Léonce Girardot (30 April 1864 – 7 September 1922) was a French racing driver. He drove for

Panhard & Levassor Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks#Military vehicles, Re ...

, the leading brand of this era and his strongest competitors were his teammates

Fernand Charron Fernand Charron (30 May 1866, in Angers – 13 August 1928, in Maisons-Laffitte) was a French pioneer of motor racing and automobile manufacturing. He started his sporting career as a successful cyclist. In 1891 he won the French National Stayer ...

and

René de Knyff Chevalier René de Knyff (December 10, 1865 in Antwerp, Belgium – 1954 in France) was a French Innovator, pioneer of car racing and later a president of ''Commission Sportive Internationale'' (''CSI''), now known as Fédération Internationa ...

. His first major race came in the 1897 season, when in the Paris-

Dieppe Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...

race he took sixteenth place. Twenty-fourth place in the 1897 Paris-Trouville and the retirement from the first race in the next season 1898 Paris-

Bourdeaux Bourdeaux (; ) is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Drôme department A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivat ...

followed before Girardot finished in second place in the

1898 Paris–Amsterdam–Paris The 1898 Paris–Amsterdam–Paris Race was a competitive 'city to city' motor race which ran over 7 days from 7–13 July 1898 and covered 1,431 km. It was won by Fernand Charron driving a Panhard et Levassor for 33 hours at an average speed o ...

. He continued with the same result at the Tour de France for automobiles in 1899 and Paris-

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

1900. In 1901, he won the Gordon Bennett Trophy race, although he was the only one who finished from the field of three cars that entered. He finished in second place in the 1901 Paris-Berlin race. In 1901, he founded the race car company

Charron, Girardot et Voigt Charron was a French automobile manufacturer, based in the Paris conurbation, and active between 1906 and 1930. Although the company Automobiles Charron Limited was established (with a large injection of British finance) only in 1906 (and regist ...

(C.G.V.) along with his teammates Charron and Émile Voigt. These cars proved unreliable, and it was only at the 1903 Ardennes race he finished, taking second position. After an accident in the French trials for 1905 Gordon Bennett Cup which he only just survived, he ended his racing career. He patented an improved friction-clutch for motor cars in 1905, under US Patent number: 787031. Léonce Girardot died in 1922.

References

French racing drivers 1864 births 1922 deaths {{France-autoracing-bio-stub