Jacques Swaters R I P
#1
Posted 10 December 2010 - 15:07
http://www.ferrarich...php?p=140121990
Regards Michael
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#2
Posted 10 December 2010 - 15:43
#3
Posted 10 December 2010 - 15:58
Jacques Swaters was born on 30th October 1926 at Woluwe-St-Lambert, Brussels. A great enthusiast of motor sport, Swaters made his racing debut in the 1948 Spa 24 Hours in an MG shared with his friend Paul Frere. In 1950, he was one of the founders of Ecurie Belgique and initially handled a Veritas, but when Pilette was injured in the team's Talbot at the 1951 Dutch GP, Jacques stepped in to take his place. For 1952, the team bought a Ferrari 500, which was mainly raced by de Tornaco, but Swaters drove it in two Grands Prix the following year and also won the AVUS F2 race. For 1954, Jacques raced the Ferrari fitted with a 625 engine, but found greater success in sports car events with the team's recently acquired Jaguar C-Type, taking fourth at Le Mans and third in the Reims 12 Hours with Laurent. Swaters then concentrated on sports cars, taking the team's D-Type to third place at Le Mans with Claes in 1955, and finishing fourth in 1956 with the same car, partnered by Rousselle. By this time he was busy with the management of Ecurie Francorchamps, and his thriving Ferrari concession, and retired from racing after a final appearance in the Sarthe classic in 1957.
R.I.P. Jacques
#4
Posted 10 December 2010 - 17:08
My condolences to his family.
Nathan
#5
Posted 10 December 2010 - 17:12
Sincere condolences to his friends and relatives.
DCN
#6
Posted 10 December 2010 - 20:32
#7
Posted 11 December 2010 - 11:09
Incredibly, just this morning I was reading a 1965 issue of magazine Virage-Auto, looking at a picture of Jacques Swaters in the pits at Le Mans, cleaning the windscreen of the yellow Ferrari 250LM of Taf Gosselin-Pierre Dumay. The caption was "Le coup de chiffon du patron: J. Swaters et Gosselin".
#8
Posted 11 December 2010 - 13:32
Edited by Bjørn Kjer, 13 December 2010 - 22:34.
#9
Posted 11 December 2010 - 18:32
DCN
Edited by Doug Nye, 11 December 2010 - 18:39.
#10
Posted 12 December 2010 - 08:56
Very sorry to hear about Jacques' passing. As Doug says he was a great character. A few years ago I was at Paul Ricard circuit for one of the historic Ferrari races and had with me a photo I took of one of his 1958 Testa Rossa's photographed on its trailer at Oulton Park that year. He smiled, pointed to the rough trailer and told me that he had bought the trailer immediately after the war which was, in fact, a German moveable searchlight that had been used during the war. Jacques explained that he took off the searchlight and what remained was used by the team for a few years afterwards.
When I was in Modena at the end of last year visiting the site of the new Enzo Ferrari Museum, which is being built on the site of the building and house in which Enzo Ferrari was brought up, I was told that Jacques had promised his huge archive to the museum which is due to be completed sometime towards the end of next year. It will be interesting to see what happens.
I have attached a photo of the trailer and one of the model for the new Enzo Ferrari Museum. It shows the original building on the left and the yellow roof of the additional section is meant to represent a hand holding the building but is finished like the hood of a Ferrari.
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#11
Posted 13 December 2010 - 04:54
#12
Posted 13 December 2010 - 05:26
#13
Posted 13 December 2010 - 06:10
a photo I took of one of his 1958 Testa Rossa's photographed on its trailer at Oulton Park that year.
Was this driven by de Changy? Was it 0736TR? If so, does John McCaw still have that?
Very sorry to hear about Jacques Swaters, and that I never got to meet him.
Vince H.
#14
Posted 13 December 2010 - 14:58
Hopefully, he's chatting with Commendatore now and they remember days of old glory...
I never had a chance to meet him, but everywhere I read about him, people say that he was a real gentleman. And he was a great driver too.
I wrote to him back in July and sent few photos bo be autographed and he was very fast to respond in just a couple of weeks.
RIP Jacques.. My sincere condolences to family, friends and everyone for whom his name mattered and will matter a lot.
Here is very nice article, that mentions his passing:
Jacques Swaters, In Memoriam
Here are some photos that I received from him:
August 5, 1951 - driving his Talbot T26C #110006 at the Grand Prix D'Albi
1953 Swiss GP, Ferrari 500 F2, Ecurie Francorchamps
July 12, 1953 - Swaters driving his Ferrari 500F2 at the Grand Prix Berlin
1954 Formula One Swiss Grand Prix held at Bern on August 22, 1954
Jacques Swaters and Roger Laurent after finishing third at the 1954 12 hours Reims with a yellow Jaguar C-Type
Swaters in his Ferrari 750 Monza at the Grand Prix De Spa, Finished 2nd. May 8, 1955
1962 Tour de France at Spa-Francorchamps:
Ferrari 250 GTO #150 (Robert Darville - Gérard Langlois van Ophem) #150
Edited by Igor_E, 13 December 2010 - 14:59.
#15
Posted 14 December 2010 - 09:50
#16
Posted 14 December 2010 - 11:20
This is a great photo. This must be the defining moment of this race when Alan Brown, leading in the Cooper-Bristol, crashed out of the race leaving Rodney Nuckey in the other Cooper-Bristol to harry Swaters until suspension problems dropped him down the field.
RIP Jacques.