Eugène Chaboud

The son of a wealthy businessman Marius Eugene Chaboud was born in Lyon, France on the 12th April 1907. He competed in numerous non-Championship F1 races plus three World Championship Grands Prix, scoring one championship point, plus contested a number of rallies, including the Monte Carlo Rally three times.

He was a successful athlete in his youth but after meeting Jean Tremoulet Eugene became interested in motor racing. His first race came in 1936 in a privately entered Delahaye 135S at the Grand Prix du Comminges at St.Gaudens but he retired on lap nine and though he entered the Spa 24 hours he did not start.

In the following year he raced in a variety of hillclimbs and local races and won his first race at the end of the year at the Lapize hillclimb at Montlhery. Racing a Delahaye 135CS, results included second in the Coupe des Printemps at Monthlery and seventh at the Grand Prix de Pau but he retired due to mechanical issues at Carthage (Tunisia) and Bona (Algeria). June saw a Le Mans debut alongside his friend Tremoulet (with the pair sharing the same birthday) but they retired due to an accident after nine laps. In further shared drives the following month there were sixth place finishes in the Grand Prix de ACF at Monthlery and the Grand Prix de la Marne at Reims and they finished the year with second place at the Coupe de Autumn at Monthlery in September.

A return to Le Mans in 1938 would bring his biggest success with victory in the 24 Hours event. Alfa Romeo had dominated most of the race thanks to Raymond Sommer and Clemente Biondetti but though they had a fourteen lap lead they retired two hours from the end. Eugene and Tremoulet had been hot on their heels the entire time and took victory (covering a distance of 3,180.940km at an average of 132.539 km/h). Gaston Serraud and Yves Giraud-Cabantous made it a 1-2 result though Rene Biolay and Louis Villeneuve just missed making it a one-two-three podium sweep, but they finished fourth. This was Delahaye’s only victory at Le Mans but the winning car was almost disqualified when it was discovered the tank cap had an excess of lead. After Bugatti’s victory the year before, Delahaye secured the second win in a row for a French constructor and the race was a major triumph for French constructors, with Delahaye, Talbot and Peugeot Darl’mat in the top five. His next race was with a SEFAC at Reims though he retired after two laps and in a shared 135CS drive he and Tremoulet retired at the Spa 24 Hours due to an accident. Teamed with Jean Pregnant, they finished fourth at the 12 Heures de Paris at Monthlery and later in the year he showed his abilities as an all rounder by winning the Chamonix Rally in a Lancia.

He and Tremoulet then went their separate ways and in 1939 Eugene founded Ecurie Francia and was twelfth at the Coupe de Paris with a 135S. Racing an Ecurie France 135CS he retired at the Grand Prix de Pau and the Grand Prix du Comminges at St.Gaudens though in May he was sixth in the Grand Prix de Anvers. He took a second major victory in winning the Paris-Nice road race in April though retired at Le Mans alongside Yves Giraud-Cabantous.

He was back behind the wheel after the war, taking part in the very first postwar race in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, where he was third behind Jean-Pierre Wimille and Raymond Sommer in the Coupe des Prisonniers in his underpowered 135S.

In 1946 he alternated between a privately entered, and an Ecurie France, 135CS. Results included third at Nice, Lille and St.Adrezieux (Forez), fourth at Parco Valentino, sixth at the Coupe Rene le Begue and the Coupe de la Resistance at Bois de Boulogne plus seventh at Parc Borely (Marseille) and Perpignan. He took victory in June at the Belgian GP at Bois de la Cambre but retired due to an accident at Le Mans.

Continuing the next year with Ecurie France’s 135CS he was third in the Stockholms GP at Lake Valentuna in February but then had three races with the team’s Talbot Lago T26 MC and though he did not finish at Pau he took two victories in March and April at the Grand Prix de Roussillon at Perpignan and the Grand Prix Automobile de Marseille at Prado. Later Talbot outings produced third at both the Grand Prix du Comminges at St.Gaudens and the Grand Prix de ACF at Lyon plus second place in November at Monthlery’s Coupe du Salon. Further Delahaye drives saw second in the Gran Premio di Torino at Parco Valentino, fourth in the Grand Prix de la Marne at Reims, sixth in the Grand Prix de Alsace, eighth at both the Grand Prix de la Ville de Nice and the Gran Premio de Italia at Fiera Campionario plus sixteenth in the Swiss GP at Bremgarten.

After becoming French champion in 1947, Eugene and Pozzi left and set up their own team, Ecurie Leutitia, and continued racing Delahayes in a variety of international events. However his first race in 1948 came with an Ecurie Gersac 135CS at Pau but he did not finish though was third in the Grand Prix de Paris and ninth at San Remo. Racing a privately entered car he was seventh at Monaco and eleventh in the 12 Heures de Paris at Monthlery alongside Pozzi. Results in the Ecurie Leutitia car included fourth and fifth at Geneva and Albi, sixth in the French GP at Reims plus tenth at the Gran Premio de Italia at Parco Valentino. There was also a third place with an Ecurie Lutetia King Veritas RS-BMW in the Coupe des Petites Cylindrees at Reims though he retired a privately entered Veritas R2 at St.Gaudens. He failed to qualify in one drive in a Simca-JR at Angouleme and he and Pozzi were unlucky at Le Mans when the car caught fire while leading by some nine miles. In September there was one outing in a Ecurie Naphtra Course Talbot Lago T26C at Monthlery but he did not finish and in three races in October in a Ecurie France entered T26C he was fifth and sixth at Salo and Monza but did not finish at Pedralbes.

