Edmond Morelle (3 July 1880, Paris - ?) was a pre-First World War racing driver and aviator, using the mononym Edmond.[1]
| "Edmond" | |
|---|---|
 At the 1907 French Grand Prix | |
| Born | Edmond Morelle 3 July 1880 |
| Died | ? |
Motor racing
editEdmond's first appearance of note was at the 1902 Paris–Vienna race in June, driving a Darracq in the Light Car class, and he caused a sensation by coming close to winning. He was fifth overall (and leading light car) after the first day's run (to Belfort)[2] where the race was neutralized until leaving Switzerland, but he lost half-an-hour between Innsbruck and Vienna, and finished 23 minutes behind the winner Marcel Renault.[3]
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The following month, he represented Darracq in the 1902 Circuit des Ardennes, again in the Light Car category; he finished 3rd in class and 9th overall.[4] He also took part in the 1903 Paris–Madrid race which was stopped at Bordeaux due to a number of fatalities, running 31st (and 7th in the Light Car category) at the premature conclusion.[5]
Edmond took part in the British 1904 Gordon Bennett Cup trials on the Isle of Man, driving a Weir, which was a re-branded Darracq (the firm now being under British ownership). The Weirs had been assembled at too short an order, and were unready, Edmond not finishing the race.[6]
He moved to Renault in 1905, finishing 13th in the French eliminating trials for the 1905 Gordon Bennett Cup at Clermont-Ferrand after losing over an hour on the first lap.[7] In 1906 he drove for Renault in the first-ever Grand Prix, but retired after his goggles shattered and his eye was injured by glass and dust.[8] Renault entered him for the 1907 French Grand Prix but he fell ill before the race. and was replaced by Henri Farman.[9]
Aviation
editAfter 1908, he switched from wheels to wings, and became an aviator; in 1910 he obtained pilot licence number 35 in France.[10] At the start of the year, he won the Prix de Vitesse at a meeting in Cannes flying a Farman,[11] and in July took part in an aviation week in St Petersburg, Russia, remaining there afterwards to train new Russian pilots.[12] In August 1910 he took part in air races at Lanark in Scotland,[13] before disappearing into obscurity.
References
edit- ↑ "Aéro-Club du Centre: L'aviateur Edmond Morelle". Journal du Loiret. 18 January 1910.
- ↑ "First day of Paris – Vienna – Motor Age – 10 July 1902". Motor Age. 2 (2). 10 July 1902.
- ↑ "The Paris-Vienna Race". The Autombile (and Motor Review). VII: 1. 26 July 1902.
- ↑ "1902 Ardennes Circuit". Golden Era.fi. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
- ↑ "The Paris-Madrid Automobile Race". Scientific American. 20 June 1903.
- ↑ Boddy, Bill (June 1965). "Out of the past". MotorSport: 493.
- ↑ Bradley, W. F. (29 June 1905). "How the French G. B. trials were run". The Automobile. XII (26): 767–9.
- ↑ Hilton, Christopher (2005). Hilton, Christopher (2005), Grand Prix Century: The First 100 Years of the World's Most Glamorous and Dangerous Sport. Somerset: Haynes. p. 25.
- ↑ Snellman, Leif; Etzrodt, Hans. "1907". Golden Era.fi.
- ↑ "Les cent premiers aviateurs brevetés du monde". Aviatechno.net. Retrieved 9 May 2026.
- ↑ "Grande Semaine d'Aviation de Cannes Cannes, France, March 27th - April 5th, 1910". The first air races. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
- ↑ Fortier, Rénald. "Miracle of miracles, look what the plane dragged in: The Sankt-Peterburgskaya aviatsionnaya nedelya". Ingenium Channel. Retrieved 9 May 2026.
- ↑ "Scottish International Aviation Meeting Lanark, UK, August 6th - 13th, 1910". The first air races. Retrieved 9 May 2026.