A very interesting story on porsche racing history, Canadian content, 914/6 GT 24hr Daytona class winner, 906 and Jezabel 911T Options

[Mark Henry]

I was following a thread on the bird board and this post pops up about how a fellow got into Porsche because his dad was a French Canadian racer who owned some very interesting cars. I did a little digging and found though he was off slightly, his story is true. Some of it is off is because he was a young boy and maybe in translation as he is a French Canadian. His dad is Jacques Duval and he did win his class, GTU, in the 1971 24Hrs of Daytona, it's the car that is a 1970 914/6GT.

It's an amazing part of Canadian racing history, French Canadians have long been involved in motorsports and these were the fertile breading grounds for many, the most famous of which were of course Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve.
On to the story....

I was soaked in the Porsche world very early in my life........... here I am in my dad`s 906 at one of many race weekend here in St Jovite........! I was 10 years old
on this picture. 1966

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Ok here we go !
My father is Jacques Duval ( for those who know him ) he strated racing in 1958
in an alpha romeo and quickly move to a 356 after seing these Porsches
performances on the track, Soon after he got an Abarth Carrera ( I was 6 then)
Wich he raced a couple times but the car was poor handling, He switched to a 904 in 1964 and had great results . sure enough i got bit by the porsche bug.
He ended up with a 906 bought from the late Doug Revson from the REVLON family , he clintched the Quebec champion title with that car, He was now with is 4th porsche , After the 906, came the race prep by the factory 911;s in 1968 he also won the championship here in Quebec, sold the car to a group of individuals
The car was named JEZEBEL And is still racing these days. ( was at the rennsport IV reunion a couple months ago ) My father then got another 911T 1969 with wich he was tied at the championship with Jacques Bienvenue. I was following at each race that I could....... Finally he got a 914 6 GT with which he won the Daytona 24 hrs race in 1970....... his biggets achievement. This is a short review of his racing carreer ... You now see why I was soaked into Porsches early in my life.............!

Here are pictures of his dads 914/6 GT.

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His dads other car is a 1969T called Jezabel and it also has a famous pedigree :

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This site has a lot more info and pics of Jezebel:
http://www.canepa.com/inventory/racecar_1/..._911/index.html

I've invited Monsieur Duval over to our site and hopefully he will tell us more about his dad and his story.

Too cool! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

[Mark Henry]

This just gets more interesting
His dad, Jacques Duval is still with us and this guy is a Grand Prix winner! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)


Translated from french wiki:

He was born in Lauzon, in the parish of St. Antoine de Bienville (now Lévis ).

Jacques Duval is interested in the automotive world in the late 1950s. He then made ​​his racing debut and won the first Grand Prix of Trois-Rivières in 1967 . It is then several times the Quebec champion racing drivers.

In the 1960s, he hosted the show Graveyard of the disc Télé-Métropole .

In the mid- 1960s , Duval anime Take the wheel to the Radio-Canada , a show about cars. "Very sure of my ability, I told my sales pitch without taking care to scribble a few notes ... until the day I missed my shot royally in a speech at the edge of ridicule . " This mishap inspires them to take notes on cards. The following year, these boxes are used to write him his first Car Guide .

In 1974, owing its success in Quebec, an English publisher is trying to sell an English translation in English Canada, with little success. From 1987 to 1993, Duval is dedicated to journalism, especially recounting his experiences. He returned to the Guide in 1993 as a collaborator .

It is the first Canadian to sign her name to the winners of an international event, the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1971 .

He signs in chronic Press (1969 to 1984) and leads to emission of Radio-Canada , to VAT , the Canal Vox and Canal Evasion thereafter.

In the 1990s, he became a consultant for Ford . Many people have criticized his decision, finding that Smith would not be impartial when writing his Car Guide. He resigned after a few years.

In 2003 , his company sells Duval Jacques Duval Inc.. and the rights of its guide to the company LC Media Inc. , because he wants to continue writing but no longer wants to manage business. In 2004 , he resigned from his position as editor after a dispute with LC Media Inc., who wanted to change the publishing house .

Since 2006, Jacques Duval wrote for the site www.guideauto.com , and it has a blog .

In 2008, after five years of absence in writing an annual guide to automotive, Jacques Duval returns to the charge with the Auto 2009, in collaboration with Eric LeFrançois, Sylvie Rainville, and Jean-Francois Guay.

He has a keen interest in German cars built by Porsche and Mercedes-Benz .

In 2007 he published his autobiography, Jacques Duval, Gilbert Bécaud to Enzo Ferrari for publishers America. ( ISBN 2764405863 ) - ( ISBN 9782764405864 )