Jean Trevoux

27/2/1905 - 29/10/1981

Record updated 27-Feb-08

Jean Trevoux
Jean Claudius Marie Trevoux was born at Le Petit Quevilly, near Rouen in France.

He started racing in early 1932 driving a Bugatti and winning the Criterium Paris to Nice race. He also drove a "Blower" Bentley at LeMans with "Mary" that year but crashed out on the first lap. I am not sure if Trevoux's co driver was the same Mary that was actually the non de vollant of Jean-Marie Brussin. Brussin finished third at Le Mans in 1957 but was killed in the race the following year.

He competed in his first Monte Carlo Rallye in 1933 but was unclassified and returned to Le Mans this time driving a Blower Bentley with Louis Gas. Unfortunately they crashed out on the 25th lap.

He entered a Riley Nine Ulster Imp at Le Mans in 1934 and this time made it to the finish in 12th overall, fourth in class, sharing the driving with René Carriére. He also took his first of four wins in the Monte Carlo Rally. Driving a Hotchkiss he won the Paris-Nice Rally and finished second in both the Spa 10 Hours with Maurice Vasselle and in the Algerian GP de Tourisme.

A works driver for Hotchkiss took another win in the Paris-Nice Rally in 1935 driving for the marque. At Le Mans he finished seventh overall driving a Riley Nine MPH Six Racing once again sharing the driving with René Carrière. He also took a class win in the Grand Prix de La Marne driving a Bugatti T44.

Due to the strikes in France there was no running of Le Mans in 1936 however in 1937 he took a win in the Moroccan Rally and a third in the Paris-Nice Rally. At Le Mans he drove a Riley TT Sprite with Guy Lapchin but they retired with a cracked cylinder after 11 laps.

He came second on the Monte Carlo Rallye and drove a Talbot T150C at Le Mans with Pierre Levegh in 1938 but failed to finish.

1939 saw him take his second Monte Carlo Rally win in a Hotchkiss. Starting from Athens he and Lesurque scored 843.2 points. The result was actually a dead heat with Joseph Paul and Marcel Contet in a Delahaye 135. At Le Mans driving with Joseph Paul, they actually led the early hours in the Francia Delahaye 135CS before eventually retiring. In the Criterium Paris - Nice he crashed out in practice for the La Turbie section.

The Second World War put an end to racing and it was not until 1949 that competition resumed. Trevoux had gone to America in 1941 with the Lucy O'Reilly Schell Talbot expedition and stayed on. At the end of the war he wound up in Mexico but continued to hop back and forth across the Atlantic retaining his position as head tester at Hotchkiss.

He married a Mexican woman and opened a restaurant in Mexico City called Restaurant Bar La Cucaracha. He had the name painted on the side of his Packard along with a cockroach, a top hat, a monocle, cane and tails. He eventually sold the restaurant to Don Pedro N. Rodríguez, the father of Pedro and Ricardo, who was a good customer.

Jean drove at the first post war Le Mans with Marcel Lesurque in a Simca Gordini TMM in 1949 but retired after five laps and won the Monte Carlo Rally in a Delahaye it was his third time.

In 1950 he drove a Delahaye 175S in the Carrera Panamericana with André Mariotti finishing 9th in the Categoria Turismo.

For 1951 he switched to a Packard Patrician finishing 5th overall and third in class and won his fourth and final Monte Carlo Rally that year.

He continued to race in the Carrera Panamericana until 1954 and then stopped racing apart from a one-off return to racing in 1957 at the Grand Prix d'Avandaro finishing second in class driving a Renault Dauphine.

After the '54 Carrera Trévoux wanted to import Renaults to Mexico but ended up stating a company called Autos Francia with Enrique Martín-Moreno, the Panamericana organiser, importing Peugeots. The business closed in 1964 when a law was brought in that required all cars sold in Mexico to contain 60% of the parts sourced in Mexico.

He continued to be interested in racing and was a regular visitor to the Mexican Grand Prix. He died in Mexico City in 1981.



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