One of France s legendary racing drivers, and a war hero Benoist was born on March 20, 1895 in France. His father was employed by Baron Henri de Rothschild as a gamekeeper. As a young man, Robert craved excitement so he joined the French infantry in World War I. Then he transferred to the Armee de l Air where he served as a fighter pilot and flying instructor. When the war ended Benoist returned home and went to work for the de Marcay car company as a test driver. He left de Marcay for employment at
Salmson where he built a successful record as a cyclecar racer.
In 1924 Delage hired Benoist to drive for them. The following year, partnered with Albert Divo. Benoist placed first in the French Grand Prix. Two years later, in 1927, Benoist again won the French Grand Prix and in the same year, won the Spanish, Italian and British Grand Prix. These wins earned Delage a season championship title. Benoist was also the only driver to win all four events in the same year and for this feat, the French government awarded him the Legion of Honor.
Then Delage quit racing so Benoist went to the Bugatti team and came in second in the San Sebastian Grand Prix held in Spain in 1928. In 1929 Benoist partnered with Attilio Marinoni and together they won the Spa 24 Hours race held in Belgium, driving an Alfa Romeo. Benoist did not race anymore until 1934 when he again joined the Bugatti team and won the 1935 Picardie Grande Prix together with the Course de Cote de Chateau Thierry. At the same time, Bugatti appointed Benoist as head of their competition department responsible for their LeMans program. In 1937, he and Jean Pierre Wimille entered and won the 24 Hours of LeMans. Again, Benoist retired from racing.
Benoist was living at his country home in Auffargis when the Nazis invaded France in Word War ll. He, along with fellow racing drivers Jean Pierre Wimille and William Grover Williams fled to England. Upon arrival there they enlisted in the British forces but were recruited into the Special Operations Executive or SOE. The SOE was a branch of British intelligence that had been organized to assist the various resistance movements that were being established throughout Nazi occupied countries in Europe. Along with Grover Williams and Wimille, Benoist worked to organize Chestnut a network designed to set up sabotage operations against the Nazis and recruit guerrilla soldiers who would be available to help the Allies when they invaded Europe.
In June of 1943, the Nazis, thanks to an informant, discovered Chestnut and arrested their operatives. Benoist was able to escape the Gestapo by jumping out of the patrol car that was transporting him to the Nazi headquarters. He then escaped from France back to England. However, Benoist returned to France to try to revive Chestnut. This time he was arrested again and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. He was executed there in September of 1944. He was honored by both England and France as one of the SOE agents who gave his life to liberate France. After Germany surrendered, Paris held an automobile race entitled the Coupe Robert Benoist in memory of the man who was both a racing and a war hero.
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