Jean Trémoulet

12/4/1909 - 13/10/1944

Record updated 12-Apr-17

Jean Trémoulet was a French racing driver, who started off as riding mechanic for his friend the Delahaye driver Eugenè Chaboud. Together they won Le Mans in 1938. Trémoulet joined the French resistance during the war and died in an motorcycle accident during a Resistance mission at Sagelat in 1944.

Jean Trémoulet
Jean Trémoulet was a French racing driver, who started off as riding mechanic for his friend the Delahaye driver Eugenè Chaboud with whom he shared his birthday.

For the 1937 Le Mans he was entered as Chaboud's co-driver. That race turned out to be short and dramatic for him. On lap 9 seven cars were coming into Maison Blanche in a bunch. Kippeurt in a Bugatti lost control and crashed. The car rolled over and Kippeurt was thrown out into the middle of the road. Roth in a BMW went off the road to the right and into a hedge to avoid the wreckage but Fairfield in another BMW hit the striken Bugatti at full speed. Trémoulet's Delahaye then hit Fairfield's BMW, sending it end over end 100 meters into the fields. In the next seconds the Talbot of "Raph" crashed into the Delahaye and the Riley of Forestier ran into the Talbot. When the dust settled. Kippeurt was dead, Fairfield was dying and "Raph" was seriously wounded. Roth had lost his front teeths and was unconscious while Trémoulet had lost a lobe in his right ear and was in deep shock. Only Forestier was in a good enough shape to run up the track raise the alarm.

An experience like that would put most people off racing for ever however Trémoulet continued as Chaboud's co-driver with improving results. They were 6th at the French and Marne GPs that year and the next year Trémoulet was 4th at Chimay. And then they returned to Le Mans and after a steady drive the highlight of their careers came as Sommer's leading Alfa suddenly retired and the Delahaye drivers could take the flag as winners of the 1938 Le Mans.

Then Trémoulet left the partnership with Chaboud. He raced a new 12-cylinder Delage at the Paris 12h race and the 1939 Antwerp GP, a Talbot at Le Mans and at Comminges and an Amilcar at Péronne. And at the 1939 Pau Grand Prix he drove the SEFAC. The SEFAC was a racing car produced by the "Société d'Etude et de Fabrication d'Automobiles de Course", a factory set up by the French Government to built a winning racing car. In the race Trémoulet had managed to complete 35 laps before the car running out of fuel.

Trémoulet joined the French resistance in 1942 and died in an motorcycle accident during a Resistance mission at Sagelat in 1944.



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