Ferenc Szisz

Ferenc Szisz

Ferenc Szisz on the track in his victory at the 1906 French Grand Prix .

Monument of Szisz in the Hungarian city of Mogyoród

Ferenc (François) Szisz (born September 20, 1873 in Szeghalom , Austria-Hungary , † February 21, 1944 in Auffargis , Yvelines department , France ) was a French racing driver of Hungarian origin. Szisz occupies a prominent place in motor sport history as the winner of the first Grand Prix by modern standards, the 1906 French Grand Prix .

Career

Szisz (pronounced Sis , his family came from Transylvanian Saxony and was originally called "Süß") initially worked as a blacksmith and copper smelter, but began to be interested in automobiles very early on. In search of like-minded people for his passion, he traveled to Vienna , Munich and Berlin , only to get stuck in Paris , where he worked in 1900 as head of the test department at the Renault brothers' company . In addition, he was interested in racing, which the company founders Louis and Marcel Renault also pursued for advertising their own brand. He became a mechanic on board with Louis (at the time of the city-to-city races, every vehicle had a vehicle that did minor repairs on site) and competed with him in the Paris – Vienna 1902 and Paris – Madrid races in 1903 . Since Marcel Renault had a fatal accident in this race, Louis withdrew from racing.

It was not until 1905 that Renault built a racing car again, and Ferenc Szisz advanced to become a racing driver. He took part in the elimination race for the Gordon Bennett race in 1905 and the Vanderbilt Cup in the same year. In 1906 the ACF , the French automobile club, announced the first so-called “Grand Prix”, the Grand Prix of France , and Renault registered three vehicles, including Szisz's car. The race was held in two days on a circuit of 103 km in length at Le Mans , which had to be lapped twelve times. Szisz's toughest competitor was the Italian Felice Nazzaro in a Fiat , whose vehicle had more horsepower , but needed much more time to change tires, which was a common undertaking given the road conditions at the time. In the end, Szisz triumphed thanks to his level-headed driving style.

At the 1907 French Grand Prix , Szisz and Nazzaro met again and this time the Italian won ahead of the Hungarian. Ferenc Szisz started again in the 1908 French Grand Prix , but retired due to a puncture. At the end of 1908 he left the Renault company, possibly because they had withdrawn from racing, and founded a workshop in Neuilly . After a six-year break from racing, he started again at the 1914 French Grand Prix in the Alda team of the well-known racing driver Fernand Charron . The car was unreliable and Szisz was eliminated.

During the First World War , Ferenc Szisz fought as a volunteer in the French army and received French citizenship. He then worked for the aircraft manufacturer Breguet until he retired in 1930. He died in 1944 at the age of 70.

His death went unnoticed for a long time and in the 1950s a man caused a sensation who claimed to be Ferenc Szisz, who had returned to Hungary. He gave interviews about "his" racing career and many thought he was real. This man died in Hungary in 1970, which is why in some works 1970 is given as the year of Szisz's death, who would have been 97 years old. However, documents that have since emerged show that Szisz died in France in 1944 and that the man was a skilled impostor whose identity - possibly a relative - could never be revealed.

literature

• Heinz Prüller : Heinz Prüller: Our champions. Everything about Austria's racing driver of the century. Triumphs & defeats, careers & destinies, heroes of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Web links

Commons : Ferenc Szisz  - collection of images, videos and audio files