Louis Balart

Louis Balart and Robert Doutrebente in the Corre La Licorne V16 10CV Sport at the 1925 Le Mans 24-hour race

Louis Balart (born August 18, 1887 in Lussac-les-Églises , † May 19, 1967 in L'Isle-Adam ) was a French racing car driver .

Career

Louis Balart was a well-known and successful sports car driver in the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1923 and 1931 he competed seven times in the Le Mans 24-hour race . In his debut race in 1923 , he and his compatriot Charles Drouin on a Corre-La Licorne came in 25th overall. A year later he drove to the top of the field for the first time in a long-distance race . He finished the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps in 1924 in fifth place overall. The Frenchman drove for the Corre-La Licorne racing team as a works driver until the end of the 1926 season and achieved another top position with eighth place in Le Mans in 1925 .

After Licorne's racing activities ended, he competed in races for Pierre Fenaille's racing team in 1928. Sports cars from Tracta were used . In 1928 he finished 19th in Le Mans and in 1929 ninth. It failed in the Coupe Georges Boillot in 1928 .

The last time he raced at Le Mans, he got the best finish. In the Lorraine-Dietrich B3-6 of his compatriot Henri Trébor , he was fourth overall.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1923	Societe Française des Automobiles Corre	Corre La Licorne V14 8CV	Charles Drouin	Rank 25
1924	Société Française des Automobiles Corre	Corre La Licorne V16 10CV Sport	Charles Drouin	failure	Engine failure
1925	Société Française des Automobiles Corre	Corre La Licorne V16 10CV Sport	Robert Doutrebente	Rank 8 and class win
1926	Société Française des Automobiles Corre	Corre-La Licorne G6 Sport	Waldemar Lestienne	failure	accident
1928	SA of the automobile Tracta	Tracta Type A	Maurice Benoist	Rank 12
1929	SA of the automobile Tracta	Tracta Type A	Louis Debeugny	9th place and class win
1931	Henri Trébor	Lorraine-Dietrich B3-6 Le Mans	Henri Trébor	Rank 4

literature

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

Web links

Commons : Louis Balart  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Results at Racing Sports Cars
• Louis Balart at 24-hour en-piste