Editing Jacques Swaters

{{Short description|Belgian racing driver (1926{{ndash}}2010)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox F1 driver
| image = Jacques Swaters 1980.jpg
| caption = Swaters in 1980
| name = Jacques Swaters
| nationality = {{flagicon|BEL}} Belgian
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1926|10|30|df=y}}
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2010|12|10|1926|10|30|df=y}}
| Years = {{F1|1951}}, {{F1|1953}}–{{F1|1954}}
| Team(s) = Non-works [[Talbot-Lago]], [[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]] and [[Gordini]]
| Races = 8 (7 starts)
| Championships = 0
| Wins = 0
| Podiums = 0
| Points = 0
| Poles = 0
| Fastest laps = 0
| First race = [[1951 German Grand Prix]]
| First win =
| Last win =
| Last race = [[1954 Spanish Grand Prix]]
}}
'''Jacques Swaters''' ({{IPA|nl|ʒak ˈsʋaːtərs}}; 30 October 1926 &ndash; 10 December 2010) was a [[racing driver]] from [[Belgium]] and former team owner of [[Ecurie Belgique]], [[Ecurie Francorchamps]], and [[Ecurie Nationale Belge]].

==Racing career==

Swaters made his debut in the [[24 Hours of Spa]] in an [[MG (car)|MG]] co-driven by his friend and racer-turned-journalist [[Paul Frère]], entered under the [[Ecurie Francorchamps]] banner. In 1950 Swaters, Frère and [[André Pilette]] established [[Ecurie Belgique]], a banner in which they prepared cars for themselves and other Belgian races, both in Grand Prix and sports car racing. Swaters himself raced a yellow [[Talbot-Lago]] in several events, including two World Championship rounds, the 1951 [[1951 German Grand Prix|German]] and [[1951 Italian Grand Prix|Italian]] Grands Prix.

However, in 1952, Swaters, another Belgian [[Charles de Tornaco]] and British driver [[Geoff Richardson (racing driver)|Geoff Richardson]], restarted Ecurie Francorchamps, a racing stable mainly associated with [[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]]. Swaters drove the team [[Ferrari Tipo 500|Ferrari 500]] in a small number of events, but did manage to take a victory at the 1953 [[Avusrennen]], a [[Formula 2]] race. Richardson was signed to drive the prototype Zethrin Rennsport. As a driver, Swaters later concentrated on sports car racing, driving a [[Jaguar C-Type]] and a [[Jaguar D-Type|D-Type]].

==Team manager==

After retiring from racing in 1957, Swaters became manager of the Ecurie Nationale Belge, which had been formed in 1955 as a merger of his Francorchamps, Frère's Ecurie Belgique and [[Johnny Claes]]' Ecurie Belge. The ENB entered several [[Cooper Car Company|Cooper]]-[[Coventry Climax|Climax]] cars in Formula 2 racing for both experienced and upcoming Belgian drivers, and helped launch the career of [[Olivier Gendebien]], [[Lucien Bianchi]] and [[Mauro Bianchi]]. The team moved into F1 in 1960 and later reworked the [[Emeryson]] into the ENB chassis.

However, by 1964 Swaters was no longer interested in ENB and had turned his attention to sports car racing completely. Swaters' Ecurie Francorchamps, which had remained independent from the ENB effort during the 1950s and 1960s, was always a top contender, with occasional class wins (including the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans) and frequent class podiums. An overall victory at the 1965 [[1000km Spa|500km Spa]] was Swaters' crowning achievement as a manager.

The Ecurie Francorchamps stopped operating in 1982, but Swaters retained his Garage Francorchamps, a Ferrari dealership.

==Ferrari dealer and collector==

[[File:1966 Monza Ferrari 250LM sn6023 Swaters.jpg|thumb|Swaters at [[1000km Monza]] on 25 April 1966 with the 1964 [[Ferrari 250 LM]] s/n 6023 driven by Pierre Noblet and Leon Dernier]]
Swaters, who had bought a [[Ferrari 500]] Formula 2 car in 1952 for his racing team, was contacted in 1953 by Ferrari to resolve a problem with the local customs authority for the car they were to display at the Brussels Motor Show and was asked to take care of the Ferrari exhibition stand as well. He managed to get the car through customs as well as making a sale at the Motor Show. As a result, he was appointed as the official Ferrari importer for the [[Benelux]] the same year. This was the beginning of a relationship that was to last over 50 years and make Swaters one of the most important Ferrari dealers as well as a major collector of everything related to the brand.

In recognition of their long standing relationship, Ferrari unveiled the [[Ferrari 456]] to the world at the Garage Francorchamps in 1992. At the same time the "Blue Swaters" was introduced by Ferrari as a colour to celebrate 40 years of partnership Ferrari-Swaters.

