Louis Claude Rosier (5 November 1905 – 29 October 1956) was a French racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1950 to 1956. In endurance racing, Rosier won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1950 in a privateer Talbot-Lago T26C-GS.
Louis Rosier | |
|---|---|
Rosier in 1953 | |
| Born | Louis Claude Rosier 5 November 1905 Chapdes-Beaufort, Puy-de-Dôme, France |
| Died | 29 October 1956 (aged 50) Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France |
| Cause of death | Injuries sustained at the 1956 Coupe du Salon |
| Children | Jean-Louis Rosier |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality | |
| Active years | 1950–1956 |
| Teams | Rosier, Talbot-Lago, privateer Talbot-Lago, Maserati |
| Entries | 38 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 2 |
| Career points | 18 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1950 British Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1956 German Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1938, 1949–1956 |
| Teams | Talbot, Rosier, Ferrari |
| Best finish | 1st (1950) |
| Class wins | 1 (1950) |
Rosier competed in Formula One under his own Écurie Rosier banner, making privateer entries in machinery from Talbot-Lago, Ferrari, and Maserati; he also competed for the works teams of Talbot and Maserati, the former of which he scored back-to-back podium finishes with at the Swiss and Belgian Grands Prix in 1950.
Rosier competed in nine editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 1938 and 1956, winning in 1950 alongside his son Jean-Louis Rosier, which remains the only father-and-son victory in Le Mans history. In October 1956, Rosier died as a result of injuries sustained whilst sportscar racing in a Ferrari 750 Monza at Montlhéry.
Career highlights
editLouis Claude Rosier was born on 5 November 1905 in Chapdes-Beaufort, Puy-de-Dôme, France.[1]
He participated in 38 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 13 May 1950. He achieved 2 podiums, and scored a total of 18 championship points. He won the Dutch Grand Prix twice in consecutive years between 1950 and 1951, the Circuit d'Albi, Grand-Prix de l'Albigeois and the 24 Hours of Le Mans with his son Jean-Louis Rosier. Rosier owned the Renault dealership of Clermont-Ferrand.[2]
In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Rosier was ranked the 19th best Formula One driver of all time.[3]
Formula One and sports car competition
editRosier finished 4th at Silverstone in a Talbot, in October 1948. The event was the RAC International Grand Prix, the first grand prix to be held in England since 1927.[4] He drove a 4.5-liter, unsupercharged Talbot-Lago to 3rd place at the 1949 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. He was a lap behind the winner with a speed of 76.21 miles per hour (122.65 km/h).[5] Rosier won an International Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in June 1949. He piloted a Talbot in the 500-kilometre (310 mi), 32-lap event, achieving a time of 3 hours, 15 minutes, and 17 seconds. He assumed the lead after 23 laps, coming across the finish line ahead of Luigi Villoresi.[6] Rosier won the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans in a blue Talbot. He teamed up with his son Jean-Louis Rosier who only drove two laps during the race, which means Louis won the race practically by himself. He finished one lap ahead of Pierre Meyrat who drove a car of the same marque. The Rosiers covered 256 laps, 2,163 miles (3,481 km), in 23:54:2.2.[2] Rosier captured the Grand Prix d'Albi in Albi, France in May 1953. He drove a Ferrari, covering the 18 laps of the finals, 160 kilometres (99 mi), in 56:36:8. He averaged 160 kilometres per hour (99.42 mph).[7] Rosier placed second in a Ferrari at a Grand Prix in Aix-Les-Bains, in July 1953. His time was 2:24:48.1.[8] In April 1956 Rosier finished 4th in a Maserati, in a 201-mile race at Aintree. Stirling Moss drove a blue Maserati to victory in the 67-lap event for Formula One cars, with an average speed of 84.24 miles per hour (135.57 km/h).[9] Rosier finished 5th at the 1956 German Grand Prix behind the wheel of a Maserati.[10]
Écurie Rosier
editLouis Rosier was the owner and manager of a racing team, the "Ecurie Rosier". Originally set up to run Rosier's Talbot-Lago T26 (for either Rosier or a guest driver), and later evolved to an actual team running 250Fs and finally Ferrari 500s simultaneously for Rosier and another driver. Throughout the 1950s, Écurie Rosier provided drives in Formula One for Henri Louveau, Georges Grignard, Louis Chiron, Maurice Trintignant, André Simon and Robert Manzon.
