Former journalist at AUTOhebdo, Éric Bhat has died: find his Carpooling

Ce Carpooling is from AUTOhebdo No. 2300, published on February 23, 2021. Through this reissue, the AUTOhebdo editorial team pays tribute to Éric Bhat, who instilled unparalleled passion in our columns. To his family and loved ones, we extend our deepest condolences.

You mentioned a “surprise” concerning your vehicle, and we have to admit that it is a big one…

I live within Paris itself, and along with the metro, the bus is by far the best compromise between time, convenience, safety, and price. I had cars for a long time, but they cost me a fortune in garage repairs and traffic tickets. Now, I just rent them when I have to go to poorly served areas outside the capital. Otherwise, the train is fantastic; you can cross France in three hours at 300 km/h without getting fined.

Are you more of a metro or bus person?

Subway! There's one every two minutes, but you have to wait fifteen minutes between buses.

Have you always been a Parisian?

No, I'm from Pau. There were buses too, but when I was young, I would have had my hand cut off to drive even a kilometer. I was crazy about cars, because of the Pau Grand Prix and the Bochet brothers. Philippe was the French Formula Blue champion, and Maxime raced in Formula France. He was the equal of Laffite, Tambay and others. It hit me at twelve years old, in 1968, when a friend's father took me to the Pau GP. Beltoise had achieved an incredible performance in F2, and Jabouille had climbed from the back of the grid to the podium in F3…I loved it right away. I went crazy. A few years later, when I was in high school, I wrote to The lightning of the Pyrenees to offer my free services in exchange for accreditation. I didn't want to be a journalist, but a world champion, except that I would soon discover that I drove like a chopper. These "freelances" allowed me to get in touch with the magazine Scratch, ancestor of AUTOhebdo. I was very diligent, even too diligent, since it took me three years to get my BAC. In studies, the Sisters tore up my articles, but I had found the trick: the tracing! It was Johnny Rives, whom I met in the press room at the Pau GP, who advised me to contact ScratchHe had read some of my articles, found them very good and recommended that I contact Etienne Moity who was doing Scratch practically all by myself. I sent him an article on Patrick Tambay, just to get his opinion. He published it, six pages long! In the process, I wrote a piece on Beltoise, then on Jaussaud… When Scratch gave way to AUTOhebdo, I was in journalism school. In my second year, I had to find an internship and I found two: Antenne 2 (France 2 at the time) and AUTOweekly. I started with the Hebdo, during which I attended the German GP at Hockenheim. I even wrote an "Editorial" on the first GP of the Renault Turbo (1977). What anguish! How do you write an editorial? I didn't know. Etienne Moity, editor-in-chief, told me: make me some local coffee! As for the internship at Antenne 2, I only stayed three days, because I was just a houseplant. I was useless and I called the Hebdo back to see if I could come back for another month. At the end of the internship, Etienne wanted to hire me. I negotiated with my school not to do the second year, only to write my thesis to validate the diploma. That's how I started in the profession in 1978. In the editorial office, everyone had their own chapel, except for me who was a bit of a free electron. I remember the Tour de Corse 78 where Andruet drove a 131 Abarth from the French importer. He dominated the race until 2 special stages from the finish where he lost 50 minutes in a gearbox change. It's Darniche who wins at the wheel of a "factory" Fiat. I write a piece "Andruet moral winner!" Both of them called me, one to congratulate me, the other to insult me, and that's when I realized that the people we were writing about were reading us. Months go by, I learn my trade and, soon, Michel Hommell decides to launch International Grand PrixHe offered me the chance to join the adventure, but I hadn't done my military service. The only solution was to get myself discharged. I did it in 9 days.

