1931 Monaco Grand Prix poster – Robert Falcucci
Robert Falcucci was the artist behind the first ever Monaco Grand Prix posters. In this we’rediscounting the text only version broadsheet that was created for the inugural event in 1929. Instead we are talking about Falcucci’s dramatic, awe-insping posters from 1930, 1931 and 1932 that set the standard for the many artists that followed on where he left off. All three of Falcucci’s Monaco Grand Prix posters are typically art deco in style and they are all superb of motor racing art at its best.
In this 1931 Monaco Grand Prix poster Falcucci has depicted scene of the high speed racing cars on the famous Monaco street circuit. Falcucci appears to have put the viwer in first place. Coming up quickly on our left hand side is a red Alfa Romeo. We’re just holding it off as it attempts to speed past. The car is so close you could almost touch it. The chasing pack is just passing Monaco’s prestigious Casino, giving their all as they race up the nine percent incline of Avenue Monte Carlo. Behind the pack, at the bottom of the road is the start and finish area for 1931, near the harbor on Boulevard Albert Premier.
Falcucci’s cars are depicted in red and blue. These were the manufacturers colours during this golden era of motor sport. Alfa Romeos were liveried in bright red whilst Bugatti were finished in French racing blue. Which suggests Falcucci’s art deco stylised portrayal’s depicts two Alfa Romeo’s and a Bugatti. Falcucci would have known at the time of producing his artwork, but Alfa Romeo pulled out of the Monaco Grand Prix in 1931 because of tire problems.
Circuit de Monaco at the 1931 Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix is one of the most iconic races in Formula One, and it has been held every year since 1929. The race circuit in 1931 was 3180m long and ran through the tiny winding city streets of Monaco. It was renowned as a very difficult and extremely challenging course.
At the 1931 Grand Prix at Monaco the start line was in front of the grandstands on the harbour front on Boulevard Albert Première. From the start cars would take a right turn at the Church of Sainte Dévote and proceed up the hill to Massenet, then across the tram tracks, past the hotel terraces and on to the Casino. Next, it was downhill, past the Casin gardens and the Mirabeau Hotel to the hairpin bend near the train station. A downhill right hand bend led to the sea front followed quickly by another onto Boulevard Louis II and through the Tir aux Pigeons tunnel.
The stretch of road after the tunnel, racing along the quayside, was the fastest part of the racetrack. Not exactly a straight but near enough. Next up was the chicane and the challenging left hand Tabac corner. The course continued on towards the back of the pits and on to Gasometer hairpin bend with its notorious tram tracks. The hairpin led back to the front of the pits, the grandstand and the finish line back on the harbour front.
The race would entail 100 laps of the Monaco course. A total of 318km.
What happened in the 1931 Monaco Grand Prix?
Because of problems with their car tyres, Alfa Romeo pulled out of the Monaco Grand Prix before the race started. This left the competition dominated by Bugatti. Of the 23 cars still in the race 16 were Bugatti, five were Maserati, two were Mercedes-Benz and there was a single Peugeot. Among the 16 Bugatti’s entered, four were factory-team Type 51s. These would be driven by local racing hero, Monegasquan driver Louis Chiron, the Italian Achille Varzi and the Frenchmen Albert Divo and Guy Bouriat.
Maserati’s five entries were all the eight cylinder 2500’s and were driven by the French driver René Dreyfus, the Italian’s Luigi Fagioli and Clemente Bondietti. The German, Rudolf Caracciola entered the race in his huge Mercedes SSKL (Super Sport Short Light-Weight.
By all accounts, the weather on April 10, 1931 was great. Blazing hot sunshine tempered by an icy Meditteranean breeze. At 1.30pm, the race got underway. It was René Dreyfus, from pole position, in his red Maserati who got off to the best start. He led into the right hander at St. Devote. However, on the fourth lap, the sheer power of Bugatti T35C saw William Grover-Williams take the lead on the hill to Casino. Williams lead wasn’t to last long either. His car failed him on lap 6 and he retired from the race. Dreyfus was back in the lead, with Achille Varzi and Rudolf Caracciola closing in on him. Varzi managed to overtake Dreyfus on the 9th lap taking the lead. On lap 12, Dreyfus had fallen back to fourth place after Lehoux and Chiron had overtaken him. On lap 15, Lehoux came to a halt at the sea wall with a broken rear axle. After twenty laps Chiron had managed to move up from fifth to second place and was giving chase to Varzi. On lap 29 Varzi hit a curb and shattered his left ront wheel, he nursed the car to the pits but the time lost coming in and the changing the wheel put him out of contantion for any kind of victory.
The race leaders were now Chiron in first, followed by Fagioli, Bouriat and Caracciola and it remained that way until lap 53 when Caracciola was forced to retire because of a slipping clutch. Only Fagioli and Bouriat were on the same lap with him. Varzi had made it back into fourth place but was a full lap behind the race leader. Chiron continued at his fast pace putting time between himself and Bouriat. On lap 80 he drove the fastest lap in 2m07s.
A pit stop to replace his plus lost Bouriat a lot of time, and his second place position. The lead order had changed again. Chiron was still in the lead but was now chased by Fagioli, Varzi, who was back in third place and Dreyfus in fourth. Even this wasn’t to last. Three laps from the end Dreyfus retired his Maserati when his engine stopped running. Chiron had it in the bag. He was now more than three minutes ahead of his closest pursuer. The battle would be between Fagioli and Varzi for second place. Varzi in the works Bugatti had managed to considerably reduce Fagioli’s advantage, hoewver, he was not able to catch the Maserati.
