26 Facts About Guy Ligier

Guy Ligier maintained many varied and successful careers over the course of his life, including rugby player, butcher, racing driver and Formula One team owner.

Guy Ligier is the father of Philippe and Pascale Ligier and the grand father of Etienne Ligier former French motorsport hopeful.

The son of a farmer, Ligier was orphaned at 7 years of age.

Guy Ligier left school in his mid-teens and went to work as a butcher's assistant in his home town of Vichy.

Guy Ligier had a passion for rugby and was good enough to play for the French Army during National Service earning a place on the French national B team.

Guy Ligier made an early foray into auto racing with a Simca 1300 at the 1957 Parisian Salon Cups in Montlhery, but it was in 1960 that he first tried his hand at single-seater racing with a Formula Junior Elva-DKW, which he drove at Monaco and Montlhery.

That same year Ford France signed Guy Ligier to drive one of two Formula 2 Brabham BT6 cars.

Guy Ligier broke into Formula One as a privateer, entering his own Cooper-Maserati T81 in the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix.

In 1967 Guy Ligier fielded another car of his own, a Brabham-Repco BT20, in the British Grand Prix.

Guy Ligier won the 12 Hours of Reims when sharing a GT40 Mk IIB with Schlesser.

In 1968 Guy Ligier drove a Ford Escort TC in the Coupes de Vitesse.

That was the same year that Ford France was winding down its motorsports involvement, so Guy Ligier partnered with Schlesser and Jose Behra to launch Ecurie InterSport with a pair of McLaren Formula 2 cars.

The shocking loss of his friend prompts Guy Ligier to retire from racing.

Guy Ligier had one outing in a Ford Escort TC in the 1969 Coupes de l'ACIF, but he returned to regular competition in 1970 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a car bearing his own name, the Guy Ligier JS1, and continued to participate in various endurance races with his own cars until 1974.

In total Guy Ligier participated in thirteen Grand Prix Formula 1 races, getting one point in the drivers' world championship with an eighth-place finish in the German Grand Prix in 1966 due to the two finishers in front of him being F2 cars, and so ineligible for F1 points.

In 1968 Guy Ligier established "Guy Ligier Cars" to build his own sports-racing cars in fulfillment of the dream that he and former teammate, business partner and close friend, the late Jo Schlesser had shared to build a "good car".

Guy Ligier hired Michel Tetu to design the cars, and the first car produced was the JS1 prototype, the "JS" in this and all subsequent names being a tribute to Schlesser.

When Guy Ligier ran into trouble in 1983 the President ordered that government-owned companies such as Elf, Gitanes and Loto should supply sponsorship.

Guy Ligier had preferential treatment when it came to engines, political pressure being applied to Renault to force the company to supply the team, which used Renault engines from 1984 to 1986 and from 1992 to 1994.

Equipe Guy Ligier managed to contest 326 Grand Prix races, make 50 podiums appearances, notch 9 victories, claim second place in the 1980 World Championship and build over 20 Formula 1 cars.

In 1992 Guy Ligier realized that the socialist government would not last forever and sold his team to Cyril de Rouvre.

Guy Ligier used the money from the sale to corner the market in natural fertilizer in central France and set about building another fortune.

Guy Ligier remained involved with the old Formula 1 team in an ambassadorial role until it was sold yet again, this time to Alain Prost in February 1997 and renamed Prost Grand Prix.

The name Guy Ligier returned to the motor racing spotlight in 2014 when Jacques Nicolet's Onroak Automotive began building cars.

Guy Ligier's son had become a constructor of Formula 3 cars.

Guy Ligier was survived by his wife and their two children, son Philippe and daughter Pascale.