Paul Frère -- a giant in so many fields ( Ecrit par Peter Albrecht le 01-01-1970 )
I just saw your homage to Paul Frère.
I have been a fan of his since the early 1970s, and am happy to have met him on several occasions -- when I worked at Porsche, later as a journalist on various Porsche press introductions near his home near Nice, and in the press room at Le Mans. The first time I saw him, in the early 1980s in the parking lot at Porsche's Werk I, I had to go over and say hello, and thank him "for teaching me how to drive." I explained that his book, "Sports Car and Competition Driving," taught me so many things about operating a sports car that I would never have learned anywhere else. Paul Frère was truly a Renaissance man of the automobile world -- a Le Mans winner, an engineer who could write and a writer who could explain engineering concepts (a very rare combination), a teacher and a first-class translator in several languages. His books on Porsche engineering, especially "The Racing Porsches -- A Technical Triumph" are the definitive works on how Porsche did what, and why.
In many ways, Paul Frère was a model for my own career -- without my ever intending it that way. I can't claim to have ever driven at Le Mans, or in any other professional race, but I too became an engineer (perhaps in part because of "Sports Car and Competition Driving"); after reading "The Racing Porsches" (and Ludvigsen's book "Excellence was Expected") I directed my studies and career choices to working at Porsche, and eventually succeeded; and later went to work as an engineering editor for an American car magazine that relied heavily on Paul Frère's European reports and tests. Today, among other things, I translate automotive books. I can't say any more at the present, but expect Paul Frère's name to reappear on one more book before 2009 is out.
Farewell, Paul Frère. We shall not see your like again.
-- Pete Albrecht
California |