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User:Derek Fulk/Hotel De France (La Chartre-sur-le-Loir)

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The Hotel de france is an iconic historic hotel in La Chartre Sur Le Loir at 20, place de la République. The Hotel opened for business in c 1920 The logo emblazened across the front is in a classic art deco style. The hotel is 27 miles outside of le Mans. It used to be the head quaters for the Le Mans 24 Hr Motor Racing Teams. The hotel is full of motor racing history. It had a garage on the side for the mechanics to fettle with the cars and it has been run by the same family for the past four generations. It is a meca for fans of the "24 heures du Mans" races. It is a live museum, its walls are covered with photos of races from the past. Most of them are signed by the car racers themselves and for many years the place was where the "Aston Martin" and Gulf Oil team met.

It was frequented by famous racing drivers and team mangers and celebrities such as. John Wyer, Derek Bell, Justin Bell, David Piper, Jo Siffert, Vern Schuppan, Jacky Ickx, Richard Attwood, Mike Salmon, Brian Redman, David Hobbs, Pedro Rodriguez, Jackie Oliver, jean Pierre Jaussaud, Innes Ireland, Jo Schlesser, Maurice Trintignant, John Whitmore, Graham Hill, jack Fairman, Roy Salvadori, Reg Parnell, Lucien Bianchi, Stirling Moss, Carroll Shelby, Olivier Gendebien, Phil Hill, Jacques Laffite, Tony Brooks, jochen Rindt, peter Collins, Paul Frere, Jackie Stewart, Guy Ligier, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Francois Migault, Mike Hailwood, Bruce Mclaren, Mario Andretti, Briggs Cunningham. Steve McQueen, Pierre Sallinger(kennedy press secretary), Children of both John F Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, Prince Bertil of Sweden, Frank Williams, President Rene Coty of France,

1953 John Wyer discovered The Hotel de France, a 50 minute drive from the Le Mans circuit, It became his team's base for the 24 hour race for the majority of his motor racing career. Before this he worked for Ford (and later himself), John Wyer managed the Aston Martin racing team in the 1950's. He was well-known for running a tight ship. Anything less than meticulous preparation was not tolerated. Drivers who failed to follow team orders were fired. (This was in an era when drivers wore their egos on their sleeves, and would have been puzzled if told that they needed to brush up on their sponsorship skills.) Wyer also insisted that the entire team (managers, mechanics, drivers) stay together in the same hotel when abroad. He believed it built team spirit.

1959 Wyer won the the 24 Hour lemans was his first victory in his tenth aniversary as Aston Martin team manager, helping Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori win with the DBR1 Winning Le Mans was the main goal of Aston Martin's owner, David Brown. It took them seven years, but everything came right in 1959 when Ferrari imploded and Aston-Martin finished 1-2, two laps ahead of the third place car with the DBR1's. Carroll Shelby, who was never heard from again, co-drove the winning car with Roy Salvadori.

Wyer's taste for fine dining was also well-known. He sought out good hotels such as Hotel De France. The deal-clincher was food and drink. In some years, he took scouting trips in late winter only to select a place to stay near that season's races. "It was a dirty job... but someone had to do it."

For Le Mans, the team always stayed at the Hotel de France in La Chartre sur-le-Loir. It was 27 miles south of the track--This was a benefit as far as Wyer was concerned: no distractions. The team was there for as long as two weeks before the race. Through that period, the automobiles would be tended to within the courtyard. They would be driven to and from the circuit on the public road for practice and race. This practice was maintained for many years and as much as and which includes the 1970 event when the orange suited Gulf mechanics drove the three Stuttgart owned, blue and orange Porsche 917s towards the circuit on the road for the final time.

There was quite a party at the Hotel de France that night.

"Above all, Le Mans is an engine breaker," Wyer said "There is no premium on roadholding there. It is moderately hard on brakes, chiefly because it is 24 hours long, and once every lap, at Mulsanne corner, the brakes have to get the car down from 200 mph to 40. But what really beats up the car is Mulsanne straight. The straight is so long that the engine is going at maximum power and load for just under a minute—say 55 seconds. No other circuit in the world has anything like this." The hotels garage was used to tend to the three squat five-liter GT40s, The DBR1 and the Porsche 917's.

In the prerace time trials the factory Porsches finished one, two, three and seven, the fastest being a lap by Jo Siffert in car No. 31 in 3:35.4, over 140 mph. Wyer, however, was not too worried. The day before the race he took lunch at the hotel in La Chartre-sur-le-Loire, 30 miles south of Le Mans, and looked at the trial times while mechanics worked on the cars in the Garage down the side of the hotel.

"We just try to see what the car can handle comfortably," he said. " Porsche usually goes flat-out. Pushing just a little harder, we should be able to handle them."

1975 Wyers last win at Le Mans. The race was won by Derek Bell and Jacky Iccs in their Mirage GR8 with a cosworth DFV Engine.

References

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  • LeMans '59 Stirling Moss Cassell (Book)
  • La Chartre-Sur-Le-Loir Memoire en Images Gerard Coteau et Thierry Lebatard (Book)
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