Louis Chiron

Louis Alexandre Chiron (3 August 1899 – 22 June 1979) was a Monégasque racing driver who competed in rallies, sports car races, and Grands Prix.

Louis Chiron

Chiron in 1931
Born	Louis Alexandre Chiron (1899-08-03)3 August 1899 Monte Carlo, Monaco
Died	22 June 1979(1979-06-22) (aged 79) Monte Carlo, Monaco
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Monégasque
Active years	1950–1951, 1953, 1955–1956, 1958
Teams	Maserati Ecurie Rosier Private Lancia Scuderia Centro Sud
Entries	19 (15 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Career points	4
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1950 British Grand Prix
Last entry	1958 Monaco Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career Years 1928–1929, 1931–1933, 1937–1938, 1951, 1953 Teams Private C.T. Weymann Equipe Bugatti Guy Bouriat Capt. G.E.T. Eyston Luigi Chinetti Ecurie Bleue Scuderia Lancia Best finish dnf (1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1937, 1938, 1951, 1953) Class wins 0

Among the greatest drivers between the two World Wars, his career embraced over thirty years, coming to light already in 1927, and ending at the end of the 1950s. This is also why he is still the oldest driver ever to have finished in Formula One, having taken 6th place in the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix when he was 55.[1] The Bugatti Chiron takes its name from him.

Career

Louis Chiron gained interest in cars and racing when he was a teenager. He started driving in Grand Prix races after World War I, in which he was seconded from an artillery regiment as a driver for Maréchal Pétain and Maréchal Foch.[1]

He won his first local race, the Grand Prix de Comminges of 1926, at Saint-Gaudens, near Toulouse, and went on to drive a Bugatti and an Alfa Romeo P3 to victories in the Marseille Grand Prix, the Circuit of Masaryk, and the Spanish Grand Prix.[2] In the Indianapolis 500 of 1929, he drove a Delage to 7th place.[2] He won the 1931 Monaco Grand Prix—the only Monégasque driver to have won his home grand prix—and in 1933 he partnered with specialist endurance racer Luigi Chinetti to win the Spa 24 hours race.

Chiron retired in 1938, and World War II curtailed motor racing a year later. When racing resumed after the War, he came out of retirement and drove a Talbot-Lago to victory in two French Grands Prix.[3]

According to a Los Angeles Times review of fellow driver Hellé Nice's biography, Chiron accused her, at a 1949 party in Monaco to celebrate the first postwar Monte Carlo Rally, of "collaborating with the Nazis". The review says biographer Miranda Seymour is "circumspect on Nice's guilt".[4] A review of the same book in The New York Times says Nice was accused of being a "Gestapo agent"; that Seymour "rebuts" the charge; and that it made Nice "unemployable".[5] Seymour's book says that in a letter to Antony Noghes, the head of the Monte Carlo Rally committee, Hellé Nice "protested her innocence"; that she told him she would appeal to the Monaco court unless Chiron wrote an apology; that no letter from Chiron has been found; and that the court has no record of such a case between 1949 and 1955.[6]

Paired with the Swiss driver Ciro Basadonna, Chiron won the 1954 Monte Carlo Rally, and achieved podium finishes in the fifteen Formula One races he entered that year. His last race was in 1955,[7] when he took a Lancia D50 to sixth place in the Monaco Grand Prix a few weeks before his 56th birthday,[8] becoming the oldest driver to compete in a Formula One race.[7] He is also the oldest driver ever to have entered for a Formula One race, taking part in practice for the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix when he was 58.

Racing record

Major career victories

Chiron after winning the 1934 French Grand Prix

• Belgian Grand Prix – 1930
• Czechoslovakian Grand Prix – 1931, 1932, 1933
• French Grand Prix – 1931, 1934, 1937, 1947, 1949 (Reims)
• German Grand Prix – 1929
• Italian Grand Prix – 1928
• Spanish Grand Prix – 1928, 1929, 1933
• Monaco Grand Prix – 1931
• Moroccan Grand Prix– 1934
• Grand Prix du Comminges – 1947
• Grand Prix de Marseilles – 1933
• Grand Prix de Nice – 1932
• Spa 24 hours – 1933
• Rome Grand Prix – 1928
• Marne Grand Prix – 1928
• Monte Carlo Rally – 1954

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1928	No Team Name	Cyril de Vere	Chrysler 72	5.0	6	DNF	DNF
1929	C. T. Weymann	Édouard Brisson	Stutz DV32	8.0	65	DNF	DNF
1931	Equipe Bugatti	Achille Varzi	Bugatti Type 50S	5.0	20	DNF	DNF
1932	Guy Bouriat	Guy Bouriat	Bugatti Type 55	3.0	23	DNF	DNF
1933	Capt. G.E.T. Eyston	Franco Cortese	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300MM	3.0	177	DNF	DNF
1937	Luigi Chinetti	Luigi Chinetti	Talbot T150C	5.0	7	DNF	DNF
1938	Ecurie Bleue	René Dreyfus	Delahaye 145	5.0	7	DNF	DNF
1951	Luigi Chinetti	Pierre-Louis Dreyfus	Ferrari 340 America Barchetta	S 5.0	29	DSQ	DSQ
1953	Scuderia Lancia	Robert Manzon	Lancia D20	S 8.0	174	DNF	DNF
Source:[9]

