Ferenc Szisz
| Ferenc Szisz | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Szisz at the 1914 French Grand Prix
|
|
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Born |
September 20, 1873 Szeghalom, Hungary |
| Died | February 21, 1944 (aged 70) Auffargis, France |
| Retired | 1914 |
| Years active | 1906–1914 |
| Teams | Renault, Alda |
| Starts | 4 |
| Wins | 1 |
Ferenc Szisz (September 20, 1873 – February 21, 1944), was a Hungarian race car driver and the winner of the first Grand Prix motor racing event on a Renault Grand Prix 90CV on 26 June, 1906.
Szisz was born in the small town of Szeghalom in Békés county of the Hungarian part the former Austro-Hungarian Empire on September 20, 1873. He was trained to be a locksmith and a coppersmith but in his early twenties the growing proliferation of automobiles fascinated Szisz and he studied engineering along with car design. After time spent in several Austrian and German cities, in the spring of 1900 he ended up in Paris, France where he found work at the new Renault automobile company.
At Renault, Szisz's engineering talent made him an integral part of the testing department, and when the company became involved in racing in 1902 he was chosen as the riding mechanic for Louis Renault. Following the death of Marcel Renault in the 1903 Paris-Madrid race, Szisz took over as a driver. In 1905, he finished fifth in the Gordon Bennett Cup elimination race on the Circuit d'Auvergne at Clermont-Ferrand. In October of that same year, along with other French and Italian automobile manufacturers, Renault sent a team to the United States to compete in the Vanderbilt Cup on Long Island, New York. In a field that included Felice Nazzaro and Louis Chevrolet driving for Fiat, Szisz finished fifth behind the winner, fellow Frenchman Victor Hémery driving a Darracq.
...
Wikipedia