Circuit Louis Rosier
editLouis Rosier was one of the key sponsors of the Charade race track. After World War II, Jean Auchatraire (president of the racing section of the local Automobile Club) and Louis Rosier promoted the idea of a race track around Clermont-Ferrand.[11]
A set of preliminary designs were drawn up for a circuit of a length between 4 and 6 km, meeting the latest safety regulations with large parking capacity at a location just outside the city limits on a hilly landscape.
The Le Mans disaster (death toll: 84 lives) on 11 June 1955 brought the project to a halt. All race events were postponed. No further events were allowed to take place on temporary urban tracks. Racing events were only to be allowed on dedicated race-tracks, providing that they met a new set of rules. In Clermont-Ferrand, as was the case for many other new race tracks, new safety devices were being imagined and discussed, reviewed and assessed. But the concept of a "mountain race track" moved forward. It would be the only one of its kind in France.
Auchatraire, Rosier and Raymond Roche (the manager of Reims-Gueux race track) worked together to get the project accepted by the political community before searching for funding. But Rosier was killed at Montlhéry on 26 October 1956 and would not witness his project come to fruition. The racetrack was opened on 27 July 1958, with the name of its famous founder "Circuit de Charade Louis Rosier". Soon after, several champions participated in racing events on the track, each of them, including Stirling Moss, making very positive statements about the track and its surrounding.
Car manufacturer
editRosier's Renault dealership in Clermont-Ferrand was one of the largest Renault dealerships in France. Rosier's dealership also sold other industrial and farming equipment. The building housing this important business has been destroyed.[12]
In 1951, Louis Rosier designed a prototype based on the 4CV Renault.[13][14]
In 1953, using the concept of a barchetta that he raced at Le Mans,[15] Rosier, together with Italian coachbuilder Rocco Motto, designed a cabriolet,[16] still using 4CV Renault sub assemblies. This model was built in a quantity of about 200 units by Brissonneau.[17] It was even introduced at a car show in New York.
Some time later he designed a roadster using Renault Frégate elements with an aluminum body developed by Rocco Motto, on a multi-tubular frame. The engine was seriously revised, the body was lightened, the results was an interesting 950 kg for 80 hp.[18]
Death
editOn 7 October 1956 Louis Rosier was competing in the Coupe du Salon sports car race at Montlhéry in a Ferrari 750 Monza.[19] During the race he crashed, sustaining head injuries. Three weeks later, on 29 October 1956, Rosier succumbed to the injuries received in the crash.[20]
Racing record
editPost WWII Grandes Épreuves results
edit(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | L. Rosier | Talbot Spéciale | Talbot 4.0 L6 | SUI 15 |
BEL 6 |
ITA | FRA 4 |
|
| 1948 | L. Rosier | Talbot-Lago T26C | Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 | MON Ret |
SUI Ret |
FRA 6 |
ITA 6 |
|
| 1949 | Ecurie Rosier | Talbot-Lago T26C | Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 | GBR 3 |
SUI 6 |
FRA 4 |
ITA Ret | |
| Automobiles Talbot-Darracq | BEL 1 |
|||||||
Source:[21]
| ||||||||
Complete Formula One World Championship results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Ecurie Rosier | Talbot-Lago T26C | Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 | GBR 5 |
MON Ret |
500 | ITA 4 |
4th | 13 | |||||
| Automobiles Talbot-Darracq | Talbot-Lago T26C-DA | SUI 3 |
BEL 3 |
FRA Ret |
||||||||||
| Charles Pozzi | Talbot-Lago T26C | FRA 61 |
||||||||||||
