhéry, setting a new 1-hour speed record, averaging 212.45 kph. This followed a little 1452cc Citroën C6 setting a raft of endurance records at the same circuit, running non-stop for 54 days, covering 130,000km.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
There were also several Italian drivers who developed their own special models. Wealthy gentleman-driver Conte Luigi Premoli worked with engineer Egidio Galimberti to put a 3-litre Maserati engine and grill onto the chassis, gearbox and suspension of the Type 35 Bugatti. The engine's power output of 220 horsepower compared favourably to the 180 bhp of the Bugatti, while keeping the size and nimbleness of the latter. Hence called the PBM (“Premoli Bugatti Maserati”) Speziale, Premoli unfortunately had a serious accident in it on its debut race at the Coppa Ciano and it was not raced again until the following year. In a similar vein, Clemente Biondetti mounted the 2.5-litre Maserati engine from a Tipo 26M onto a Bugatti chassis. On paper, this version put out 185 bhp, and Biondetti ran it in a number of races over the new few seasons, in the Italian Drivers' Championship.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
The economic crisis in Germany was still severe. After a couple of years of leniency from the board, Mercedes-Benz now fully withdrew from motor-racing, releasing top driver Rudolf Caracciola to be picked up by Alfa Romeo much to the dismay of German fans. Meanwhile, many small and medium size car-companies were going bankrupt, unable to compete against the American mass-production lines of Ford and Opel (sold to General Motors). It was only with the intervention of the Saxony state government that their local factories were rescued saving 8000 jobs.


1932 Grand Prix season, Regulations and Technical, Technical Innovation
Thus it was that the four Saxon companies of Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer merged to become Auto Union AG. Former Austro-Daimler and Mercedes Technical Director Dr Ferdinand Porsche joined the new company as their lead engineer. In a year of political upheaval in Germany, the company directors of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union had no joy petitioning the government for funds. In the end, it was the lead drivers, Stuck and von Brauchitsch (nephew of the commander of the army) making personal appeals (on behalf of Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz respectively) to minority party leader Adolf Hitler that got success. A strong fan of the automobile, Hitler promised both companies subsidies when his party came into power.


1932 Grand Prix season, Teams and drivers
These tables only intend to cover entries in the major races, using the key above. It includes all starters in the Championship races. Sources:


1932 Grand Prix season, Teams and drivers, Notable Privateer drivers
Note: * indicates only raced in the event as a relief driver,“♠“ Works driver raced as a privateer in that race,“v” indicates the driver ran in the Voiturette class,“†” driver killed during this racing season,Those in brackets show that, although entered, the driver did not race


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The opening races
As with the previous year, the season started with the first Swedish Winter Grand Prix. After a successful inaugural race, entries from Ford, Chrysler, Chevrolet and Fiat were fielded by their Swedish agents. Last year’s winner, Finn Karl Ebb bought a Mercedes SSK, as did Per-Victor Widengren. His brother Henken, studying in England, bought over an Aston Martin as well as convincing his American friend Whitney Straight to enter with his Maserati 26M. An earlier-than-usual thaw made the forest roads treacherous and very muddy.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The opening races
From the start, Knut-Gustav Sundstedt took a commanding lead, as he had fitted studded tyres to his Bugatti T35B. Next was Henrik Widengren, Keinänen in a works Chrysler, Lindberg (Bugatti T43), Ebb and Straight. But Sundstedt, in his haste, soon slid off the road and wrecked his back wheel. On the second lap, Straight tried passing Ebb on the short track across the frozen lake. But the Mercedes would not give ground and Straight was sent skating across the ice with damaged steering.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The opening races
Halfway round the next lap, Ebb tried overtaking Keinänen but himself ended up off the course and in a field. Cracking the fuel tank, he soon ended up out of fuel. Windscreens and drivers were getting peppered by gravel thrown up off the rough track. Keinänen stopped to change tyres and by halfway, on the fourth lap, locals Erik Bake (Buick) and Olle Bennström (Ford) were in front. Unlike the race-cars, the big American tourers did not need to stop to refuel. Despite the smaller cars rapidly moving back up the field, the amateur Bennström held on to win the race with Keinänen getting second from Bake and P-V Widengren's Mercedes in fourth. Later, in recognition, Ford awarded Bennström a dealership in his home town of Västerås.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The opening races
Six weeks later, the international season got underway at the Tunis Grand Prix. The organisers had rebuilt the grandstand and pits after a hurricane had destroyed them in December. Growing in stature, the race attracted a very strong field. Bugatti team drivers Achille Varzi and Louis Chiron ran their own Type 51s, as did Polish émigré Count Stanisław Czaykowski. This year, Algerian Marcel Lehoux, German Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen and Jean-Pierre Wimille ran the big 5-litre Type 54. The Maserati works team had two of their 8C-2800 cars for regular drivers Luigi Fagioli and René Dreyfus.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The opening races
