Carel Godin de Beaufort

Carel Godin de Beaufort

Carel Godin de Beaufort's Ecurie Maarsbergen badge.
Born	10 April 1934 Maarsbergen, Netherlands
Died	2 August 1964 (aged 30) Cologne, West Germany
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Dutch
Active years	1957 – 1964
Teams	Ecurie Maarsbergen (privateer Porsche and Cooper) Scuderia Ugolini (privateer Maserati)
Entries	31 (28 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	4
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1957 German Grand Prix
Last entry	1964 German Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	1956 – 1960, 1962 – 1963
Teams	Wolfgang Seidel Ed Hugus privateer Porsche System Engineering
Best finish	5th (1958)
Class wins	1 (1957)

Jonkheer Karel Pieter Antoni Jan Hubertus (Carel) Godin de Beaufort (10 April 1934, Maarsbergen – 2 August 1964, Cologne, Germany) was a Dutch nobleman and motorsport driver from the Netherlands. He competed in Formula One between 1957 and 1964.

Career

Godin de Beaufort participated in 31 World Championship Grands Prix, becoming the first Dutchman ever to score points in the Formula One World Championship, and numerous non-Championship Formula One races. He was one of the last truly amateur drivers in F1, and ran his own cars – painted the vibrant Dutch racing colour: orange – under the Ecurie Maarsbergen banner, the team taking its name from de Beaufort's country estate. In early years he was considered something of a mobile chicane, and a danger to other drivers on the track. However, in later years he matured into a competent and popular competitor.

Always a Porsche devotee (he only drove two World Championship races in anything else) he was a familiar sight at both Championship and non-Championship races in his orange Porsche 718, bought from the Rob Walker Racing Team. Although the 718 was outclassed even in its first year with him, he persisted with it as it was the only design into which he could fit his burly frame. The size of the car, and a streak of self-deprecating humour in de Beaufort himself, earned it the nickname "Fatty Porsche". With stereotypical aristocratic eccentricity he often drove without shoes,^[1] and at his final race in Germany was even seen taking practice laps wearing a Beatles wig, rather than his helmet.^[2]

Death

Godin de Beaufort was driving the Porsche 718 in practice for the 1964 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring when the car suddenly veered off the track at the infamous Bergwerk corner. He was thrown out and suffered massive injuries to his head, chest and legs. Initially de Beaufort was taken to a hospital in Koblenz, but on the following day he was transferred to a major neurological centre in Cologne where he died in the evening.^[2]

Carel Godin de Beaufort's Porsche 718 single-seater, in Dutch racing orange.

Formula One results

World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	WDC	Points
1957	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 550RS	Porsche Flat-4	ARG	MON	500	FRA	GBR	GER 14^‡	PES	ITA				NC	0
1958	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche RSK	Porsche Flat-4	ARG	MON	NED 11	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER Ret^‡	POR	ITA	MOR	NC	0
1959	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche RSK	Porsche Flat-4	MON	500	NED 10		GBR	GER	POR	ITA	USA			NC	0
	Scuderia Ugolini	Maserati 250F	Maserati Straight-6				FRA 9
1960	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Cooper T51	Climax Straight-4	ARG	MON	500	NED 8	BEL	FRA	GBR	POR	ITA	USA		NC	0
1961	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche Flat-4	MON	NED 14	BEL 11	FRA Ret	GBR 16	GER 14	ITA 7	USA				NC	0
1962	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche Flat-4	NED 6	MON DNQ	BEL 7	FRA 6	GBR 14	GER 13	ITA 10	USA Ret	RSA 11			16th	2
1963	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche Flat-4	MON	BEL 6	NED 9	FRA	GBR 10	GER Ret	ITA DNQ	USA 6	MEX 10	RSA 10		14th	2
1964	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche Flat-4	MON	NED Ret	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER DNS	AUT	ITA	USA	MEX		NC	0

^‡ Formula 2 entry.

Non-Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
1961	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche Flat-4	LOM	GLV	PAU	BRX	VIE	AIN	SYR	NAP	LON	SIL	SOL Ret	KAN	DAN Ret	MOD DNQ	FLG 6	OUL	LEW	VAL	RAN	NAT	RSA
1962	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche Flat-4	CAP	BRX	LOM	LAV	GLV	PAU	AIN	INT	NAP	MAL 9	CLP	RMS 7	SOL 5	KAN 6	MED	DAN 7	OUL 7	MEX 7	RAN	NAT
1963	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche Flat-4	LOM	GLV	PAU 4	IMO 6	SYR 2	AIN	INT 9	ROM 2	SOL 7	KAN 7	MED DNS	AUT 3	OUL 10	RAN
1964	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche Flat-4	DMT	NWT	SYR WD	AIN	INT 13	SOL 8	MED	RAN

References

1. Archived December 8, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
2. "8W - Who? - Carel Godin de Beaufort". 8w.forix.com. Retrieved 2012-09-10.