Introduced in 1933 “Grand Prix de l’Albigeos”, (Albi) soon became one of the classic pre-war Voiturette races. It was raced using the fast three lined ‘Les Planques’ public roads course beside the river Tarm, bumpy and narrow triangular circuit with the pits and the start on the shortest of the straights, the one closest to Albi.
After a right hander the track went twisting trough Saint Antonie and climbed to the village of St Juery where a tight hairpin led the track southwards over a railroad level crossing and a hump. Then a long fast straight to Mont Plaisir was followed by another long straight that ended in a right hander leading back to the start line.
The two first years the Albi GP was run with both GP and Voiturette classes. Veyron dominated the Voiturette class by making a hat trick of victories 1933-35. In 1935 Albi introduced a system of having the race run in two heats with times added to determine the final order.
In 1936 “Prince B. Bira” won as he pleased with his ERA car named “Remus” when the opposition fell out with technical problems. It was an ERA victory again in 1937 before Maserati took the last two pre-war wins with Luigi Villoresi and John Wakefield.
After the war the Albi GP was revived in 1946, when Nuvolari’s Maserati 4CL won at 91.57mph (147.36kph) and continued as a non-championship Formula 1 race. The track was shortened in 1951 and Albi Grand Prix was held annually (apart from 1954) until 1955, then became one of the tracks that was closed after the Le Mans disaster in 1955.
