Race report – 1934 Norges Grand Prix

ICE, IRON, AND INGENUITY UPON LAKE MJØSA — THE 1934 NORGES GRAND PRIX!

Lillehammer, Norway, 25 February 1934 — The sixteenth round of the Golden Era Championship was settled today not upon the firm macadam of the continent, but upon the treacherous, crystalline surface of Lake Mjøsa. Under a biting mist and temperatures that would freeze the resolve of a lesser man, Eighteen brave pilots mounted their machines, all shod with the formidable ice tyres to bite into the frozen deep. It was a contest where mechanical sympathy was paramount, as the ice proved as fickle as a summer breeze, rewarding the precise and punishing the reckless.

The race began with a magnificent roar that surely startled the local pike as Anssi Hyytiäinen, piloting his 1934 Bugatti T59, surged into a lead he would seldom relinquish during the first lap. Hyytiäinen displayed a mastery of the frozen circuit, setting the day’s fastest lap of 03:53.028 on the twelfth revolution of the fifteen-lap trial. While the leader hummed along with the precision of a Swiss watch, the rest of the field found themselves embroiled in a battle against both rivals and the environment.

The early stages of the contest were marred by a truly peculiar mechanical malady suffered by Markus Peltonen of TissiTuning Racing. While the sources note a collision with the environment on the second lap, local onlookers suggest the true culprit was a pedal that decided to get stuck and caused a big accident. In a display of Finnish ingenuity that bordered on the comical, Peltonen was allegedly seen attempting to have the hip flask of Vodka in the cabin, but it had departed from its position and got stuck under the brake, and Peltonen was forced into a premature retirement after only two laps. After the race he joked that it became an expensive bottle of beverages after he had just ordered a 750 kg of new steel from Alfa Romeo’s Portello factory in Milan.

As the race reached its halfway point, Tolonen who had already survived a lap-one scrape with Ville Korkiakoski and a later dust-up with Henrik Pekkanen, found himself in a most unenviable predicament. Tolonen’s Maserati 8CM drifted wide on the seventh lap and became hopelessly ensnared in a snowbank. His struggle to return to the fray was Herculean, costing him several minutes—a delay so substantial that he was eventually lapped by the leaders.

Drama of a more violent nature unfolded when Eetu Nurmi and Trevor Fall engaged in a spirited duel for position. The two machines made heavy contact, an incident that ended most poorly for Fall. His Bugatti T39a was seen to somersault gracefully through the frigid air before landing ignominiously upside down in the drifts. While Fall was fortunately unhurt—barring a bruised ego and a lap time that stretched to over six minutes as he was righted—the incident effectively ended his competitive charge.

Throughout the latter half of the race, several pilots demonstrated extraordinary fortitude against mounting mechanical woe. Daniel Withoeft, in his Alfa Romeo P3, suffered a broken suspension that turned his machine into a wayward sled. He spent over eleven minutes during the eleventh lap nursing the wounded Alfa, yet he refused to yield, eventually crossing the line in ninth. Drik Crozet, who had been running a brilliant second for much of the day, was struck by a sudden drop in oil pressure in the closing minutes. Forced into an unplanned pit stop during the thirteenth lap, Crozet’s mechanics worked with frantic speed to save the engine, allowing him to salvage a seventh-place finish.

Further down the order, the battle for survival continued unabated. Kari Uotila and Ville Korkiakoski drove measured races to secure the final podium spots, ensuring a Bugatti T59 clean sweep of the medals. Kent LeFredge brought his Bugatti home in fourth after a steady drive, while Max Kamiński navigated his Delage 15S8 to a commendable sixth place. The underdogs also showed their mettle; Evadne Cleo steered her 1926 Talbot 700 with great care to secure tenth, while Lubomirski overcame several off-track excursions to finish eleventh. Lenloon and Ermenegildo Lacoste both survived the ordeal to reach the flag, despite Lacoste being involved in an early tangle with LeFredge.

Heru Lah, Renaud Ledu, and Henrik Pekkanen were less fortunate, with their days ending prematurely due to the combined stresses of the ice and numerous collisions. Erik Halin unfortunately did not record a single lap, his Talbot 700 likely refusing to wake from its winter slumber.

When the final flag fell, it was Hyytiäinen who stood as the master of the Mjøsa ice, finishing over a minute ahead of the field. It was a day that proved that while speed is essential, it is the driver who can keep his machine—and his beverages—intact who truly conquers the frozen North!

Official Final Standings — 1934 Norges Grand Prix: