The 18⅕ mile (29.3km) Masaryk circuit at Brno in Czechoslovakia was used occasionally during the 1930s and was the setting for a remarkable national event in 1931 which featured just about the most unusual accident in Grand Prix history.
A sizeable crowd turned up to watch the 308 mile (496km) race, among them Czech driver Elisabeth Junek, whose participation in the 1928 Targa Florio had created a sensation when it became known that the race leader for a short while was a woman. She also raced in that year’s German Grand Prix, sharing the driving with husband Vincenz (the owner of one of Prague’s premier banking houses), but he suffered a fatal accident in the race, after which his wife retired from competitive driving.
Luigi Fagioli was first away at Brno in a Maserati, pulling out a useful lead on the opening lap from Baconin Borzacchini, Achille Varzi, Rudolf Caracciola, Louis Chiron and Tazio Nuvolari. Fagioli was still in the lead on lap two when the rear hub cap of his car struck one of the pillars of a temporary wooden bridge which had been erected across the circuit and brought the entire bridge crashing down on to the track in front of his pursuers. Varzi, who had moved up to second, took the main brunt but managed to bulldoze his way miraculously through the fallen timber. However, his efforts proved in vain, having caused so much damage to the front axle of his Bugatti that he had to retire. Nuvolari collided with the timbers a few seconds later and broke the rear axle of his Alfa. While Varzi drove Nuvolari back to the pits, Fagioli also had to drop out on the next lap as a result of the curious collision, which mercifully did not result in any injuries to drivers or spectators.
Shortly afterwards Marcel Lehoux hit a boundary stone and broke a wheel rim. Changing the wheel, he set off again to such good effect that he broke the lap record, only to retire immediately afterwards with a bent differential shaft. Next to suffer was Caracciola, whose big Mercedes hit a marker post and wrecked the near-side wheel. This chapter of accidents left Louis Chiron’s Bugatti with an unassailable advantage and, although Fagioli switched to a second Maserati and Nuvolari replaced Borzacchini, neither could catch the leaders. Chiron eventually won by nearly a lap from Hans Stuck’s Mercedes, with German driver Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen third in a Bugatti. Chiron’s third win of the season had certainly been his most eventful.