Guy Mairesse

10/8/1910 - 24/4/1954

Record updated 10-Aug-06

Mairesse was a lorry driver before the war who went on to built up a long-distance haulage business. Finished second at Le Mans in 1950 in a Talbot and competed in a couple of Grand Prix in 1951. He was killed at the Coupes de Paris meeting in 1954.

Guy Mairesse
A tough and independent character with a big heart, Mairesse built up a long-distance haulage business from modest beginnings as a lorry driver before the war. He became interested in the sport after Paul Vallee invited him to the 1946 Coupe du Salon purely as a spectator. After winning the 1947 Lyons-Charbonnieres Rally, Guy then bought a Delahaye from Vallee for 1948 which he took to victory at Chimay. Joining his great friend's Ecurie France team for 1949 to race the Lago-Talbot, Mairesse took fourth at Pau and fifth at Albi, and in 1950, teamed with Meyrat, he finished second at Le Mans in a Talbot 'monoplace'. On the Vallee team's demise, he bought the Le Mans car and a Talbot T26C, prepared by Giraud Cabantous, which he raced in only a couple of Grands Prix in 1951 due to his increasing business commitments.

At the start of 1952, Mairesse sold his cars but still appeared occasionally in machines provided by others. He was due to drive in the 1954 Le Mans race with Georges Grignard but was fatally injured earlier in the year when he crashed into a concrete barrier swerving to avoid a slower car at the Coupes de Paris meeting, killing a six-year old boy in the process.





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