Willy Mairesse was far from the perfect racer. His career was marked by numerous accidents, causing his colleagues to steer clear of him. However, Enzo Ferrari had a soft spot for him: for Willy Mairesse, the battered knight.
In Momignies, Belgium, shortly after the end of World War II, Willy Mairesse, born in 1928, was a teenager like many others. The village boys discovered an abandoned army jeep in the forest and took turns driving it around. No one pushed the vehicle to its limits like Willy Mairesse. A neighbor who rode with him once held a pear in his hand, but by the end of the ride, he had squeezed the fruit into pulp.
Willy was destined to take over his father’s timber business, but his afternoons in the jeep led him down a different path.
‘Fear is nothing more than a lack of self-confidence’
The local village doctor, an amateur rally driver, heard about Mairesse’s driving skills and was looking for a co-driver. This marked the beginning of Willy Mairesse’s motorsport career, starting with local rallies and hill climb races, and soon with his own car, a Peugeot 203. It was a hesitant start, hindered by a lack of funds and the right contacts. By the time he had saved enough money to buy a serious racing car, a Mercedes 300 SL, Willy was already 28. He knew that if he ever wanted to become a famous Formula 1 driver, it would have to happen quickly.
In 1956, Mairesse entered the GT race in the pre-program of the German Grand Prix with his Mercedes. The nearly 23-kilometer-long Nürburgring intimidated him: after three laps, Mairesse stopped in the pits, unsure if he would ever master the circuit. Coincidentally, Jean Behra, already a Formula 1 star, passed by. Without hesitation, the Belgian approached his idol, asking if Behra would be his mentor. Behra showed him the lines and braking points of the Nordschleife for two laps. It was enough: Mairesse finished third in the race, in front of all the Formula 1 team bosses.
No More Worries About Money
The experience with Behra will stay with him for the rest of his life, teaching him that fear is nothing more than a lack of self-confidence. This lesson translates into a determination behind the wheel that will become characteristic of Willy Mairesse: it is sometimes mockingly said that he has more courage than talent. But he is certainly fast. This is also noticed by the Belgian motorsport federation RACB, which enlists Mairesse in the Ecurie National Belge to drive all major sports car races. From now on, he no longer has to worry about money.
With this, the last bit of shyness also falls from his shoulders: from now on, Mairesse drives every race as if the devil is on his heels. This relentless style often gets him into trouble. For long-distance races, it is important to handle the material carefully, but this is not in Mairesse’s vocabulary. Many races end with technical failures. Moreover, Mairesse believes that if he shares a car, he must make a point by beating his teammate. This makes him unpopular with other drivers. Good results are wasted because Mairesse, in his quest for the fastest lap, wrecks his car. It can’t go well for long. The ENB has had enough of the destructive Mairesse in 1958 and sidelines him. Shortly thereafter, Mairesse is back working in his father’s timber trade, as if he could not escape his destiny.
‘Mairesse is a Strange Fellow’
Yet, the undeniable talent of Willy has not gone unnoticed. The Belgian Ferrari importer and gentleman-driver Jacques Swaters helps him with the purchase of a Ferrari 250 GT. During the 1959 season, Mairesse, then already 31 years old and somewhat wiser from previous experiences, regularly catches the eye. For example, to Eugenio Draconi, team manager of Ferrari. At the behest of Enzo Ferrari, Draconi keeps an eye on who can compete with the factory drivers in the customer cars of the Italian racing stable, and Mairesse has managed to do this a number of times. He gets a contract as a test driver and is occasionally allowed to participate in a Grand Prix alongside regular drivers Wolfgang Von Trips and Phil Hill.
The Intriguing Character of Mairesse
“Mairesse is an odd fellow,” Ferrari writes in his memoirs about his new recruit. “He is fearless and brave, and he brings a kind of strange glow to everything he touches.” His baptism of fire comes at the Belgian Grand Prix, on Mairesse’s home circuit Spa-Francorchamps. It turns out to be a dark race. Mairesse is battling with Chris Bristow for laps, until Bristow shoots off the track. The Brit is thrown from his car and lands in the barbed wire. He is instantly killed. It is not certain whether the two have hit each other, but drivers who were nearby doubt Mairesse’s role in the accident.
A few laps later, Alan Stacey is hit full speed in the face by a bird, he too does not survive. The race continues, but without Mairesse who drops out with engine problems. The grim course of the race has largely passed him by. In fact, he is euphoric about his debut. “Once you’ve driven Formula 1, every other form of motorsport has become insignificant.”
Myth Formation Around Mairesse
That year, Mairesse also drives the Grands Prix of France and Italy. In Monza, he finishes third, his first podium. Enzo Ferrari is wildly enthusiastic about the Belgian, who does a lot of testing. “His technical knowledge is limited, but he demands so much from his car that faults come to light within a few laps. In a strange way, he is the ideal test driver.”
