 Wimille,
Jean-Pierre (F)
b 26/02/1908 (Paris) - d 28/01/1949 (Buenos Aires)
Born to the Le Petit Parisien motor journalist Auguste Wimille,
Jean-Pierre initially dreamt of joining the Merchant Navy. However, National
Service intervened and he was sent to Morocco towards the end of the Rif
War, where he was selected to be a staff driver. He spent 14 months driving
the powerful cars of the Sultan of Morocco fast around the desert, and
on his return he started proper racing.
His first race was the 1930 French GP at Pau, where his Bugatti Type
37A blew its supercharger on the second lap. He followed this up by entering
the Monte Carlo Rally with Marcel Lesurque in a Lorraine Dietrich, and
starting from Stavanger, he finished second to Donald Healey. He spent
the rest on the 1931 season racing in various European GPs with Jean Gaupillat
in a Bugatti T51, each race lasting some ten hours.
Wimille obtained a Bugatti T54 in 1932, and managed a fastest time
of the day on the La Turbie hillclimb in March, although it broke down
in Tunisia later in April. He returned the car to the factory, and borrowed
a Bugatti T51 for the Oran GP in Algeria, which he proceeded to win. He
then purchased an Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Monza, and won first time out in Nancy.
A series of accidents over the rest of the season made him rethink his
driving style though.
He didn't manage to win in 1933, but he sufficiently impressed to gain
a works Bugatti drive for 1934. This was the first season of the 750kg
Formula, and the Mercedes and Auto Union teams swept Bugatti aside. Bugatti's
main drivers fled to other teams, and Wimille was left to lead the team
with Robert Benoist.
Driving a series of specials, Wimille won the 1936 ACF GP (with Sommer),
the 1937 Le Mans 24 Hrs (with Benoist) and the 1939 Le Mans 24 Hrs (with
Veyron) in a series of Type 57 derivatives. However, in August 1939 Jean
Bugatti died, and the following month France was at war.
Wimille was an experienced pilot, having flown himself to East London
for the 1936 South African GP, so he signed up for the Armée de
l'Air. The rapid German advance and the early capitulation of France meant
that he never saw action, and he returned to Paris, where he worked on
plans for a saloon car, with a rear engine, all-round independent suspension
and three seats abreast with the driver located centrally. This was 50
years before the McLaren F1 used the same idea.
Bugatti teammate "Williams" formed a resistance network in Paris, but
on capture by the Gestapo, a new group with the name Clergyman was set
up by Robert Benoist, to which Wimille and his wife were recruited. The
group spent the months before the Normandy landings collecting weapons
and ammunition dropped by the RAF. However, hours after D-Day, Benoist
was captured in Paris and the remainder of the group were ambushed at a
farmhouse meeting spot. Wimille escaped under gunfire, but his wife Cric
remained rooted to the spot with fear. Wimille linked up with a column
of Americans heading for Paris, while Cric was imprisoned at Frèsnes.
She was subsequently put on a train for Germany, from which she escaped
just outside of Paris, and she was reunited with her husband at the house
of friends.
Wimille rejoined the Armée de l'Air for the end of the war,
but only gained last minute permission to enter the first post-war GP in
Paris's Bois de Boulogne on the 9th September 1945. Arriving at the race
late, he had to start at the back of the grid in his Bugatti Type 59/50B
4700cc, but easily powered through the field to win the race.
The only works team in 1946 was Alfa Corse, so he joined this Italian
team. At St Cloud he did not finish due to mechanical problems, and at
Geneva he finished 3rd, having at one stage been spun off by teammate Nuvolari.
In Turin Wimille was comfortably leading the race when he was ordered to
let teammate Varzi through. Legend has it that he stopped 200m before the
line, waited for Varzi to pass, and then took the flag.
Wimille drove six races for Alfa Corse through 1947 and 1948, the Alfa
Romeo 158 being by far the best car, and he won the '47 Swiss and Belgian
GPs, and the '48 French, Monza and Italian GPs. As the Alfa team only entered
the major races, Wimille was free to race for others. For 1946 he drove
an 8 year old Alfa Romeo 308 for Ecurie Naphtra Course, winning all the
national Formule Libre races entered. For 1947 and 1948, he raced for Gordini,
and when the cars held together, he won races, winning twice in 1947, and
winning the 1948 Rosario GP in Argentina, part of the Temporada series.
Wimille returned to Argentina in 1949, aiming to repeat his win in
the Rosario GP. Before this, came the Palermo GP in Buenos Aires. Practice
started at 5am, and Wimille drove a few laps before coming into the pits
and putting on a crash helmet for the first time in his career. Wimille
had been disquieted by the crowds encroaching onto the track, and on his
first flying lap, approaching the Curva des Ombues, Wimille's Gordini span,
touched a straw bale, launched into the air and smashed into a tree. Wimille,
unconcious, was rushed to the Hospital Fernandez with a cracked skull and
crushed chest. He died within minutes of admission. As to why he span,
some suggest that he was momentarily blinded by the rising sun, some suggest
that he was forced to take a wider line into the corner to avoid spectators
who had encroached onto the track, resulting in him skidding on the dusty
surface. Wimille was posthumously awarded the Legion d'Honneur at
his funeral. |
Walker,
Robert Ramsay Campbell (GB)
