When the day breaks on June 25, 1950, Louis Rosier is struggling at the wheel of his number 5 Talbot-Lago. The night was very agitated, first of all because an owl shattered the windshield of his car, while the darkness was total. Only the frame remains, visible on this picture. The 44 years old Auvergne native had to finish the race with only his leather helmet, his thin glasses and a banal scarf for protection. Then, in the early morning, a mechanical problem forced the Talbot, then leading the pack, to make an unscheduled stop of half an hour and a good sweat of its mechanics ...
However, until these incidents, the race of the Rosier father and son team was ideal. A cautious start in the wake of Ferrari, Jaguar and Cadillac and a steady climb in the standings as the leaders suffered a series of mechanical problems. Louis Rosier even beat the lap record, which dated back to the 16th edition in 1939, with peaks of over 160 km/h. The French driver never gave up, especially not the steering wheel of his Talbot T26GS. Legend has it that Jean-Louis Rosier, 25 years old at the time, only ran two laps for barely eleven minutes of thrills, just enough time for his father to swallow two bananas and leave. "My grandfather did this to protect his son from this car that was very tricky to tame," explains Elodie Rosier, granddaughter of the champion launched on the memory of his grandfather through a Facebook group, "The adventure Louis Rosier," with the aim of gathering a maximum of documents around the driver and create a museum in Auvergne.
The Rosier duo won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a one lap lead and 3,465 km covered at an average speed of 144.38 km/h, a double record that year. A prestigious success for the man who finished fourth in the first Formula 1 World Championship in 1950. He had also won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1949 in his category at the wheel of a 4CV and accompanied by his son.
MARTIN COULOMB