Henri Cissac
French racing cyclist and Grand Prix driver (1877–1908)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henri Cissac (15 July 1877 – 7 July 1908) was a French racing cyclist, motorcyclist, and racing driver, notable as being the first driver to be killed at a Grand Prix meeting.
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| Henri Cissac | |
|---|---|
 With mechanic Schaube at the 1908 G.P. | |
| Born | 15 July 1877 |
| Died | 7 July 1908 (aged 30) Sept-Meules, France |
Career
Cissac started his sporting career as a racing cyclist in 1893 (at the Paris-Trouville race),[2] famously winning a match race against the English "crack" Platt-Betts in 1896.[3] By 1898 he was considered one of the best middle-distance riders in the world[4] and lay claim to a world championship.[5]
Motorcycle records
He soon graduated to motorcycle racing, although a serious injury after a crash kept him away from racing for a while; the time away gave him time to set up a find for injured motorcyclists, and he also became a trainer for cycling and motorcycling teams.[6] In 1904, at the Vélodrome d'Hiver, riding a Peugeot, he won the "brassard" from Marius Thé, marking him as French champion, which he then successfully defended from a number of challenges.[7] He also acted as pacemaker for cyclists seeking to break endurance records[8]
Cissac set a new motorcycle world record on his Peugeot at the Brighton Speed Trials in July 1905, and two weeks later broke his own record at Blackpool, leaving the record at 87.38mph.[9] In 1906, still faithful to Peugeot, he won the Tour de France Motocycliste, beating future Grand Prix driver Giosuè Giuppone into second place.[10]
Motor racing career
In 1907, he switched to four wheels, and at that year's Coupe des Voiturettes, driving an Alcyon, finished a remarkable 4th out of the 33 finishers.[11] He followed this up with a second on the Alcyon at the Corsa Vetturette Torino in January 1908, behind Giuppone.[12]
Death
For the 1908 French Grand Prix, he was recruited by Panhard-Levassor, which meant he could not represent Alcyon in the Coupe des Voiturettes.[13] Cissac was the 48th driver to start in the big race itself. He struggled on the first lap, completing it 47th and last,[14] but had moved up to 6th place on the ninth of ten laps. At Sept-Meules, between the village of Fresnois and the town of Londinières, a tyre blew out, and the rubber wrapped around the car's chain drive. This sent the car into a roll, and both Cissac and riding mechanic Jules Schaube were killed.[15] Cissac's mother sued Panhard for damages in negligence, but was only awarded a statutory lump sum, the French appellate court deeming Cissac's death to have been a workplace accident.[16]