Behra, Jean

[TimD]

No real reason for this post, except I was looking at an old magazine article by Nigel Roebuck on his hero, and I found a passage that I thought was too good not to share.

Someone once asked Jean Behra how he kept his spirits up when mechanical failure kept robbing him of races.

He replied, "When I am frustrated, I get out my passport, and I look at the visas and remember all the wonderful places racing has taken me to.

...Then I look at the front of the passport, and there it says, for all to see, Jean Behra, citizen of France. Occupation: Racing Driver. And then I remember how fortunate I am to have been allowed this life."


What a wonderful philosophy.

[Florian Lacroix]

I do totally agree with you TimD

[marcus]

i dont really know alot about this man ..but from that he sure sounds like a top sort of a bloke...great way to look at life isnt it...maybe mr Roebuck shoud pass it along to some of the current F1 drivers

[Graham]

There was a long, long article in Motorsport last year (or maybe the one before that) about Behra. Top bloke indeed. Fast too.

Know any good books about him?

[jarama]

Take a look at Grand Prix Greats, published by PSL, ISBN 0-85059-792-7, by the same author, Nigel Roebuck.

It's an exciting book reflecting his inside view of 25 famous Formula 1 drivers including one chapter dedicated to the unforgettable Jean Behra. Don't miss this book.

[John Turner]

Jean Behra was born in Nice, 16 February 1921, and died in a sports car race at Avus on 1st August, 1959.

Although he did not win a single GP from 52 starts he nevertheless had 21 point scoring finishes, including 2 second places, and came 4th in the 1956 World Championship.

In the World Sports Car Championship, he won at Nurburgring (1956 - in a Maserati, he shared with Moss, I seem to recall), the Sebring 12 hours and the Swedish GP, both in 1957.

[thebear]

In the post-war era he raced for Moto Guzzi and won four French national motorcycle titles between 1948 and 1951.

[D-Type]

Behra was a little like Chris Amon in that his main Formula 1 wins were in non-championship races. For example
1952 Reims GP (Formula 2 like all major GPs that year) Gordini - he beat the 'invincible' Ferraris leading to suggestions that he might have had a 2.5 litre engine
1954 Pau GP Gordini
1954 Circuit of Cadours Gordini
1955 Pau GP Maserati
1955 Bordeaux GP Maserati
1957 Pau GP Maserati - making it 3 in a row as there was no 1956 GP
1957 Caen GP BRM - the first win for the P25 and the first real international win for a BRM (the V16's wins in were in glorified club races)
1957 International Trophy BRM
1957 Modena GP Maserati
1957 Morocco GP Maserati - beating a full Formula 1 field including Fangio in a Maserati, Vanwall and Ferrari
1959 Aiontree 200 Ferrari
And in sports cars
1956 Nurburgring 1000km Maserati
1957 Sebring 12hrs Maserati 450s - the only international win for the car

In the 1955 Tourist Trophy he crashed his Maserati and lost an ear. He wore a plasticone after that. According to Nigel Roebuck, he would remove it in crowded restaurants and somehow there would suddenly be a vacant table.

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by D-Type

...including Fangio in a Maserati, Vanwall and Ferrari

Yeah, those shared drives were getting ridiculous.

[D-Type]

Yes I am a Murray Walker fan ( and a slow typist so I try to use the minimum of words)

[Roger Clark]

I've always liked Denis Jenkinson's memoir of Jean Behra, from Motor Sport September 1959.

Roger, sorry, but wonderful piece though this is, we can't simply quote verbatim (and this one is particularly lengthy) from another source, especially from a magazine which is still in existence today, without permission. It's a breach of copyright - please see our FAQs - so I have had to pull this. I have kept a copy in case I'm able to get permission to reinstate it from MotorSport. - JT

Additional Note:-

I'm delighted to say that I have now received a response from Gordon Cruickshank, Deputy Editor, Motor Sport magazine, who has granted permission for us to reinstate this, provided that the whole article is not reproduced. Literally, as this forms part of 'Continental Notes', I could probably reinstate the whole piece but I feel that would not fall within the spirit of the permission that has been granted. So, whilst I would not presume to alter the words or meanings of the great Jenks, I have trimmed it where he was merely adding phrases or comments to emphasise points that he had already made.
The whole article appears under 'Continental Notes' on Page 674 of the September 1959 edition of MotorSport, as Roger has pointed out, and I thank him for drawing our attention to it. Thanks are also due to Motorsport for providing permission to restore this. -JT