Alfa Romeo was represented by Scuderia Ferrari with a Monza for their new driver Eugenio Siena and Philippe Étancelin also bought his Monza. Alongside the main class, a field of nine "voiturettes" was lined up. Against a squadron of Bugattis were José Scaron, in his 1.1-litre supercharged Amilcar, and Bugatti test-driver Pierre Veyron surprisingly in a Maserati. At the start, Varzi surged from the third row into the lead. On the long straights Lehoux could wind up the big Bugatti and overtake Varzi, yet the nimbler Type 51 could outbreak and out-turn Lehoux.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The opening races
This continued for several laps until Chiron moved up to second, but when he lost time pitting with ignition problems, Fagioli inherited second. His Maserati closed on Varzi until half-distance when Fagioli's supercharger gave up. Thereafter, Varzi had a clear run to the flag with Lehoux and Étancelin over three minutes behind. All three Type 54s had shown serious brake problems with the bigger, heavy car only fitted with the same brakes as were on the Type 51.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
A fortnight later, the teams met for the first major race in Europe – the Monaco Grand Prix. There was great anticipation for this race because the Alfa Romeo works team was entered, taking on the Bugatti and Maserati teams, along with an elite invitation list of the top privateer drivers, and there was no clear favourite. Bugatti returned with Varzi and Chiron supported by Guy Bouriat and Albert Divo. The team also brought one of their new Type 53 four-wheel drive cars.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
Maserati, still affected by the recent sudden death of their leader, had the 8C-2800 for Fagioli and Dreyfus, while Amedeo Ruggeri ran a 2.5 litre Tipo 26M. The Alfa Romeo team comprised team regulars Tazio Nuvolari, Baconin Borzacchini and the evergreen Giuseppe Campari along with support from privateers Étancelin, Zehender and Rudolf Caracciola now released from the defunct Mercedes team. Caracciola had narrowly missed out winning the Mille Miglia for Alfa Romeo the weekend before when his engine expired just 50km from the finish while leading. Victory had gone to Borzacchini in a similar car. Bugatti also had a strong back-up of Type 51s entered by inaugural race-winner ”Williams”, Czaykowski, Lehoux and Earl Howe. Another Englishman, Clifton Penn-Hughes had an older Type 35B while Chilean Juan Zanelli had a 3-litre Spanish Nacional Pescara with which he had won the 1931 Mountain Championship.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
This year, the practice times were recorded and published for each driver, although the grid would still be decided by ballot. In the busy city, Thursday and Friday practices were for an hour starting at 6am. On the first day, Penn-Hughes crashed and broke both his ankle and his car’s suspension. For two days, the burly Divo tried to get the Type 53 Bugatti around the course, but with sluggish times fully fourteen seconds behind the leaders, he chose to qualify the Type 51 for the Saturday practice.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
Half the field had matched or bettered Dreyfus' lap record from the previous year. At the end of the Saturday practice, Zanelli parked the Nacional Pescara, also being well of the pace. Race-day was overcast but dry. Chiron had been fastest in practice and vaulted from the second row into the lead up the hill, chased by “Williams” and Lehoux. Despite starting from the fourth and fifth rows, in ten laps Nuvolari and Varzi had worked their way up to second and third. With Chiron holding a 20-second gap, the leading trio pulled away from the rest of the field.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
Chiron was being delayed lapping the tail-enders allowing Nuvolari to close up. On lap 30, coming out of the tunnel, an impatient Chiron tried to squeeze past Czaykowski’s Bugatti at the chicane. Clipping a sandbag the car spun and rolled, throwing the driver onto the track. Nuvolari picked his way past the mayhem while Chiron, only dazed, was able to get to safety. As the refuelling stops started around 40 laps, the Alfa Romeo had eased out a 30-second lead over Varzi with 10-second gaps each back to Borzacchini, Caracciola and Fagioli.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
Divo, Lehoux and Étancelin lost laps with engine issues then Czaykowski retired with a broken gearbox. When Varzi pitted with terminal suspension problems on lap 57 the race looked sewn up for Alfa Romeo. Nuvolari eased off, with his own fuel difficulties, but took the victory. Although Borzacchini fell back and retired with failing brakes, Caracciola held station, finishing three seconds behind making it an Alfa 1-2. Fagioli was third, over two minutes back, with Earl Howe leading the rest of the field home three laps further back. Neither Alfa Romeo had had to stop to refuel, and team manager Aldo Giovannini congratulated Caracciola on his sportsmanship and signed him up to the works team.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
A week later, two Grands Prix were held. Many of the French drivers were at Oran in French Algeria. In a three-hour timed race in a field dominated by Bugattis, it provided the first victory for the 24-year old Jean-Pierre Wimille. The race was also the race-debut for the young local, Guy Moll. Mentored by fellow-Algerian Marcel Lehoux, he had initially led the notable field in his older T35C and was well placed until running out of fuel. Meanwhile, the Italian drivers were at the Roman airfield circuit at Littorio.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
Scuderia Ferrari (Piero Taruffi and Franco Comotti) and Maserati (Fagioli, Dreyfus and Ruggeri) led the entry list. Fagioli was given the new 5-litre V5 for the open, fast circuit. Varzi has his own Bugatti, but Chiron was still recovering from his accident at Monaco. After heavy rain overnight and in the morning, the heats were run on a drying track. With the King of Italy in attendance, the final started with Fagioli in the big V5 leading the first lap. Behind him Varzi, Taruffi, von Morgen and Dreyfus scrabbled for the minor placings. While the others had assorted engine and tyre issues, the new Maserati ran flawlessly for the ninety-minute race and Fagioli led from start to finish, almost 30 seconds ahead of Taruffi with von Morgen two minutes back in third.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
