René Cotton

In a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL , René Cotton achieved second place in the Liège-Rome-Liège rally and was fourth overall in the 1956 Tour de France for automobiles

The DS21 with which Bob Neyret won the Morocco Rally for Citroën in 1969 and 1970

Citroën SM ; Jean Deschazeaux's winning car at the 1971 Morocco Rally

René Cotton (born February 19, 1914 in Sainte-Colombe , † July 25, 1971 in Paris ) was a French skier , racing team owner, car racing driver and racing director at Citroën .

Skiing

Rene Cotton, who grew up near Lyon , was a skier in the 1930s. His teacher was Émile Allais , who won three world titles at the Alpine World Ski Championships in 1937 . He belonged to the Paris Ski Club and started on the Lauberhorn , in Sestriere and at the Arlberg-Kandahar races . He worked as a ski instructor and taught, among others, Christiane de la Fressange (1919–2009), who later became the wife of the racing driver Jean-Pierre Wimille . It was through him that he came into contact with motorsport.

Racing career

René Cotton competed in both rallies and circuit races in the 1950s . He started at the Mille Miglia in 1951 and achieved the first notable result with seventh overall place at the Coupe du Salon . Cotton mainly drove for the French racing teams of Panhard & Levassor and Monopole , but achieved his best results with other vehicles. The Monaco Grand Prix was held in 1952 as a sports car race. Cotton drove a Delahaye 135S and after more than three hours of driving was eighth, 15 laps behind the winner Vittorio Marzotto in a Ferrari 225S Spyder Vignale . In 1954 he finished fourth in the Coupe du Printemps on an Osca MT4 in Montlhéry . The same position he achieved in 1956 when de France Tour for automobiles .

René Cotton took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race five times . He made his debut in 1954 as partner of André Beaulieux in the Panhard X88 . The duo was not classified because the distance covered was too short. He had his only finish in 1959 . After the end of racing activities at Monopole, he drove a works - DB HBR4 . Ninth place overall with his teammate Louis Cornet led to victory in the GT class up to 0.75 liters.

Parallel to his circuit trips, he was also active as a rally pilot and mountain racing driver. His greatest success was second place behind Olivier Gendebien and Pierre Stasse ( Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ) at the 14th Liège-Rome-Liège Rally in 1955 . Cotton also drove a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL; his co-driver was Agnès Lemerle.

Team manager at Citroën

In the 1950s, Cotton founded its own rally team under the name Écurie Paris-Île de France , which carried out the missions for the French car manufacturer Citroën . Paul Coltelloni won the Monte Carlo Rally in a Citroën ID 19 in 1959 and became European Rally Champion in the same year . Further successes were the victory of Pauli Toivonen in the 1000 Lakes Rally in 1962 and the overall victory of René Trautmann in the French rally championship in 1963 .

When Citroën took over the racing activities itself in 1965 and set up its own department, René Cotton took over the management. Cotton was known as a meticulous and methodical worker who cared deeply for the well-being of his drivers. Every little detail was important to him. Under his leadership, Citroën rally cars have won the Morocco Rally three times in a row . When Jean Deschazeaux succeeded in the Citroën SM in 1971, he was already seriously ill. He died two months after the success of cancer . His wife Marlène , who was his assistant for many years, took over his job. Marlène Cotton was the first woman in the history of rallying to lead a manufacturing team.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1954	Automobiles Panhard et Levassor	Panhard X88	André Beaulieux	not classified
1955	Automobiles Panhard et Levassor	Panhard VM5	André Beaulieux	failure	Gearbox damage
1957	Equipe Monopole Course	Monopole X88 Spyder	Jacques Blanchet	failure	Gearbox damage
1958	Equipe Monopole Course	Monopoles x86	André Beaulieux	failure	Engine failure
1959	Automobiles Deutsch et Bonnet	DB HBR4	Louis Cornet	9th place and class win

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953		Panhard Dyna	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
				189		13
1954	Panhard & Levassor	Panhard Dyna Panhard X88	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
					145	DNF
1955	Panhard & Levassor	Panhard Dyna Panhard VM5	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
					DNF	DNF
1956		Panhard Dyna	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
					78
1957	Monopolies	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Monopole X88	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
					DNF		DNF
1958	Monopolies	Monopoles x86	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
							DNF
1959	German & Bonnet	DB HBR4	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
						9

literature

• RM Clarke: Le Mans. The Jaguar Years 1949-1957. Brooklands Books, Cobham 1997, ISBN 1-85520-357-X .
• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. 2 volumes. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .

Web links

• About René Cotton at Panhard Racing (French)
• About Marlène Cotton (French)
• 60 years of DS
• René Cotton at Racing Sports Cars
• René Cotton at EWRC-Results

Individual evidence

1. ^ Christiane de la Fressange
2. ↑ About the skier René Cotton
3. ^ Coupes du Salon 1951
4. ↑ 1952 Monaco Grand Prix
5. ^ Coupe du Printemps 1956
6. ^ Liège-Rome-Liège 1955
7. ↑ Morocco Rally 1971
8. ↑ About Marlène Cotton