Robert Laly

Robert Laly, on the right in the Delage next to René Thomas ; at the French Grand Prix in 1914

Charles Robert Laly (born September 7, 1887 , † December 13, 1972 in Levallois-Perret ) was a French racing driver .

Career in motorsport

After finishing school in 1902, Robert Laly began training as a mechanic at the French car manufacturer Lacoste & Battmann . In this role he became a co-driver in the early races of the aviation pioneer René Thomas . After two years of military service , he returned to motorsport in this role in the 1910s. He became a co-driver with Louis Wagner and Albert Guyot , with whom he was overall sixth in the Tour de France for automobiles in 1914 . 1914 he sat next to René Thomas, than this on a Delage , the 500-mile race at Indianapolis won. Laly had to deal with an exhaust that came loose from the engine in the last 60 laps . First he held it with his hand. When he suffered burn injuries to his hands, he tied it to the chassis with his belt.

After the end of the First World War , he returned to Indianapolis with Thomas in 1919 . This time the duo drove a ballot , started the race from pole position and finished eleventh overall (winner Howard Wilcox in a Peugeot ).

After the end of the era of the accompanying mechanics, Laly became a racing driver himself. His first major success was winning the RAC Tourist Trophy in 1922 . His teammate on a Sunbeam Tourist Trophy was Jean Chassagne . In 1925 he became a works driver for Ariès and won the Coupe Georges Boillot in 1927 . At the Coppa Florio of the same year , he finished fourth overall and won the racing class for vehicles up to 3-liter displacement. He competed four times in the Le Mans 24-hour race . All four missions ended after technical defects in the respective emergency vehicles due to breakdowns. In 1927 , Laly and Chassagne were already leading in an Ariès Surbaissée 3-liter with a lead of three laps over the eventual winners Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis in a Bentley 3-liter Super Sport when they were eliminated two laps before the end of the race due to damage to the ignition distributor.

At the end of the 1920s he was also active as a monoposto pilot. The best result was fifth place at the 1928 Spanish Grand Prix .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1924	Société des Automobile Ariès	Ariès Type S GP	Charles Flohot	failure	Engine failure
1926	Société des Automobile Ariès	Ariès Type S GP2 Surbaissée	Jean Chassagne	failure	battery
1927	Société des Automobile Ariès	Ariès Type S GP2 Surbaisée	Jean Chassagne	failure	Ignition damage
1928	Société des Automobile Ariès	Ariès Type S GP2 Surbaisée	Louis Rigal	failure	Engine failure

literature

• RM Clarke: Le Mans. The Bentley & Alfa Years 1923–1939. Brocklands Books, Cobham 1999, ISBN 1-85520-465-7 .
• L'historique de la course automobile, Edmond Cohin, éd. Larivière, 1982, 882 p., Et L'Automobile Magazine n ° 457, juillet 1984, encart 100 ans d'automobile française, Serge Bellu et Christian Moity, p.82.

Web links

Commons : Robert Laly  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Robert Laly at Racing Sports Cars