Victor Hémery
Hémery was born on 18 November 1876 in Sillé-le-Guillaume, near Sarthe, France. He deceased at Le Mans on 9 September 1950, at the age of 73 years.
He was also known as „le hargneux“, meaning something like „the grumpy one“, because of his mostly sturdy look, of which I beleive was more due to his concentration.
His most known achievements in race events can be summarised here.
He particpated in the 1902 Paris-Vienna race in which he finished fourth. Then he was 26 years.
At the age of 28, he joined the „Automobiles Darracq“, became tester and prepared the cars for the 1904 Gordon Bennet Cup race.
1905 however, would be his first year with noticable successes.
To sstart with, he made his first speed recond on the Belgian Ostende Beach. In August of that year, he won the Circuit des Ardennes contest in Bastogne. And October 1905 brought him the win for the second Vanderbilt Cup in a Darracq. Now his name was established!
In January 1906, he broke another world speed record on the American Daytona Beach, with a Darrac and a 120 hp V8 engine. After all, that engine had about 13 liter engine capacity.
In 1907, he enters races with a Benz, participates in the Coppa Florio and finished 10th the French Grand Prix at Dieppe.
In 1908, he finished second in the French Grand Prix at Dieppe.
1910 gave him a second place in the American Grand Prize of Savannah, by just less than 2 seconds from the winner. It is at that race, when Hémery supposedly poured champagne over the winner David Bruce-Brown and should have established that tradition.
1911 saw him win the French Grand Prix in a Fiat, being the only car still in the race at the end.
His comeback after the war as a works driver for Sizaire-Naudin and Rolland-Pilain in the French Grands Prix hardly brought succes. And he must have stopped racing, surely after he was confronted with some family tragedy.
Real in-depth reading on Victor Hémery, can be found in the book: Jean-Yves Lassaux: „Victor Hémery, pionnier sarthios des courses automobiles“,republished by Elisabeth Gérault in 2023. And in Tanya Bailey’s „The First American Grand Prix“, Hémery where his race results of those days are also described.
