Background
He was born in Sillé-le-Guillaume, Sarthe, France.
He was born in Sillé-le-Guillaume, Sarthe, France.
He drove a German Opel-Darracq to victory at Hamburg-Bahrenfeld. 1905 was his most successful year in his racing career. On December 30, 1905, he set a land speed record of 109.65 mph (17646 km/h) in Arles, France, driving a Darracq.
In 1951, Hémery was retroactively awarded the United States Driving Championship for 1905.
He left Darracq to join Benz & Cie. He scored another second-place finish behind Louis Wagner at the United States Grand Prix in Savannah, Georgia.
On November 8, 1909, he set another new speed record at Brooklands of 202.691 km/h (125946 mph) driving the famous "Blitzen Benz" (German for "Lightning Benz"). Victor Hémery died at Le Mans, France, on September 9, 1950, at the 73 years old.
In 1904 he joined Automobiles Darracq South America as their chief tester and helped prepare cars to compete in that year"s Gordon Bennett Cup. In August 1905, he drove a Darracq to victory in Circuit des Ardennes at Bastogne, Belgium, and in October 1905 he won the Vanderbilt Cup at Long Island, New York, beating Felice Nazzaro, Louis Chevrolet, and Ferenc Szisz. In 1907 and in 1908 he won the Saint St. Petersburg to Moscow race and finished second in the French Grand Prix. In 1910 his Benz team finished 1-2 at the United States Grand Prix, just 1.42 seconds behind winner David Bruce-Brown, the closest Grand Prix to date at the time. In 1911, Hémery won the Grand Prix de France at Circuit de la Sarthe in a Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino S61.