Racing in Great Britain centred on Brooklands and because of the limited number of drivers in each class, were invariably run as handicap ‘scratch’ races. British interest was less in grand-prix racing than for land speed records and sports car racing – given the fame that the Bentley Boys had achieved at Le Mans. This year, one of two formal races held at Brooklands was the inaugural British Empire Trophy run as a pair of heats with a 100-mile final. This saw the land-speed-record monsters of John Cobb (10.6-litre V12 Delage) and George Eyston (8-litre Panhard) matched against each other.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
Other entries included Woolf Barnato's Bentley Speed Six, driven by Jack Dunfee, and Tim Birkin in his 4.5-litre Blower Bentley. Earl Howe in his 1.5-litre supercharged Delage won the first heat from Henken Widengren, while Eyston won the second. The six finalists lined up side-by-side on the wide track. Cobb took the lead using the Delage's phenomenal acceleration, pursued by Eyston, the two Bentleys, Howe and Widengren. Then he eased off to conserve his tyres, allowing Birkin to overtake and take the lead.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, Monaco and the April races
However, twenty minutes in at the halfway point, the Bentley’s cylinder head cracked fatally soon after the radiator had run dry. Eyston took the lead until he too eased off to conserve his tyres. Cobb pushed again to overtake and for the final ten laps the two duelled for the lead with Cobb just winning by a car-length from Eyston. Howe was third after Dunfee was mistakenly stopped a lap early by an over-zealous track official. A protest was lodged by Eyston's crew saying Cobb had been deliberately blocking. The result was overturned until a fortnight later when an appeal by Cobb saw the result reversed back again.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
After the disruption and problems from the heavy rains in Sicily of the previous year, Vincenzo Florio, race organiser of the Targa, obtained a private audience with Benito Mussolini. An avid motor-racing fan himself, the leader authorised the construction of a new road to bypass the highest parts of the Madonie course. Known as the “Piccolo Circuito Madonie”, the revised course was 72 km and gave the spectators eight sightings of the cars rather than the traditional four laps of years gone by.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
Once again, it was the Scuderia Ferrari that represented Alfa Romeo, entering a strong team of five cars. It included Nuvolari and Borzacchini from the works team, as well as Pietro Ghersi, Antonio Brivio and the Marquis Guido d'Ippolito. The Maserati team had cars for Fagioli and Ruggeri, while Varzi and Chiron represented Bugatti albeit as independent drivers, along with Italian Archimede Rosa. On a hot, dry day, the reduced field of sixteen started at 3-minute intervals.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
Starting midfield, Nuvolari put in a blistering first lap to hold a near 2-minute lead on elapsed time over Borzacchini and Chiron, followed by Varzi and Brivio. The Maseratis, though powerful on open road circuits, were well back and struggling on the tight twisty country roads. Nuvolari continued to extend his lead and by half-distance had a five-minute lead over team-mate Borzacchini with only six drivers still running. Chiron had been running third after stops to change brakes but stopped on the fifth lap from heat-exhaustion and still not feeling 100% after his Monaco accident. Varzi took over his car as his own car's gearbox had already packed up. And this was how it stayed, with Nuvolari taking the win to rapturous applause from the spectators. His race-average of 79.3 km/h was a record that stood for twenty years.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
Following their success in the Swedish Winter Grand prix the previous year, Finnish drivers invested their money to support the Helsinki Automobile Club organise its own race on the streets surrounding Eläintarha park in Helsinki. The entry list was limited to ten: five Finnish and five Swedish drivers. Favourites were locals Karl Ebb (SSK) and Sulo Keinänen (Chrysler) up against Knut-Gustav Sundstedt (Bugatti) and Per-Victor Widengren (another SSK). Heavy overnight rain did not dissuade upwards of 30000 spectators turning out on the sunny afternoon. Widengren soon took the lead that he never relinquished.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
Ebb in the other SSK was second until passed by Sundstedt on lap 17. By lap 33 Ebb had lapped the field and Sundstedt's car started smoking. Soon Ebb and Keinänen caught him in an exciting tussle for second place. Keinänen passed them both to take second, but due to indecisive work by the officials Ebb did three extra laps until convinced by the crowd that he had won.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
A strong field assembled for the inaugural Nîmes Grand Prix. The 3 km circuit was essentially two boulevards running parallel to each other through the city. A series of races were held for different classes, as the Trophée de Provence. The 1.5-litre race was won by Anne-Cécile Rose-Itier in her Bugatti 37A. Although she had previously won hill-climb events, this was significant as an outright win for a woman in a road-race event in the male-dominated sport. In the main race Étancelin had his Alfa Romeo and Dreyfus ran a Maserati as an independent.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
