Alain Bertaut

The works CD3 with the original starting number 44, here at the Goodwood Festival of Speed ​​2006. Alain Bertaut and André Guilhaudin competed with this car in the 1964 Le Mans 24-hour race

Alain Bertaut (* 1928 ; † 2016 ) was a French automobile racing driver , motorsport journalist and from 1970 to 2001 Technical Director of the Le Mans 24-hour race .

journalist

Alain Bertaut studied the early 1950s law with the aim of the profession of lawyer to take. However, he had been fascinated by automobiles and their technology since childhood and in 1954 applied for a job advertised in the motorsport section of the French sports newspaper L'Équipe . In the following three years he attended a large number of motorsport events in Europe and started racing himself.

Career in motorsport

His first steps were in rallying . At the Rome-Liège-Rome Rally in 1957, he was 57th overall in a Peugeot 403 . In the early 1960s, he rose to head of department at the publishing house. Vehicle tests were also part of his field of activity. He wrote over 1000 driving reports during his journalistic work and acquired an enormous amount of technical knowledge.

Active motorsport was never his livelihood, but he made an amazing career as a recreational racing driver that led him to the World Sports Car Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans . At the beginning of the 1960s he played a leading role in the Renault R8 Gordini Cup, which was launched as a springboard for young racing drivers and from which many top French drivers emerged.

It was first used on the racetrack in 1960 at the 1000 km race in Paris . Together with Jean Bernadet , he drove a privately registered AC Ace to 14th place overall. Through his professional activity he got to know the French designer Charles Deutsch and started racing for his racing team in 1962. He drove a CD Dyna in 1962 together with his long-time teammate André Guilhaudin in 16th place and to class victory at Le Mans. In 1966 and 1967 he drove the CD SP66 at Le Mans and finished eleventh with the car in the 1000 km race in Paris in 1966 and 13th in the 12 hour race in Reims in 1967 . After this race he retired from racing and ended his journalistic activities.

Technical Director of the Le Mans 24 Hours

After his racing career ended in 1967, Bertaut and his former team boss Charles Deutsch moved to ACO , the organizer of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Deutsch took over the role of race director from Jacques Loste and made Bertaut one of his closest confidants. Initially responsible for track safety, Bertaut was promoted to technical director of the race in 1970. A position that he held until his resignation in summer 2001. He was also deputy race director from 1972. All the technical regulations of this long period of service had his signature. He opened in the 1980s, the race for the vehicles of the IMSA GT Championship and was instrumental in the technical rules of the group C involved. He helped shape today's class division in Le Mans, especially the successful coexistence of Le Mans prototypes and GT vehicles . His successor was Daniel Poissenot , who held this office until 2015. On his departure he received the Spirit of Le Mans Prize, which was awarded for the first time this year.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1962	Panhard & Levassor	CD Dyna	André Guilhaudin	16th place and class win
1963	Auto Union GmbH	CD 3	André Guilhaudin	failure	accident
1964	SECA CD	CD 3	André Giulhaudin	failure	Engine failure
1966	SEC Automobiles Charles German	CD SP66	Pierre Lelong	failure	Clutch damage
1967	SEC Automobiles Charles German	CD SP66C	André Guilhaudin	failure	Power transmission

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1962	Panhard & Levassor	CD Dyna	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
									DNF	16							20th
1963	Auto Union	CD 3	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
												DNF
1964	Charles German Standard Motor Company	CD 3 Triumph Spitfire	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
											DNF	DNF
1966	Charles German	CD SP66	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
									DNF
1967	Charles German	CD SP66	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
									DNF

Web links

Commons : Alain Bertaut  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Biography (french)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alain Bertaut deceased (French)
2. ^ Paris 1000 km race in 1960
3. ^ Paris 1000 km race in 1966
4. ↑ Reims 12-hour race in 1967
5. ↑ Resignation as Technical Director 2001 ( Memento from October 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ Spirit of Le Mans Prize  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )