PAST IMPERFECT:PAUL FRERE, who died recently, aged 91, was one of the most remarkable motoring writers of his generation, writes Bob Montgomery.
Born in 1917 at La Harve in France to a French-speaking Belgian family, he developed an early passion for cars on seeing the Motor and Autocar magazines while in Felixstowe to improve his English during school holidays. He was already bilingual, having added German to his native French and quickly mastered English through the medium of these magazines as his passion for cars grew.
Frere saw his first motor race - the Spa 24 Hours - in 1926, and soon his uncle was allowing him to drive his 5CV Citroën on some of Belgium's country roads. He started racing motorcycles in the first race in Belgium after the second World War, winning his class on a pre-war 500cc Triumph Speed Twin.
His first car race was the Spa 24 Hours in 1948 in a pre-war MG. He won his class in this race in the following two years before being offered a drive in an unlikely car - an Oldsmobile Rocket 88 - in 1952. This time he won his class, coasting across the finish line out of fuel.
He was offered a HWM drive in 1952, taking fifth in the Belgian Grand Prix and winning the GP des Frontiéres at Chimay. The following year he drove at Le Mans for the first time placing 15th overall, a result that led to drives for Aston Martin and Ferrari.
In all, Frere participated in 11 Formula One Grand Prix and several non-championship Formula One races. His greatest victory was the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans shared with fellow Belgian Oliver Gendebien.
Despite these successes, Paul Frere continued his career as a motoring writer. By the time he retired from racing after his Le Mans victory in 1960, he had become European editor for the US magazine, Road and Track, as well as working as a consultant for several motor manufacturers including Honda, Mazda and Porsche, with whom he formed an especially close relationship that lasted the rest of his life.
His 1963 book, Sports Car and Competitive Driving, is today still the classic standard reference book. His engineering and racing background, together with his ability to write lucidly in French, English, German and Italian, gained respect for his writing among motoring enthusiasts all over the world, and he continued to write until the end of his life.
Stories about Paul Frere are legion - who else would Porsche let drive cars like the 908 and 917 around the old Nurburgring at racing speeds, and who else, as a 75th birthday present, would Mazda lend its 1991 Le Mans winning car to, together with a complement of technicians, so that he could spend a day at the Paul Ricard circuit taking his family and friends out for a couple of laps at racing speeds.
Throughout his life Frere remained an enthusiastic aficionado of the Zuffenhausen sports cars - still driving his original Porsche 356, as well as a red 911 Carrera - right up to the end.