From butcher to F1: the inspiring tale of Ligier

The firm raced its JS2 car at Le Mans in the 1970s

Guy Ligier started with nothing but ended up owning an F1 race team – and building microcars

Ligier recently hit the news by recording the slowest ever lap of the Nürburgring, amusingly claiming this “hinted at its glorious history”. But what exactly is that history?
Well, the name Ligier first appeared in Autocar in March 1964, on the entry list for the forthcoming Le Mans 24 Hours. Driving for the French importer of Porsches, Guy Ligier would finish seventh in a 904.
It had taken the 33-year-old seven years to reach this point since entering his first car race – a rise that was inspiringly self-propelled.
Ligier 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 (giving him, Autocar would later describe, “a taste for com