24h Le Mans
The publication of "Jean Graton et Michel Vaillant, l'aventure automobile" (Hors Collection editions) reveals that great stories link the creator and his character to the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It all began in 1937...
That year, 13-year old Jean Graton attended the 24 Hours of Le Mans with his father. Bugatti, a cornerstone of very high-end luxury French automobiles, namely with the stunning Type 41 (called "Royale"), won the first of its two victories at Le Mans with at the wheel Jean-Pierre Wimille and Robert Benoist. Twenty years later, Graton would recall his first encounter with motorsports when he created the character Henri Vaillant, patriarch of the clan and father of Michel, and for whom Ettore Bugatti is, along with Enzo Ferrari, one of the greatest sources of inspiration.
The experience with Le Mans reemerged in 1974, in two pages of the album "Des filles et des moteurs." During Michel's wedding reception, Henri Vaillant talked about his participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1939, with the Brit Margaret Randson, his former teammate (a nod to the history of the 24 Hours between the two world wars, which included the participation of several female drivers). Both were at the wheel of the first competition Vaillante. Their racing debut was promising, up until a premature and prohibited trajectory was taken by Margaret Randson...which forced the retirement of the Vaillante "just" for wanting to avoid a rabbit crossing the track! Great laughter ensued, even though one can imagine the grief Henri Vaillant gave the poor British driver in 1939. That 1939 edition saw the second Bugatti win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: Jean-Pierre Wimille was still there, that time along with Pierre Veyron. Jean Graton probably chose to situate the flashback in 1939 in reference to that win, two years after his first time at Le Mans...
Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SATURDAY & SUNDAY JUNE 19-20 1937. The lines of the Bugatti Type 57 that won in 1937 shared a certain family likeness with the first competition Vaillante at the 1939 24 Hours of Le Mans, which can be seen in "Jean Graton et Michel Vaillant, l'aventure automobile" and the album "Des filles et des moteurs."
