Teddy Pilette

This article is about the Belgian auto racer born in 1942. For his grandfather, the Belgian auto racer born in 1883, see Théodore Pilette.

Theodore "Teddy" Pilette (French pronunciation: [te.ɔ.dɔʁ pi.lɛt]; born 26 July 1942) is a former racing driver from Belgium. He participated in 4 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, the first on 12 May 1974 with Bernie Ecclestone's Brabham team.

Teddy Pilette

Born	(1942-07-26) 26 July 1942 Brussels, Belgium
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Belgian
Active years	1974, 1977
Teams	Brabham, BRM
Entries	4 (1 start)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1974 Belgian Grand Prix
Last entry	1977 Italian Grand Prix

Son of André Pilette and grandson of Théodore Pilette, he followed the family path. He started his career by winning many go-kart races before being sent to England to the talent-spotting Jim Russell Racing School. This experience created the opportunity for him to be part of the cast for John Frankenheimer's movie Grand Prix, and later on Le Mans with Steve McQueen.

On the circuit, Pilette raced for Carlo Abarth in 1963 and 1965, and in 1967 he started racing for the Belgian VDS team. He won the European Formula 5000 Championship in 1973 with a Chevron B24, and again in 1975 with a Lola T400. He also competed in the US in Formula 5000. He also made 3 attempts at the Indy 500. He attempted to qualify for the 1977 Indianapolis 500 but failed to make the field. He drove in the CART Championship Car race at Watkins Glen International in 1981 but retired after 14 laps due to gearbox failure. It would be his only Champ Car start as he failed to qualify for the 1982 Indianapolis 500 and 1983 Indianapolis 500 and was entered in the Cleveland Grand Prix later that year but the car was driven by Herm Johnson.

In 1977, Capparelli arranged for Pilette to drive with the dying BRM team in Formula One, and also in the Aurora AFX Formula One Championship the following year.

In sports cars Pilette won the Spa 24 Hours with a Ford Capri, in the last race on the long circuit in 1978.

In 1992 he formed the Pilette Speed Tradition Formula Ford team in Europe. In 1994 he built his own Formula Three car, the Pilette PWT 94C, and raced in the German Formula 3 championship with Paolo Coloni, without success. In September 2013, he was elected vice president of the Grand Prix Drivers Club (formerly known as Club International des Anciens Pilotes de Grand-Prix F1).

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1968	Racing Team V.D.S.	Rob Slotemaker	Alfa Romeo T33/2	P 2.0	104	DNF	DNF
1969	Racing Team V.D.S.	Rob Slotemaker	Alfa Romeo T33B	P 3.0	36	DNF	DNF
1970	Racing Team V.D.S.	Gustave Gosselin	Lola T70 Mk. IIIB-Chevrolet	S 5.0	109	DNF	DNF
1971	Racing Team V.D.S.	Gustave Gosselin	Lola T70 Mk. IIIB-Chevrolet	S 5.0	14	DNF	DNF
1972	Ecurie Francorchamps	Derek Bell Richard Bond	Ferrari 365 GTB/4	GT 5.0	301	8th	4th
1975	Ecurie Francorchamps	Jean-Claude Andruet Hughes de Fierlandt	Ferrari 365 GTB/4	GTS	293	12th	6th
1978	Ecurie Francorchamps	Jean Blaton Raymond Touroul	Ferrari 512BB	IMSA +2.5	39	DNF	DNF
1987	Dahm Cars Racing Team	Peter Fritsch Jean-Paul Libert	Argo JM19-Porsche	C2	12	DNF	DNF
Source:

Complete European F5000 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos.	Pts
1971	Racing Team V.D.S.	McLaren M10B	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	MAL	SNE	BRH	MON	SIL	CAS	MAL	MNZ	MAL	THR 6	SIL 3	OUL	SNE 3	HOC 3	OUL 6	BRH Ret	BRH 5		8th	18
1972	Racing Team V.D.S.	McLaren M18/M22	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	BRH 5	MAL Ret	SNE 2	BRH 5	NIV 2	SIL Ret	MON						OUL 5	BRH 8					5th	25
		McLaren M22									OUL 3	MAL 4	BRH Ret	SIL	BRH
1973	Racing Team V.D.S.	McLaren M18/M22	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	BRH 7	MAL																	1st	136
		Chevron B24				SIL 6	SNE Ret	BRH 4	OUL 1	MAL 3	MIS C	MAL 3	MON 7	SIL C	BRH 1	OUL 2	JYL 2	ZAN 8	SNE 2	BRH Ret
1974	Chevron Racing Team V.D.S.	Chevron B28	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	BRH Ret	MAL Ret	SIL 5	OUL Ret	BRH 7	ZOL Ret	THR 7	ZAN 5	MUG 3	MNZ 2	MAL 6	MON 4	THR 7	BRH DNS	OUL 2	SNE 4	MAL DNS	BRH 6	4th	108
1975	Racing Team V.D.S.	Lola T400	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	BRH NC	OUL 6	BRH 5	SIL 11	ZOL NC	ZAN 2	THR 2	SNE Ret	MAL 1	THR 1	BRH Ret	OUL 3	SIL 5	SNE 1	MAL 1	BRH 2			1st	174

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts
1974	Motor Racing Developments	Brabham BT42	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL 17	MON	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA			NC	0
1977	Stanley BRM	BRM P207	BRM P202 3.0 V12	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER DNQ	AUT	NED DNQ	ITA DNQ	USA	CAN	JPN	NC	0

Complete Formula One non-championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1971	Racing Team V.D.S.	McLaren M10B (F5000)	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	ARG	ROC	QUE	SPR	INT	RIN	OUL	VIC 14
1972	Racing Team V.D.S.	McLaren M18/M22 (F5000)	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	ROC 13	BRA	INT 11			VIC Ret
		McLaren M22 (F5000)					OUL 9	REP
1973	Racing Team V.D.S.	McLaren M18/M22 (F5000)	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	ROC Ret
		Chevron B24 (F5000)			INT Ret
1974	Racing Team V.D.S.	Chevron B28 (F5000)	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	PRE	ROC Ret	INT 10
1975	Racing Team V.D.S.	Lola T400 (F5000)	Chevrolet 5.0 V8	ROC DNQ	INT	SUI

Complete British Formula One Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos.	Pts
1978	Stanley BRM	BRM P207	BRM P202 3.0 V12	OUL Ret	BRH 5	SNE Ret	MAL Ret	ZAN	DON	THR Ret	OUL 4	MAL Ret	BRH Ret	THR Ret	SNE Ret	13th	20

External links

• www.teddypilette.com