André Pilette was one of the most prolific figures in Belgian motor racing, the middle of three generations of a famous racing family. His father Théodore, one of racing’s early pioneers, was the importer for Mercedes during the 1900s and raced for them in the French GP and at Indianapolis. Most of his career Andre Pilette drove for Belgian national team in its various incarnations. He was sixth in the 1951 Belgian GP on his world championship debut driving yellow Talbot-Lago T26C for Ecurie Belgique. Next year he appeared in Connaught A entered by Ecurie Belge. In 1954 and 1956 he drove for works Gordini team in T16 and T32, respectively. His debut in Gordini was at 1954 Pau Grand Prix where his yellow car was 7th on the finish. Then Pilette finished fifth in the Belgian GP and second at Chimay. In 1955 he was one of the founders of the Ecurie Nationale Belge. His final F1 appearance was in the Belgian GP, with the Scirocco-Climax, again in Belgian colors (Equipe Sirocco Belge), in 1964. Andre’s son Teddy Pilette also became a racing driver who briefly touched F1 in 1970s.
| Season | Series | Event |
| 1954 | F1 | Pau Grand Prix |
| Driver | No. | Entrant |
| Andre Pilette | 8 | Equipe Gordini |
| Scale | Manufacturer | Collection |
| 1:43 | IXO | Atlas / La Saga Gordini |
| Cat. No. | Quality | Rarity |
| No. 21 | 
| 
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formula143 
hello, one question about this model I’ve recently bought… do you know why they decided to feature car n.8 of Pilette instead of car n.2 of Jean Behra? Behra won the F1 GP of Pau, while Pilette got only 7th… so it’s quite strange they did not celebrate the winner… regarding the yellow color, was it specific to Pilette’s car or even Behra on that GP had the same livery? If both were yellow I could consider to make a conversion replacing the n.8 decals with a n.2 but it the car colors were different I’ll keep Pilette’s number.
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Hello Tommy,
I suppose, that the aim was to present variety of Gordini racing cars. So, the yellow Belgian and blue French cars were issued in the collection.
As to color, yellow is the national Belgian racing color and blue is national French one. The colors were assigned by the AICACR (the forerunner of the FIA) back in the 1920s, and until 60s were preferentially used by teamas or entrants of particular nation. So Belgian Pilette drove the yellow car, and car by Behra used blue livery.
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thanks for the clarification… So I will keep the number 8 over that car… I really like that tone of yellow they used to paint it.
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