Fernand Charron

Fernand Charron (* 1866, † August 13, 1928 ) was a French racing driver.

Fernand Charron was one of the first known name in motorsport. He began his career as a racing driver for the manufacturer Albert Clément, but soon moved to car racing, where he was able to achieve success especially Panhard & Levassor on.

After a spectacular accident at Marseille -La Turbie in 1897, he unhurt survived with luck, he won the following year on a light Panhard 6 CV the race Marseille -Nice and a Panhard 8 hp the the Grand Prix standings scoring 6 - day race Paris -Amsterdam- Paris ahead of his team-mates Leonce Girardot. An overwhelming success both for Panhard Levassor & as for Fernand Charron was the Paris- Bordeaux 1899 Charron on a CV- 12 Panhard contested before and decided not less than five teammates for themselves.

Charron was the unrewarded hero of the Tour de France for automobiles in 1899, when he moved to a transmission defect 40 km in the reverse gear went before he was eliminated. His last major successes came in the race Paris -Lyon in 1900 the Coupe Gordon Bennett 1901. Doing so, he had around 100 km / h collision with a St. Bernard dog that this probably did not survive. He himself went with a damaged rear axle the first victory for France at this event out.

In 1901, Charron graduated with his Panhard & Levassor teammates Leonce Girardot and Carl Voigt together to create the racing car company CGV to start. However, the new car proved to be a flop. Girardot retired in 1906 from the Company. This was sold to British investors and renamed Automobiles Charron Limited. Charron remained until 1907, then went to Clément- Bayard and in 1912 he founded Alda.

Fernand Charron died in 1928.