Guy Ligier died tonoght; he was 85 years old. Former Formula 1 team boss and racing driver Guy Ligier dies - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com
Sad. I was googling him the other day as I read something about a rugby player named ''Ligier''. I thought,''surely not?'' and thought it was a damn cool story! From Rugby player to racing driver/team owner. RIP, you lived a full life Guy!
I already knew he played rugby and that he made microcars, but I´ve just read that he was good too at rowing and motorbikes, and that he had succesful construction and fertilizer businesses. He really could say that he hasn´t wasted his time.
He could be criticised for having used his political friendships rather often (but he was not the first, nor will he be the last) but he was, indeed, "larger than life". Rgds
I knew that he used some "connections" to help his F1 team, so it´s easy to guess that he did the same in his other businesses. Do you know where these "connections" came from?
They came through fidelity to his local origins, his business in construction, and local politics (Hoping not to derail the thread too much…a very quick résumé) Most French people had a strong loyalty to the place, or the department, were they were born; Ligier was born in Vichy, which is situated in the department de l’Allier; the nearest department at the north is the rural department of the Nièvre, where, as active in the construction business, Ligier worked from time to time (at its best, his construction business was a big company with more than 1.000 employees). The Nièvre département has been chosen by a politician from Paris as a place with good chances of being elected as a député: François Mitterrand. He then was always reelected here, and held a strong loyalty to his chosen ground. When Mitterrand decided to make the Nievre his place of choice, one of the very few person that helped him locally from his beginnings here was a cattle breeder, Jean Bernigaud, who was also the mayor of a small town, Magny-Cours. Mitterrand was always very steadfast in his friendships, sometimes to the point of fault, and always remained thankful to Bernigaud for having been kind to him at his beginnings here: for instance, Mitterrand became godfather to one of Bernigaud’s sons. Bernigaud was a wealthy man, and a car enthusiast: he had a small track constructed at Magny-cours for his own enjoyment. Bernigaud knew Guy Ligier well through some constructions deals, so Ligier was one of the contractors for the track; Bernigaud introduced Ligier to Mitterrand at this time, who immediately befriended him. When Bernigaud died, his widow didn’t know what to do with the track; the local authorities (“Conseil Général” initially refused to buy it, but were quickly “ordered” to. Later, during the eighties, when Mitterrand became President, one of his ministers, Pierre Beregovoy, also held a mandate in the departement de la Nievre (he was mayor of Nevers). Ligier, in the meantime, has become owner of a Formula One team; he decided that Magny-cours could be suitable as a basis for his team, and also as a venue for a Grand-Prix, and had Mitterrand, Beregovoy and others channel money, mainly from the fench Loto, to that purpose. The whole use of that sponsorship money from public companies to be channeled in the Magny-Cours track was subject to some public enquiries from the “Cour des Comptes” (scrutining authority for accounting of public money) but never ended in any court or trial. Rgds
Thanks for the info. I didn´t know the origins of the Magny-Cours circuit. Apparently Ligier always got sponsorship from State-owned companies (i.e. SEITA) quite easily.
In fact the SEITA sponsorship never was controversial, as Ligier inherited it from Matra, who had negociated it initially. When Matra decided to stop its endurance racing efforts at the end of 1974, one of its drivers, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, made strenuous efforts to bring the V12 engine to Ligier and to convince Ligier to build a Formula One. When this scheme was agreed between Ligier and Matra, Ligier inherited not only the engine in the deal, but the sponsorship as well. And also some technical support including Gérard Ducarouge. Of course, Jean-Pierre Beltoise made all these efforts with the impression that he would be naturally the one to inherit the wheel of the new Ligier Formula One, only to discover that a shoot-out has been scheduled between him and Jacques Laffite at the end of the year (1975); as he was out of form, not having driven a Formula one for a year, he was thoroughly eclipsed by a sharp Jacques Laffite, who won the car. Beltoise remained bitter about this for years. Rgds
RIP. He may have been a "politician", but he was also a true "racer". And thinking of the sound from that Matra lump still gives me goosebumps! Ferrari's 12's were glorious, but you *always* knew when a Matra engined Ligier was approaching! Ian
A whole chapter of French motorsport closes with the death of Guy Ligier. It had started in early 60s, when Jean Redele brought the little Alpines in competition, awakening a passion that had almost died down since WWI. Matra followed, Ford-France too with a Lotus 7 Challenge, Renault launched "la Gord", the famous R8 Gordini. Within a few years the French became enthusiastic again about their own chances, and names like Pescarolo, Beltoise, Jarier, Ragnotti, Lagier, Cevert, Depailler, Jabouille, Lafitte, Jaussaud and else came to join Schlesser, Ligier, Vidal or Larousse made headlines almost every week in international competition. Within years, France had pilots in F1 (7 at one time), regular winners in F2, several national series, chassis builders and several F1 teams! The French government bankrolled a few teams, whilst nationalised companies sponsored racing schools, series, circuits, teams, drivers, etc... How things have changed! No more French F1 team (no proper one anyway), not many French drivers reaching F1 nowadays (Grosjean is mostly Swiss), not many spnsorship coming from France anymore, no more French GP, etc... The death of Guy Ligier, a long time standard-bearer of French motor sport is now gone. Like him or not, his was a good effort. R.I.P. Guy Ligier.
Twilight zone moment: I just read an article about him in the local French newspapers in regards to the Belgium GP and two days later he is gone. RIP
When i was living in europe in 89 - 90 ... i was very fortunate to be able to get into a lot of F-1 races ... and be in the Paddock. The Ligier guys & M. Ligier were very nice to a young american F-1 crazed kid... they fed me, and made me feel like part of the team... even got to ride to Bandol with the mechanics one thursday evening after a test session. He also got me connected with Winfield school and contacts in F- Renault ... that unfortunatley showed that I was NOT going to have a career in F-1 as a driver! Adieu M. Ligier
