Frank Clement (racing driver)

Frank Clement
Nationality United Kingdom British
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years 19231930
Teams Private entries
Bentley Motors
Best finish 1st (1924)
Class wins 1 (1924)
Left to right: Frank Clement, W.O. Bentley, and John Duff in front of their Bentley which won the 1924 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Frank Charles Clement (15 June 1886 – 15 January 1970) was a British racing driver who, along with Canadian John Duff, won the 1924 24 Hours of Le Mans. Part of the "Bentley Boys", Clement was recruited by W.O. Bentley as a test driver for Bentley Motors. He was chosen by the company to drive in the inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1923 with John Duff in Duff's privately entered car. The only British team in the event, the pair finished the race in fourth after fighting for the lead for much of the race. The following year Duff returned with his private Bentley and the two won the race outright over several Lorraine-Dietrichs and Chenard-Walckers.

In a bid to win the Rudge-Whitworth Triennial Cup, the two drivers remained paired in 1925, and Bentley offered more support by adding a second car to the team. However, their car would fail halfway through the event and would not be able to finish. Bentley improved to a three car team for 1926, and Clement was assigned to co-drive with George Duller, although once again the car was not able to finish. Over the next two years, although Bentley won Le Mans two more times, Clement's car still was unable to finish the endurance event. In 1929 Clement once again was able to last the entire event as Bentley dominated, earning the top four finishing positions. Clement ran his final Le Mans in 1930, finishing in second place, before Bentley chose not to continue at Le Mans the following year.

Sporting positions
Preceded by
André Lagache
René Léonard
Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
1924 with:
John Duff
Succeeded by
Gérard de Courcelles
André Rossignol


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.