Willy BRAILLARD
Former Racing Driver
Entrepreneur
“The competition never left him… even with himself”
- 02:03 Courage, willpower, and perseverance! With these, you can move mountains.
- 03:10 From the moment we have results, confidence is established.
- 04:44 Motorsport wasn’t my dream at all!
- 17:57 Thanking their teams is important for champions like Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher
- 21:51 Luck comes to everyone, but you have to be ready to seize it when it does…
- 28:25 When I was 10, I wanted to be a company boss, and I am!
- 35:11 Competition is second nature to me
Stella BIDA, in conversation with Willy BRAILLARD, Former Racing Driver, Entrepreneur
Summarised conversation transcript
This is a summarized version of the conversation. You’ll find even more details and tips shared in the video.
Willy Braillard is an entrepreneur and former racing driver. During his sporting career, he won several titles in numerous international races. Since then, “competition has never left him… Even with himself.”
STELLA BIDA: Hello, today I’m welcoming Willy Braillard. I met Willy a few years ago during the Stars Rallye Télévie in Belgium. I also discovered his entrepreneurial side through many conversations; he’s also a former racing driver. He has so many facets that I can’t wait to discover with you. Willy, welcome to these conversations. Is there anything I forgot to say about you?
WILLY BRAILLARD : No. I think you summed it up well. A sporting background, a business background. Then there’s family, you forgot about family. I have a wife, we recently celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary!
STELLA BIDA: Congratulations!
WILLY BRAILLARD : Yes, it’s rare these days! And I have two daughters, Alexia and Florence. Alexia is continuing the business I started in 1980. And I have five grandchildren.
Courage, willpower, and perseverance! With these, you can move mountains!
STELLA BIDA: What aspect of yourself do you pass on to your grandchildren?
WILLY BRAILLARD : I think it’s the permanent smile. I’m rather an optimistic man, I always see the glass half full, rather than half empty, and so I try to pass that on to them. And I have a grandson who is 15 years old, who is at a very high level in tennis; he’s just returned from Cannes where he did a training course, he’s going back there maybe for a year. With my own sporting background, when things aren’t going very well, I tell him: “You have to hang in there, you have to have willpower!” I find that in life, you have to have three principles: courage, willpower, and perseverance. With that, you can move mountains! And that’s what I’ve done in my professional and sporting career.
From the moment we have results, confidence is established.
STELLA BIDA: What has been the meaning for you and in your life of being part of this sporting environment?
WILLY BRAILLARD : This environment brought me a lot of things. First of all, not being from a wealthy family, car racing was naturally a very expensive sport. The first thing is that I worked practically day and night to buy my first racing car. It took willpower and perseverance. By working evenings and weekends, I didn’t spend money, I didn’t go out like my friends. I was able to buy my first car, with which I was Belgian Champion in the first year. This allowed me to have a patron for the second year who bought me a car, and then after that, cars were given to me. From the moment I had results, confidence was established, and I could take their cars onto the podiums.
Doing motor racing was not my dream at all!
STELLA BIDA: Do you still remember the very first “seed” in your head? How did your dream begin?
WILLY BRAILLARD : It’s quite paradoxical because it wasn’t my dream at all! In fact, I was, and still am, very athletic since childhood. And at one point, I had a growth arrest. Because of this growth arrest, the doctors asked me to stop all physical exertion to save all my energy for growth. And so I had to stop all sports. And that was a disaster because I was truly desperate.
At the time, I had a classmate who was passionate about cars. I criticized motorsport, having never been in a racing car, I said it wasn’t a sport. Even though, despite everything, you need a lot of physical fitness, given the constraints. That’s how the trigger came, so racing wasn’t really a vocation at first.
Motorsport is an extraordinary school of willpower. You have to be determined to keep going despite the conditions.
STELLA BIDA: What is the greatest life lesson running has taught you?
WILLY BRAILLARD : Naturally, motor racing at the time was very dangerous. I unfortunately saw people killed in front of me, and friends who lost their lives. It’s an extraordinary school of willpower, because you really have to be determined to continue despite the conditions.
