Raymond Summers

Raymond Summers

Nation:	France
Automobile world championship
First start:	Monaco Grand Prix 1950
Last start:	1950 Italian Grand Prix
Constructors
1950 Ferrari , Raymond Sommer, Talbot
statistics
World Cup balance:	WM-16. ( 1950 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 5 - - -
World Cup points :	3
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	5 over 70 km

Raymond Sommer (born August 31, 1906 in Mouzon , † September 10, 1950 in Cadours ) was a French racing driver .

Career

The son of an aviation pioneer was nicknamed "Raymond the Lionheart" because of his courageous driving style. Sommer turned down all offers from the large works teams and preferred to be his own boss. He tried to make up for the inferiority of his private cars with courage and driving skills. Raymond Sommer moved into the limelight with his two victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1932 and 1933 , where he drove over 21 hours in 1932 after his partner fell ill. Further sports car successes followed, such as victory at the French Grand Prix in 1935 .

After the Second World War , Sommer competed in races with a BMW 328 and with a Maserati and in 1946 won the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud near Paris. In the first automobile world championship year in 1950 , he competed in a private Ferrari and a Talbot-Lago . His most notable race was the Belgian Grand Prix on June 18, 1950, in which he was able to keep up with the superior Alfa Romeos , but had to retire due to a defect. End of August 1950 was the summer of the first pilot with the developed under public scrutiny sixteen-cylinder racing car BRM P15 of British Racing Motors in a Formula 1 race was launched. Immediately after the start of the BRDC International Trophy , a Formula 1 race that had no world championship status, the drive shaft of Sommer's car broke, so that the BRM only moved a few centimeters on its own. The spectators, disappointed by BRM, threw coins into summer's cockpit as a mockery.

Three weeks later, Sommer had a fatal accident in France. On September 10, 1950, he took part in the Grand Prix de Cadours , a Formula 2 in the French province. On lap five of the race, the steering broke on his Cooper 1100 twin , causing him to slip off the track in a fast corner and sustain fatal injuries.

statistics

Pre-war Grands Prix

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	Points	position
1933								-
	DNF	4th	7th	DNA
1934								-
		DNA		3
1935								39	7th
	6th	6th	DNF		9		7th
1936								21st	5.
	7th	9	DNF
1937								27	6th
	5	DNF	7th	8th
1939								23	9.
	4th	5	DNF	DNA

Legend
colour	meaning		EM points
gold	victory		1
silver	2nd place		2
bronze	3rd place		3
green	Classified, covered more than 75% of the race distance		4th
blue	not entitled to points, covered between 50% and 75% of the race distance		5
violet	not eligible for points, covered between 25% and 50% of the race distance		6th
red	not eligible for points, covered less than 25% of the race distance		7th
colour	abbreviation	meaning	EM points
black	DSQ	disqualified	8th
White	DNS	did not start
	DNA	did not arrive
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)

Statistics in the automobile world championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1950	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 125	Ferrari 1.5 V12s	1	-	-	-	-	-	3	16.
		Ferrari 166F2-50	Ferrari 1.5 V12s	1	-	-	-	-	-
	Raymond Summers	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 4.5 L6	2	-	-	-	-	-
	Automobiles Talbot-Darracq	Talbot-Lago T26C-GS	Talbot 4.5 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-
total				5	-	-	-	-	-	3

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1950
		4th		DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1931	Henri De Costier	Chrysler CD Eight	Jean Delemer	failure	cooler
1932	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	Luigi Chinetti	Overall victory
1933	Soc. Anon. Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 MM-LM	Tazio Nuvolari	Overall victory
1934	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300	Pierre Félix	failure	Wagon fire
1935	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300	Raymond de Saugé Destrez	failure	dirty gasoline
1937	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo 8C 2900A Spider	Giovanni Battista Guidotti	failure	Engine failure
1938	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring	Clemente Biondetti	failure	suspension
1939	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo 6C 2500SS	Prince Bira	failure	Engine failure
1950	Luigi Chinetti	Ferrari 195 Sport Touring Berlinetta Le Mans	Dorino Serafini	failure	Electrics

Web links

Commons : Raymond Sommer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: (Pierre) Raymond Sommer (F). www.kolumbus.fi, June 11, 2014, accessed on September 13, 2014 . 
• Raymond Sommer in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Statistics of the BRDC International Trophy 1950 on the website www.formula2.net (archived version) (accessed on January 8, 2018).
2. ↑ Mike Lawrence: Grand Prix Cars 1945-1965 , Motor Racing Publications 1998, ISBN 1899870393 , p. 35.
3. ↑ "The heart of a lion" - biographical article on Raymond Sommer's racing career (English) , Forix.com - 8W