The rest of the field were Bugattis, led by Chiron, Czaykowski and Benoît Falchetto in their Type 51s. Chiron took the lead at the start while Étancelin got caught in a pile-up at the first corner. But after only a dozen laps the Monegasque had retired with a broken oil pipe. This left Falchetto with a healthy gap over Dreyfus and Czaykowski and he went on to take a deserved first victory.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
The resumption of racing at AVUS in 1931 continued the ongoing resurgence of German motor-racing. Regarded as the fastest race-track in Europe, the race attracted a field of high quality. Last year’s winner, Rudi Caracciola, had left Mercedes-Benz when they closed their racing program and moved to Alfa Romeo. He got a hostile welcome by the fans. Bugatti had their works drivers Chiron and Varzi in the big 5-litre Type 54 and Bouriat (Type 51) with “Williams” as a privateer. Maserati likewise split their options with Fagioli running the 8C-2800 while Dreyfus driving the mighty, new twin-engine V5.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
Disappointed with the Type 54, Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen led his German Bugatti Team with a new Type 51 along with Hermann zu Leiningen. Meanwhile, Czech driver Prince Georg-Christian von Lobkowicz did choose to run a Type 54. World Speed Record holder Sir Malcolm Campbell brought the 1925 4-litre V12 Sunbeam Tiger to take on the 7-litre Mercedes of Hans Stuck. But the sensation was Mercedes of Manfred von Brauchitsch, fitted with a smooth, unpainted metal aerodynamic shell, aiming to increase its top speed by 20 km/h. Berliners nicknamed it the “cigar” and the “cucumber”.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
The extreme speeds at the circuit had been withering on tyre wear, so practice sessions were held for the teams to test their tyres. Stuck set a new lap record averaging 209 km/h, despite the track also being used for public traffic at the time. Even faster times were recorded in official practice by Bugatti and Maserati. After a week of hot weather, race-day was cold with rain looming. It did not dissuade a record crowd of 200 000 spectators turning up.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
In the prelude, Earl Howe totally dominated the voiturette race, with his 1927-vintage Delage 15S8, lapping the entire field twice still showing the class of that championship winning model. In the main race, Chiron and Varzi were dissatisfied with their tyres and chose not to start, with reserve-driver Divo taking over a Type 54. There was also the matter that Varzi and Chiron had double-entered themselves for the Casablanca Grand Prix being held on the same day. Racing regulations decreed this was illegal and would have disqualified them from either race.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
At the start it was Divo and Dreyfus that duelled initially for the lead. But a bad accident happened in the midfield on the first lap. Approaching the Südschleife (South Loop) three-wide at over 200 km/h, Hans Lewy, in the PiLeSi Bugatti was overtaking the Lobkowicz Bugatti. Making room, the Czech running in the middle, overcorrected and lost control. The car slewed into the 8m wide grass median strip. Hitting the ditch, it got airborne and ended up on the railway tracks running parallel to the track. Lobkowicz was thrown out and died several hours later from severe head injuries.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
Lewy brushed the wall of an overbridge, breaking his suspension. He also crossed the median strip and rolled several times on the opposite straight before drifting back to the grass. Divo, accelerating out of the curve narrowly missed the careering car but was showered with wooden splinters from the wheel hub. After three laps, the field was already strung out after a number of cars had pitted with engine issues. Divo was leading with team-mate Bouriat thirty seconds behind hounded by Caracciola.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
A lap later, Bouriat's supercharger broke and Divo now led the Germans Caracciola, von Brauchitsch, Stuck and Stuber, with Williams going very fast in sixth making up time after stopping to change sparkplugs. But the torrid pace told and Divo's race ended in a cloud of smoke with a broken oil-pipe. A thrilling duel took place for the lead with Caracciola's Alfa faster in the corners while the streamlined Mercedes would pass him on the straights. Williams had made it up to third before falling back with power issues, leaving Stuck and Stuber swapping places for third.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
On the last lap, Caracciola led out of the Südschleife but von Brauchitsch blasted past at over 230 km/h. With a 5-second lead going into the Nordschleife corner he was able to hold on to take his first major victory. Stuber's Bugatti was third, nearly three-quarters of a lap behind. Before retiring, Dreyfus had pitted for new tyres and set the lap record in the big Maserati V5. In covering the 300km in only 91 minutes, the race set a record as the fastest in history to date. In his exuberance, radio commentator Paul Laven likened von Brauchitsch's car to a “silver arrow”, coining a famous epithet of German racers.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
Held on the same day, the Casablanca Grand Prix attracted the top French privateers. Bugatti had entered Chiron and Varzi but their no-show infuriated the race officials, who filed an official protest with the AIACR. Raced on a new circuit through the suburbs of Casablanca, the Alfas of Étancelin and Zehender would take on the big Type 54 Bugatti of Lehoux and the Type 51s of Wimille, Czaykowski, Falchetto and Gaupillat. Jean de Maleplane had the sole Maserati. Wimille took the lead and built it steadily to have a 50-second gap to Lehoux by half-distance.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