'Jean Behra had always been a professional racing driver, first of all on motor-cyles, then in cars and essentially in Grand Prix racing, for the single seater pure racing car had a fascination for Behra since he was a small boy in Nice and pressed his nose on the window of Friedrick's garage where Rene Dreyfus' Bugatti was kept. It is rather sad, and a little ironical, that Behra should die at the wheel of a sports car when his real passion had always been with Grand Prix cars. Shortly before his death he had caused quite a stir in racing circles by walking-out on the Scuderia Ferrari after arguments with the team manager and Enzo Ferrari himself, mostly brought about due to general dissatisfaction. When Behra signed up with Ferrari last winter he had seemed all set up to be number one driver, with Hill and Allison as his supporting cast, but then, almost overnight, Ferrari took Brooks into the team, and though no-one was officially named as number one driver, it was obvious that Brooks would be having pride of place. Not unnaturally, this did not make for friendly relationships within the team, for the mechanics and engineers were torn between their desire to give all their attention to Behra, who was first to join, and who lived in Modena, and spent all his time at the factory and was an enthusiastic driver willing willing to work all night in the garage if he could help them, and the need to see that Brooks had the best for he was undoubtedly the best driver in the team. Then Dan Gurney joined the Scuderia and through no fault of his own began to drive as fast as Behra, though naturally lacking actual race experience and track-craft. Both on sports cars and Grand Prix cars, Behra was finding that Gurney was close on his heels and this gave the people at Ferrari who were not pro-Behra an opportunity to make unnecessary remarks in loud voices. On top of this, Behra was the only member of the team who did not speak English, so more often than not he found himself left out of conversations which made his position in the team at race meetings a rather lonely one. While these things did not worry Behra directly, they did total up to an unsatisfactory position in the team, and it was a team that lacked any sort of spirit of co-operation at the best of times.

Behra had a love of racing that was pure passion, and rather than be left with nothing to do when Ferrari was not racing, he had built himself a Formula 2 Porsche, seeing that Formula 2 was spreading fast on the Continent and also realising that this was the time to begin planning for the 1961 Formula 1. Much to Behra's continual regret, Ferrari would not give him permission to drive the Porsche in Formula 2 races (though he did relent once), and while he could not stop Behra running the car and lending it to people, the whole project was not received with enthusiasm at Maranello. After the Reims race, when the Behra Porsche, driven by Hermann, proved to be superior to the works Formula 2 Ferrari, a poor view was taken at the factory. All these things were continually mounting up and finally came to a head when Ferrari failed to go to the British Grand Prix on the excuse that labour problems prevented the cars being prepared. The outcome was that Behra terminated his contract with Scuderia Ferrari. While the reason could not be blamed on any one thing in particular, it could be added up to a general dissatisfaction all round, made all the more unhappy be the way his team mates showed the obvious dislike for the tough little Frenchman. All drivers have their faults in both their driving and their characters, and equally they all have outstanding points, and, without realising it, Behra caused himself to be disliked by a great many of his rivals on the circuits, not by a fault of his driving, but by one of his most outstanding personal characteristics. Jean Behra probably had more "guts" than the majority of today's drivers put together. The number of times one heard people say after an accident "that is the end of Behra, he will never race again" was quite remarkable, but every time he not only returned, but raced as hard as ever, and with as much enthusiasm, and as much passion for racing and racing cars as ever before. He made no bones about his passion for racing, restricting his interests to driving, racing and just "messing around with cars". A lot of people, drivers included, openly disliked Jean Behra, for no other reason than that they were secretly envious of the tough little man who would have the most almighty accident and climb out of the wreckage and come back for more. These people would have liked to have admired such courage, but for some reason could not, so their feelings turned to obvious dislike in pure contradiction for what they really felt. Behra was a very self-possessed and confident man, and artificial praise, glamour and "bull" left him singularly unimpressed.

Any good driver's death is a loss to motor racing, but in losing Jean Behra we have lost a rare personality in the present age of racing, for he really had a passion for for racing cars that was a joy to have known.'

[Haine Kane]

Originally Posted by Graham

There was a long, long article in Motorsport last year (or maybe the one before that) about Behra. Top bloke indeed. Fast too.

Know any good books about him?

In my knowledge no book about only Jean BEHRA racing career but in the Maurice LOUCHE "Un siècle de pilotes Français" there is a short bibliography (2 pages) prize list (1 page) and 5 pages of 22 B/W photos .

I'va got no more info about and it's sure a book about him fail.

[Haine Kane]

He had a youngest brother name José born 11 september 1924 in Nice and died 16 november 1997 in Mougins (near Nice) from cancer.
José was the team-mate of Pedro RODRIGUEZ in 1958 in 24 hours of LE MANS (Riccardo was to young to drive the FERRARI 500 TR from the NART of Luigi CHINETTI)

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by jarama

Take a look at Grand Prix Greats, published by PSL, ISBN 0-85059-792-7, by the same author, Nigel Roebuck.

It's an exciting book reflecting his inside view of 25 famous Formula 1 drivers including one chapter dedicated to the unforgettable Jean Behra. Don't miss this book.

It IS an excellent book. My 1986 first edition has a beautiful watercolour print of each of the drivers at the start of their section.

[bauble]

I found this thread just now, and would add that Jean was/is one of my all time heroes, a true 'racer' in every respect. I recall some scribe writing about 'great drivers' and saying that if you meant " ...more balls than a Christmas tree, you had to look at Behra and Surtees ...".
I doubt if I have the quote exactly right but the message is clear.

As a BRM fan he raised mine and many other spirits when after a disastrous showing at Aintree in 1957, with Leston and Fairman, Jean persuaded BRM to take two cars to Caen for his home Grand Prix, and promptly took their first Continental win. Not strong opposition but because it came the day after Aintree it was one of the happier memories of my motor sport career.

My screen saver is a fabulous shot I found of Jean in a Gordini at Silverstone in 1954. Definitely one of the best drivers of the '50's, and his death at Avus triggered Marie Teresa De Fillipis to retire from driving.

Rest in Peace , jean.