Thanking their teams is important for champions like Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher
STELLA BIDA: When you ride, you’re alone. But you often talk about the importance of your team. How important has having a team been in your career?
WILLY BRAILLARD : Without a team around you, you can’t do anything. This applies to mechanics, constructors, and tuners, and it’s the same principle in business. A CEO without a team around him can’t do much. He must be able to delegate, he must be able to have people he can trust. A team is essential. You have to be able to motivate it. Great champions like Michael Schumacher or Lewis Hamilton stay late with the mechanics at night, because if the team devotes itself body and soul to them, they thank them that way. It’s a way of devoting yourself body and soul to your team; you’re by their side, you encourage them, and so it motivates both sides. Both the driver for the efforts they make, and the team to see that the driver is there to support them. And I think it’s the same thing in business.
Luck comes to everyone, but you have to be ready to seize it when it comes...
STELLA BIDA: How were you able to thank yourself and motivate yourself when there was no one around you to do so? Where did you find your source of motivation to keep going when no one was applauding you?
WILLY BRAILLARD : I think my wife is very important because she has always supported me. I worked a lot, so I would come home, have dinner, and then get back to work. I never stop, I’m always busy, even with charities. I think there’s always a way to do good for others, and that’s one of my leitmotifs too. From the moment you make every effort, there’s nothing to do; success follows. It takes willpower. There’s luck too, of course, but luck comes to everyone. You just have to bend down when it comes. Make the effort to bend down. Well, that’s an image, of course.
I remember that the reason I was able to afford a second car was because I helped a gentleman put the wheels on his race car and he took a liking to me. Then he watched me and followed my results, and he said to himself: “He deserves to be helped!” But if I hadn’t put the wheels on, or offered to help him, I would never have done a second season.
I also believe that motorsport has allowed me to take risks in everyday life and in business. Because it’s a school of life. It gives you a character that makes you different!
Being kind isn't a weakness, it's how you meet great people!
STELLA BIDA: You are a very generous person. How important is this generosity? Sometimes, it can seem like being “too kind” is a weakness. What do you think about that?
WILLY BRAILLARD : No, I don’t agree with that at all. I think that if you give, you receive in return. Generosity is human nature. I donate to several charities. It’s also generosity that has allowed me to meet so many wonderful people! And you’ve met them too, since you’ve come to the rally several times, and it’s through acts of generosity that we’ve met too.
At 10 years old, I wanted to be a company boss, and I am!
STELLA BIDA: If you had 10-year-old Willy Braillard with you, what would you say to him?
WILLY BRAILLARD : Live your life, follow your dreams! I told you at the start that motor racing wasn’t a dream, but I was lucky enough to be able to do it, and to achieve everything that came with it.
As for parents who want to impose a path on their children, I think that sometimes it is not their vocation and it is not their wish. There is certainly an age when we do not really know where to go, and what we want to do. My father was a Sales Representative, a hardworking man who was very successful in his profession, but he had a boss, and I wanted to be this boss. Finally, I started my own company, and I found myself the boss! I think it was around the age of 10 that I was already thinking about it.
Competition is second nature to me.
STELLA BIDA: Willy, competition is present in your life, in sports, your entrepreneurial side, your hobbies, etc. You are in constant competition with yourself. Can you tell us more about this constantly competitive spirit you have?
WILLY BRAILLARD : I think it’s a question of nature, I was born that way. My dad did a little sport but not at a high level. Maybe he passed on what he would have wanted to do to his children. When I was 10 years old, I went running around the stadium, no one forced me, no one asked me. On the contrary! I got up earlier than my parents to go running, while still going to school, of course. So it was second nature, it was sport and competition, trying to be the best, of course. I was setting times on the track, and I saw myself progressing. This spirit has never left me!
STELLA BIDA: Willy, thank you very much for being here today.
WILLY BRAILLARD : One last little thing perhaps. A maxim I’ve always remembered was Gandhi who said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” That’s what I put into practice!
STELLA BIDA: Beautiful fence! Thank you, Willy.
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