Behind them were Étancelin, Czaykowski, Maleplane and Pierre Veyron in his 1.5-litre Bugatti leading the voiturette class. Having just made his regular pit-stop for tyres and fuel, Wimille suddenly slowed and retired with engine trouble. This left Lehoux to carry on to take a comfortable victory with only Étancelin's Alfa Romeo still on the lead lap. Falchetto, winner at Nîmes a week earlier, finished fourth but managed to crash on his slow-down lap sustaining mild injuries.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
The Eifelrennen was held a week later at the Nürburgring, attracting many of the same drivers as had been at AVUS. This year it was run on the Nordschleife circuit for the first time, rather than using the Südschleife since 1928. Chiron arrived in a factory Bugatti while Dreyfus, unhappy with the performance of the Maserati had left the team and borrowed Chiron’s own Type 51 Bugatti. Von Brauchitsch had his silver painted Mercedes-Benz SSKL, this time minus the streamlined body, joined by Stuck and Broschek while Caracciola ran his white-painted Alfa Romeo.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
Practice was marred by the fatal accident to Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen. Although there were no witnesses, it appeared his car had strayed wide at the gentle Hatzenbach corner and rolled, killing von Morgen instantly. Without their lead-driver, the German Bugatti Team would later be broken up and closed down. Morning rain had cleared by the time of the race and the three classes were started at 4-minute intervals in front of 120,000 spectators – the lead class with just the six drivers.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, May and the Targa Florio
Caracciola and Dreyfus were soon out in front with the powerful, lumbering sports cars of Stuck and von Brauchitsch unable to keep up on the twisty circuit, and Chiron and Broschek having engine problems. A rain-shower returned halfway through the race but Caracciola won by 22 seconds from Dreyfus, who had done well in his first appearance at the very difficult circuit and only two days' practice.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
Held in the middle of the racing season, the European Championship was three races run over seven weeks. It started in June with the Italian Grand Prix held at Monza. Running to the new 5-hour AIACR regulations, fifteen cars took the grid. Alfa Romeo unveiled its sensational new model, the Tipo B monoposto, for Nuvolari and Campari, while Borzacchini and Caracciola ran the race-proven 8C-2300. They were supported by two more Monzas, for Scuderia Ferrari's Pietro Ghersi and Eugenio Siena. Maserati gave its 5-litre V5 to Fagioli, and Ruggeri had the 8C model, now bored out to 2.8-litres.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
Bugatti similarly gave their premier drivers, Varzi and Chiron, the big-engined Type 54 and Divo ran a Type 51. The field was completed with privateers Lehoux and Dreyfus in Bugattis and Castelbarco and Premoli with Maserati. From the start, the race was a close and exciting tussle between the works cars with positions changing constantly. Caracciola was an early casualty losing a quarter-hour with a faulty magneto. Approaching the first hour, after 15 laps, Fagioli had a narrow lead over Nuvolari, followed by Campari and Varzi with Chiron who was only 30 seconds behind in fifth.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
Over the next half-hour, cars started pitting for fuel and tyre changes. Soon after, Borzacchini now running fourth, was hit in the head by a stone thrown up by a car he was overtaking. He made it back to the pits, bloodied, and was relieved by reserve driver Marinoni. Then Varzi pitted with a ruined transmission. Worse, a lap later, his teammate Chiron crept into the pits. After losing time clearing blocked fuel lines, Varzi took the car back out.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
After two hours it was Nuvolari, Campari and Fagioli each 30 seconds apart and a lap ahead of Marinoni, Dreyfus and Siena. But on lap 50 Campari pitted to change tyres and lost 8 minutes when he could not get re-started. An exhausted Fagioli pitted on lap 60 for more tyres and fuel, but spent over 4 minutes stationary before handing over to Ernesto Maserati. Recovered, Fagioli took his car back over again after ten laps.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
He set some blistering times trying to make up the lost time and gradually reeled in the cars ahead of him to a thrilling finish. But Nuvolari, and his new Tipo B, had not missed a beat. Unlike most others, he drove on without relief to take the victory. Fagioli finished second, a lap behind. Despite behind faster he was stymied by poor pitwork, losing over eleven minutes to the Alfas who pitted for a fraction of that time.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
A great day for Alfa Romeo was cemented by Borzacchini (assisted by Marinoni and Caracciola) and Campari taking third and fourth with the privateer Bugatti of Dreyfus in an excellent fifth, all on the same lap. Nuvolari's normally shy and retiring wife, Carolina, was asked to anoint him with the winner laurel wreath in front of an ecstatic crowd.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
The next race in the Championship was the French Grand Prix. This year it was held for the first time at the Reims circuit where the Marne Grand Prix was usually held. The circuit was a very fast 7.8 km triangular track, again suiting the bigger-engined cars. Maserati was a significant no-show, unable to afford to send the team to France. It left the race as a straight showdown between Alfa Romeo and Bugatti.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
The triumphant Alfa Romeo team had now equipped all four drivers with the Tipo B. Bugatti again had its two Type 54s, but Chiron swapped his seat for Divo's Type 51. The sixteen starters were filled out by French and British privateers: Étancelin, Zehender and Wimille had their Alfa Romeos against the Bugattis of Lehoux and Earl Howe (Type 54) and “Williams”, Dreyfus, Gaupillat and Fourny (Type 51).


