Jean Gaupillat
French racing driver (1891-1934)
Jean Gaupillat (6 January 1891 – 23 July 1934) was a French racing driver.
Career
Gaupillat was from a family of wealthy industrialists, who co-owned the ociété Française des Munitions de Chasse, de Tir et de Guerre.
During the First World War he received the Croix de Guerre for his service as an artillery officer, and was later appointed as a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur. He started racing in 1928, in a B.N.C. cyclecar, but soon switched to Bugattis, which he raced for the rest of his career.
Gaupillat's first and greatest racing success was winning the voiturette class of the 1929 Dieppe Grand Prix in a Bugatti Type 35B. He made his Grand Prix debut at the 1930 French Grand Prix at Pau, driving in the voiturette class with a 37A, but retired. For the 1931 AIACR European Championship season, he teamed with Jean-Pierre Wimille to finish 4th at the Italian Grand Prix; this was his best Grande Epreuve result, although the mercurial Wimille was given most of the credit.
Gaupillat had a run of retirements over the next three years, although he finished 24th (and 4th in class) at the 1933 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Stanislas Czaykowski in the latter's Bugatti Type 51A; it was Gaupillat's only appearance in the event.
He recorded an 8th place finish at the 1934 Eifelrennen in his Bugatti T51, but, at the Dieppe Grand Prix in July, while running 4th, he lost control at the Val Gosset curve, and crashed into a tree; he succumbed to the injuries the following day.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Jean Gaupillat” as french racing driver (1891-1934). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as french racing driver (1891-1934). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12792292. The first chronological checks are 1891, 1934, 1928 and 1929.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Jean Gaupillat”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Jean Gaupillat primary sources, Jean Gaupillat archive and Jean research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jean Gaupillat”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Jean Gaupillat” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.