5 Spectators Fatal Crash @ Jardim América 1936
- 6 months ago
The famous French female driver Mariette-Hélène Delangle who raced under pseudonym "Hellé Nice", and the Brazilian ace Manoel de Teffé, both driving Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza cars, collided during the last lap of the race. They were battling for the third place, two laps behind the Scuderia Ferrari's Alfa Romeo 2900A Grand Prix cars of the Italians Carlo Pintacuda and Attilio Marinoni who dominated the event.
Thousands of spectators were situated all along the circuit. The 60-lap race was held on Sunday, 12 July 1936 at Jardim América, a 4.250-kilometer somewhat T-shaped street course, in new São Paulo neighborhood, a residential area called Jardins. With the starting line placed in one of the double 1.050-kilometer straights at the Avenida Brasil, in front of the mansion of the Automóvel Clube Paulista, the track passed in clockwise direction, along Rua Chile, Rua Canada and Avenida Atlantica with a number of sharp 90 degree turns.
What really happened is pretty controversial. A number of sources, including the book "Alfa Romeo a History", by Peter Hull & Roy Slater, indicate that one of the spectators - possibly a policeman who was trying to control the crowd -, jumped out to the racetrack dragging an hay-bale just in front of Miss "Hellé Nice"'s car, arriving at about 160 km/h (about 100 mi/h). She could not avoid the sudden obstacle and ran over the hay-bale, killing the policeman almost instantly. The out of control car started to skid and swung round into the crowd with some fatal results to the spectators. Almost 39 people were severely injured, being taken to São Paulo hospitals. Four of them lost their lives.
According to the magazine Automobil-Revue, issue n. 57, 1936, which showed the report by "Hellé Nice"'s mechanic Arnoldo Binelli, the two Alfa Romeo Monzas came onto the main straight on the Avenida Brasil, side by side and "Hellé Nice" was hit with force by Manoel de Teffè. Her car toppled over twice, and ran into the spectators.
The five victims were two Força Publica policemen, a spectator and two soldiers on duty at the track. Their names were Hercilio José Barbosa, Ruy Ramos, Moacyr Galvão, Deraldo Castro and Orlando Tavares, who passed away several hours later at the Hospital Militar in São Paulo. According to different sources, the number of victims was six instead of five, possibly one of the injured spectators died in the following days; this has not yet been confirmed. Amongst the injured people who were hospitalized were another policeman, Sebastião Abreu who had the right leg amputated, and Arsenio de Sousa Anconio who sustained massive head injuries. Both of them were reported to be in critical condition.
R.I.P
Thousands of spectators were situated all along the circuit. The 60-lap race was held on Sunday, 12 July 1936 at Jardim América, a 4.250-kilometer somewhat T-shaped street course, in new São Paulo neighborhood, a residential area called Jardins. With the starting line placed in one of the double 1.050-kilometer straights at the Avenida Brasil, in front of the mansion of the Automóvel Clube Paulista, the track passed in clockwise direction, along Rua Chile, Rua Canada and Avenida Atlantica with a number of sharp 90 degree turns.
What really happened is pretty controversial. A number of sources, including the book "Alfa Romeo a History", by Peter Hull & Roy Slater, indicate that one of the spectators - possibly a policeman who was trying to control the crowd -, jumped out to the racetrack dragging an hay-bale just in front of Miss "Hellé Nice"'s car, arriving at about 160 km/h (about 100 mi/h). She could not avoid the sudden obstacle and ran over the hay-bale, killing the policeman almost instantly. The out of control car started to skid and swung round into the crowd with some fatal results to the spectators. Almost 39 people were severely injured, being taken to São Paulo hospitals. Four of them lost their lives.
According to the magazine Automobil-Revue, issue n. 57, 1936, which showed the report by "Hellé Nice"'s mechanic Arnoldo Binelli, the two Alfa Romeo Monzas came onto the main straight on the Avenida Brasil, side by side and "Hellé Nice" was hit with force by Manoel de Teffè. Her car toppled over twice, and ran into the spectators.
The five victims were two Força Publica policemen, a spectator and two soldiers on duty at the track. Their names were Hercilio José Barbosa, Ruy Ramos, Moacyr Galvão, Deraldo Castro and Orlando Tavares, who passed away several hours later at the Hospital Militar in São Paulo. According to different sources, the number of victims was six instead of five, possibly one of the injured spectators died in the following days; this has not yet been confirmed. Amongst the injured people who were hospitalized were another policeman, Sebastião Abreu who had the right leg amputated, and Arsenio de Sousa Anconio who sustained massive head injuries. Both of them were reported to be in critical condition.
R.I.P