Carel Godin de Beaufort

Karel Pieter Antoni Jan Hubertus "Carel" Godin de Beaufort (10 April 1934 – 2 August 1964) was a Dutch racing driver and nobleman, who competed in Formula One from Template:F1 to Template:F1.

Born and raised in Maarsbergen to a noble family, Godin de Beaufort debuted at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Template:24hLM with Wolfgang Seidel, aged 22. He made his Formula One debut at the 1957 German Grand Prix,Template:Efn driving a privateer Porsche RS550 under his Ecurie Maarsbergen banner; he won his class at Le Mans that year. A gentleman driver, he returned at the Dutch and German Grands Prix in Template:F1—the former marking his first entry in Formula One machinery—amongst finishing fifth overall at Le Mans.

Godin de Beaufort made further intermittent performances in Template:F1 and Template:F1, before entering six of eight rounds in Template:F1, driving his orange Porsche 718. He scored his maiden points with sixth-placed finishes at the Dutch and French Grands Prix in his Template:F1 campaign, a feat he repeated in Belgium and the United States in Template:F1; he became the first Dutch driver to score points in Formula One. He scored three podiums in non-championship events that year, at the Syracuse, Rome and Austrian Grands Prix.

During practice for the 1964 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Godin de Beaufort suffered fatal head injuries after losing control of his 718 at the Bergwerk corner. He had entered four further editions of Le Mans between Template:24hLM and Template:24hLM, retiring from each.

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,<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive</ref> and at his final race in Germany was even seen taking practice laps wearing a Beatles wig, rather than his helmet.<ref name=8W>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name=8W />

Godin de Beaufort at the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix.

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
1956	Template:Flagicon Wolfgang Seidel	Template:Flagicon Mathieu Hezemans	Porsche 550A/4 RS	S 1.6	48	DNF	DNF
1957	Template:Flagicon E. Hugus	Template:Flagicon Ed Hugus	Porsche 550A RS	S 1.5	286	8th	1st
1958	Template:Flagicon Jonkheer Carel Godin de Beaufort	Template:Flagicon Herbert Linge	Porsche 550 RS	S 1.5	288	5th	2nd
1959	Template:Flagicon Jonkheer Carel Godin de Beaufort	Template:Flagicon Christian Heins	Porsche 718 RSK	S 1.5	186	DNF	DNF
1960	Template:Flagicon Jonkheer Carel Godin de Beaufort	Template:Flagicon Richard Stoop	Porsche 718 RS 60	S 1.6	180	DNF	DNF
1962	Template:Flagicon Porsche System Engineering	Template:Flagicon Ben Pon	Porsche 356B Abarth	GT 1.6	35	DNF	DNF
1963	Template:Flagicon Porsche System Engineering	Template:Flagicon Gerhard Koch	Porsche 356B 2000GS GT	GT 2.0	94	DNF	DNF
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Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Template:Tooltip	Pts
1957	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche RS550	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	ARG	MON	500	FRA	GBR	GER Template:Small	PES	ITA				NC	0
1958	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche RSK	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	ARG	MON	NED Template:Small	500	BEL	FRA	GBR					NC	0
		Porsche RS550									GER Template:Small	POR	ITA	MOR
1959	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche RSK	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	MON	500	NED Template:Small									NC	0
	Scuderia Ugolini	Maserati 250F	Maserati 250F1 2.5 L6				FRA Template:Small	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	USA
1960	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Cooper T51	Climax FPF 1.5 L4	ARG	MON	500	NED Template:Small	BEL	FRA	GBR	POR	ITA	USA		NC	0
1961	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	MON	NED Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	USA				NC	0
1962	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	NED Template:Small	MON Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	USA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small			16th	2
1963	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	MON	BEL Template:Small	NED Template:Small	FRA	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	USA Template:Small	MEX Template:Small	RSA Template:Small		14th	2
1964	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	MON	NED Template:Small	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER Template:Small	AUT	ITA	USA	MEX		NC	0
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Notes

• ^1{{#if:| }} – Formula 2 entry.

Complete Formula One Non-Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

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 547/3 1.5 F4	LOM	GLV	PAU	BRX	VIE	AIN	SYR	NAP	LON	SIL	SOL Template:Small	KAN	DAN Template:Small	MOD Template:Small	FLG Template:Small	OUL	LEW	VAL	RAN	NAT	RSA
1962	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	CAP	BRX	LOM	LAV	GLV	PAU	AIN	INT	NAP	MAL Template:Small	CLP	RMS Template:Small	SOL Template:Small	KAN Template:Small	MED	DAN Template:Small	OUL Template:Small	MEX Template:Small	RAN	NAT
1963	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	LOM	GLV	PAU Template:Small	IMO Template:Small	SYR Template:Small	AIN	INT Template:Small	ROM Template:Small	SOL Template:Small	KAN Template:Small	MED Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	OUL Template:Small	RAN
1964	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	DMT	NWT	SYR	AIN	INT Template:Small	SOL Template:Small	MED	RAN
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