Bernard Collomb

A former motor cycle racer from Nice, Collomb acquired a Cooper-Climax Formula 2 car which he raced briefly in 1960, embarking on a more ambitious programme of F1 races the following year. Fourth at Vienna and sixth at Naples were his best results in the car, which was replaced in mid-season by a new Cooper T53 with no discernible improvement in his results. Unfortunately this car was burnt out in practice for the 1962 Brussels GP, but Bernard reappeared in mid-1962 with another Cooper, achieving fifth place in the Mediterranean GP at Enna.

Collomb then bought himself a Lotus 24-Climax V8 for 1963, but he was ill-equipped to drive it to its full potential. It was given occasional unsuccessful outings in 1964 before being destroyed by fire on the way back to France from the 1965 Syracuse GP, where he had finished seventh. A Lotus 35 F2 car was then purchased which again saw little action after Collomb crashed it in the 1966 Barcelona F2 race. By the 1968 season he had wisely given up thoughts of success in single-seaters and could be found racing the little Alpine GT car.