(born
December 23 ,
1962 in
Luxembourg ) is a
Belgian former
Formula One driver.
Gachot was the son of a French
European Commission official. He began
Karting at the relatively old age of 15. In
1983 , he attended Winfield School, a well-known racing-driving school in France. After this, he focussed on his racing career, competing first in the Formula Ford 1600 series. By
1986 , he had won the
British Formula Ford championship.
In
1987 , Gachot joined the British
Formula 3 series, finishing second in the championship for the West Surrey Racing team. In
1988 , he switched to the
Formula 3000 series, but met some success. In
1989 , he entered the storied world of Formula One, driving for the newly-formed
Onyx Team . Although his performances were promising, after making statements in the press which caused the ire of his erratic team boss, Gachot lost his drive before the season's end. Instead, he switched in
1990 to the
Subaru -powered Coloni team, with little success.
In
1991 , he joined the
Jordan Grand Prix racing team, helping them to fifth in the
Constructor Championship . However, his
Season was cut short by a two-month
Prison stint, received for spraying
CS Gas on a
London Taxicab driver after a traffic altercation. (His race seat was filled, momentarily at least, by then-unknown
Michael Schumacher , who was just making his F1 debut). Gachot spent 1992 with the Larrousse team instead.
Gachot spent the next several years racing in various formulae. He was involved in the Pacific Racing team behind the scenes, as well as driving for them for most of their two-year existence. The high point of Gachot's career is winning the renowned
24 Hours Of Le Mans Sports Car Race in
1991 (with co-drivers
Johnny Herbert and
Volker Weidler ). In later years, Gachot's career included
Marketing "Hype", a high-energy
Beverage , as well as running an F1
Website .
Gachot competed in a total of 47 grand prix for eight different teams. He never won a race, but he did score five championship points during his F1 career, and even recorded the fastest lap of the
1991 Hungarian Grand Prix for Jordan.
(Note: grands prix in denote '''points scoring''' races.)