1949 started in March with ninth place at San Remo in one outing in a Maserati 4CL then later in the month he retired an Ecurie Rosier Talbot Lago T26C at Pau. Outings in the Ecurie Lutetia 135CS saw seventh at the Grand Prix de Marseille at Parc Borely and sixth at the French GP but he retired at the Italian GP at Monza. Driving privately entered cars, he and Pozzi retired a 135CS at Le Mans due to electrical problems on lap fifty two and Eugene did not finish with a Delahaye 175S at the Grand Prix ACF Comminges at St.Gaudens.

For a short period he concentrated on his secondhand car business but the lure of the sport drew him back and in January 1950 he entered the Monte Carlo Rally. There were 282 starters, though only 182 arrived at Monte Carlo, and 62 of them were eliminated altogether as they were outside the ultimate time-limit. Of the 120 who did get in within the time-limit, only five won through the very tough and searching winter test with no loss of marks. In the stiff regularity test, Marcel Becquart/Henri Secret’s Hotchkiss won ahead of Maurice Gatsonides/Klaas S.Barendregt’s Humber Super Snipe, ahead of two more Simcas, and Eugene/March Angelvin’s Simca in fifth place. Then in June he made his World Championship debut with Ecurie Leutitia’s Talbot Lago T26C at Spa. At this point, the pace of the season was beginning to tell and only fourteen cars arrived at the circuit but after qualifying tenth he retired after twenty two laps with oil pipe trouble.

He then travelled to Reims at the start of July for the French GP. The Talbot-Lago team had struggled to compete through the season with the leading Alfa Romeos and Ferraris, though its drivers had provided some spirited performances. Representing the works squad were Raymond Sommer, Yves Giraud-Cabantous and Louis Rosier plus they had a number of privateer racers representing them including Charles Pozzi, Johnny Claes, Pierre Levegh, Philippe Étancelin and Eugene. The Alfa Romeos were dominant in qualifying, taking the first three places and Eugene was eleventh. Unfortunately, prior to the beginning of the race, he had encountered serious mechanical problems on the grid and was forced to withdraw. At the start, the Alfa Romeos raced clear, with Farina getting ahead of pole sitter Fangio to take the lead and he was chased hard by Fangio and Fagioli. Attrition began to take its toll, with Sommer retiring early and between lap three and ten, González, Hampshire, Chiron, Rol and Parnell were all out with engine problems and were followed on lap fifteen by Bonetto. Rosier and Claes had retired their Talbot Lagos on laps eleven and twelve though Rosier returned to the pits and took over Pozzi’s car but the surviving Talbot-Lagos of Levegh, Giraud-Cabantous and Étancelin all had to come into the pits to solve overheating problems. Peter Whitehead, who had started the race from last on the grid with his private Ferrari was fourth by quarter distance followed by Manzon. On lap eighteen Farina’s Alfa Romeo slowed and dropped back behind Fangio and Fagioli before heading for the pits suffering from fuel starvation and it took his mechanics seven minutes before he could rejoin the race. At this point Fangio was leading ahead of Fagioli and Farina was pushing hard to catch Manzon and Whitehead. He eventually passed them, setting the fastest lap, but was forced to return to the pits again, allowing Whitehead to reclaim third place. Farina charged back through the field and had returned back to third by lap fifty but had to retire five laps later and Fangio took the victory ahead of Fagioli with Whitehead third and Manzon fourth. During the race, after 26 laps Etancelin had handed his car over to Eugene, who completed 33 laps and they finished fifth and took the final points placing.

In the following year he contested his third and final World Championship race when he returned to Reims for the French round. The grid saw Talbots qualify in tenth to thirteenth, with Eugene fourteenth in his T26C-GS, and he came home eighth in the race. He shared a privately entered Talbot-Lago T26C-GS at Le Mans with Lucien Vincent though they retired on lap thirty three.

In 1952 he shared Andre Guelfi’s T26GS at the 12 Hour Casablanca in May though they did not finish plus he and Charles Pozzi retired from Le Mans due to an accident. He had been running sixth until, after the 22-hour mark, he crashed the Talbot and lay trapped under the overturned car waiting to be extricated. In his final two races that year he retired an Ecurie Rosier entered T26GS at the Grand Prix de Reims Sports and was twentieth with a T26C in a European F2 Daily Mail Trophy race at Boreham Airfield.

He continued to compete in rallying until 1953 and then retired to concentrate on his business and passed away on the 28th December 1983 in Montfermeil, France