In Amiens, village in the north of France, Pierre Bertin Boussu had always a dream of constructing racing cars. With his friend from school, Jean-Michel Mercier, he started his project in 1965 from scratch without any knowledge. In 1968 they completed their first closed car( GM02, photo below from a restauration) equipped with a Renault R8 Major engine.
Since he had no vocation as a driver, he called another college friend, Guy Dohtel, who was studying dental surgery and who was already involved in racing. Together they decided to give the name BBM to their car. They did the Rally de Picardie in 1969 and entered the car in an hillclimb-event in Licques near their homebase. And yes… Dohtel and his BBM won that race.
All changed now. Perre Bertin Boussu stopped working in the factory of his parents, Jean-Michel Mercier convinced his family and Dohtel stopped his study to work as a paid driver and test-driver. In a new garage at Salouël in the Amiens suburbs, they constructed six cars in a spyder version, model “R” all based on their first construction. The base was a triangulated chassis and the engine was the Gordini 1296 cc coupled to an R8 major gearbox. The aim was still hillclimb races.
In 1971, they constructed the C1( chassis C1#01) with the possibility of entering LeMans. The car was bought by a general man, Dominique Furodet, who raced the BBM in some hillclimb events. But the engine was not strong enough. A new C1 chassis was made for a V12 Lamborghini engine and was for Pierre Gare. Both C1 were equipped with a double wishbone front suspension and at the rear by an upper link and an inverted lower wishbone completed by two push bars.
In 1972, more spyders were constructed (R#09,10,12,13) and an updated “RS”. Still the same chassis, but an revised rear suspension geometry. The biggest new thing is the “C2” car. Three chassis were made: C2#03 as spare, C2#04 with a F6 Porsche2,4l engine for Jacky Dechaumel and C2#05 with a Simca Chrysler 180 engine for Pascal Moisson. Because the Simca engine kept breaking, money got tight. The money came from Henri Chemin, chief executive of Chrysler France. He wanted to restore the Simca name with the creation of the Challenge Simca. He gave full support to Moisson. The C2#05 was painted red and white, the colours of the sponsors Radio Monte Carlo (RMC).Pascal Moisson won the Challenge Simca in 1972, a first national success for BBM (photo below).
BBM RS3-17
In 1973 the Coupe Simca Shell was created with RMC and Pam Pam as sonsors. This was the ideal environment for French constructors to run their own creations. A new chassis, but also named C2, was created by Pierre Bertin Boussu. In total six cars were made: chassis 6 through 12. The 2L engine was maintained by Jicey Racing Development. The best BBM driver was again Pascal Moisson.
A C2 with a Cosworth engine was raced by Guy Dohtel in the hillclimb races. He had some good results. However in the race at Neuvy-le-Roi, he went off the road in a curve. The accident was so severe that both his legs had to be amputated.
1973 - Jean-Francois Jaunet (C12#12) 1973- Patrick Perrier (C2#11)
Life goes on, so Boussu made again a new chassis for the Coupe Simca Shell 1974. It was a beautiful prototype. The oil-crisis hit strong, so only four chassis were made and sold (C2 chassis 13 up to chassis 16). Luckely, team New Man won the championship with their two yellow BBM cars thanks to Patrick Perrier (C2#15) and Jean-Francois Jaunet (C2#14). Pascal Moisson also won a race with an updated 1973 car (C2#07). Denis Rua had chassis C2#13. He used the JRD engine in the Simca Shell but also a Cosworth for his hillclimb events.
1974- Patrick Perrier
1974 - Jean-Francois Jaunet (C2#14)
And just when the order book was full again at the end of the year, Chrysler decided to stop this championship. No prototype would be sold after 1974.
BBM then decided to create a Formule Renault car, the X11 for France. Unfortunally drivers like Didier Pironi, Rene Arnoux and Richard Dallest all drove a superior Martini MK15. Two X12 were for the European scene. This was upgraded to a X14 for 1976, but everyone felt the end coming.
The BBM C2 carw were regular competitosr in different hillclimb challenges
The Formula Renault X-14 from 1976
1976:
Now some passionate historic racers are trying to get the BBM cars in their original shape again. That is a good thing!
Thanks for the info: Autodiva and Gerard Gamant.
First BBM in restauration:
BBM C2
