Ligier has set a record at the Nürburgring, claiming the slowest ever lap around the Nordschleife. Its diesel powered JS50 quadricycle took 28min 25.8sec to complete a lap of the 12.9 mile circuit. This, according to the French microcar manufacturer, "hinted at its glorious history in Formula 1". The car's top speed? 28 miles per hour. The previous record? 16:01, set by a Trabant back in 1960. Ligier beat it by nearly twelve and a half minutes. Slower.
The connection to F1 glory might seem tenuous until you understand who built these microcars and how he got there.
From Butcher's Assistant to Construction Magnate
Guy Camille Ligier was born in Vichy in 1930. The son of a farmer, Ligier was orphaned at 7 years of age. He left school in his mid teens and went to work as a butcher's assistant in his home town of Vichy. He had lost his father, a Vichy farmer, aged seven and left school at 14 with no qualifications, finding work as a butcher's assistant. He showed an early aptitude for sport, becoming an excellent rower, playing international rugby while doing his national service.
Determined to make something of himself, in 1960 Ligier bought a used bulldozer and pulled 18 hour days shifting earth. With help from Pierre Coulon, Vichy's Mayor, he founded the public works company "Ligier Travaux Publics". With motorway construction booming in France, Ligier was able to rapidly expand his business. By 1961, he had 1200 employees and 500 machines. Friends recalled they'd never seen bulldozers driven so fast. With assistance of political allies, François Mitterrand and Pierre Bérégovoy, Ligier's business boomed in the 60s building roads in France.
The Racing Career: Brief and Unremarkable
When his rugby career ended, he switched to racing but on motorcycles. He would win the French Motorbike Championship in the 500cc class riding a Norton Manx in 1959 and in 1960. Cars came next. In 1966, Ligier entered Formula 1, buying a Cooper and making his debut at Monaco. He was lucky to escape a crash later that year at the Nürburgring and had to buy a new car for 1967. But nor was this Brabham competitive, and so a 'disgusted' Ligier walked away after 13 grands prix, in which his finest finish was a point scoring eighth.
In total 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. One point. From thirteen races. As a driver, Guy Ligier was unremarkable.
The Friend Who Changed Everything
Guy's close friend Jo Schlesser, another self made man, with whom he had owned a Shelby dealership in Paris, was recently killed in an F1 crash. Schlesser was killed in 1968 at the French Grand Prix while at the wheel of the magnesium bodied air cooled Honda RA302 Formula One car. The shocking loss of his friend prompted Ligier to retire from racing.
Ligier next set about building cars of his own. For the chassis, he hired an engineer from French sports car racing specialist CD; for the body, he contracted Italian coachbuilder Frua; and for the powertrain, he sourced a Ford Cosworth V6 engine and a Hewland manual gearbox. The car was named the JS1, after Jo Schlesser. Every Ligier car thereafter would carry those initials as tribute.
The F1 Team: Pale Blue Glory
Following the acquisition of the Matra F1 team's assets, Ligier entered Formula One with a Matra V12 powered car, and won the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix with Jacques Laffite. This is generally considered to have been the first all French victory in the Formula One World Championship as well as the first Formula One victory for a French licensed team and a French engine.
The deal with Matra ceased in 1979 and Ligier built a Cosworth powered wing car, the Ligier JS11. The JS11 began the season winning the first two races in the hands of Laffite. Ligier's cars, particularly the JS11 and its successors, made the team one of the top constructors in the early 1980s. McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said: "As a child growing up in Le Mans, I was inspired and entranced by his iconic and beautiful pale blue and white Ligier Formula 1 cars, driven with panache and aplomb by such French racing heroes as Jacques Laffite, Patrick Depailler and Didier Pironi".
The team won nine races total. Ligier's final Formula 1 win came in 1996, with Olivier Panis winning the Monaco Grand Prix. This victory was notable as it was the first all French victory at Monaco since 1930 and ended a long winless streak for Ligier. A poetic ending before Alain Prost bought the team and it became Prost Grand Prix.
The Microcar Pivot Nobody Expected
After all this, it was baffling when at the 1980 Paris motor show, Ligier unveiled a 49cc two stroke microcar with all the shapeliness of a tractor cabin… because that was what it was. Ever entrepreneurial, Guy manufactured these for Renault Trucks and had seen an easy way to capitalise on the blooming market for 'voitures sans permis' – drivable in France by people as young as 14.
Having built a variety of sports racing and Formula 1 cars, Ligier began to diversify his automobile company in the 1980s. Beginning with tractor cabs, the Ligier Group later began production of "voitures sans permis", a class of microcar in France that may be driven without an operator's license, with the release of the Ligier JS4.
In 1992 Ligier realized that the socialist government would not last forever and sold his team to Cyril de Rouvre. Ligier used the money from the sale to corner the market in natural fertilizer in central France and set about building another fortune. With the profits from the sale, the businessman in Ligier moved into the natural fertiliser market, again amassing another fortune, helping him create another venture with the development of the Ligier Microcars.
The Legacy: Europe's Microcar Giant
In September 2008, Ligier Automobiles completed its acquisition of Beneteau Group's Microcar division. The merger creates Europe's second largest microcar manufacturer after Daimler's Smart unit, and largest manufacturer of drivers license exempt vehicles. Guy died in 2015, aged 85, with his business passed to his son Philippe. It's now the biggest microcar maker and races in a variety of disciplines, Le Mans included.
Ligier aims to produce 30,000 passenger microcars and 10,000 utility vehicles annually by 2028. With these goals, Ligier aims to achieve 400 million euros in revenue. From butcher's assistant to F1 team owner to microcar empire worth hundreds of millions. Not bad for an orphan with no qualifications who bought a used bulldozer.
The Slowest Lap Makes Perfect Sense
French journalists Martin Coulomb and Nicolas Meunier drove the JS50 from Paris to the Nordschleife in preparation for its run, completing their 310 mile journey using a single tank of diesel. They recorded a fuel economy figure of 94.16mpg, doubtless aided by the pedestrian pace of the quadricycle.
The JS50 produces a mighty 8 horsepower in its most powerful trim and has a blistering top speed of 28 miles per hour. That's not a typo. Eight horsepower. Making a horsepower output of eight, as in two horsepower less than most people have fingers. The fastest production car around the Ring is the Mercedes AMG One at 6:29.1. The slowest is now Ligier's JS50 at 28:25.8. Both carry the three pointed star's engineering DNA in different forms. Mercedes builds the fastest. Ligier, once Guy's F1 competitor, now builds the slowest.
According to the French microcar manufacturer, this "hinted at its glorious history in Formula 1". It's audacious marketing connecting eight horsepower microcars with nine F1 victories. It's also perfectly Guy Ligier. A man who sold bulldozers, played international rugby, won motorcycle championships, raced F1, built sports cars, created an F1 team, cornered the fertilizer market, and became Europe's largest microcar manufacturer would absolutely see glory in both extremes. Fast or slow doesn't matter. What matters is doing something nobody else did and doing it with French flair.
Guy died in 2015, aged 85. All that's really missing is a road going sports car. The JS2 ended production in 1973. The microcars thrived. The F1 team became Prost Grand Prix then dissolved. But the name survives. Ligier prototypes still race at Le Mans. Ligier microcars still dominate European streets. And now a Ligier holds the slowest Nürburgring lap ever recorded. From butcher's assistant to both ends of the performance spectrum. Guy would have loved it.