Gérard Crombac

Who was Gérard Crombac?

Gérard "Jabby" Crombac was a Swiss auto-racing journalist.

In 1954 he purchased the Lotus Mk4 owned by Lotus founder Colin Chapman and began racing with this car. While this was the beginning of a long friendship with Chapman, Crombac realised he was not racing driver material, and stood down in 1958.

In 1959 he began managing the interests of Jo Schlesser in association with Jean Lucas, while working for Prisunic. With Lucas, he founded the magazine Sport-Auto magazine in 1962 and was chief editor until 1989.

Crombac shared an apartment in Paris with racer Jim Clark when Clark officially lived in Switzerland for tax reasons.

Crombac and his wife Catherine had a son who was named Colin James in honour of his close friends Colin Chapman and Jim Clark.

His biography of Chapman, "Colin Chapman:The Man and His Cars", was published in 1986.

He died in a hospice in Paris on November 18, 2005 after a long fight against cancer. His funeral was held on November 28, 2005 at the Crematorium in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. In August 2007 his ashes were scattered in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez in accordance with his wishes.