René Dreyfus

René Dreyfus (in the middle) at the 1930 Monaco Grand Prix

René Dreyfus (born May 6, 1905 in Nice , † August 16, 1993 in New York City ) was a French racing driver .

Career

As a young man, René Dreyfus convinced his mother, the owner of a paper mill, that he could visit more customers with a fast car, whereupon she bought him a Bugatti and he had his first racing car. He also celebrated his greatest successes with vehicles of this brand. In 1930 he surprisingly won the Monaco Grand Prix in front of local hero Louis Chiron . He also won the Belgian Grand Prix in 1934 . Dreyfus later competed on various brands (including Alfa Romeo ). On June 13, 1937, he won the "Gran Premio 1500" in Florence on a Maserati. However, he was hardly able to do anything against the superiority of the Silver Arrows in the late 1930s. However, he celebrated a much-acclaimed victory over the German dominance in a Delahaye at the 1938 Grand Prix de Pau .

During the Second World War, René Dreyfus moved to the United States , took on American citizenship and opened a restaurant in New York City that was particularly popular with fellow racing drivers. He returned to the cockpit of a racing car again to take part in the Le Mans 24-hour race for the third and last time in 1952 .

gallery

• 

  In the Maserati M26 at the 1931 Targa Florio

• 

  At the Grand Prix de Pau in 1935

• 

  1930 in Monaco

• 

  When he won the Belgian Grand Prix in 1934

• 

  Together with Tazio Nuvolari, after their victory at the Grand Prix de Pau in 1935

• 

  When he won the Delahaye 145 in Montlhéry in 1937

• 

  1938

statistics

Pre-war grands prix results

season	team	dare	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	Points	position
1931	Officine A. Maserati	Maserati 26M								20th	15th
				8th
1932	R. Dreyfus (private)	Bugatti T51								12	4th
			5	5	4th
1933	Automobiles E. Bugatti	Bugatti T51 / Bugatti T59								-
			3	DNA	3	DNA	6th
1934	Automobiles E. Bugatti	Bugatti T59								-
			3	DNF		1		7th
1935	Scuderia Ferrari	Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3 / Alfa Romeo Tipo C								36	5.
			2		4th	DNS	7th	2
1936	Scuderia Ferrari	Alfa Romeo 12C-36								24.	10.
				Ret	Ret	4th
1938	Ecurie Bleue	Delahaye 145								24	9.
			DNA	5	8th
1939	Ecurie Lucy O'Rilley Schell	Delahaye 145 / Maserati 8CTF								20th	6th
				7th	4th	8th

Legend
colour	meaning		EM points
gold	victory		1
silver	2nd place		2
bronze	3rd place		3
green	Classified, covered more than 75% of the race distance		4th
blue	not entitled to points, covered between 50% and 75% of the race distance		5
violet	not eligible for points, covered between 25% and 50% of the race distance		6th
red	not eligible for points, covered less than 25% of the race distance		7th
colour	abbreviation	meaning	EM points
black	DSQ	disqualified	8th
White	DNS	did not start
	DNA	did not arrive
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1937	Ecurie Bleue	Delahaye 135CS	Henri Stoffel	Rank 3
1938	Ecurie Bleue	Delahaye 145	Louis Chiron	failure	no oil pressure
1952	Luigi Chinetti	Ferrari 340 America Barchetta	Pierre Louis-Dreyfus	failure	Clutch damage

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1955	HH Arnolt	Arnolt Bolide	Bob Grier	Rank 29

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th
1955	HH Arnolt	Arnolt Bolide	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
				29

Web links

Commons : René Dreyfus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Leif Snellman: René Dreyfus (F). www.kolumbus.fi, April 26, 2015, accessed on May 1, 2015 (English). 
• René Dreyfus. www.motorsportmemorial.org, accessed on July 23, 2019 (English). 
• René Dreyfus in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rassegna sportiva . In: Comune di Firenze (ed.): Firenze. Rassegna mensile del Comune . Year VI, No. 7 . Firenze July 1937, p. 222 .