Between 1957 and 1964 Carel Godin de Beaufort was a colourful member of the Formula 1 community. The Dutch aristocrat became famous for campaigning his orange Porsche 718 against the might of the works Grand Prix teams. In 1962 he became the first Dutch driver to score a World Championship point.
De Beaufort was a Jonkheer (young lord), and grew up on his family’s Maarsbergen estate. He was not a typical aristocrat, filling his time by racing various vehicles around the grounds, getting dirty fixing cars and playing practical jokes on visiting guests. Born on April 10th, 1934, it wasn’t until 1955 that he made his competition debut, in the Dutch Tulip Rally.
Sports Car Racing with Porsche
Within a remarkably short space of time de Beaufort had been taken under the wing of Porsche. Before long he was a class winner at Le Mans, sharing a car with the American driver Ed Hugus. His driving style was tempered somewhat by an incident at the 1957 Mille Miglia. After speaking to the Marquis Alfonso de Portago the Spanish driver was killed soon after in a horrific accident which also claimed the lives of his co-driver and nine spectators. The crash had a major effect on de Beaufort and, from then on, he became known for his careful style.
Sports car racing proved a happy hunting ground for de Beaufort, particularly in 1959 when, among other victories, he won the Sebring 12 Hours. That year also saw him miraculously survive a spectacular accident at Avus when he launched his Porsche over the top of the steep banking. In the same race Jean Behra also went over the top and was killed.
F1 with Maserati, Cooper and Porsche
Although de Beaufort became synonymous with Porsche he also drove some other cars during his career. In 1959 he had a one-off drive in a Maserati 250F, the same car in which Phil Hill had made his Formula 1 debut. In 1960 de Beaufort purchased a Cooper T51 and raced it for the first time at the Dutch Grand Prix. He used the car on several other occasions, even taking it to compete in South Africa.
It was Rob Walker who sold de Beaufort the Porsche 718 which was to become such a distinctive site on the world’s Grand Prix circuits. As with the Cooper, de Beaufort raced the car for the first time at Zandvoort. In total he drove over 50 races in the car, sporting a patriotic orange colour scheme, scoring a World Championship point on four occasions.
The Porsche 718 was still being used when de Beaufort headed out to practice for the 1964 German Grand Prix, held at the Nurburgring, a circuit he adored. The orange car left the road at the Bergwerk section and, although the Porsche was only lightly damaged, de Beaufort had been critically injured. He was taken to hospital in Koblenz and from there to Cologne, but passed away late the next evening. He was just 30 years old when he died and, with fellow drivers Graham Hill and Bob Anderson among the pall bearers, was laid to rest on the family estate.
 |
