The 10th of December 1990 a day, that would backfire eight months later in the face of Bertrand Gachot. That day Bertrand on his way to the Carlton Towers in London to negotiate with Eddie Jordan and 7UP he came bumper to bumper with a cab driver. After he and Eddie were speaking to each other by phone and were rioting each other. The driver got out of his car threatened Gachot to kill him. As Bertrand drove in his girlfriend’s car, where he had put teargas in, he took it and sprayed it in his face. When the police arrived, the cab driver acted as if he was innocent. When the Belgium was arrested in the eve of the Belgium Grand Prix the country went in a complete outrage! Gachot Why?
In 1991, his career was skyrocketing. Winning the 24 hours of Lemans with Mazda, scoring on regularly base points for the Jordan team. Probably the best was his fastest lap at the Hungaroring after some radical adjustments were made on his car. Looking forwards for the Belgium Grand Prix, as he said in the Beyond the Grid podcast he got arrested and banged up in the Brixton prison. He and his lawyers asked for a bail. As it was understood, he would not appear in jail for the incident.
He would pay a fine, which he eventually did 500 pounds, and got a slap on the wrist. However, the jury decided differently. Bertrand got eighteen months in prison! Hideous obviously for what had happened. From the eighteen months he eventually sat two months in jail, received plenty of letter from fans and colleagues. His release came after an appeal. Which was instantly agreed on.
Betrand Gachot did not appear at Spa where he said he would go for the pole position. Instead, Michael Schumacher took place behind the wheel. To impress, and move the next race to Benetton. The outrage however was enormous!
There was a slight chance he could appear on the grid however, his bail was rejected. That resulted in a drive back to prison. No Gachot on the grid, the atmosphere seemed changed in the paddock, on and around the circuit. The Formula One went rebellious. The movement Gachot Why? was born. Thanks to Bertrand’s fiancé Kate Palmer. She did this to draw the attention. Harald Huysmans was also involved in the movement to ask for attention for his friends’ case. Besides the attention, she asked witnesses to come over who saw the incident in December 1990.
On the tarmac was written with paint “Gachot Belgium is with you”. Fans appeared with banners and flags around Spa-Francorchamps written on “Free Gachot”. Drivers in the paddock wore t-shirts with the text “God save the British and Gachot” and Gachot Why? The support came also from other drivers. Such as Belgium ace and Group N driver Pascal Witmeur. He entered a Reynard 92D from Crypton for the F3000 race at Spa-Francorchamps with on the engine cover “Free Gachot” as well on his helmet. Interestingly he did not pay for the drive as he in good terms with Patrizio Cantu. Another one was Belgian rally ace Marc Duez who shown his support for Bertrand.
The outrage already started only moments after Gachot’s bail was denied. Over 200 people demonstrated outside the British embassy in Brussels among them were fellow drivers Eric van de Poele and Thierry Boutsen. L’Equipe published a letter of support in their paper signed by the majority of the drivers. While drivers appeared during the Sunday’s driver briefing in the t-shirts showing their support. There were even wild plans for a demonstration on the grid itself. However, after some words between Balestere and the drivers (it seems) they would not do it. During the weekend, several racecars were spreading the words. Bertrand became a true god, a living legend, a cult hero.
After his release Bertrand flew to Japan for the Japanese Grand Prix knowing soon he would not race several Japanese companies who were ready to support him approached him. They wanted him to race for Larrousse in 1992. Sadly, the Larrousse was not the best car, he managed to score one point by finishing sixth during the Grand Prix at Monaco. Flirting in 1993 with the CART series, he returned in 1994 with Pacific Grand Prix in the Formula One. Besides driver, he was also shareholder in the team. After two years in the Japanese GT championship he stopped with racing at the end of 1997.
It’s more than 30 years ago when this happened. Still, it is interesting to see how most of the paddock stood behind Bertrand at that time. Supporting the movement and actually enjoying it. Silly to say, it shows how the social cohesive was back in the days. Something todays Formula One is lacking badly. Where drivers became poor PR-machines with fabricated statements for some horrible soap called “As the whee… nee! Drive to survive.
