Albert Divo
Albert Eugène Divo (actually Albert Eugène Diwo , born January 24, 1895 in Paris , † September 19, 1966 in Morsang-sur-Orge , Essonne department ) was a French racing driver .
Career
Albert Divo was a mechanic by profession. At the age of 13 he began an apprenticeship as a ship mechanic. During the First World War he was a pilot , then initially a mechanic and then from 1919 to 1939 a racing car driver. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was a six-time Grand Prix winner as a driver for Sunbeam , Delage , Bugatti , Talbot and Delahaye .
In 1922 he took part in the RAC Tourist Trophy on the Snaefell Mountain Course on the Isle of Man . Divo scored his first Grand Prix victory for Sunbeam in 1923 at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Autódromo de Sitges-Terramar about 40 kilometers outside of Barcelona in Spain . As a driver for Delage, he finished second behind Giuseppe Campari in the European Grand Prix in Lyon in 1924 .
In 1925 Albert Divo won two Grands Prix for Delage. In July he won the French Grand Prix at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry after his car was eliminated and he had taken over the racing car of his teammate Robert Benoist . In September he shared the victory with his team-mate André Morel at the San Sebastian Grand Prix at the Circuito Lasarte . On August 22, 1925, the first big racing duel took place at the Klausen race on the Klausenpassstrasse , which the Italian Count Giulio Masetti won in his Sunbeam Grand Prix car with a two-liter engine against the French with his Delage with a five-liter engine. From 1922 to 1934, the Klausen race was considered the most difficult and prestigious hill climb in Europe.
With a Talbot-Darracq 700 Divo won the Coupe du Salon in Montlhéry in 1926 . In 1927, also with a Talbot-Darracq 700, he was third at the RAC Grand Prix in Brooklands and first in the formula-free race car in Montlhéry.
Following the withdrawal of brands Talbot-Darracq and Delage from racing Divo was initially unemployed and came in 1928 instead of the fatally injured Pietro Bordino in the Bugatti - factory team , he remained in until the 1933rd In 1928 and 1929 he drove to victory in the Targa Florio in a Bugatti T35 .
He contested many races in England and Ireland . Allegedly because of the easier pronunciation in these countries, he had the spelling of his name changed to Divo in 1928 . In Morsang-sur-Orge he was elected to the city council in 1935. Bugatti racing driver Janine Jennky was at times his partner. After the Second World War , Albert Divo worked as a racing manager at Castrol . In 1962 Albert Divo was in Villars-sur-Ollon ( Switzerland ) and was a founding member of the Club International des Anciens Pilotes de Grand Prix F1 .
Divo was awarded a Knight of the Legion of Honor. He died of a heart attack in 1966 and was buried in the Morsang-sur-Orge cemetery.
The Bugatti Divo , presented in 2018 as part of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance , is named after the racing driver.
statistics
Grand Prix victories
- 1923: October 28th - Spanish Grand Prix at Autódromo de Sitges-Terramar on Sunbeam
- 1925: July 26th - French Grand Prix at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry in a Delage Type 2 LCV with Robert Benoist
- 1925: September 19th - Gran Premio de San Sebastián on the Circuito Lasarte in a Delage Type 2 LCV with André Morel
- 1926 : October 17th - Coupe du Salon Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry on Talbot-Darracq 700
- 1927 : July 2nd - Course de Formula Libre de l´ACF at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry on Talbot-Darracq 700
- 1928: May 6th - Targa Florio on the Medio circuito delle Madonie in a Bugatti T35B
- 1929: May 5th - Targa Florio on the Medio circuito delle Madonie in a Bugatti T35C
Le Mans results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1931 | Bugatti team | Bugatti T50S | Guy Bouriat | failure | withdrawn |
1938 | Ecurie Bleue | Delahaye 145 | Gianfranco Comotti | failure | Gearbox damage |
literature
- Georg Diwo: 300 years of the Diwo family - origins in Cottendorf, Fürweiler and Diersdorfer-Hof; Self-published, 1996.
- Eckhard Schimpf, Julius Kruta: Bugatti - The history of racing from 1920 to 1939; Delius Klasing Verlag, Bielefeld, 2006; ISBN 3-7688-1830-6 .
Web links
- Leif Snellman: Albert Divo (F). www.kolumbus.fi, February 23, 2017, accessed on May 2, 2017 (English).
- Albert Divo in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- http://dergrandprixinsider.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/saturday/#more-1259
- http://www.targaflorio.info/19.htm
- http://www.targaflorio.info/20.htm
- http://www.allf1.info/gpwins.php
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Divo, Albert |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Diwo, Albert Eugène (real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French racing car driver |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 24, 1895 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
DATE OF DEATH | September 19, 1966 |
Place of death | Morsang-sur-Orge , Essonne department |