InvestigationMember of the racing team from 1969 to 1974, Guy Prat, a young recruit at the time, helped forge the legend of the blue cars of France. He remembers the great era of victories on the circuits and the priesthood of mechanics, nicknamed the “rats”.
At 80 years old, Guy Prat started off with a quarter-turn. Especially when we talk to him about Matra. Souvenirs of all kinds lined up in the windows of the office-museum of his Sarthe house serve as fuel. Each piece recalls an episode in his hectic life as a racing mechanic. He is one of the last “matrachians” of the great years. From 1969, the date of his hiring, to 1974, the end of the epic, he was on all the circuits, in all the paddocks, hands in the grease, nose in the engine, to forge, too, the legend of racing cars. blues from France. A title of world champion of the constructors of formula 1, two titles of world champion of the constructors of Sport-Prototypes, three victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. All in six years. Mission impossible accomplished.
“I am a ‘rat'”, summarizes Guy Prat. A rat ? “It was the nickname given to the Matra mechanics, he smiles, quite proud of his effect. In 1969, when our cars landed in the United States for the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, customs officials found a dead rat in one of the cockpits. The news went around the teams. The guys were doubled over. We have become the “rats”. And our chef, Gérard Ducarouge, the “rat father”. “ In the land of Mickey Mouse, we are at the limit of compliments. And then, the image sticks well to the spectacle of these men in gas station coats swarming around a racing car like so many murines around an Emmental AOP.
The “Madeleine de Prost”
It was precisely to experience this fervor that Guy Prat dreamed of being a mechanic. But it’s also because dad was. Yves Prat, Breton emigrated in the 14e district of Paris. Good pilot. Good engine manufacturer. He eventually settled in the suburbs, in Antony (Hauts-de-Seine), under the Garage de Lutèce brand. Very close to Orly airport, not far from the Linas-Montlhéry (Essonne) autodrome. Son’s heart swings: flight engineer or neighborhood mechanic? As a child, he followed his father on the circuits. He was given horse chestnut leaves that he had to soak in a bucket of water before garnishing the overheated helmets of the crazy people behind the wheel to refresh their ideas. At the time of choice, this memory comes to the surface. Today, we would speak of “Madeleine de Prost”. This is how one becomes a “rat”.
“The night watchman warmed up the engine and in the morning we practiced dismantling the gearbox. Gérard Ducarouge was timing us ”
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