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
A hot sunny day attracted 100,000 spectators for the midday start. From the third row, the Alfa Romeo of Caracciola shot into a lead he held for the first ten laps. He was overtaken by a furious Nuvolari, moving up through the field, shaking his fist at his teammate while passing him in front of the main grandstand. Varzi retired, once again, with a broken gearbox and soon the Alfas were running in a close 1-2-3 formation. On lap 20 Caracciola and Borzacchini passed their team leader, with only Williams, Chiron, Dreyfus and Wimille left on the lead lap.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
By half distance, as the cars started making their regular pit-stops, this had fallen to five cars. Williams had made one of the earliest stops but within five laps another stripped tread forced him to pit again, dropping him out of the running. Howe had lost 6 minutes having a brake-pad changed and Lehoux had stopped at Gueux with a broken gearbox. Divo stopped just before the Thillois hairpin having run out of fuel from a cracked fuel-tank and a pit miscalculation left Wimille also marooned without fuel out on the track.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
By the three-hour mark, Nuvolari was leading again and by the four-hour mark the three Alfas were a lap ahead. Following team-order, Caracciola fell back to let Borzacchini through. Team manager Jano signalled his team for a formation finish with Nuvolari taking the win ahead of Borzacchini, Caracciola with Chiron's Bugatti back in fourth, a lap behind.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
The third and final race in the European Championship was the German Grand Prix, held a fortnight later. The AvD (Automobilclub von Deutschland) had three classes running to different race-lengths – the open Class I would do 25 laps of the Nürburgring while the little 800cc cyclecars would only do 19 laps. It put a big field of 31 cars from 10 nations onto the track. The dominant Alfa Romeo works team were the favourites with three Tipo B cars for Nuvolari, Caracciola and Borzacchini. A fourth car for Campari did not arrive.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
Bugatti opted to run the Type 51 for the winding track rather than the bigger (and more unreliable) Type 54, and had entered four cars. However, in the end, only Chiron and Divo started with Bouriat away and doctors urging Varzi to rest after getting glass in his eye at Reims. Maserati only had the single car in Class I: Ruggeri had the 8C with a new 3-litre engine squeezed into it. But they also entered a 1.1-litre 4CM voiturette in Class II driven by Ernesto Maserati. The two German racing teams split their entries.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
The new, Bugatti-equipped PiLeSi Racing Team had Paul Pietsch (Type 35B) and Hans Lewy (Type 51) in Class I, and a Type 37 for Hans Simon in Class II. After the death of Morgen, the German Bugatti Team only ran a Type 37 for Ernst-Günther Burggaller in Class II. The Type 51s of Lehoux and Dreyfus made up the rest of the open class, while from Britain Earl Howe in his Delage and two Frazer Nash cars took on the Bugattis in Class II. The race-day was cold and foggy, but dry and 120-150,000 spectators came to the Ardennes track.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
All three classes started together and from pole position, Caracciola immediately jumped into the lead. At the end of the first lap the three Alfas led the three Bugattis, with Hans Täuberc 6C-1500 just ahead of Howe's Delage. Already Ruggeri’s Maserati had terminal engine problems, and both German Bugatti cars were in the pits. Lewy was unwell so Pietsch took over his car. Caracciola kept building his lead and after an hour was almost a minute ahead of Nuvolari.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
Chiron had pitted with problems traced back to the distributor but then also lost time when an oil-pipe broke spraying hot oil onto his face. He then stopped out on the track with a broken rear axle, as had Lehoux a few laps earlier. Pietsch had done well making up time, but overdid it at the South Curve. The car rolled three times launching the driver into the neighbouring field. Fortunately, aside from a few scratches, Pietsch was uninjured.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
After two hours, coming up to the first pit-stops, Nuvolari was catching Caracciola and put in the fastest lap of the race and in fact passed him to be first into the pits. Giovannini, perhaps mindful of Caracciola's performance at Monaco, or wanting to reward his German driver in his home race advised the team of his racing orders. Nuvolari, although annoyed, obeyed and held station – knowing he would still win the overall Championship.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
The remainder of the race was processional with the Alfas again finishing 1-2-3, with Dreyfus the only other main-class finisher a quarter of an hour behind. The Swiss driver Täuber saw off the challenge of Howe's Delage (who had fuel pump issues) and won the Class II by a lap from the Hungarian László Hartmann and Maserati in third. For reasons unknown, the AvD had decided the race would be run over 25 laps for the top class, rather than the minimum 5-hours of the AIACR regulations. The other national organisations simply flagged the cars after the time had elapsed.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
Rather than building in a small “overage” in case, an embarrassing miscalculation on the lap times of the cars meant that all three Alfa Romeo’s easily completed that distance within the 5-hour margin, thereby technically rendering the race null and void. The recent Eifelrennen race given them current racing speeds rather than using the previous year's results, so their negligence was inexcusable for an international event.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
With the clean sweep of all three races, Alfa Romeo won the European Championship and Tazio Nuvolari was proclaimed this year's champion driver. In an increasingly crowded race schedule outside of the national Grands Prix, it was inevitable that Italian and French season races would conflict with each other. The Italian works teams focussed on their own series and the greater prestige attracted the top drivers more often to the detriment of French racing. Bugatti, in contrast, would often split their team to cover both series.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The European Championship races
