Emanuel Marcel Lucien Balsa (January 1, 1909 in
Creuse
Creuse (; oc, Cruesa or ) is a department in central France named after the river Creuse. After Lozère, it is the second least populated department in France. It is bordered by Indre and Cher to the north, Allier and Puy-de-Dôme to the eas ...
– August 11, 1984 in
Maisons-Alfort
Maisons-Alfort () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.
Maisons-Alfort is famous as the location of the National Veterinary School of Alfort. The Fort de Charenton, constructed betwe ...
) was a French racing driver.
Balsa started in racing after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, when he acquired a
Bugatti
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French manufacturer of high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The cars w ...
Type 51 and became quite competitive in the French national events. He later built a BMW-engined
Formula 2
Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name return ...
car, and had a good reputation, until he tried a Jicey-BMW developed by Jean Caillas.
[ The Jicey of Jean Caillas has been found !]
With it he finished third in the
Grand Prix of Cadours, the same event where fellow racer
Raymond Sommer
Raymond Sommer (31 August 1906 – 10 September 1950) was a French motor racing driver. He raced both before and after WWII with some success, particularly in endurance racing. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in both and , and altho ...
was killed. He returned to his previous race car and in 1952 raced in the
German Grand Prix
The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...
at the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
, only to retire after six laps. In 1953 he won a race at
Montlhery but then faded from the racing scene.
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balsa, Marcel
1909 births
1984 deaths
Sportspeople from Creuse
French racing drivers
French Formula One drivers