Jean-Louis Schlesser - 1988 and 1989 World Sportscar Champion

Jean-Louis Schlesser discovered single-seaters at Winfield shortly after the tragic death of his uncle, Jo Schlesser, who died at Rouen-les-Essarts during the 1968 French Grand Prix. This is the memory of his very first experience.

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Broke! Young Jean-Louis was scraping by when he enrolled at the Magny-Cours school. “I’d heard that you could learn to drive there”, he explains in his characteristic straightforward manner. “It was iconic. I had no experience, not even in karting, nothing. I dreamed of becoming a driver, but I didn’t have a penny. Nothing.” He saved what little he could, borrowed from friends, and eventually signed up in 1970.

“I was working as a mover, and Winfield was my very first contact with a race car. The most fun part for me was getting back into the car and smelling that distinct scent. We drove with circuit jet helmets and goggles—what a thrill! You had to be careful not to over-rev, do proper heel-and-toe, brake correctly. Mike Knight and Simon de Lautour were there, and nothing escaped them. It was strict, but it had to be. There were plenty of guys like me who didn’t know how to drive. It was all Greek to us and not always easy for the instructors!”

The future two-time World Sportscar Champion (1989-1990) made it to the semi-finals but not to the final, which was won that year by Guy Dhotel. “I didn’t win the Volant, but it gave me my first opportunity. After that, I went to race in Formula Ford in England. The school helped a lot of people, not only the winners.”

Jean-Louis Schlesser, who walked through Winfield’s doors at 22, would take twenty years to reach world championship glory. “I became world champion for the first time at 42,” notes the man who participated in his only Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1988, driving a Williams at the age of forty. “I was 23 when I started racing, and as I got older, I crossed paths with guys who had started very young and retired very young, like Mike Thackwell, the European F2 champion, whose career lasted ten years. People like me, who were frustrated in their youth, all have long careers. And that career would never have started without Winfield!”