In front of a huge crowd (>150,000) Chiron got his first victory of the season at Dieppe over the top French privateers, and then repeated it a week later at Nice. Earlier, “Phi-Phi” Étancelin had won the Picardy GP, and Jean-Pierre Wimille the Lorraine GP, then Goffredo Zehender won at St Gaudens, all racing the Alfa Romeo Monza.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
At the Coppa Ciano, Alfa Corse gave Nuvolari and Borzacchini the Tipo B, while Campari had a Monza. Their customer team, Scuderia Ferrari had four Monzas for Ghersi, Brivio, d’Ippolito and Taruffi. Their strongest competition would be Achille Varzi in his red-painted Bugatti. The privateers also included Luigi Premoli and Clemente Biondetti with their Maserati-engined Bugatti specials. Due to the narrow streets, the cars were released three at a time in 1-minute intervals. Varzi, in the front row, took the lead while Nuvolari started in the fifth group away.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
On the first lap Premoli crashed badly when he hid a roadside marker. It wrecked the rear axle; the car rolled and tumbled down a ravine leaving Premoli severely injured for over a year to recover. The staggered start made for a routine race with no interaction between the main protagonists. Although Varzi crossed the line first, on elapsed time it was the three Alfas that beat him, headed by Nuvolari.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
For the Coppa Acerbo on the fast Pescara circuit the Bugatti works team sent Varzi and Chiron to take on the Alfa Romeos, themselves bolstered by Caracciola rejoining the works team. Nuvolari and a Tipo B were run under the Scuderia Ferrari banner in a one-off, as a reward from Alfa Romeo for being a diligent customer team. Maserati was also entered with the V5 for Fagioli and the 3-litre 8C for Ruggeri; and Earl Howe had his supercharged 1.5-litre Delage.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
It was another power circuit: a dozen laps of a 25 km track, starting with a climb from Pescara up into the Abruzzi Mountains where it twisted and turned to Cappelle sul Tavo, then a long straight downhill to Montesilvano on the coast before the triangle was completed with another long smooth straight dashing along the coast. Popular with the drivers it also attracted the two Mercedes-Benzes of von Brauchitsch and Broschek from Germany. Although privateers, Mercedes racing manager Alfred Neubauer once again accompanied his protégé, von Brauchitsch.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
Race day was a very hot summer day, and many teams were concerned about the heat's effect on tyre wear. Borzacchini got the best start off the line, but halfway around, through the hills, Caracciola and Nuvolari overtook him. At the end of the first lap they were barely a second apart with Borzacchini leading the rest of the pack already 30 seconds behind. Back in tenth place, Howe was having a great battle in his Delage with Broschek's giant Mercedes when a man stepped out in front of them, before being yanked back to safety by another spectator.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
By the third lap he was already six minutes ahead of his nearest rival in the 1.5-litre class. On the fourth lap, a tyre tread came off Fagioli's Maserati, badly bruising his arm and he lost two minutes limping back to the pits to get it replaced. Ernesto Maserati relieved him and jumped in the car. On lap five Giovannini signalled the Alfas to ease their lap-times to conserve their engines, which they did although Nuvolari took the opportunity to overtake Caracciola for the lead. Enzo Ferrari signalled Nuvolari (his driver for this race) to pick up his pace.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
Taruffi had been bearing down on Chiron, in third place, until on lap 7 he came in too fast on the corner at Cappelle. Side-swiping a house, it wrecked his suspension but the driver was uninjured. Although Caracciola was putting in faster laps, Nuvolari held on to take the victory, fourteen seconds ahead of the German, with Chiron, Brivio and the big Maserati the only other drivers to reach the finish before the crowd overflowed onto the track.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
This year, the third running of the Masaryk Circuit attracted a top-class field for another Bugatti-Alfa Romeo-Maserati contest. The Bugatti team had three Type 51 cars for Chiron, Varzi and Guy Bouriat, brought in for René Dreyfus who had been injured at the Comminges GP. Scuderia Ferrari represented Alfa Romeo, with a Tipo B this time driven by Borzacchini, while Nuvolari, Brivio and Siena had 2.3-litre Monzas.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
Maserati once again ran an 8C-3000, this time for Fagioli, while Maserati himself gain had a 4CM for the "voiturette" class that would only run 15 laps while the main class did 17 laps of the 29 km track. Other entrants in Class II included Ernst-Günther Burggaller in a new Bugatti type 51A, and former Bugatti stalwart Pierre Veyron driving a 1.5-litre Maserati Tipo 26 and Jaroslav Konečnik racing for the local Czech Wikov works team. Race-day was damp with drizzle but that did not stop 200,000 spectators arriving, from as far afield as Vienna and Budapest.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
Siena had crashed in practice and broken his leg so only ten Class I cars took the grid. Once again Borzacchini got an impressive start, jumping to the lead from the second row. Varzi's eye injury was still giving him great discomfort and he retired on lap 2. Meanwhile, Nuvolari had passed Chiron and Borzacchini to take the lead. At the halfway point, Nuvolari had just set the fastest lap of the race and the two Alfas had a gap to Chiron, Fagioli and Brivio. Burggaller and Maserati were duelling in the small class.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
On the tenth lap, Nuvolari's Alfa developed an ignition problem. Stopping out on the track, he did running repairs before getting back to the pit. But he lost a lap and it allowed Chiron and Fagioli to pass. Desperately trying to un-lap himself and overtake Chiron, Nuvolari bowled several mileage markers and blew a tyre, ending his chance for victory. Chiron carried on to win by five minutes from Fagioli, with Nuvolari a distant third, almost thirty minutes back.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