International Grand Prix, a magazine that would become legendary…

Yes, except that at the beginning, I was alone typing all the texts – plus those for AUTOhebdo – and Bernard Asset took all the photos. We worked like crazy. From the morning of the Grand Prix to the Wednesday closing, I didn't sleep a minute. A Grand Prix, between International Grand Prix and AUTOhebdo, this represented 100 sheets (or 150 characters. Ed.). What a job, but what a thrill. One issue was a Grand Prix, all in color, which was on newsstands a week after the event. A revolution. You have to realize that at the time, there were only 4 color pages in the Hebdo. We were in four languages ​​and even went up to six. Forty years later, people still talk about it. We were paid peanuts, but what a joy to travel the world. For me, it lasted three years.

Why did you leave?

Because in 1982, Renault asked me to replace Marie-Claude Beaumont and Jacques Poisson in communications. F1. I loved it Cheers whom I had known in Formula Renault and whose progress I had followed closely. When he started at McLaren, it was me who wrote his column in VOD, a weekly newspaper with a very high circulation at the time. As an aside, the best person for columns was Jean-Pierre Beltoise. He was really involved. On the other hand, there was Jarier. I'm not sure he read a single one of the columns signed by him that I wrote on his behalf when he was at Tyrrell. I hesitated to accept this job at Renault, because it required me to tear up my press card. A real heartbreak. It was the prospect of working with Prost and Gérard Larrousse that made up my mind. It was a lot of work, because there wasn't just F1, but also the rally, Formula Renault, etc. I spent three years at 34, quai du Point-du-Jour in Boulogne-Billancourt, but I wasn't too "Lozange". I was too independent. Once, because I had forgotten my badge, the guard refused me access to the parking lot. I kindly took him to the hood, but it didn't go down well with the management. I have plenty of anecdotes, like the one about Alain (Prost) who crashed in Monaco even though he had won the race. It's the only time I saw Larrousse lose his temper. In the motorhome, Alain, who was complaining about a bad knee, was lying down and keeping a low profile while listening to the complaints. When Gérard came out, he jumped to his feet and said to me: " Well, that's not all, shall we go to a restaurant? » In South Africa for the 1982 championship final, which Alain had every chance of winning, I had invited forty journalists, but he didn't want to give any interviews. I remember Dominique Bressot coming to see me to tell me that he was going to cut us down on Europe 1. It wasn't a big deal, unlike the fact that if I said no to a journalist, he would go see Alain live, who would talk to him. I looked like an idiot. We lost the championship, Prost slammed the door like a lot of others, and I was also about to leave when Bernard Hanon, CEO of Renault, asked me to stay on for another year. Which I did for a very enjoyable season with Tambay and Warwick, but I really didn't have the house spirit and I returned to AUTOhebdo to, once again, touch on a bit of everything. I had a great time. On the Dakar, I wrote a piece "Son of an advert!" which earned me the anger of Thierry Sabine. I forget guys like you in the desert. " he says to me. Jacky Ickx, who happens to be passing by at the same time, comes to my defense and says: " He's a good guy. If he said bad things about you, you deserve it! "A lord, this Jacky. Like Beltoise who did me the honor of accompanying me everywhere I went. Scratch to AUTO 30 Days…

Eric Bhat was the press officer at the 1 F1983 Detroit GP. Photo Bernard Asset

Let's not rush things. For now, you're still at the Hebdo...

Not for long, because after a short period at AUTO Défense, I was recruited by L'Automobile Magazine to take on the role of editorial director. Against general opinion, I launched an F1 season guide that I financed with advertising money that I had canvassed myself, and it set the powder keg alight. I was then told to start my own newspaper if I wasn't happy... I started to go around to my colleagues to see who wanted to follow me when the proposal came in AUTO Plus. I start on the 1st^er July 1988 and by mid-September I had hired thirty people, organized the editorial content and produced two "zero" issues (a complete version of a magazine or new version before first publication to test the layout and content. Ed.). At first, we had to translate 30% ofAUTO Bild, but it only lasted six months. I was the pain in the neck, however, I was left alone, because the newspaper was shown very quickly, very high with print runs of 350 copies. A success that did not please everyone. I can still hear Jean Sage, who I met by chance at the Motor Show, saying to me: " Do you think your concierge diary will last long? "It's been going on for over thirty years... We've done too many cool things, it was really the newspaper that was putting itself" in the driver's seat. » I left after ten years when the title was sold and ended up in the hands of a buyer whose first mission was to remove all the sections that caused offense. We didn't mince our words. I am very proud of this editorial team which has produced an incalculable number of future editors-in-chief. I resisted for a year when the title passed into the hands of EMAP and, tired of the war, I left. From the boarding school where I wrote my first articles to this departure ofAUTO Plus, I had lived three flamboyant decades. The rest, alas, was not going to be of the same ilk...

