Victor Hémery
Victor Hémery (born November 18, 1876 in Sillé-le-Guillaume , † September 8, 1950 in Le Mans ) was a French racing driver .
Career
Victor Hémery was considered to be one of the most impulsive and quick-tempered racing drivers of his era. The former seaman initially worked as a mechanic at Bollée and from 1900 to 1906 as head of the testing department and racing driver at Darracq . For this team, he was able to win the Ardennes race and the Vanderbilt Cup in the 1905 season. After an uproar in a 1906 race (his vehicle was too heavy, he started anyway, made a demonstrative jump start and was then disqualified) Hémery switched to Benz & Cie in 1907 . For the German team, he finished second behind Christian Friedrich Lautenschlager at the 1908 French Grand Prix . In the years that followed, motorsport stagnated , and Hémery shifted to record drives in Brooklands and occasional starts in races in the USA .
Victor Hémery was the first person to break the 200 km / h mark in an automobile (called Benz 200 PS or Blitzen-Benz ). On November 8, 1909, an average speed of 205.666 km / h over a distance of half a mile was measured in Brooklands with the help of a new type of measurement technology (which made it possible to measure the speed to three decimal places).
After the First World War , Victor Hémery tried a comeback on Rolland-Pilain at the French Grands Prix in 1922 and 1923 , but his vehicle was simply too slow and he withdrew from motorsport. Later he ran a workshop in Le Mans and committed suicide on September 8, 1950 destitute living suicide .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hémery, Victor |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French racing car driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 18, 1876 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sillé-le-Guillaume |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 8, 1950 |
| Place of death | Le Mans |