Pierre Louis-Dreyfus

Pierre Louis-Dreyfus in the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1935

Pierre Louis-Dreyfus (born May 17, 1908 in Paris , † January 15, 2011 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ) was a French banker, resistance fighter of the Resistance in World War II , longtime vice-president of the Louis Dreyfus Group , grandfather of actress Julia Louis- Dreyfus and, until his death, the oldest surviving racing driver of the 24 Hours of Le Mans .

Early years

Pierre Louis-Dreyfus was born in May 1908 as the son of Charles Louis-Dreyfus in the posh 8th arrondissement of Paris . His grandfather Léopold Louis-Dreyfus founded a bank in the 19th century and later a shipping company. These two companies later became the conglomerate Louis-Dreyfus, which is now one of the 100 largest French companies. When Pierre Louis-Dreyfus was born, the family was already very wealthy. He attended the best French schools and did his military service in 1928. In 1929 he joined the family company, where he soon took on important tasks. From 1967 to 1975 he was CEO of the Louis Dreyfus Group and then for many years its Vice President.

Resistance

At the beginning of World War II he joined the French Army ; in the battles against the Wehrmacht he was awarded twice. After the French defeat, he became a member of the Resistance and worked under Colonel Vautrin in southern France. In December 1942 he had to leave France and fled to England via Spain and Portugal .

He fought in the Forces françaises libres in North Africa and in 1944 became a gunner in the French Free Air Force. He flew 81 missions over Belgium , the Netherlands and the German Reich and was in the air for almost 200 hours. By the end of the war he had reached the rank of captain .

Motorsport

In addition to his professional activity, his great passion was motorsport. Equipped with enough capital, he started racing in the early 1930s. He was animated by his brother-in-law Antoine Schumann , who had been on the racing slopes for several years. At his side he made his debut at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1931 . A year before that, the two French drivers finished fourth overall in a Bugatti at the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race .

Dreyfus was a fast and fearless racing driver, but only practiced this sport as a pastime alongside his job. He was the classic men's driver , for whom a great career as a motor sportsman would have been possible with more rigor. All the more astonishing was his appearance at the 24-hour race of Le Mans in 1935 , where he only lost a possible overall victory due to a mistake by his pit team. Dreyfus, who shared an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 with Henri Stoffel , caught up with Johnny Hindmarsh and Luis Fontés just before the end after a long pit stop on the leading Lagonda . At the wheel of the Lagonda was Louis Fontés, who was only able to drive in high gears due to transmission problems. When Dreyfus overtook the Lagonda, the laps in his pit were counted incorrectly and he was told that he was in the lead and should take care of the car. The French had only rounded back. By the time the error was noticed, it was too late. Dreyfus was able to make up massive ground, but in the end had to admit defeat by two car lengths.

In 1936 he bought two Delahaye 135Ss , which he never used in a race, but instead left them to friends for private use. He himself became a works driver for Talbot and came third overall at the Grand Prix de la Marne and second at the Grand Prix Comminges St Gaudens .

After the end of the Second World War, he began to drive sports car races again. Dreyfus also competed in the first Le Mans race after the war. In this race, too, he was in the lead, but over-revved the engine of his Ferrari when braking the Mulsanne and retired. Until the mid-1950s he competed in car races, often for Luigi Chinetti , with whom he had a lifelong friendship.

Dreyfus competed almost exclusively under a pseudonym . As Ferret , Helde or Ano-Nyme he was at the start at national and international events and is also on the various start lists.

Dreyfus died on January 15, 2011 at the age of 102.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1931	Antoine Schumann	Bugatti Type 43	Antoine Schumann	failure	Power transmission
1932	Pierre Louis-Dreyfus	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300	Antoine Schumann	failure	accident
1935	Pierre Louis-Dreyfus	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300	Henri Stoffel	Rank 2 and class win
1939	Luigi Chinetti	Talbot-Lago T26	Antoine Schumann	failure	Engine failure
1949	YES Plisson	Ferrari 166MM	Jean Lucas	failure	Engine failure
1950	Luigi Chinetti	Ferrari 195S Barchetta	Luigi Chinetti	failure	accident
1951	Luigi Chinetti	Ferrari 340 America Barchetta	Louis Chiron	Disqualified
1952	Luigi Chinetti	Ferrari 340 Amercia Barchetta	René Dreyfus	failure	Clutch damage
1953	Automobili OSCA	Osca MT4 1100 Coupe	Mario Damonte	18th place and class win
1954	Automobiles German & Bonnet	DB HBR	Jean Lucas	failure	Gearbox damage
1955	Pierre Louis-Dreyfus	Ferrari 750 Monza	Jean Lucas	failure	Engine failure

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953	Osca	Osca MT4	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
					18th
1954	German & Bonnet	DB HBR	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
						DNF
1955	Pierre Louis-Dreyfus	Ferrari 750 Monza	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
						DNF

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .
• RM Clarke: Le Mans. The Bentley & Alfa Years 1923-1939. Brooklands Books, Cobham 1998, ISBN 1-85520-465-7 .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On the death of Pierre Louis-Dreyfus ( Memento of the original from January 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.