During his lifetime Jacques Swaters collected everything about Ferrari, original documentations, important vintage cars, sculptures, and other automobilia. With all these items he opened "the bunker" as he would call the Galleria Ferrari, an impressive collection in which feature a lot of gifts given personally by [[Enzo Ferrari]], for example 1 of only 3 bronze crucifix crafted at Ferrari's foundery, on the occasion of the pope's visit to the Maranello factory, as well as a wooden sculpture of the Prancing Horse, that used to decorate Enzo Ferrari's personal office at Ferrari's Fiorano circuit. The collection also houses the only Ferrari four-door ever made, the "Pinin" prototype, the Ferrari GTO Evoluzione, a Ferrari California and other rare and important cars of the Italian brand.

Swaters last appearance in the sports car world was in an Ohio Courtroom where he was defending his possession of a very rare [[1954 Ferrari 375 plus]] chassis 0384AM that was stolen from the U.S. collector [[Karl Kleve]] in the late 1980s. Swaters said that he rightfully bought the car as a burnt out chassis in 1990, and that he and Kleve settled its ownership in 1999.

In 2008 an aged Jacques Swaters decided to sell a large part of his impressive collection, at an auction in Maranello.

== Complete World Championship Grand Prix results ==
([[:Template:F1 driver results legend 2|key]])
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"
! Year
! Entrant
! Chassis
! Engine
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
! 8
! 9
! WDC
! Points
|-
| [[1951 Formula One season|1951]]
! [[Ecurie Belgique]]
! [[Talbot-Lago]] [[Talbot-Lago T26C|T26C]]
! [[Talbot (automobile)|Talbot]] [[Straight-6]]
| [[1951 Swiss Grand Prix|SUI]]
| [[1951 Indianapolis 500|500]]
| [[1951 Belgian Grand Prix|BEL]]
| [[1951 French Grand Prix|FRA]]
| [[1951 British Grand Prix|GBR]]
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| [[1951 German Grand Prix|GER]]<br>{{small|10}}
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| [[1951 Italian Grand Prix|ITA]]<br>{{small|Ret}}
| [[1951 Spanish Grand Prix|ESP]]
|
! NC
! 0
|-
| [[1953 Formula One season|1953]]
! [[Ecurie Francorchamps]]
! [[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]] [[Ferrari Tipo 500|500]]
! [[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]] [[Straight-4]]
| [[1953 Argentine Grand Prix|ARG]]
| [[1953 Indianapolis 500|500]]
| [[1953 Dutch Grand Prix|NED]]
|style="background:#FFFFFF;"| [[1953 Belgian Grand Prix|BEL]]<br>{{small|DNS}}
| [[1953 French Grand Prix|FRA]]
| [[1953 British Grand Prix|GBR]]
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| [[1953 German Grand Prix|GER]]<br>{{small|7}}
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| [[1953 Swiss Grand Prix|SUI]]<br>{{small|Ret}}
| [[1953 Italian Grand Prix|ITA]]
! NC
! 0
|-
| [[1954 Formula One season|1954]]
! [[Ecurie Francorchamps]]
! [[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]] [[Ferrari Tipo 500|500/625]]
! [[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]] [[Straight-4]]
| [[1954 Argentine Grand Prix|ARG]]
| [[1954 Indianapolis 500|500]]
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| [[1954 Belgian Grand Prix|BEL]]<br>{{small|Ret}}
| [[1954 French Grand Prix|FRA]]
| [[1954 British Grand Prix|GBR]]
| [[1954 German Grand Prix|GER]]
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| [[1954 Swiss Grand Prix|SUI]]<br>{{small|8}}
| [[1954 Italian Grand Prix|ITA]]
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| [[1954 Spanish Grand Prix|ESP]]<br>{{small|Ret}}
! NC
! 0
|-
| [[1955 Formula One season|1955]]
! [[Ecurie Filipinetti]]
! [[Gordini]] [[Gordini T16|T16]]
! [[Gordini]] [[Straight-6]]
| [[1955 Argentine Grand Prix|ARG]]
| [[1955 Monaco Grand Prix|MON]]
| [[1955 Indianapolis 500|500]]
| [[1955 Belgian Grand Prix|BEL]]<br><small>DNA</small>
| [[1955 Dutch Grand Prix|NED]]
| [[1955 British Grand Prix|GBR]]
| [[1955 Italian Grand Prix|ITA]]
|
|
! NC
! 0
|}

==Sources==
*[http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-swajac.html Profile at www.grandprix.com]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20161022203710/http://jacquesswaters.com/the-case-of-0384am/]}} The Stolen Ferrari Story
*[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129138503] NPR – last voice interview with Swaters 2010

{{Formula One drivers from Belgium}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swaters, Jacques}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:Belgian racing drivers]]
[[Category:Belgian Formula One drivers]]
[[Category:Ecurie Francorchamps Formula One drivers]]
[[Category:Scuderia Filipinetti Formula One drivers]]
[[Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers]]
[[Category:World Sportscar Championship drivers]]
[[Category:24 Hours of Spa drivers]]
[[Category:Formula One team owners]]
[[Category:Ferrari people]]
[[Category:Sports car racing team owners]]
[[Category:20th-century Belgian sportsmen]]