Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (30 October 1917 – 13 February 2005) was a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of t ...

driver and vintner from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He competed in the

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

World Championship for fourteen years, between 1950 and 1964, one of the longest careers in the early years of Formula One. During this time he also competed in

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

, including winning the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Following his retirement from the track Trintignant concentrated on the

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

trade. Maurice Trintignant was the brother of

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French manufacturer of high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The cars ...

race car driver Louis Trintignant — who was killed in 1933, in practice, at Péronne,

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hist ...

— and the uncle of renowned French film actor Jean-Louis Trintignant.

Racing career

He began racing in 1938, and won the 1939

Grand Prix des Frontières The Grand Prix des Frontières was a motor race held at a street circuit in Chimay Chimay (, wa, Chimai) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. In 2006, Chimay had a population of 9,774. The area is ...

, but his career was interrupted by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, during which his own Bugatti was stored in a barn. When he rebuilt it for an event of 1945, the '' Coupé de la Liberation'', he overlooked a clogged fuel filter, which caused him to drop out of the race. It transpired that the filter was plugged with rat droppings, earning him the unenviable nickname ''Le Petoulet'', "the rat-droppings man". By 1950 ''Le Petoulet'' was successful enough to be offered a works drive for the

Gordini Gordini () is a division of Renault Sport Technologies (Renault Sport). In the past, it was a sports car manufacturer and performance tuner, established in 1946 by Amédée Gordini (1899–1979), nicknamed "Le Sorcier" (The Sorcerer). Gordini be ...

team, in the newly formed

World Championship racing series. He competed in Formula One every year until his retirement after the 1964 season. During this long career Trintignant scored two victories, both at the

Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigio ...

, in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangs ...

and

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

and

were his best Championship years and he finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship in both. During the course of his career, Trintignant drove a huge variety of cars, for many different teams: both works and privateer. Unusually, at the

1955 Argentine Grand Prix The 1955 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Buenos Aires on 16 January 1955. It was race 1 of 7 in the 1955 World Championship of Drivers. The race was won from third on the grid by Juan Manuel Fangio for Mercedes. Ferra ...

Trintignant shared both second and third places, a product of the

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari S.p.A. () is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse", in reference to their logo. ...

policy of passing cars to their top drivers, should their original car break down. In 1956 he drove the

Bugatti Type 251 This is a list of prototype vehicles created by Bugatti that never reached full production. Type 36 The Type 36 racer was produced in 1925, and introduced a new 1.5 L (1493 cc/91 in³) straight-8 engine. With a 60 by 66 mm bor ...

in the French Grand Prix, becoming the last driver to represent the famed marque at a Grand Prix race. Even in his final season, driving his own

BRM P57 The BRM P57 (originally referred in 1961 as the BRM P48/57 and in 1962 as the BRM P578) was a Formula One racing car built to race in Formula One from 1962 to 1965. Development 1961 Like the other British teams, BRM was caught off-guard by new re ...

, he scored points, taking fifth place at the

1964 German Grand Prix The 1964 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 2 August 1964. It was race 6 of 10 in both the 1964 World Championship of Drivers and the 1964 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 15-lap race was ...

on the intimidating

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village a ...

. Following his retirement from racing, Maurice Trintignant returned to a quiet life as a wine-grower (naming his vintage ''Le Petoulet''), near the town of Vergèze, in the Languedoc-Roussillon wine growing region. Trintignant competed in the 2000 Historic Grand Prix of Monaco, reunited with the

Cooper T45 The Cooper T45 was an open-wheel formula racing car, developed and built by the Cooper Car Company in 1958, and designed by Owen Maddock. It competed in Formula 2 racing as well as in Formula One racing, where it won one World Championship Grand ...

he had driven to victory there in 1958. Trintignant died, aged 87, in 2005.

Major career wins

* Rheinland-Pfalz Preis – 1950 *

Mont Ventoux Hill Climb Mont Ventoux Hill Climb is a car and motorcycle hillclimbing race course near Avignon in France. The course, up Mont Ventoux, starts from the village of Bédoin Bédoin (; oc, Bedoin) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alp ...

– 1949,1960,1964 * Buenos Aires Grand Prix – 1954, 1960 *

Swedish Grand Prix The Swedish Grand Prix (Swedish: Sveriges Grand Prix) was a round of the Formula One World Championship from 1973 to 1978. It took place at the Scandinavian Raceway in Anderstorp (Gislaved Municipality), about from Jönköping, in Småland, Swe ...

– 1956 *

RAC Tourist Trophy The RAC Tourist Trophy (sometimes called the International Tourist Trophy) is a motor racing award presented by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) to the overall victor of a motor race in the United Kingdom. Established in 1905, it is the world's o ...

– 1954 *

Circuit des Nations The Circuit des Nations ("Circuit of the Nations") is a long street circuit of between Lake Geneva and the Place des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. It hosted the ''Grand Prix de Nations'', similar to a Formula One race; the ''Grand Prix de Genèv ...

– 1950 *

Moroccan Grand Prix The Moroccan Grand Prix (Arabic: سباق الجائزة الكبرى المغربي) was a Grand Prix first organised in 1925 in Casablanca, Morocco with the official denomination of "Casablanca Grand Prix". History In 1930, the race was held ...

– 1956 * Grand Prix Avignon – 1947 *

Albi Grand Prix The Albi Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de l'Albigeois) is a Motorsport, motor race held in Albi, in the Tarn (department), Tarn department of Southern France. The first race took place in 1933 and was won by Pierre Veyron in a Bugatti Type 51, ...

– 1951 * Grand Prix de Caen – 1952, 1954 * Grand Prix de Cadours – 1952, 1953 *

Pau Grand Prix The Pau Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Pau) is a motor race held in Pau, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of southwestern France. The French Grand Prix was held at Pau in 1930, leading to the annual Pau Grand Prix being inaugurat ...

– 1958, 1959 ( F2), 1962 (F1) * Grand Prix de Rouen-les-Essarts – 1954 * Grand Prix de Roubaix – 1952 *

– 1938, 1939, 1953 * 2 hours of Dakar – 1956 * 12 hours of Hyères – 1954 *

10 hours of Messina The 10 Hours of Messina (Italian: ''10 ore di Messina'' or ''10 ore notturna messinese'') was a sports car race, organized by the Automobile Club d'Italia, held for the first time on 24 August 1952 in the street circuit of Messina Messina (, ...

– 1955 *

–

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

– 1953, 1954

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) :''* Indicates shared drive with Harry Schell'' :''† Indicates shared drives with José Froilán González and Giuseppe Farina (2nd place) & Giuseppe Farina and Umberto Maglioli (3rd place)'' :''‡ Indicates shared drive with Peter Collins''

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

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

Trivia

* He was awarded the

Légion d’Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

in 1960 * Was the mayor of Vergèze between 1958 and 1964. * Was married to Louise on 10 December 1938 * Took over his father's

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyard ...

* On 10 October 2010 a bronze statue of a

Bugatti Type 51 The Bugatti Type 51 series succeeded the famous Type 35 as Bugatti's premier racing car for the 1930s. Unlike the dominant Type 35s of the prior decade, the Type 51 (and later Type 53, Type 54, and Type 59) were unable to compete with the governm ...

was unveiled in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes in his honour

Notes

References

External links