René Bonnet

René Bonnet Djet in 1963 at the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring

René Bonnet

René Bonnet (born December 27, 1904 in Vaumas , † January 13, 1983 in Épernay ) was a French racing driver and vehicle designer.

Racing driver and entrepreneur

Since the early 1950s, René Bonnet and his partner Charles Deutsch had made a name for themselves with the DB ( Deutsch-Bonnet ) sports cars, which were powered by a low-displacement two - cylinder boxer engine from Panhard with a displacement of 850 cc . Some of these cars were produced in series (e.g. DB Coach Standard / Luxe / Super Rallye), others were just one-offs. In 1961, however, there were disagreements between Bonnet and Deutsch. Deutsch left the company and Bonnet continued to run it under the name Automobiles René Bonnet .

Bonnet now started planning a new prototype that was equipped with Renault technology. This prototype with a four-cylinder in - line engine with 996 cc displacement was used in Le Mans in 1962 and a street version derived from it, the Djet , was also developed. As a special feature, this sports car had a mid-engine , in contrast to the front-wheel drive models Missile and Le Mans .

Bonnet also built a tubular frame chassis for a Formula 3 car . The cooperation with Renault was expanded.

The bodies of the vehicles were made of fiberglass, and the small company could no longer cope with the many development and manufacturing programs in-house. Bonnet handed over the production of the body elements to the GAP (Générale d'Application Plastiques) in Romorantin (approx. 200 km south of Paris). This trade was made possible by Marcel Chassagny, President and General Manager of Matra .

After René Bonnet got into financial difficulties in early 1964, GAP (a 100% subsidiary of Matra ) took over his company. At first the new company operated as Societe Matra-Bonnet and from October only as SA Matra -Sport.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1949	René Bonnet	DB5	Charles German	failure	Engine failure
1950	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	DB tank	Élie Bayol	Rank 23
1951	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	DB tank	Élie Bayol	Rank 21
1952	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	DB tank	Élie Bayol	failure	Power transmission
1953	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	DB HBR	André Moynet	Rank 17
1954	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	DB HBR	Élie Bayol	Rank 10 and class win
1955	Ecurie Jeudy-Bonnet	DB HBR	Claude Storez	failure	Ignition damage

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1952	German Bonnet	German Bonnet	Wade Morehouse	Steve Lansing	Rank 7 and class win
1953	Hobart Cook	DB HBR	Wade Morehouse		11th place and class win

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953	Hobart Cook German & Bonnet	DB HBR	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
			11		17th
1954	German & Bonnet	DB HBR	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
						10	DNF
1955	Ecurie Jeudy-Bonnet	DB HBR	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
						DNF

Web links

Commons : René Bonnet  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : René Bonnet vehicles  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website from dbrb (French)