The Ligier JS11 was a successful ground effect car designed by Gérard Ducarouge. It was powered by the Ford Cosworth DFV married to a Ligier in-house built gearbox. It competed in the 1979 and 1980 world championships and proved to be very competitive.

Driven by Jacques Laffite, the car won the first two races of the 1979 season and scored consistently. It was thought by many to be a championship winner until Ferrari introduced its 312T4 chassis. Even so, the Ligiers stayed in contention throughout the season, with Patrick Depailler winning a further race in Spain. The team eventually finished third behind Ferrari and Williams in the constructors' championship. Depailler was injured halfway through the season in a hang-gliding accident and was replaced by Jacky Ickx, but he struggled to keep pace with the car and his team mate and left at the end of the season, having scored only a handful of points.

JS11/15

For 1980, the JS11 was updated with improved aerodynamics and better ground effects. The team took on Didier Pironi in place of Depailler. Again the car was fast and competitive, but the Brabham BT49 and the Williams FW07 proved to be the cars to beat, with Alan Jones taking the world championship. Even so, the team still scored two wins, and would surely have taken more but for several suspension and tyre failures in the mid season. The car was producing so much downforce that the suspension and wheelhubs were coming under direct loading and therefore stress fractures developed. This was due to the immense pressure exerted on the suspension arms and the wheels by the ground effect, causing them to fail under hard braking. This effectively cost Ligier the chance to fight with Williams and Brabham for both titles.

The team finished second in the constructors' championship in 1980 ahead of Brabham, and the JS11 evolved into the JS17 for 1981. The JS11 was used as a primary test car for Michelin to experiment with their tyres.

In all the JS11 took five wins, seven pole positions and scored 127 points in its career.

Media

The JS11 was made (more) famous in the toy line and cartoon ''Transformers'' as the Autobot Mirage. To escape possible royalties and most likely dodge regulations in various countries regarding tobacco livery on toys, the ''Gitanes'' logo on Laffite's JS11 was changed to "''Citanes''". In Italy, the logo was changed furthermore to "Ligier".

External links

Category:Ligier Formula One cars Category:1979 Formula One season cars

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Coordinates

23°33′″N46°38′″N

{{infobox f1 driver| name

Didier Pironi | image Didier-1.jpg|200px | caption Pironi as a Formula Two driver in 1977. | nationality French | birth_date March 26, 1952 | death_date August 23, 1987 | Years – | Team(s) Tyrrell, Ligier, Ferrari | Races 72 (70 starts) | Championships 0 | Wins 3 | Podiums 13 | Points 101 | Poles 4 | Fastest laps 5 | First race 1978 Argentine Grand Prix | First win 1980 Belgian Grand Prix | Last win 1982 Dutch Grand Prix | Last race 1982 German Grand Prix }}

{{infobox le mans driver | years	1976 – 1978, 1980 | Team(s) Porsche Kremer Racing, J. Haran de Chaunac, Renault Sport, BMW France | Best Finish 1st (1978) | Class Wins 1 (1978) }}

|}

Didier Joseph-Lovis Pironi (26 March 1952 – 23 August 1987) was a racing driver from France. During his career he competed in 72 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, driving for Tyrrell (1978–79), Ligier (1980) and Ferrari (1981–1982). He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1978 driving a Renault Alpine A442B.

Career

Pironi was born in Villecresnes, Val-de-Marne.

Initially Pironi began studying as an engineer, but this fell by the wayside following his enrollment at the Paul Ricard driving school. He was awarded the Pilot Elf sponsorship bursary in 1972, with the French national oil company funding his early career, mostly in Renault-powered vehicles. Benefiting from this same Elf sponsorship, to promote young French motorsport talent, that bequeathed the likes of Patrick Tambay and Alain Prost to Formula One, Didier Pironi made his top-flight debut on January 15, 1978. This was with Ken Tyrrell's team which, despite being British, had a strong working relationship with Elf, dating back to the late 1960s. In the same year, Pironi was part of the massive Renault squad tasked with winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Partnering Jean-Pierre Jaussaud in the team's second car, the unusual "''bubble roof''" A442B, he won the race by four laps from the rival Porsche 936s.

