Léon Molon

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Léon Molon, 1912

Léon Louis Molon (born January 12, 1881 in Arras , † July 1952 in Le Havre ) was a French racing car driver and aviation pioneer.

The entrepreneur

Born in Arras, Léon Molon moved with his parents to Le Havre on the Atlantic coast in 1896 . His father produced industrial shoes and had the year before his first car - a tricycle from Leon Bollee with a 650-cc engine - acquired. This is how the young Molon came into contact with vehicles and their engine technology at an early age. In 1904 he himself opened a specialist workshop for the sale and repair of automobiles, the Grand Garage de la Bourse . The company sold Renault and Vinot & Deguingand vehicles .

Career in motorsport

Molon started motorsport at a young age. From 1907 he competed in the Voiturette races in France. In 1908 he competed in the RAC Tourist Trophy , but was not rated at the end of the race due to a lack of distance covered. Six years later he finished third at this event on a Belgian Minerva . He also came third in the 1912 Voiturette race at the French Grand Prix that year .

Molon had made fortune with his company and financed his racing out of his own pocket. After the end of the First World War he resumed his racing activities, but retired from the III Grand Prix de l'UMF Cyclecars in 1921 with a gearbox damage.

The Frenchman also competed twice in the Le Mans 24-hour race . His brother Lucien Molon was his team partner at both starts . In the opening race in 1923 they finished 26th in the overall standings. In 1926 they were not classified due to insufficient mileage.

The aviator

In addition to his passion for automobiles, Molon was also very interested in airplanes. His first flying object was made of wood and canvas and was built by Molon in his own workshop. After several failures, the device flew for the first time on August 13, 1909. After Louis Blériot had crossed the English Channel for the first time , he acquired a Blériot XI and from then on successfully participated in flight races with the aircraft and set some records. In 1919 he founded the Aero Club Le Havre.

Léon Molon died in July 1952 in his hometown.

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate placement
1923 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Société des Anciens Ateliers Vinot-Deguingand Vinot Deguingand BP 10HP Third French RepublicThird French Republic Lucien Molon Rank 26
1926 Third French RepublicThird French Republic Automobiles Jousset SA Jousset M1 Berline Third French RepublicThird French Republic Lucien Molon not classified

literature

  • RM Clarke: Le Mans. The Bentley & Alfa Years 1923–1939. Brocklands Books, Cobham 1999, ISBN 1-85520-465-7 .

Web links

Commons : Léon Molon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ RAC Tourist 1912 ( Memento of August 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Third place in the French Grand Prix in 1912 ( Memento from July 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Le Mans 1921 ( Memento from May 4, 2009 on WebCite )
personal data
SURNAME Molon, Léon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Molon, Léon Louis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French racing car driver and aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Arras
DATE OF DEATH July 1952
Place of death Le Havre