Louis Descartes

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Louis Descartes contested his first hill climb on a Renault R8 Gordini

Louis Descartes (born December 10, 1951 , † December 27, 1991 ) was a French racing car driver , racing car designer, racing team owner and publisher.

Racing career

Louis Descartes began his driving career in 1972 as a hill climber . At the beginning of his career he pursued racing as a hobby and only when it didn't hinder his publishing activities. Emergency vehicle was only a Renault R8 Gordini , this was followed by a Jide , a Teacma and the completion of the racing mountain phase Lola - seater .

In 1979 he started circuit racing and made his debut in 1981 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . In addition to the regular reports at Le Mans, there were also starts in the sports car world championship . The greatest successes in the overall standings were ninth place in the 1000 km race at Brands Hatch in 1985 and 14th place in the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in 1986 . At Le Mans in 1987 he was able to place best when he finished the race in eleventh place.

Racing team owner

As early as 1981 Decartes was involved in a vehicle project in which Hervé Bayard was also involved. With the Renard-Delmas D1 , Bayard and Descartes started in Le Mans, but could not classify due to a lack of distance covered. In 1983 he founded his own racing team with Jean-Paul Sauvée under the name Automobiles Louis Descartes . After a first project based on a Lola T298 had been rejected, the duo designed the first racing car in 1984. As a result, Group C2 prototypes were driven under the name ALD , mainly in Le Mans.

The racing activities of Descartes and his racing team ended in 1991 after he was killed in a car accident north of Paris in December .

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1981 FranceFrance Écurie Renard-Delmas Renard-Delmas D1 FranceFrance Hervé Bayard not classified
1985 FranceFrance Automobiles Louis Descartes ALD 01 FranceFrance Jacques Heuclin FranceFrance Daniel Hubert not classified
1986 FranceFrance Automobiles Louis Descartes ALD 02 FranceFrance Jacques Heuclin failure accident
1987 FranceFrance Automobiles Louis Descartes ALD 02 FranceFrance Jacques Heuclin FranceFrance Dominique Lacaud Rank 11
1988 FranceFrance Automobiles Louis Descartes ALD 02 FranceFrance Jacques Heuclin FranceFrance Dominique Lacaud Rank 22
1989 FranceFrance Automobiles Louis Descartes ALD C289 FranceFrance Yves Hervalet FranceFrance Alain Serpaggi failure Leak in the radiator

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Brands Hatch 1000km race 1985. From RacingSportsCars.com, accessed January 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ 1000 km race on the Nürburgring 1986. From RacingSportsCars.com (English), accessed on January 28, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Descartes, Louis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French entrepreneur, car racing driver and racing team owner
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1951
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1991