Benoît Musy

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Benoît Musy
Nationality Switzerland Swiss
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years 1949 - 1951
First race 1949 250cc Swiss motorcycle Grand Prix
Last race 1951 500cc Swiss Grand Prix
Team(s) Moto Guzzi
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
4 0 0 0 0 8.5

Benoît Nicolas Musy (December 13, 1917 – October 7, 1956) was a Swiss Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Maserati race car driver.

Biography

Musy was born on December 13, 1917 in Bern, Switzerland, the son of the Swiss president Jean-Marie Musy. He received an agriculture engineering degree from L'institut agricole de l'Etat de Fribourg in Grangeneuve / FR - Switzerland, and served in the air force during the Swiss military mobilisation World War II. During 1944 he rescued a large number (1,200) of Jews from the concentration camp Theresienstadt with his father.[1] He also received one of the first Swiss parachute jumper licenses in 1947.[2]

Motor Sports Champion, part 1: motorcycle

He acquired further fame as a motorcycle racer, winning six Swiss championships with Moto Guzzi motorcycles. He also competed in the 1949 Swiss motorcycle Grand Prix, part of the inaugural Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. He competed in three more Swiss motorcycle Grand Prix races, finishing as high as fourth place.[3]

Motor Sports Champion, part 2: motorcar

File:Maserati A6GCS 1.jpg
Maserati A6 GCS

Later he moved to racing cars. He had various ones, all Maserati. Musy started in May 1954, with a 1953 Maserati A6 or A6GCS (#2040),[4] a Maserati factory race car, formerly used by Giletti, the official Maserati pilot. With this car he has won several races, including some record laps, on different tracks. He sold the car in 1955 to Pietro Pagliarini.

At that time, Benoît Musy was already part of the semi-official driver of Maserati. He took part of several races with very little success on Maserati 150, Maserati 200S and Maserati 200Si. He even participated at a race in Dakar (Sénégal) with a Maserati 250. He did not finish.[5]

After a test drive in the Swedish Grand Prix, he bought a Maserati 300S (#3057) in 1955 with which he earned several podium results.

Musy died in a racing event at Autodrome de Montlhéry, France, on October 7, 1956, crashing a factory Maserati 200S (#2047) over an embankment after a steering column breakdown. Ejected from the car, he died immediately. In total, he attended eleven mid-1950s European sports car championships, of which he won five.[6]

Auto racing results

Year Position Racetrack - Country Car
1954 1st Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) Maserati 2000cc A6GCS
1954 4th Aquila racetrack (Switzerland) Maserati 2000cc
1954 1st Megève racetrack best time ever (France) Maserati 2000cc
1954 2nd Senigallia racetrack (Italy) Maserati 2000cc
1954 2nd Senigallia racetrack (Italy) Maserati 2000cc
1954 2nd Circuit Park Zandvoort (Netherland) Maserati 2000cc
1954 2nd Circuit Bremgarten Swiss Grand-Prix Maserati 2000cc
1954 2nd Kandersteg racetrack (Switzerland) Maserati 2000cc
1954 1st Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry (France) Maserati 2000cc
1954 1st Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) Maserati 2000cc
1955 1st Grand Prix des Frontières (Chimay Street Circuit) (Belgium) Maserati 3000cc 300S
1955 4th Porto Grand Prix (Monsanto Park) (Portugal) Maserati 3000cc
1955 2nd Messina 10 h night race (Italy) Masearti 3000cc
1955 1st Karlskoga – Kanonloppet (Sweden) Maserati 3000cc
1956 1st first heat Oulton Park best time ever (UK) Maserati 3000 cc
1956 1st Grand Prix des Frontières (Chimay Street Circuit) (Belgium) Maserati 3000cc
1956 4th Bari Grand Prix (Italy) Maserati 3000 cc
1956 1st Sables-d'Olonne Grand-Prix (France) Maserati 3000 cc

References

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  5. Maserati 250 Archived May 18, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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External links