Carel Godin de Beaufort

In this Dutch name, the surname is Godin de Beaufort, not 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 1958 to 1964.

Jonkheer Carel Godin de Beaufort
Godin de Beaufort at the 1962 Dutch Grand Prix
Born	Karel Pieter Antoni Jan Hubertus Godin de Beaufort (1934-04-10)10 April 1934 Maarsbergen, Utrecht, Netherlands
Died	2 August 1964(1964-08-02) (aged 30) Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Cause of death	Injuries sustained at the 1964 German Grand Prix
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Dutch
Active years	1958–1964
Teams	Maarsbergen, privateer Maserati
Entries	29 (27 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	4
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1958 Dutch Grand Prix
Last entry	1964 German Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1956–1960, 1962–1963
Teams	Porsche
Best finish	5th (1958)
Class wins	1 (1957)

Born and raised in Maarsbergen to a noble family, Godin de Beaufort debuted at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1956 with Wolfgang Seidel, aged 22. He made his Formula One debut at the 1957 German Grand Prix,^[a] 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 1958—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 1959 and 1960, before entering six of eight rounds in 1961, driving his orange Porsche 718. He scored his maiden points with sixth-placed finishes at the Dutch and French Grands Prix in his 1962 campaign, a feat he repeated in Belgium and the United States in 1963; 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 1959 and 1963, 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,^[1] and at his final race in Germany was even seen taking practice laps wearing a Beatles wig, rather than his helmet.^[2]

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.^[2]

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	Pos.	Class Pos.
1956	Wolfgang Seidel	Mathieu Hezemans	Porsche 550A/4 RS	S 1.6	48	DNF	DNF
1957	E. Hugus	Ed Hugus	Porsche 550A RS	S 1.5	286	8th	1st
1958	Jonkheer Carel Godin de Beaufort	Herbert Linge	Porsche 550 RS	S 1.5	288	5th	2nd
1959	Jonkheer Carel Godin de Beaufort	Christian Heins	Porsche 718 RSK	S 1.5	186	DNF	DNF
1960	Jonkheer Carel Godin de Beaufort	Richard Stoop	Porsche 718 RS 60	S 1.6	180	DNF	DNF
1962	Porsche System Engineering	Ben Pon	Porsche 356B Abarth	GT 1.6	35	DNF	DNF
1963	Porsche System Engineering	Gerhard Koch	Porsche 356B 2000GS GT	GT 2.0	94	DNF	DNF
Source:[3]

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	WDC	Pts
1957	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche RS550	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	ARG	MON	500	FRA	GBR	GER 141	PES	ITA				NC	0
1958	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche RSK	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	ARG	MON	NED 11	500	BEL	FRA	GBR					NC	0
		Porsche RS550									GER Ret1	POR	ITA	MOR
1959	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche RSK	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	MON	500	NED 10									NC	0
	Scuderia Ugolini	Maserati 250F	Maserati 250F1 2.5 L6				FRA 9	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	USA
1960	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Cooper T51	Climax FPF 1.5 L4	ARG	MON	500	NED 8	BEL	FRA	GBR	POR	ITA	USA		NC	0
1961	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	MON	NED 14	BEL 11	FRA Ret	GBR 16	GER 14	ITA 7	USA				NC	0
1962	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	NED 6	MON DNQ	BEL 7	FRA 6	GBR 14	GER 13	ITA 10	USA Ret	RSA 11			16th	2
1963	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	MON	BEL 6	NED 9	FRA	GBR 10	GER Ret	ITA DNQ	USA 6	MEX 10	RSA 10		14th	2
1964	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	MON	NED Ret	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER DNS	AUT	ITA	USA	MEX		NC	0
Source:[4]

Notes

• ^1 – 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 Ret	KAN	DAN Ret	MOD DNQ	FLG 6	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 9	CLP	RMS 7	SOL 5	KAN 6	MED	DAN 7	OUL 7	MEX 7	RAN	NAT
1963	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	LOM	GLV	PAU 4	IMO 6	SYR 2	AIN	INT 9	ROM 2	SOL 7	KAN 7	MED DNS	AUT 3	OUL 10	RAN
1964	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 547/3 1.5 F4	DMT	NWT	SYR	AIN	INT 13	SOL 8	MED	RAN
Source:[5]

Notes

1. Godin de Beaufort debuted in the Formula One World Championship at the 1957 German Grand Prix in Formula Two machinery.