13,404
edits
Saraçen Motors: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
→History
m (→History) |
m (→History) |
||
| Line 51: | Line 51: | ||
Born in 1925 in Canaery to a veteran of the [[Red Interregnum]], Jehan de Saraçe grew up in relatively lean times during the [[Second Great War]]. As a teenager, he moved to Cana and found work as a courier for Ministry of State, ferrying messages and occasionally VIPs between [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] and [[Electorsbourg]]. At 18 years of age, he gained the nickname "Hermès" on account both of his work and his reputation for racing even in his off time. As the war wound down to completion in 1953, de Saraçe became increasingly involved in professional racing. | Born in 1925 in Canaery to a veteran of the [[Red Interregnum]], Jehan de Saraçe grew up in relatively lean times during the [[Second Great War]]. As a teenager, he moved to Cana and found work as a courier for Ministry of State, ferrying messages and occasionally VIPs between [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] and [[Electorsbourg]]. At 18 years of age, he gained the nickname "Hermès" on account both of his work and his reputation for racing even in his off time. As the war wound down to completion in 1953, de Saraçe became increasingly involved in professional racing. | ||
Despite his passion for racing and great pace, he was rated relatively poorly by other Caenish racing teams due to his recklessness. Unable to find a seat for the 1952 Caenish open-wheel season, de Saraçe started his own team with funding from several friends, family, and some bank loans. He achieved some degree of success locally but by 1955 his financial situation had become increasingly dire. In order to supplement prize money and repay his loans, de Saraçe began employing his own technical know-how and that of his engineers to design and sell their own sports cars. The next year, Moteurs Saraçens was founded. By 1961, de Saraçe was debt-free, with most of the automobile manufacturer's profits being reinvested in the racing team. Jehan-Hermès de Saraçe retired from racing personally in 1967 after 8 seasons in Grand Prix Racing at the international level. He used the proceeds of Saraçen to establish [[Hermès Auto]] in 1970 as a more expansive consumer-oriented version of the Saraçen brand but had little personal involvement in design or management for it. He suddenly passed away in 1972 at the age of 47 leaving the family business to his children who formed the JHDS Group, named with their father's acronym. JHDS later sold the original Saraçen company to Sung-Gohan (internationally known as Imperial Automobiles) in 2020 due to lack of profitability while retaining ownership of Hermès. | Despite his passion for racing and great pace, he was rated relatively poorly by other Caenish racing teams due to his recklessness. Unable to find a seat for the 1952 Caenish open-wheel season, de Saraçe started his own team with funding from several friends, family, and some bank loans. He achieved some degree of success locally but by 1955 his financial situation had become increasingly dire. In order to supplement prize money and repay his loans, de Saraçe began employing his own technical know-how and that of his engineers to design and sell their own sports cars. The next year, Moteurs Saraçens was founded. By 1961, de Saraçe was debt-free, with most of the automobile manufacturer's profits being reinvested in the racing team. Jehan-Hermès de Saraçe retired from racing personally in 1967 after 8 seasons in Grand Prix Racing at the international level. He used the proceeds of Saraçen to establish [[Hermès Auto]] in 1970 as a more expansive consumer-oriented version of the Saraçen brand but had little personal involvement in design or management for it. He suddenly passed away in 1972 at the age of 47 leaving the family business to his children who formed the JHDS Group, named with their father's acronym. Hermès soon outearned Saraçen and became the primary focus of the JHDS group, with Saraçen falling into relative neglect following 1985 before a major "return to form" in 2000 once it was spun off into a autonomous subsidiary. Despite its vehicles making regular appearances at the [[International Racing Federation]] and being well regarded among automobile aficionados and car show enthusiasts, the company was no longer profitable by 2008 and continued on as a prestige brand. JHDS later sold the original Saraçen company to Sung-Gohan (internationally known as Imperial Automobiles) in 2020 due to lack of profitability while retaining ownership of Hermès. | ||
The initial concept behind the limited production runs of each of Saraçen Motors's models was born out of the circumstances of the company: firstly that the team garage and shop had very limited facilities to produce cars given the decline of industry in [[Canaery]] and secondly that de Saraçe was nearly obsessed with the desire to be at the cutting edge of technology both for his racing team and his production cars. This ethos has been carried through the company's history and many of the cars produced by Saraçen have held and currently hold land speed records for production vehicles. | The initial concept behind the limited production runs of each of Saraçen Motors's models was born out of the circumstances of the company: firstly that the team garage and shop had very limited facilities to produce cars given the decline of industry in [[Canaery]] and secondly that de Saraçe was nearly obsessed with the desire to be at the cutting edge of technology both for his racing team and his production cars. This ethos has been carried through the company's history and many of the cars produced by Saraçen have held and currently hold land speed records for production vehicles. | ||