Pierre Veyron

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Pierre Veyron (center) with Jean-Pierre Wimille (left) and Charles Faroux after winning the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1939
The two Bugatti Type 57G tanks owned by Jean-Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron in the early stages of the 1937 Le Mans 24-hour race

Pierre Veyron (born October 1, 1903 in Berc ; † November 2, 1970 in Èze ) was a French automobile racing driver who was active between 1933 and 1953.

Career

In 1932, Veyron was hired by Ettore Bugatti's son Jean . Veyron became a test driver and development engineer and from then on optimized the racing cars. As a works driver, he continued to drive until 1937 and won the Berlin AVUS race in 1933 and 1934 with a Type 51 A. As a developer, Veyron mainly worked on the Type 57, the sale of which formed the company's economic backbone from 1933 onwards. In 1939 he won as the highlight of his racing career, alternating with Jean-Pierre Wimille in the 24-hour race at Le Mans .

During the Second World War , Pierre Veyron, like many Bugatti employees, joined the French resistance and fought against the German occupiers. The resistance group was headed by racing drivers Robert Benoist and William Grover-Williams , both of whom were captured and executed in concentration camps. In 1945 Veyron was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his services during the occupation . After the war, Veyron drove a few races, but mainly devoted himself to his family and his company. In 1970 Pierre Veyron died in Èze , which lies between Monte Carlo and Nice.

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 super sports car is named after Veyron .

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate placement Failure reason
1934 FranceFrance Roger Labric Bugatti Type 50S FranceFrance Roger Labric failure Engine failure
1935 FranceFrance Roger Labric Bugatti Type 50S FranceFrance Roger Labric failure Engine failure
1937 FranceFrance Roger Labric Bugatti Type 57G tank FranceFrance Roger Labric failure malfunction
1939 FranceFrance Jean-Pierre Wimille Bugatti Type 57C tank FranceFrance Jean-Pierre Wimille Overall victory
1949 FranceFrance Amédée Gordini Simca-Gordini Type 8 FranceFrance José Scaron failure Clutch damage
1950 FranceFrance MAP MAP FranceFrance François Lacour failure Leak in the water tank
1951 FranceFrance Equipe Gordini Gordini T15S FranceFrance Georges Monneret failure Power transmission
1952 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Donald Healey Nash-Healey FranceFrance Yves Giraud-Cabantous failure Gearbox damage
1953 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Nash-Healey Inc. Nash-Healey Sports FranceFrance Yves Giraud-Cabantous failure no oil pressure

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season team race car 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th
1953 Nash-Healey Nash-Healey Sports United StatesUnited States SEB ItalyItaly MIM FranceFrance LEM BelgiumBelgium SPA GermanyGermany ONLY United KingdomUnited Kingdom RTT MexicoMexico CAP
DNF

Web links

Commons : Pierre Veyron  - Collection of images, videos and audio files