Drivers Becoming Constructors: Gérard Larrousse

"Why doesn't my car have rear seats and door panels?" Gérard Larrousse's mother asked, stunned and annoyed, upon seeing her white and red Simca Aronde Montlhéry, which her son had secretly used for a rally. The calm and reassuring response from Larrousse, who has always been composed and collected —today, at 84 years old, he remains in great shape — was: "To clean it, Mom!" It's not surprising that a young man with such clear ideas and boldness, born near Lyon, France, and a student in Paris, spent his entire life in racing, eventually becoming a constructor himself.