Background
Frere, Paul was born on January 30, 1917 in LeHavre, Principality of Monaco. Son of Maurice Paul and Germaine Ernestine (Schimp) Frere.
Frere, Paul was born on January 30, 1917 in LeHavre, Principality of Monaco. Son of Maurice Paul and Germaine Ernestine (Schimp) Frere.
Ingenieur commercial, University Libre, Brussels, Belgium, 1940.
He drove in several non-Championship Formula One races. He drove for the Ferrari works team, with Peter Collins. After retiring from active racing in 1960, he worked as an automotive journalist based in Europe (he was the European Editor for Road & Track magazine).
He had numerous acquaintances amongst vehicle design engineers, especially in Japan at Honda and Mazda and also worked as a consultant to automobile manufacturers.
He also had the opportunity to test numerous road and racing cars as a journalist, one of the highlights being the Audi R8 which he tested and demonstrated during a break in the proceedings of the Test Day of the 2003 24 Hours of Le Mans. At the time he was 86 years old, making him the oldest racing driver to drive a then-current sportscar.
Frère, along with Piero Taruffi and Denis Jenkinson, was one of the first writers to treat motor racing as a skill that could be analyzed, explained, and taught. His 1963 book, Sports Carolina and Competition Driving is still a standard reference in the field
lieutenant influenced the development of competition driving schools, such as those founded by Jim Russell, Bob Bondurant, and many others
Frère was an expert on Porsche cars, in particular the Porsche 911, writing the definitive book on this series, The Porsche 911 Story. He maintained a close relationship with Porsche over the years. He was also considered an advisor and expert on the 911 by Alois Ruf, a respected Porsche tuner and manufacturer as head of Ruf Automobile, who consulted Frère during the development of Ruf"s RGT8 Model.
Only weeks before his 90th birthday in January 2007, he was badly injured in an accident near the Nürburgring, and was hospitalized for 14 days in intensive care.
Frère died on 23 February 2008 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence (France). Turn 15 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, formerly the first part of the Stavelot corner, has been renamed in his honour.
Frère was also a successful rower winning three Belgian championships. (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position).
Member British Racing Drivers Club (honorary), Club International Anciens Pilotes de Grand Prix, Society Belgian Automobile Engineers.
Married Suzanne Juliette Millo. Children: Marianne, Martine, Nicole.