Jean-Pierre Wimille
Jean-Pierre Wimille (born February 26, 1908 in Paris , † January 28, 1949 in Buenos Aires , Argentina ) was a French racing driver .
Life
Wimille was the son of a motorsport journalist. In 1930 he returned to France after a military mission in Morocco and began car racing. His first racing car was a Bugatti Type 51 , with which he celebrated his first success in 1932 at the Grand Prix d'Oran in Algeria . The unreliability of the cars prevented him from further success, so that in 1933 he privately bought an Alfa Romeo . Success in mountain races and podiums in grands prix he helped 1934-1937 to a place in the Bugatti - factory team .
The heyday of Bugatti was over in the second half of the 1930s, however, and the German Silver Arrows dominated the action, so that there were no great successes in Grand Prix races. More successful was Wimille in the sports car segment , where he in 1937 and 1939 , the 24-hour race at Le Mans won. A brief interlude at Alfa Romeo in 1938 was followed by a return to Bugatti in 1939.
During the war, Wimille was active in the Resistance as a patriotic Frenchman . He founded a resistance group with fellow racing drivers William Grover-Williams and Robert Benoist , but was luckier than his friends, who both perished in the concentration camp .
In 1945 Jean-Pierre Wimille returned to the racetracks and won the first race after the war, the Coupe des Prisonniers 1945 . In 1946 he joined Alfa Romeo and was arguably the best driver in the 1947 and 1948 seasons .
In 1949 Wimille traveled to Argentina to compete in smaller races that traditionally took place there at the beginning of the year. While training for the Palermo Grand Prix in Buenos Aires (named after a park there) with a Simca - Gordini he skidded on his first fast lap and hit a tree. A couple of children were too close to the track. A mounted policeman tried to drive them back. The horse shied and threw sand on the slope. As a result, Wimilles tires lost their grip. Shortly after the accident, Wimille died of his head injuries.
At the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2009, four special models of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 were presented to mark the 100th anniversary of the Bugatti company. One of these Bugatti Veyron Edition Centenaire paid homage to Jean-Pierre Wimille.
Automobile production
statistics
Le Mans results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 |
 Bugatti team
|
Bugatti T57G tank |
Robert Benoist
|
Overall victory | |
| 1939 |
Jean-Pierre Wimille |
Bugatti T57C tank |
Pierre Veyron
|
Overall victory |
Web links
- Leif Snellman: Jean-Pierre Wimille (F). www.kolumbus.fi, November 24, 2019, accessed on March 28, 2020 (English).
- Jean-Pierre Wimille in the Internet Movie Database (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wimille, Jean-Pierre |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 26, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 28, 1949 |
| Place of death | Buenos Aires , Argentina |