User:4u1e/Comte George Raphaël Béthenod de Montbressieux

Comte George Raphaël Béthenod de Montbressieux (February 8, 1910 – June 16, 1994) was a privateer French-Argentine racing driver who competed mainly in European non-championship motor races before and after the Second World War. He used Raph or George Raph as a racing pseudonym and also entered races under his mother’s name "de las Casas".

Biography
Raph was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the son of the Comte de Montbressieux, a wealthy silk manufacturer, and his Argentinian wife.

The 25-year-old Frenchman made his debut in Grand Prix motor racing in Europe during the 1935 European Grand Prix season. With only three years of racing low-powered cyclecars behind him, he planned to team up with the more experienced French privateer racer Raymond Sommer to buy a 2.9 litre Alfa Romeo P3 car. He ended up paying 150,000 FF for sole ownership of the slightly outdated but still competitive car after Enzo Ferrari, manager of Alfa Romeo's racing team, delivered one for each of them. He entered seven of that season's thirty-five non-championship Grands Prix in the car, finishing second in three of them and described as "learning his craft" CHECK. He also took part in that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans in an MG sports car and was part of a team that set several speed records at the Montlhéry circuit that summer with an Alfa Romeo 8C sportscar, although mechanical failure prevented them from achieving the World 48 hour record for which they had aimed. (Venables p106)

Changing his Alfa for a Maserati V8RI for the 1936 season, Raph retired from his first race of the year, the 1936 Pau Grand Prix, with engine problems and although he submitted entries for another six non-championship races that year, did not start any of them. In October, he crossed the Atlantic to take part in the American Championship Car finale, the Vanderbilt Cup, but was disqualified for a push start. Unhappy with the Maserati, he sold it in the USA.

Raph continued racing in 1937, taking fifth at the Pau sportscar Grand Prix in a Delahaye 135CS. He was entered in a number of sportscar races that year by André Embiricos for whom he was driving a Talbot at that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans when he was caught up in a multi-car accident that left his legs paralysed for six months. Nonetheless, he returned to the tracks the following year, entering a 1.5 litre Maserati in eight non-championship races with a best finish of second at the heavily shortened Targa Florio, which that year was held only for voiturettes, lighter and less powerful than the Grand Prix cars. He also raced a Delahaye type 145 without success for the Schell family at the Swiss and Donington Grands Prix, and continued the relationship the next year in a handful of races, his best result being fifth of seven finishers at the championship German Grand Prix. After the 1939 season, war overtook Europe and racing ceased for six years. When racing in Europe began again, Raph, by now in his mid-30s, was a very active participant, driving mainly Maseratis under the colours of the Naphtra Course team in 1946 and 1947. He won the 1946 Grand Prix of Nantes and on the Interlagos circuit in South America. His pre-war entrant, Harry Schell, announced plans to enter Raph in the 1946 Indianapolis 500, but these did not come to fruition.

In 1948 he bought one of the new Talbot-Lago 26Cs, but after a second place at the Grand Prix of Comminges, he fractured his skull in a serious accident at Albi. He never recovered fully from this accident and suffered from amnesia for the rest of his life. He raced occasionally in 1949 once more in Delahayes and Gordinis. He sold his Talbot-Lago in Brazil during his last Temporada in 1950 and gave up competition.

In financial difficulties, he became a handyman and a chauffeur for his longtime friend, Maurice Chevalier. After the latter’s death, Raph joined a luxury car hire business on the Cote d’Azur and retired in 1984. He died in Neuilly-sur-Marne in 1994.