Gérard Crombac
#1
Posted 20 May 2001 - 17:36
given recent move from atlasf1 to a subscrive place i remember this man
when i was at my 20´s (70´s) i allways seek gerard crombac stories on gp´s events in sport auto (and rosinkie´s!) - also autosprint´s for fun
what appened to this pipe man? still around?
what i remember was he could write about a gp on it´s own and put the championship behind (he had a fix idea about clark´s being nº1 and knew him)
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#2
Posted 20 May 2001 - 18:23
Well, in France Gérard Crombac is some kind of bible. He is the french repliqua of Dennis Jenkinson.
Yes he is still alive and the last time I saw him (Monaco 2000) he had his pipe still stuck into his mouth, like in the good old times when he ruled his revue, Sport auto.
Nice to see his name here
#3
Posted 20 May 2001 - 18:35
Gérard was by then the editor of the well-known french magazine "Sport-Auto", while José Rosinski was mainly the car tester. Rosinski was racing driver back in the sixties, with experience in sportscars and formulas.
As you says, Jim Clark was the unchallenged #1 for Crombac. He had, by the way, the same penchant for the Team Lotus. He was, indeed, the author of a book about Colin Chapman and his cars, written in french and translated into english.
His articles reflected more about the F1's way of life of the day, than the race himself, and were highly rated.
I think he is now retired, lives in France and his property is named "Brands Hatch", IIRC.
#4
Posted 20 May 2001 - 20:19
He has done stuff for MOTORSPORT and AUTOSPORT.
Gil
#5
Posted 20 May 2001 - 22:51
#6
Posted 20 May 2001 - 23:03
#7
Posted 21 May 2001 - 04:01
And I seem to remember reading somewhere that Jim Clark gave him his Lotus Elan.
#8
Posted 21 May 2001 - 11:52
I suspect he has retired, as someone on this thread suggested. I think F1 finally had moved so far away from the sport he had known in earlier decades that it wasn't so much fun for him any longer.
Perhaps we will see some more good books from him in the future.
The most recent one I know of is "Les Annees Fangio" from the "50 Ans" series. Beautifully presented books with some great photos, published in 2000.
#9
Posted 21 May 2001 - 12:10
#10
Posted 21 May 2001 - 18:46
And we must know that he wrote his book on Lotus directly in your language, and then he translated it in french... Right
And I saw him, during the 1978 Spain GP, as he was a commissaire technique for the FIA, speaking english to Gerard Ducarouge...
#11
Posted 22 May 2001 - 06:14
I don't know of any plans to publish these books in English. That's why I am buying the French versions. They appear to have gone to a lot of trouble to search out excellent and unused photos. There is some great stuff in there - even if you can't read the words!
33 route d'orleans
I meant to mention in my earlier post that Jabby speaks English better than most English people - certainly better than I do.
#12
Posted 22 May 2001 - 14:16
A nice story is that he actually was Cosworth's first cutomer. He used to have a racing boat and asked Keith Duckworth to prep his engine!
#13
Posted 22 May 2001 - 14:37
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#14
Posted 24 May 2001 - 03:59
He's always at the set trying to steal the scene.
#15
Posted 16 June 2014 - 17:21
I am waking up this old thread with the hope that some one can let me know who holds the rights to gerard crombac's photos. I am aware that he passed in late 2005. his photos & the rights to them were apparently auctioned by artcurial in january of 2006.
I have been in touch with someone who is interested in a photo of the howmet turbine, from le-mans 1968. the photo in question appeared in crombac's book "turbine grand prix".
I have a copy of the book, but am interested in getting a good print if possible. this is only for a personal collection, and not to be used in any media.
thanks in advance, michael scott (group7) in canada
Edited by group7, 16 June 2014 - 17:24.
#16
Posted 17 June 2014 - 08:35
I bought some of Jabby's negs and colour transparencies - not including 1968 - at that Artcurial sale for our GP Library collection, but the majority went elsewhere - unfortunately. He was a really good man, always - very amusingly - quick to point out that he was in fact Swiss-born, not French at all...
DCN
Edited by Doug Nye, 17 June 2014 - 08:37.
#17
Posted 17 June 2014 - 12:48
doug, thank you for your reply, it was bob tullius (who co-drove one of the howmets) whom I was in contact with at the VARAC race at mosport this past weekend. I will dig a little more. someone suggested getting in touch with Artcurial, but don't know if they would, or could tell me where they went. my only option my be to take a high quality scan from the book.
michael scott (group7)
#18
Posted 17 June 2014 - 22:01
We do have Howmet photos from LM '68 if you're interested...but not by Jabby.
DCN