Draft:Sylvain Levy

Sylvain Levy, born 16 June 1993 in Saint-Priest-en-Jarez (Loire), is a French web video artist. From July 2017 to December 2023, he hosted the YouTube channel Vilebrequin, providing humorous and educational content about cars with Pierre Chabrier.

Biography

Sylvain Levy was born on 16 June 1993 in Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, and grew up in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, in the Loire region[1]. During his childhood, he developed a passion for cars. In particular, he took part in karting competitions. In the third year of secondary school, he took part in an inter-school competition for the ‘Super Technologie’ option, which involved creating and presenting a technical object. He won the competition and became French champion[2].

After completing a master's degree in marketing on a sandwich course in November 2015, he moved to Paris to work for Valeo as product manager for the HGV range[1]. Rejecting an offer to extend his contract, he moved on to the competition, signing a contract in October 2016 with Bosch in the same role[1].

Career on Youtube

Success with Vilebrequin (2017-2023)

Additionally in 2016, Sylvain Levy met Pierre Chabrier while carpooling. The two men quickly became friends and discovered a shared passion for cars. Keen to share their passion, they set up the YouTube channel Vilebrequin in January 2017. Their first video, in which they cut the roof off a Peugeot 106, was published on 23 July 2017[3].

They made a name for themselves with the filming of their first ‘zero-budget’ test: ‘driving over a speed bump at 130 km/h’, which reached one million views in four days[4]. The two videographers went on to shoot regular videos in the Bosch workshops. However, Sylvain was made redundant at the end of 2018 when his employer discovered his other activity, which he deemed incompatible with his work[1]. With 89,000 subscribers, he was unemployed and earned only around €300 a month from his videos[5].

Sylvain and Pierre's popularity grew steadily, thanks in particular to the ‘1000tipla’ project, in which they modified a Fiat Multipla to give it 1000 horsepower.

In 2022, at the invitation of Squeezie, the French video artist with the most subscribers on YouTube, Sylvain and Pierre took part in the GP Explorer, a Formula 4 race bringing together 22 French content creators, where they represented their YouTube channel. On 8 October 2022, Sylvain won the race with the NordVPN team, ahead of videographer Depielo[6],[7]. A few days later, he had a stand with Pierre Chabrier at the Paris Motor Show 2022[8],[9].

On 7 December 2023, the duo announced the end of their YouTube channel, saying: ‘Our goals are becoming different. We have different visions of life. Our personal lives are becoming different"[10]. At the same time, Sylvain announced that he would be taking on individual projects on Twitch and YouTube[10],[11],[12].

Television career (since 2024)

In 2023, Sylvain Levy was announced alongside Pierre Chabrier to take over the hosting of the motoring programme Top Gear France (adapted from the British british programme of the same name), the ninth season of which will be broadcast from 15 March 2024 on RMC Découverte and Prime video[3],[13],[14].

Solo videographer (since 2024)

After an announcement video published on his channel at the end of 2023, since 28 March 2024 he has been publishing weekly videos focusing on the world of cars..

At the same time, he regularly broadcasts video game tests on Twitch..

Court case

In the video entitled « Armoured windows, do they really work? » , Sylvain Lévy and Pierre Chabrier test a whole arsenal of firearms on an armoured Peugeot 807 in the Ardennes. However, the person designated as the session supervisor did not in fact hold any authorisation to organise this introduction to shooting. As a result of this offence, the tandem and their supervisor were brought before the Charleville-Mézières court for carrying a prohibited weapon in the case of Sylvain and Pierre, and for carrying/transporting an unauthorised weapon and organising an introductory shooting session by an unauthorised person in the case of the supervisor[15].

The trial of the three men was due to take place on 11 September 2023, but was postponed until 18 December 2023, a postponement having been requested by one of the defence lawyers. Sylvain Levy and Pierre Chabrier were each fined €3,000 [17].

Controversy

Crankshaft stop

On 15 August 2024, Pierre Chabrier published a video entitled La vérité sur Vilebrequin et le 1000tipla (The truth about Vilebrequin and 1000tipla), in which he discussed the reasons for the end of the YouTube channel, Sylvain Levy's behaviour towards his collaborators, and the future of 1000tipla[18],[19],[20]. He also explained that he had taken legal action against his former colleague, accusing him of buying 1000tipla without his consent and taking it over[18],[19]. Moreover, according to Pierre, the purchase price was much lower than the actual price of the vehicle[21]. The following day, Sylvain Levy published a response on social networks, denying Pierre Chabrier's accusations and regretting at the same time a ‘sterile conflict’[18],[19],[22]. Sylvain Levy explained that he had bought the Multipla in order to ‘drive it’, whereas Pierre Chabrier's aim ‘was to make it a static object and use it as a promotional item’[23].

Category:French television presenters Category:People in the automobile industry Category:French YouTubers