Fernand Charron at the 1914 French Grand Prix

Fernand Charron (30 May 1866, in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

– 13 August 1928, in

Maisons-Laffitte Maisons-Laffitte () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the northern Île-de-France Regions of France, region of France. It is a part of the affluent outer suburbs of northwestern Paris, from its ...

) was a French pioneer of

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

and automobile manufacturing. He started his sporting career as a successful

cyclist Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

. In 1891 he won the French National Stayers Championships riding a bicycle around a track following a tandem. Between 1897 and 1903 he took part in 18 car races, 4 of which he won: Marseille–Nice and Paris–Amsterdam–Paris in 1898, Paris–Bordeaux in 1899, and the inaugural Gordon Bennett Cup (Paris–Lyon) in 1900. He drove mainly Panhard & Levassor cars. On one occasion, he crashed into a St Bernard dog which became wedged between the right wheel and the suspension and jammed the steering, though he still won the race. He retired after an unsuccessful season in 1903 and worked as manager of Adolphe Clément's factory complex at

Levallois-Perret Levallois-Perret () is a Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department and Île-de-France Regions of France, region of north-central France. It lies on the right bank of the Seine, some from the Kilometre z ...

. In 1901, Charron was one of the three founders of an automobile manufacturer, Charron, Girardot et Voigt (CGV). Following resignations, the company was reformed in 1906 at

Puteaux Puteaux () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine department, from the centre of Paris. La Défense, Paris's business district hosting the tallest buildings in the metropolitan ...

as Charron Ltd., the English "Ltd" suffix reflecting a large amount of investment capital that came from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Shortly before the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Charron was trying to sell his auto business, but he nevertheless was also using it at this time to build cars for the Alda company. The arrival of peace in 1918 found Charron still owner of the business. At the Paris Motor Show in October 1919, it offered two models, the small 6HP "Type TC" (derived from the "Charronette" of 1914) and the 15HP "Type PGM". Charron married in 1907, and later divorced, Jeanne Clément, the second daughter of cycle and motor manufacturer

Adolphe Clément ''Adolphe'' is a classic French novel by Benjamin Constant, first published in 1816. It tells the story of an alienated young man, Adolphe, who falls in love with an older woman, Ellénore, the Polish mistress of the Comte de P***. Their illicit ...

.Hydro Retro, Clement-Bayard, pdf (French) Clément-Bayard, sans peur et sans reproche par Gérard Hartmann
/ref>

References

External links

Racing drivers

1866 births 1928 deaths French racing drivers Sportspeople from Angers {{France-autoracing-bio-stub