And why is that?

I am creating a magazine AUTO 30 Days. Some of the people ofAUTO Plus follow me, except that the means are lacking. For example, I was the boss, editor-in-chief, sales director, production director, and director of the association. I worked from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., but I wasn't doing anything well. Despite everything, we sold 50 copies, but we were hanging financially. After a year and a half, we had to stop. I didn't leave any debt. The last freelancer was paid off by selling my 000CV!

After this failure, I bounced back to AUTO-Live, a beautiful newspaper sold with a CD-ROM containing all the images of the tests published in the monthly issue. This lasted two years. Then appointed editor-in-chief of Motorcycle Journal, I'm having fun again in an atmosphere of pure passion. There, my old demons come back to haunt me. It was sport, I did what I wanted in my editorial office, but I got on the wrong side of the editor, notably by hiring a motorbike for the 24 Hours of Le MansThe motorcycle public is very different from the car public. It's there at the beginning and the end, not in the middle. We had the readers involved: one was the doctor, another was the cook, and so on. The guys and girls from the editorial staff were also involved. For example, the one who did the bike tests for the newspaper was the team manager. I had negotiated the bikes at Aprilia, and I had found a sponsor to cover the expenses. For six months, the readers were able to follow the construction of the project in the newspaper. When the weekend came, we qualified and, from the first to the last hour, we had supporters in front of our stand. You could hear: " Go MJ! » A month later, my boss fired me on the pretext that it had cost too much while the sponsorship had covered most of the expenses, that we had made a soap opera of this adventure and that it had been a big plus in terms of image. I do not regret this foray into the world of motorcycling which still allowed me to ride at 300 km/h behind Randy Mamola on a Ducati Desmosedici Biposto. He attacked like a madman. My elbows were touching the tarmac. After this beautiful interlude in nirvana, I found myself in hell at VOD. It was like nothing. There were only bosses who spent their time undoing what the other had done. In short, I didn't stay long. After a period of unemployment, I found a job: editor-in-chief ofPublic Actors, a monthly magazine about politics. It was professional press. I didn't find my way at all in the magazine's slightly flawed editorial line, but I had to eat. The editor wanted to control everything and it quickly became unbearable. We left it at that, and I bought a plane ticket to India.

Had this quest for origins been maturing for a long time?

No, my connection with India was then limited to the nickname that Etienne Moity had given it: "Patou l'Indou"! It all came from my friend Jérôme Froment, whom I had given a leg up in the press. I had met him in Nogaro when he was doing freelance work at New Obs. I introduced him like a lot of others. He was the one who introduced me to Ayurveda. He talked to me about it, but I didn't really listen until the day he took me to a cinema in Saint-Michel in Paris to see " Ayurveda, the voice of conscience! "I left the room thinking that this was what I wanted to do. This time, it was he who gave me a leg up and helped me find, through his connections in India, a good Ayurveda school. It changed my life.

Before, what was your relationship with India, with your origins?