| 1951 | Ecurie Rosier | Talbot-Lago T26C-DA | Talbot 23CV 4.5 L6 | SUI 9 |
500 | BEL 4 |
FRA Ret |
GBR 10 |
GER 8 |
ITA 7 |
ESP 7 |
13th | 3 | |
| 1952 | Ecurie Rosier | Ferrari 500 | Ferrari 500 2.0 L4 | SUI Ret |
500 | BEL Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR DNA |
GER | NED | ITA 10 |
NC | 0 | |
| 1953 | Ecurie Rosier | Ferrari 500 | Ferrari 500 2.0 L4 | ARG | 500 | NED 7 |
BEL 8 |
FRA 8 |
GBR 10 |
GER 10 |
SUI Ret |
ITA 16 |
NC | 0 |
| 1954 | Ecurie Rosier | Ferrari 500/625 | Ferrari 625 2.5 L4 | ARG Ret |
500 | BEL | FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
GER 8 |
SUI | NC | 0 | ||
| Officine Alfieri Maserati | Maserati 250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5 L6 | ITA 8 |
|||||||||||
| Ecurie Rosier | ESP 7 | |||||||||||||
| 1955 | Ecurie Rosier | Maserati 250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5 L6 | ARG | MON Ret |
500 | BEL 9 |
NED 9 |
GBR | ITA | NC | 0 | ||
| 1956 | Ecurie Rosier | Maserati 250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5 L6 | ARG | MON Ret |
500 | BEL 8 |
FRA 6 |
GBR Ret |
GER 5 |
ITA | 19th | 2 | |
Source:[21]
| ||||||||||||||
- Notes
- ^1 – Shared drive with Charles Pozzi
Complete Formula One non-championship results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
edit| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | Talbot T150SS Coupe | 5.0 | 81 | DNF | |||
| 1949 | Talbot-Lago Spéciale | S5.0 | 21 | DNF (Fanbelt) | |||
| 1950 | (private entrant) |
Talbot-Lago T26 GS Biplace | S5.0 | 256 | 1st | 1st | |
| 1951 | (private entrant) |
Talbot-Lago T26 GS Biplace | S5.0 | 92 | DNF (Oil tank) | ||
| 1952 | Ferrari 340 America Spyder | S5.0 | ? | DNF (Clutch) | |||
| 1953 | Talbot-Lago T26 GS Spyder | S5.0 | 37 | DNF (Transmission) | |||
| 1954 | Ferrari 375 Plus | S5.0 | 177 | DNF (Transmission) | |||
| 1955 | Talbot-Lago T26 GS Spyder | S5.0 | DNS (Engine) | ||||
| 1956 | Talbot-Lago Sport | S3.0 | 220 | DNF (Transmission) | |||
References
edit- ^ "Motorsport Memorial - Louis Rosier". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ a b Rosier First In Auto Race, New York Times, June 26, 1950, Page 36.
- ^ Hanlon, Mike (2016-05-12). "The Top 50 F1 drivers of all time, regardless of what they were driving". New Atlas. Retrieved 2017-12-23.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Grand Prix To Villoresi", New York Times, October 3, 1948, Page S10.
- ^ De Graffenried Annexes Grand Prix Auto Classic, New York Times, May 15, 1949, Page S6.
- ^ "Rosier Captures Auto Race", New York Times, June 20, 1949, Page 24.
- ^ Frenchman Wins Automobile Race, Los Angeles Times, June 1, 1953, Page C4.
- ^ Bayol Takes Auto Race, New York Times, July 27, 1953, Page 22.
- ^ Moss' Maserati Takes 201-mile Aintree Race, April 22, 1956, Page 205.
- ^ "Fangio Captures Race In Germany", New York Times, August 6, 1956, Page 37.
- ^ "Charade". racingcircuits.info. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
- ^ "Démolition du garage de Louis Rosier : Mémoire des Stands". Archived from the original on 2008-01-08. Retrieved 2008-01-19. (fr) Rosier dealership
- ^ [1] Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Logo louis rosier
- ^ [2] Coach Rosier
- ^ [3] Barchetta Rosier
- ^ [4] The Rogue
- ^ [5] Cabriolet Brissoneau
- ^ [6] Frégate Rosier
- ^ "XIIe Coupe du Salon - Voitures Sport International". Retrieved 2022-10-16.
- ^ French Driver Dies, Los Angeles Times, October 30, 1956, Page C4.
- ^ a b "Louis Rosier – Career & Character info". motorsportmagazine.com. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- ^ "The Formula One Archives". Retrieved 2022-10-17.
- ^ "Formula 2 Register – F2, Voiturettes, FJ, F3 and Le Mans Results". Retrieved 2022-10-17.