At the finish Charles Faroux flagged Chiron, who had lapped the entire field with the new 2.3-liter Bugatti and won in the record time of three hours 39 minutes and 9.2 seconds with an average speed of 87.1 km/h (54.1 mph.). Second place went to Fagioli almost 4 minutes behind Chiron with Varzi in third place just nine seconds later. Of the twenty three cars that started the race only nine cars crossed the finish line. Five were Bugatti’s and three were Maserati’s. But one was the French driver André Boillet in his eight year old, unsupercharged Peugeot who came in sixth!
99 Laps and the Race ain’t Won!
Three months after the race, on July 18, 1931, the Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung published the following: “An embarrassing blunder happened at the Monaco Grand Prix. It has recently emerged that only 99 laps were completed, not the prescribed 100 laps. As a result the Italian Champion Achille Varzi was denied his well-deserved second place. It will possibly be remembered that Varzi displayed a spectator inspiring finish on the 100th lap in which he overtook the Maserati of Fagioli. But at that time this lap was no longer taken into account and for that reason this achievement failed due to the weak arithmetic of the race management.”
When the timekeepers issued the final results, Fagioli and Varzi appeared in that order. The laps completed should have read 99, not 100, and the race averages should have been somewhat slower as the drivers completed 3.18 km less than the timekeepers stated. As far as is known, every report of the race since then, either in magazines or books has recorded the number of laps completed as 100 and the final race distance as 318km.
These are the unofficial corrected results for the first three places:
1. Chiron 99 laps, 314.82 km 3h39m09.2s 86.84 km/h
2. Fagioli 99 laps, 314.82 km 3h43m04.6s 84.68 km/h
3. Varzi 99 laps, 314.82 km 3h43m13.2s 84.62 km/h
This account of events could not have been written without access to the highly detailed and stirling work of Hans Etzrodt on the kolumbus.fi website. if you would like more information on the 1931 Monaco Grand Prix, I strongly recommend you read his report in full.
Other Monaco Grand Prix Posters
The Monaco Grand Prix is one of the most captivating races in all motorsport, with drivers from around the world coming to compete for victory. The intense, high-speed races between cars at Monaco have captivated drivers and motorsport fans the world over. The Mediterranean city with its diverse landscape Monaco offers the perfect backdrop to its motor racing posters. Pristine mountains, sea views, steep cliffs, winding city streets, and the harbour have all been featured on Monaco Grand Prix posters over the decades. And that’s just the scenery! Add into the mix, dynamic and dramatic images of some of the world’s best sports cars, including Ferrari, Bugatti, Mercedes Benz and Maserati, and you can’t go wrong.
There’s something about motorsports that just gets the blood pumping. Maybe it’s the roar of the engines, the speed of the cars or the thrill of the race. Whatever it is, motor sports have always been a popular spectator sport. It has been the challenge of many artists over the years to capture the glamour and excitement of the race in their designs. Over the years many posters have coveted the chance to produce a poster for the prestigious street race. Artists that at one time or another took the top spot on the winner’s podium for Monaco Grand Prix poster design include Robert Falcucci, Geo Ham, B Minne, Alain Giampaoli, J May, J Ramel, Michael Turner, and Rene Lorenzo.
How much are original Monaco Grand Prix Posters worth?
This is a rare, highly sought-after, historic poster from a legendary era in motorsport! Original lithographic prints of many of the early race posters have become incredibly hard to find. They weren’t intending to be kept. usually printed in low quantities, most were stapled to trees or glued to fences, but some survive and now change hands for thousands of pounds. Although we have looked, this poster appears to be so rare in its original form that we cannot trace a price realised at auction. So we can’t let you know what it is worth. We do know that there are reproduction copies out there form the 1980s that are being offered for nearly £1,000. In addition the two other Falcucci Monaco Grand Prix posters have sold for between £10,000 and £18,000.It seems that the 1931 Grand Prix poster is the rarest of the three.
Of course, if you can find an original copy and can afford to buy it, you’re on to a winner. There’s nothing like owning an original vintage poster and they often make a great investment. Chances are in just a few years you’ll be able to sell it for more than you paid for it. Unfortunately, for most of us, an investment, even at the entry-level prices of the collectible poster isn’t even close to being a possibility.
This is where our stunning high-quality reproductions come into their own. They cost a fraction of an original, for example, our high-quality 50x70cm reproduction print of this Monaco 1931 Grand Prix poster is available on this listing priced at just £14. This is a stunning Grand Prix Motor Racing poster and looks incredible framed and mounted on the wall.
Whilst we don’t claim to be able to offer all the Monaco Grand Prix posters to you (yet!), we do currently have almost fifty Grand Prix or Monaco-related posters available. You can see them here. We also have half a dozen or so other Robert Falcucci posters to see here.
Our reproduction Monaco prints are a great way to display impossible-to-find posters. They’re perfect for the wall and collection of any Grand Prix lover with a strong sense of style! With so many different designs to choose from, you’re sure to find the perfect one for your home or office. So don’t wait any longer, add a little bit of motor racing history to your home decor. Get your engine started, order yours today!
