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Jean-Louis Guillou passed away December 6th at his home in Beausset near the Paul Ricard circuit. Born in 1933, he was a very important figure for Honda France between the 1970s and 1980s and contributed to the Japanese brand's high-level involvement in various competitions, starting with endurance.
Various successes were achieved under his leadership, like at the Bol d'Or with the Christian Léon-Jean-Claude Chemarin pair between 1977 and 1979, in African rallies with Cyril Neveu, and in GPs with Dominique Sarron, a reference for endurance racing as well.
During that glorious era, his right-hand man was a certain Hervé Poncharal, the putative son of a historical figure in transalpine two-wheel racing: Guy Coulon.
Nicknamed "Captain," he joined the Japanese company in 1966 as an engineer, graduating from the Ecole Technique d'Aéronautique et de Construction Automobile, after having previously worked for several leading brands, such as Morris, Simca, NSU, Mercedes, and Jaguar.
In charge of the technical-commercial department, he went on to manage the newly-founded racing department in 1975. He was also an unfailing presence at the Sunday Ride Classic, a festival held annually at Castellet.
He has now been reunited with his wife, Geneviève, who passed away in 2016.
This is the memory of the current head of GasGas on his X account. "Without Jean-Louis, I would not have met Guy, and I think Tech3 would not have existed. An immense and eternal thank you."