Zero! I'd been there once and I didn't like it. In fact, I'd made the same mistake as everyone else: wanting to see too much in too little time. This time, I did the opposite. I enrolled in this school and stayed for three months. I discovered India, the real one, among the people. With Doctor Buthada and my base camp, I went without distinction to the rich and the poor. My friend Anil, who taught me massages, lived in a slum. Everything that happened during those three months delighted me. It grabbed me like journalism had grabbed me. I understood that Ayurveda is preventative. You have to talk to people, look at the color of their eyes, the color of their nails, their general appearance, their skin tone, their diet... you have to ask 2000 questions. Also, you have to think only about that and make it known. Today, people know the word, but not what it represents. We are in a Judeo-Christian culture where the word massage has strong connotations, even though it nourishes the body and helps build self-confidence. In India, men massage men and women massage women to avoid any ambiguity. It is preventative and curative. It doesn't cure everything, but it provides a good answer for everything. The big difference with Western medicine is that everyone is different. It is very strong, but it is the same for everyone. In Ayurveda, everyone is different, and what I say to you, I won't say to anyone else.

Is this also a philosophy of life?

Absolutely! It's breathing, meditation... I'm in contact with former F1 driver Michel Leclère, an old friend, who is a naturopath, and we talk a lot. I've had three passions: motor racing, the automotive press, and Ayurveda. If there's one phrase that unites all of this, it's: follow your dream! I'm 64 years old and I've had the incredible luck of having lived only on passions. Follow your dream ", it is a doctrine in which I believe a lot.

Is the automotive world now just a distant memory?

Certainly not! I have a lot of friends in the industry. We mentioned Michel Leclère, but I have remained very close to many former colleagues like Gérard Flocon with whom I watched the Italian GP where gasly has become a must. We were like crazy in front of the television, real fans. I regularly see the Bochet brothers again. With Philippe, last summer, we opened and closed a restaurant because we were so taken by our motorsport memories. I moved on to another job, but the passion remains. I still do some articles for the "Classic Courses" website, the articles I want, when I feel like it. I recently did one on Jean-Marc Andrié, a colleague from the early days at AUTOhebdo, who became Jean Ragnotti's co-pilot and who had a less fortunate fate than mine and I wanted to tell it in my own way. The passion remains, except that I no longer want to become world champion!

What has your “career” behind the wheel been like?

The Adour-Océan Cup at the wheel of a 2-liter Alfa Romeo GT that I put on the roof! I was also François Vivier's co-driver at Périgord Noir where we won Group A. A feat, because I vomited at the end of SS1. I did a rally driving a Simca Rallye with Michel Lamiscarre, but I went off. Really, it was better that I chose the press. I was so happy to experience the passion at the side of the tracks. For the 40th anniversary of François Cevert's death, there was a commemorative day where I found myself hosting the start in front of XNUMX people including Jackie Stewart, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Henri Pescarolo, etc. Whenever I was able to put a little toe back into motorsport, I never hesitated to do so. Johnny Rives, who initially guided me, is a very good friend, as is Bernard Asset, whom I have never left.

Has television ever attracted you?

I did a bit of it on "La Cinq", and a bit of radio too with RMC. On "La Cinq", it was Hubert Auriol, whom we had the misfortune of losing recently, who was commentating. He was a fantastic biker, but not a great presenter. One day in Milano Due at Berlusconi's studio, when Hubert was in his 17th year^e taken and I had gone to smoke a cigarette, I ran into Ayrton Senna, whom I didn't know personally. My face must have told him something and he came to talk to me. He was there to shoot a commercial. We had a coffee together. Magical moments.

Do you remember the last GP you attended?

How could we forget it! It was ten years ago, in 2011, for the 1^er Indian Grand Prix. I couldn't miss it! I saw lots of familiar faces in the paddock, like Pino Allievi from the Journal of Sport who laughed when he saw me: " Eric Bhat of Ayurveda » imitating Jean-Louis Moncet who always called me « Eric Bhat of Reno " after hearing Carlos Reutemann call me out like that one day. And then I ran into Patrick Head who invited me to have a Gin and Tonic during the trials, like we sometimes did thirty years earlier. Besides, if we hurry, we'll have time to go and have one at my place before curfew...

Why not! What line is it?

Metro line 8, to Boucicaut!