Mairesse not only demands a lot from his material, but also from himself. During the many test drives for Ferrari, he regularly wrecks cars while waiting for another chance at a Grand Prix. No problem for Enzo Ferrari, who believes that a car is only ready to be used for a race if it has withstood the test of Mairesse. But the many accidents take their toll. His slender body becomes increasingly battered and scorched. His perseverance contributes to the myth formation around Mairesse, who is mentioned by Ferrari in the same breath as the legendary Tazio Nuvolari, a driver who also did not let a broken bone or a burn stop him and would get behind the wheel even in a cast if necessary.
The Unpredictable Character of Willy Mairesse
A prime example of Mairesse’s impulsive nature comes from 1962 when he and Ricardo Rodriguez are registered to race a Ferrari 246 SP sports car in the Targa Florio. Mairesse had recently met a Belgian woman named Dorine, who quickly became his great love, despite the trials she had to endure. During training, Mairesse took her for a lap around the over seventy-kilometer-long course on the island of Sicily. The Ferrari, of course, had no passenger seat, but Mairesse assured Dorine that if she held tightly to the roll cage, nothing would happen.
A Questionable Reputation
Just like the boy with the pear ten years earlier, Dorine lived to tell the tale. Mairesse was smitten with her: before the Grand Prix of Naples, Mairesse asked the organization if Dorine could present him with the prize should he secure a podium finish. Willy won the race, which did not count towards the World Championship but further solidified his position within Ferrari. On the podium, a love-struck Dorine placed the laurel wreath around his neck.
Among his colleagues, Willy still had a questionable reputation. In Monaco in 1962, he took so many risks at the start from fourth place that he clipped Jim Clark, nearly spun out himself, and caused chaos behind him in which Ginther, Gurney, and Trintignant crashed. In Belgium, things went seriously wrong. Mairesse was battling with Trevor Taylor when he lightly hit the rear of Taylor’s Lotus at full speed. The impact was enough to knock Taylor’s car out of gear. The two collided, with the Ferrari flipping multiple times, knocking over a telephone pole, and catching fire. Fortunately, the accident happened near the Red Cross post of 25-year-old nurse Paula Heysecom, who calmly pulled the driver from the wreckage and saved his life.
Mairesse’s Behavior Becomes Even More Eccentric
Mairesse was bruised and had lost all his teeth, but he was able to get back in the car a few months later. The accident also had invisible consequences. Mairesse’s behavior became even more eccentric than before. No one knew what was going on inside him. Behind the wheel, he had little luck; Ferrari had fallen far behind in 1963, and a new severe crash at Le Mans, which left Mairesse with burns, kept him in the hospital for some time.
The series of accidents did not do Mairesse’s unshakeable self-confidence any good. In Germany, he had to start in a car that he knew had been hastily repaired after a crash by teammate John Surtees. Dorine tried to dissuade him from starting, but Willy did not want to risk his contract with Ferrari. At the end of the first lap, something broke in the front wheel suspension. Mairesse hit an earth wall, causing the right rear wheel to break off. Once again, he was thrown onto the asphalt like a rag doll, while further down the track, the runaway car killed a spectator. Mairesse broke both arms and his right leg. During his recovery, he criticized Ferrari, which promptly led to his dismissal.
Family Comes First: The Story of Willy Mairesse
After recovering from his injuries, Willy Mairesse finds himself back at square one. As a private driver, he occasionally participates in sports car races, usually with his compatriot and friend Jean Blaton. Mairesse is now married to Dorine, and their son William has been born. A second son, Erwin, is on the way. “I’m quitting racing,” Mairesse declares in the winter of 1966. “From now on, my family comes first.”
However, it’s not that simple. Mairesse has no other job, and the offers to drive in sports car races are lucrative. In the spring of 1968, Jean Blaton purchases a Ford GT and wants to register Mairesse for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A victory could provide Mairesse with a decent income for a considerable time. The classic Le Mans start, where drivers first run to their car, get in, and then take off, is still in use. Mairesse is in such a hurry that he doesn’t properly close the door of his car. In the first round, it flies open. The Ford takes to the air and comes to a halt, spinning among the pine trees. Mairesse is unconscious but survives this crash too. However, this time, he will not recover.
The Inevitable End
As soon as Willy wakes up from his coma, he realizes his sense of balance is disturbed. During his rehabilitation, this remains the case: sometimes he just falls over. He knows enough: the end of his career is inevitable. But this is not the farewell Mairesse had in mind. He becomes depressed, is admitted to a psychiatric clinic twice, and experiences increasingly severe outbursts of anger. Dorine, William, and Erwin flee to Dorine’s parents in Paris. Willy himself lives in a small apartment in Ostend.
On September 2, 1969, he sends his visiting mother home to fetch a typewriter. Mairesse wants to start writing his memoirs, he says. Once alone, he takes all the sleeping pills he can find and swallows them all at once. Then he lies down on the bed and waits for the end. A day later, his mother finds her son dead. ‘Wild Willy’ Mairesse couldn’t live without car racing.
