Fondation olivier gendebien biography

The Champions

• Tazio Nuvolari - Mantua's Great Little Man, by Leif Snellman
• Bernd Rosemeyer - The 979 days phenomenon, by Leif Snellman
• Rudi Caracciola - Mercedes' most successful driver, by Leif Snellman
• Juan Manuel Fangio - Who was the great Juan Manuel Fangio?, by Erwin van Delft
• Alberto Ascari - Cursed natural talent, by Mattijs Diepraam/Felix Muelas/Leif Snellman
• Mike Hawthorn - The driver to lead the way to British dominance, by Mattijs Diepraam/Felix Muelas
• Jack Brabham - The driver engineer, by Mattijs Diepraam
• Jim Clark - A spot in the distance, by Mattijs Diepraam/Greg England
• Graham Hill - More than Mister Monaco, by Richard Armstrong
• Phil Hill - America's first World Drivers Cha
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  Belgium's Finest?

  There is a parlour game - Name Ten Famous Belgians.  

   

  Nobody can of course, and in any case, most start off with Hercule Poirot who isn't even real!  Amongst the motorsport fraternity, we should do rather better.  Ickx, Boutsen, Vandoorne, Neuville, Loix and so on.  But few seem to remember the man who was arguably Belgium's finest:  Olivier Gendebien.

   

  Like any good Belgian, he started in rallying, driving various makes, including Alfa and Mercedes and winning the Tulip Rally amongst others.  On the race track, he was a Ferrari driver, taking four Le Mans victories for the Scuderia, as well as three Targa Florios. three Tour de France Autos, three Sebring 12 Hours, two Reims 12 Hours and a Nurburgring 1000km which are impressive palmares by any standards.  

   

  He repeatedly dipped his toes into F1 but was never able, or allowed, to undertake a full campaign for Ferrari.  But although he only made 15 F1 starts, the ability was certainly there, as he showed when he drove a BRP Cooper to 2nd

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  Cobra Daytona vs. Ferrari 250 GTO: A Design Evaluation

  The Simeone Automotive Museum had a very special indoor Demo Day on February 23rd. Dr. Simeone discussed the evolution of two of the most iconic of all racing GT sports cars: the Ferrari GTO and the Daytona Cobra Coupe. The presentation featured an example of each car in the main area of the museum and, using accompanying, examined the styling similarities – and differences – that made each unique. The Cobra Daytona Coupe and the Ferrari GTO were the centerpieces of one of the classic battles in motorsports history, said Dr. Simeone, executive director of the Museum. I think it is safe to say that there are few places in the world – if any – where you can examine these two machines together at the same time. The Cobra, CSX2287, was the very first Coupe built and the first to race, at Daytona in 1964, where it was leading until a fire put it out of the race. The Ferrari is the second GTO built and finished second overall, first in class, at the 1962 Sebring 12-hour race, driven by Phill Hill and Olivier