Jacques Swaters (30 October 1926 – 10 December 2010) was a racing driver from Belgium and former team owner of Ecurie Francorchamps and Ecurie Nationale Belge. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Born in Woluwe-St-Lambert, Brussels, in 1926, Jacques Swaters would go on to race F1 and sports cars, become a team owner of Ecurie Francorchamps and Ecurie Nationale Belge and establish an important Ferrari dealership.
He grew up with his grandparents following the death of his mother when he was only two months old. During the War he became involved in the resistance as his sister Jacqueline was an active participant in a sabotage network. At one point, after being captured, he was kept prisoner for two months and suffered regular violent interrogations. While being transported to Germany, the Belgian resistance attacked the train and he managed to escape then later began training with a regiment of paratroopers and joined the 2nd Special Air Service Regiment. After the war he began studying at university and in 1948, with an inheritance from his father (who had died before the War) he bought a pre-war MG. He made his racing debut in that year’s Spa 24 Hours, driving with his friend and journalist Paul Frère (also making his official racing debut) and they finished 4th in class. He returned to Spa the following year in a BMW 328 with Charles de Tornaco, though they didn’t finish.
In 1950, he, P.Frere and Andre Pilette formed Ecurie Belgique, running cars for themselves and other racers but the Royal Automobile Club de Belgique disapproved of the name so it was later changed. Jacques himself drove a BMW-powered Veritas, with his best result being third at the Luxembourg Grand Prix, behind Ascari and Villoresi. The team then bought a Talbot-Lago T26C, which they intended sharing in different events. The first race was at the V Gran Premio di San Remo in Italy, where Guy Mairesse finished sixth and they then competed in a World Championship round in Switzerland. At Spa, André Pilette achieved the team’s best F1 result with a sixth place finish while in France Guy Mairesse was ninth. Roger Laurent finished sixth in a XIII Grand Prix of Albi and Guy Mairesse raced it at Pescara. Jacques himself contested two Grands Prix, finishing tenth at the Nurburgring though retired at Monza due to overheating plus also participated in some sports car races and hillclimb events.
In 1952 he, Charles de Tornaco and British driver Geoff Richardson, restarted Ecurie Francorchamps and purchased a Formula 2 Ferrari T500 from Gianni Agnelli. Although mainly raced by C.de Tornaco, Jacques drove it in two Grands Prix (Germany and Switzerland) in 1953, taking seventh in Germany. He also won an F2 Grand Prix de Berlin at AVUS that year plus he and C.de Tornaco contested the Mille Miglia in a Ferrari 225 S Vignale.
During this period Jacques had established a garage in Brussels, Garage Francorchamps, and in 1952 he was asked by Ferrari to become their distributor for the Benelux area.
1954 saw him and R.Laurent sharing the Ecurie Francorchamps Jaguar C-Type, taking fourth on his Le Mans debut, third in the Reims 12 Hours (behind two factory C-Types) and seventh in the Tourist Trophy. He also raced Bob Chase’s Cooper T25 at the GP Spa and took a third place podium finish. He made three Grand Prix starts that year, racing for the first time in Belgium, though retired after just one lap with a broken engine. He was eighth at Bremgarten in the Swiss GP and in Spain, at Pedralbes, he retired after 16 laps due to a broken engine.
In 1955, he contested several non-championship races with a Ferrari 750 Monza, finishing fifth at Dakar, second at Spa and sixth at Bari.
Following his Le Mans debut in 1954, he returned there in the following years, finishing third with J.Claes in 1955’s tragic race and fourth with the same car in 1956, partnered with Freddy Rousselle.
Jacques retired from racing after making his last appearance at 1957’s Le Mans with Alain de Change, retiring a Ferrari 290 MM due to engine problems. He became manager of Ecurie Nationale Belge (ENB), who entered Coopers in Formula 2 racing for a number of drivers, including Olivier Gendebien, Andre Pilette, Andre Milhoux and Alain de Chagny, Lucien Bianchi and Mauro Bianchi. The team moved into F1 in 1960 and used a variety of chassis through the years, including Ferrari, Cooper, Lotus and Emeryson, as well as a car of their own construction, a Maserati ENB, which was raced by L.Bianchi in 1962’s German Grand Prix.
By 1964 he totally focused on sports car racing and there were class wins (including Le Mans in 1965) and podiums, with a highlight as a manager their overall victory at the 1965 500km Spa race.
Ecurie Francorchamps ceased operating in 1982 but Jacques retained his Garage Francorchamps Ferrari dealership. His long term association with Ferrari began in the 1950s after buying the Ferrari 500 F2 car in 1952 for his team. In the following year, Ferrari asked him to resolve a problem with Customs for a car they were to display at the Brussels Motor Show and to run Ferrari’s exhibition stand as well. He managed to get the car through customs plus sold a car at the Show and consequently was appointed as the official Ferrari importer the same year. In 1992, in recognition of their long standing relationship, Ferrari unveiled their 456 model to the world at the Garage Francorchamps plus the ‘Blue Swaters’ was introduced as a colour to celebrate 40 years of their partnership.
Over the years Jacques collected everything about Ferrari (original documentations, important vintage cars, sculptures, and other automobilia) and these were eventually displayed in the ‘Galleria Ferrari’ alongside gifts given personally by Enzo Ferrari.
In 2008 he sold a large part of his collection at an auction in Maranello and Jacques passed away in 2010.
