GTP Motorsports Hall of Fame Voting: Albert Lemaître

  • Thread starter Thread starter Northstar
  • 10 comments
  • 1,356 views

Where do they rank?

  • Legendary

    Votes: 6 14.3%

  • Good/Great

    Votes: 7 16.7%

  • Decent

    Votes: 23 54.8%

  • Below Average

    Votes: 6 14.3%
  • Total voters
    42
  • Poll closed .
Northstar

Northstar

The Original Party Worm
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Albert Lemaître, 1864-1906


Nominated by @Liquid
(Leaning leftwards)

1894_paris-rouen_-_georges_lema%C3%AEtre_%28peugeot_3hp%29_1st.jpg


Years Active: 1894-1902
Nationality:
France.png
French
Roles: Driver, Mechanic
Series: Road trials
Notability: Winner of the first competitive motor racing event, the 1894 Paris-Rouen in a 3hp Peugeot

Additional: Comte de Dion was 1st on the road but was ineligible for the main prize as his vehicle was steam powered and required an onboard stoker.

Quite frankly, this man should be the first inductee. The winner of the event that got the ball rolling. From small acrons, a bumpy, slow and dangerous 79 mile / 127 kilometre journey from Paris to Rouen, do might oaks grow.​
 
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I had planned to vote Legendary until I learned about the events of Lemaitre's death, this sadly overshadowed his successes for me personally.
 
Despite being the first ever winner in an auto race, his accomplishments were irrelevant to the future of motorsports. I give him a "decent".
gtpanoz
I had planned to vote Legendary until I learned about the events of Lemaitre's death, this sadly overshadowed his successes for me personally.
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I agree. Are famous people more attributed to a crime or scandal they were involved in, or their career accomplishments?
 
Hmmm... Tough one.

He's notable for being the first person to win an automobile race, but to me this is an irrelevant statistic, as there was always going to be a first winner. That said, drivers from the pioneering days of the 1890s had to have been quite brave, despite the slow speeds of racing cars in this period.

In the end I think he deserves a mention for being a pioneer of the sport, but nothing more.
 
It is a worthwhile vote.. people will always remember and want to know about the firsts.. but, when compared to EVERYTHING since.. not that special. I guess you could say, when he won, he was THE greatest single driver in any series anywhere in the world, and in a class of 1 come if they'd had a Race of Champions.

Good/Great.
 
Legendary purely for the landmark.

Yes, someone was always going to be that man, but the records will show that that man was Albert Lemaître.
 
I would say legendary, however I didn't even know who he even was untill I saw this so It would be the lowest form of it tbh.

If he invented the concept of the motor race then I would be all over it like no tommorow.
 
Can't vote as I have no clue how good he was. No idea of his natural pace, the caliber of his competition, the performance of his car relative to others, his propensity for mistakes, his racecraft or even his general level of sportsmanship. He could have been faster than Senna or slower than Primat, how are we to know?
 
SagarisGTB
Can't vote as I have no clue how good he was. No idea of his natural pace, the caliber of his competition, the performance of his car relative to others, his propensity for mistakes, his racecraft or even his general level of sportsmanship. He could have been faster than Senna or slower than Primat, how are we to know?
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to be fair Natural skills don't exactly have anything to do with legandary status.

it would be fair to say that in every department he would be very sub par considering he wouldn't of had access to machinery capable of showing any real talent apart from mechanical sympathy.
 
Below average. He won the first race. So?
He added nothing to the sport past that. In order to be HOF worthy, he should have more than that one accomplishment.
 
I went with "decent" as he deserves recognition for being the first person to win an automotive race, but I think anything more than that would be an overstatement of his accomplishment.
 
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