Friday 27th December 1985
Jean Rondeau (39), the only man to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a car bearing his own name, died when the street car he was a passenger in was hit by a train. Rondeau drove briefly in Formula Renault before moving to saloon cars. He raced a handful of Le Mans events as a guest driver before forming the Inaltera team in 1976. After the wallpaper company withdrew its sponsorship, Rondeau went alone with his Ford-powered GTP cars in 1978, scoring a coup by hiring Henri Pescarolo for his team in 1979. Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jassaud took victory in the 1980 24 Hours of Le Mans after fighting hard against the Porshe 908/80 of Jacky Ickx and Reinhold Joest.