A popular hillclimber, rallyman, touring-car and sportscar driver from the Vosges region, France, Bernard-Etienne Grobot made his motorsport debut in 1968, taking his career's first class win just in his maiden race, at the Abreschviller hillclimb, in a Renault 8 Gordini.
In French hillclimbs Bernard-Etienne Grobot achieved many titles and class wins. At the wheel of a Group N Ford Sierra Cosworth, in 1988 he became French Champion in the category.
A talented and complete racer, he participated in numerous rallies in both the French and European championships, and even in selected events of the World Rally Championship, such as the Tour de Corse and the Rallye de Monte-Carlo. Grobot competed as rally driver and mostly as co-driver to Jacques Henry, with which he scored a prestigious outright win in the 1976 Tour de France Automobile, sharing a Porsche Carrera RSR 3.0. Paired with his lifelong friend Henry and Fred Stalder as third driver, Bernard-Etienne Grobot took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1973, driving a 2-litre sportscar Lola T290-Ford Cosworth FVC - retired after eight hours due to valves trouble.
On Thursday, 08 May 1997 Bernard-Etienne Grobot lost control of his Ford Escort Cosworth Group A and crashed into a rock. The car bounced against a small wall and rolled over several times, ending out of the road. He suffered injuries from which he died almost one hour after the accident despite the intervention of the emergency crews.
Grobot's accident occurred at the "virage du chateau", the final turn of the Course de Côte d'Aix en Provence à Saint Antonin sur Bayon, held at the Sainte-Victoire mountain, a few kilometers east of the city of Aix-en-Provence in Bouches-du-Rhône department, southern France. The event was a round of the 1997 French Hillclimb Championship.
Ten years after his death a memorial plaque was placed along the course of the Saint Antonin sur Bayon hillclimb, in his honor.
R.I.P
