Johnny Claes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johnny Claes
Nationality  Belgian

Octave John "Johnny" Claes (11 August 1916 in London – February 3, 1956 in Brussels) was a racing driver from Belgium, of Scottish mother and Belgian father. He was educated in England at Lord Williams's School.

Claes was one of several gentlemen drivers who took part in Grand Prix racing of post-WWII. His first contact with racing was at the 1947 French Grand Prix, where he served as interpreter for British drivers. He made his debut in 1948, in his own Talbot-Lago, raced under the Ecurie Belge banner. Although Claes never scored any points in the World Drivers Championship, he was, like many of his contemporaries, very active in non-Championship Grand Prix races and sports car races. His first win was at the 1950 Grand Prix des Frontières, held at the Chimay race track.

In April 1951 Claes crashed into a crowd while practicing at Sanremo, Italy. He was uninjured but an observer was killed and three onlookers were seriously injured.^[1] In 1952 he exchanged his outdated Talbot for a Gordini, and later for a Connaught, always with the Ecurie Belge colours, but he also raced occasionally for works team, including Gordini and Maserati. He also won the 1953 Liège-Rome-Liège Rally and took a class win at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans. Claes teamed with Pierre Stasse to finish 12th in the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans. They drove a Porsche.^[2] Together with compatriot Jacques Swaters, Claes finished third in the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Later in 1955 Claes' health problems worsened, as he had contracted tuberculosis. Claes sold his outfit to Swaters, who merged it with his own Ecurie Francorchamps to form Ecurie Nationale Belge. Claes entered occasional events until the end of the year, but finally succumbed to the disease in 1956, aged 39.

Besides motor racing, Claes was also an enthusiast of jazz music, a jazz trumpeter and successful bandleader in Britain.

[edit] Complete World Championship Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	WDC	Pts.
1950	Ecurie Belge	Talbot-Lago T26C	Talbot L6	GBR 11	MON 7	500	SUI 10	BEL 8	FRA Ret	ITA Ret			-	0
1951	Ecurie Belge	Talbot-Lago T26C-DA	Talbot L6	SUI 13	500	BEL 7	FRA Ret	GBR 13	GER 11	ITA Ret	ESP Ret		-	0
1952	Equipe Gordini	Gordini T16	Gordini L6	SUI	500	BEL 8							-	0
	Ecurie Belge	Simca-Gordini T15	Simca-Gordini L4				FRA Ret	GBR 14
	HW Motors	HWM 52	Alta L4						GER 10	NED
	Vicomtesse de Walckiers	Simca-Gordini T15	Simca-Gordini L4								ITA DNQ
1953	Ecurie Belge	Connaught Type A	Lea-Francis L4	ARG	500	NED Ret		FRA 12	GBR	GER Ret	SUI	ITA Ret	-	0
	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati A6GCM	Maserati L6				BEL Ret
1955	Stirling Moss Ltd.	Maserati 250F	Maserati L6	ARG	MON	500	BEL DNS						-	0
	Equipe Nationale Belge	Ferrari 500	Ferrari L4					NED 11	GBR	ITA

[edit] References