Georges Boillot

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Georges Boillot
Champ Car career
1 race run over 1 year
First race1914 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles
0 0 0

Georges Louis Frédéric Boillot (3 August 1884 – 19 May 1916) was a French

racing driver and World War I
fighter pilot.

Biography

Born in

Doubs, Boillot was a mechanic by training who began automobile racing in 1908. He went on to join drivers Paul Zuccarelli and Jules Goux to help create a novel range of racing cars as part of the Peugeot team. He debuted with them in 1909 in the Coupe de l'Auto at Rambouillet and in 1910, went to Italy to compete in the Targa Florio
.

At

camshafts and four valves per cylinder. Boillot won the Coupe de l'Auto in 1913 and became the darling of French racing fans when he won his second straight French Grand Prix at Amiens, becoming the first driver to win the French Grand Prix
twice.

Boillot in his Peugeot EX3

That same year Boillot's Peugeot teammate, Goux, became the first Frenchman to win the Indianapolis 500. The following year, France again sent a number of competitors to the Indiana speedway where on 27 May, during qualifying, Boillot came tantalizingly close to breaking the 100 mile-an-hour (161 km/h) barrier when he set a new speed record of 99.86 mph (160.70 km/h). During the race, Boillot suffered repeated tire trouble. He ended up finishing 14th.

In what would turn out to be his last race, the 1914 French Grand Prix at Lyon, Boillot's Peugeot was literally falling apart at the end. After demonstrating his tremendous skills by keeping the vehicle running and near the lead, it finally overheated on the last lap and he was forced to retire.

Boillot and Georges Rigal in the French Army in 1914

With the outbreak of

Legion d'Honneur.[citation needed] On 21 April 1916 his plane was shot down in a dogfight with five German Fokkers, of which he was able to shoot one down before he himself was downed, crashing near Bar-le-Duc. Severely injured, he died in a military hospital at Vadelaincourt, Meuse.[2]

Legacy

In his honor, several places in France named a street for Boillot and there is a George Boillot School in

département near Paris
.

His brother

Peugeot Talbot Sport cars and in 1981 was responsible for involving Peugeot in rallying
.

Motorsports career results

Indianapolis 500 results

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Georges Boillot.
  1. ISBN 9780307567628
    .
  2. ^ "Grand Prix History: Georges Boillot Bio". Grand Prix History.Org. October 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2013.

External links

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