Complete European Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	EDC	Pts
1931	Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3 L8	ITA Ret	FRA 1	BEL Ret					6th	13
1932	Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	Bugatti T54	Bugatti 5.0 L8	ITA Ret							5th	17
		Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3 L8		FRA 4	GER Ret
1935	Scuderia Ferrari	Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3	Alfa Romeo 2.9 L8	MON 5							10th	40
			Alfa Romeo 3.2 L8		FRA Ret	BEL 3	GER Ret	SUI Ret	ITA	ESP Ret
1936	Daimler-Benz AG	Mercedes W25K	Mercedes ME25 4.7 L8	MON Ret	GER Ret	SUI	ITA				18th	28
Source:[10]

Post-WWII Grandes Épreuves results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5
1947	Scuderia Milano	Maserati 4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s	SUI 13
	Ecurie France	Talbot-Lago MC	Talbot 4.5 L6		BEL Ret		FRA 1
	Enrico Platé	Maserati 4CL	Maserati 4CL 1.5 L4s			ITA Ret
1948	Ecurie France	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	MON 2	SUI 6	FRA 9	ITA Ret	GBR Ret
1949	Ecurie France	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6	GBR Ret	BEL	SUI	FRA 1	ITA
Source:[2]

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	WDC	Pts
1950	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati 4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	GBR Ret	MON 3	500	SUI 9	BEL	FRA Ret	ITA Ret					10th	4
1951	Enrico Platé	Maserati 4CLT/48	Maserati 4CLT 1.5 L4s	SUI 7	500										NC	0
	Ecurie Rosier	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6			BEL Ret	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER Ret	ITA Ret	ESP Ret
1953	Louis Chiron	OSCA 20	OSCA 2000 2.0 L6	ARG	500	NED	BEL	FRA 15	GBR DNS	GER	SUI DNS	ITA 10			NC	0
1955	Scuderia Lancia	Lancia D50	Lancia DS50 2.5 V8	ARG	MON 6	500	BEL	NED	GBR	ITA					NC	0
1956	Scuderia Centro Sud	Maserati 250F	Maserati 250F1 2.5 L6	ARG	MON DNS	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA				NC	0
1958	André Testut	Maserati 250F	Maserati 250F1 2.5 L6	ARG	MON DNQ	NED	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	MOR	NC	0
Source:[11]

Legacy

Chiron retired after 35 years in racing but maintained an executive role with the organizers of the Monaco Grand Prix, who honored him with a statue on the Grand Prix course and renamed the Swimming Pool corner after him.[12] As he had achieved the greatest number of podium finishes in Bugattis, the 1999 Bugatti 18/3 Chiron concept car and the 2016 Bugatti Chiron are named in his honor.[13][14]

Louis Chiron was so popular in Czechoslovakia, whose Grand Prix he won three consecutive times, that even after 75 years his name still lives in a popular saying "He drives likes Chiron", used mainly when referring to speeding motorists or generally to people who drive very quickly.[12]

Chiron was the only Monegasque driver to score points in a Formula One race until Charles Leclerc in the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the only Monegasque to score a podium until Leclerc in the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix.

References

1. Three years later he became the oldest to start a Formula One race, at 58."Louis Chiron – Monaco". ESPN. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
2. "Louis Chiron – Biography". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
3. "Drivers – Louis Chiron". grandprix.com. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
4. Neil, Dan (8 December 2004). "In pursuit of the Queen of Speed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
5. Grimes, William (24 December 2004). "A Racing Life: Plenty of Men and Fast Cars". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
6. Seymour, Miranda (2004), Bugatti Queen, Random House, pp. 258–259, ISBN 1-4000-6168-7
7. Spurgeon, Brad (22 August 2009). "Measuring Experience in Youthful Formula One". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
8. "1955 Monaco Grand Prix". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
9. "All Results of Louis Chiron". racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
10. "THE GOLDEN ERA – OF GRAND PRIX RACING". kolumbus.fi. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
11. "Louis Chiron – Involvement". StatsF1. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
12. "Louis Chiron – the Monegasque Gentleman Driver". montecarlodailyphoto.com. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
13. European Car, Volume 37, Issues 7–12. Argus Publishers. 2006. p. 106.
14. Taylor, Michael. "Bugatti Chiron blasts into Geneva with nearly 1,500 hp". Autoblog. Retrieved 28 August 2018.

External links

• Grand Prix History, Louis Chiron
• Louis Chiron at The Crittenden Automotive Library
• Louis Chiron at Le Mans
• Louis Chiron at Find a Grave

See also

• Formula One drivers from Monaco