It was the first defeat of the Tipo B. In the "voiturette" class, Maserati was leading into the last lap when the engine suddenly burst into flame. Assisted by onlookers he was able to extinguish the fire but the time lost put Burggaller through to take the class victory. Burggaller then went on to complete the remaining two laps assigned to the main class as well, and only finished a minute behind Brivio's fourth-placed Alfa Romeo.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
The Monza Grand Prix was the final event of the Italian racing-season. As previously, it would be run as a series of heats leading up to a 20-lap final. However, this year rather than dividing the heats by engine size, the entrants were randomly balloted to the three heats. The three great rivals all met again: Alfa Romeo had the Tipo B for Nuvolari, Borzacchini, Campari and Caracciola, supported by Ferrari's two cars for Brivio and Taruffi.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
Bugatti bought the 5-litre Type 54 for Varzi and Chiron, while Maserati had the big V5 for Fagioli and the new 8C-3000 for Ruggeri and Minozzi. Top privateers included Lehoux (Bugatti) and Broschek (Mercedes-Benz), while the smallest cars were the 1.5-litre Delage of Earl Howe, Mario Moradei's Talbot 700 and a surprise entry from American “Leon Duray” with a Miller 91. The top-four qualifiers from each heat would automatically qualify for the final, while the other finishers would race off in a 5-lap sprint for the four remaining spots.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
Caracciola won the first heat comfortably from a well-performed Minozzi in the new Maserati (despite blowing a tyre on the last lap), Varzi and Lehoux. The second heat pitted Nuvolari, Fagioli and Chiron against each other. The Alfa Romeo and Maserati had an exciting slipstreaming duel, constantly changing places, until Nuvolari attempted a bold pass at the Vialone corner on the street-circuit. Hitting the curb, he broke a wheel and had to pit. Chiron also damaged a wheel going off course but managed to pit and finished fourth, a lap behind Taruffi.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
The third heat was a more sedate affair with team-mates Campari and Borzacchini easily heading home Ruggeri and Biondetti in his home-built special. Duray’s Miller was showing its age and had already been lapped when he crashed on lap 5. Before the start of the repêchage, a livid Nuvolari lodged an official protest that Fagioli had been deliberately blocking him in their heat. Team manager Giovannini backed him up and threatened to withdraw the three Alfa Romeo team cars if the Maserati driver was not disqualified.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
The officials inspected the Vialone corner where Nuvolari had had to brake hard and bounce the curb in avoidance. They then announced they would defer their decision until after the race. The repêchage itself allowed Brivio, Broschek, along with privateers Félix and Maleplane to qualify. The biggest event was Howe’s accident at the second Lesmo corner on the first lap. The car slid off the track and wrapped itself completely around a tree in a smash that totally wrecked the Delage. Howe, amazingly, was uninjured aside from being dazed from a head blow that cracked his crash-helmet.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
As the cars formed on the grid for the final the Alfa Corse team was not there. The crowd voiced their disapproval in no uncertain terms and finally only the intervention of a party official to the Alfa Romeo managing director, to withdraw the protest, brought the cars out onto the track. Sportingly, Fagioli and Nuvolari hugged in front of the crowd, to settle their differences. Campari had to miss the final, however, as his car’s front axle had been fitted to Nuvolari’s car whose one had been bent in the heat two incident.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
Nuvolari took the lead at the start, hounded by Caracciola. Fagioli, starting from the second row, was soon falling back having lost second gear. Borzacchini came into the pits from third with fuel supply issues. Then on the second to last lap, Nuvolari got the same issue as Borzacchini. Fearing he was out of fuel he pitted only to be urged back out without refuelling by the team. Victory went to Caracciola with Fagioli’s crippled Maserati second and a disappointed Nuvolari in third. The Bugattis were never a factor. As a postscript, a full twelve days later, the Italian Sporting Commission finally reported that they had denied the Alfa Romeo protest treating it, in modern parlance, as a ‘racing incident’.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
The last major race of the season was the inaugural Marseille Grand Prix, held at the underused Miramas oval. Alfa Romeo entered Nuvolari, while Maserati sent Fagioli and Ruggeri. Bugatti was not officially present, but Chiron and Varzi joined the ranks of Bugatti privateers alongside Dreyfus, Lehoux and Guy Moll. Alfa Romeo was supported by privateers Zehender, Félix and this year's Le Mans winner Raymond Sommer.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
Although Chiron vaulted to the lead from the third row on the grid, the lead soon became a battle between Nuvolari, Fagioli and Varzi with Lehoux, Gaupillat, Dreyfus and Zehender all less than ten seconds behind. Gradually the leaders were afflicted with issues: Varzi retired with damaged suspension, Lehoux with a broken oil-pipe and Dreyfus skidded off the track into a ditch. After 30 laps (150 km), Nuvolari, Fagioli and Gaupillat were only five seconds apart, while Sommer, a minute back, was the only other on the lead lap and barely able to match the frenetic pace.


1932 Grand Prix season, Season review, The latter races
The harsh concrete surface was being very rough on tyres and suspensions and by the 250km mark there were only seven cars left running. When Nuvolari pitted on lap 48, he had a leisurely stop believing he now had a lap’s lead on the field. Sommer, however, was still on the same lap and pitting soon after only took on fuel and was able to get back out ahead of Nuvolari. When it finally dawned on the Alfa team the actual track positions they frantically encouraged Nuvolari to go faster.