Two seasons with the underfinanced Tyrrell team demonstrated enough promise for Guy Ligier to sign Pironi to his rather erratic eponymous French team in 1980, a season in which Didier recorded his first victory, in the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, as well as several podium finishes. Indeed, such were Pironi's performances that as early as the second race of the season, Enzo Ferrari expressed an interest in the Frenchman's services, which he secured for 1981.

Teamed with Gilles Villeneuve, Pironi was rather shaded in his first season with Ferrari, though Villeneuve welcomed the Frenchman and treated him as an equal. For someone so preoccupied with becoming the first French driver to win the Formula One title, the events of this year may have played a role in the turbulent and unhappy 1982 campaign. Establishing a fine rapport with the senior members of the team, Pironi arguably exploited this good relationship in the aftermath of the notorious San Marino race where he is widely thought to have duped Villeneuve into conceding victory by giving the impression that he would follow his Canadian team-mate through the final lap, only to unexpectedly power past him into the Tosa hairpin. Pironi's friendship with senior members in the team resulted in his dubious story of "engine problems" for both cars gaining widespread currency, much to Villeneuve's chagrin. The Canadian was killed in qualifying at the following Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, and his furious state of mind is often considered a contributory cause to his accident.

With a fast, reliable car, the title looked to be Pironi's for the taking, but the Frenchman's own state of mind underwent severe stress due to several factors. Widespread antipathy was directed toward him in the wake of the Zolder tragedy, since he was criticized for reneging on his relationship afforded by Villeneuve. There was also the breakdown of his marriage, and he observed at first hand the death of Riccardo Paletti in the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix, the young Italian ploughing into Pironi's stalled Ferrari on the starting grid. Some of these events may have resulted in the over-confidence and arrogance that team members are reported to have observed in Pironi's behaviour at subsequent events, including an absolute certainty that he would win the title. In such a mindset, he unnecessarily lapped a drenched Hockenheim during a practice session at the German Grand Prix at high speed. Passing Derek Daly's Williams, Pironi, unsighted, smashed into the back of Alain Prost's Renault, triggering a violent accident which bore some similarity to that suffered by Villeneuve. Pironi survived, but injuries to his legs meant he never raced again in Formula 1. Pironi's crash was so bad that FIA doctor Sid Watkins had considered amputating Pironi's legs to remove him from the wrecked Ferrari. At this point, he was leading with 39 points in the championship, ahead of Watson (30) and Rosberg (27), but Pironi was relegated to runner-up as Rosberg passed him to become World Champion with 44 points.

In his Formula One career Didier Pironi won 3 races, achieved 13 podiums, and scored a total of 101 championship points. He also secured 4 pole positions.

Death

In 1986 it looked as if Pironi would make a comeback when he tested for the French AGS team. Although he proved that he was still fast enough to be competitive in Formula One, Pironi decided to turn to offshore powerboat racing instead. On August 23, 1987, Pironi was killed in an accident near the Isle of Wight, that also took the life of his two crew members: journalist Bernard Giroux and his old friend Jean-Claude Guenard, when the boat rode over a rough wave caused by an oil tanker, causing the boat to flip over.

Some weeks after Pironi's death his girlfriend gave birth to twins. She decided to name them Didier and Gilles.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

! Year

! Entrant

! Chassis

! Engine

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! WDC

! Points

! Elf Aquitaine

! [[Tyrrell Racing

! [[Cosworth V8

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! 15th

! 7

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Tyrrell Racing>Team Tyrrell

[[Cosworth">Tyrrell Racing

[[Cosworth V8

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10th

14

!

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! [[Equipe Ligier">Candy (company)

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! [[Equipe Ligier Gitanes

! Equipe Ligier

! [[Cosworth V8

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! 5th

! 32

! Scuderia Ferrari

! Scuderia Ferrari

Ferrari V6

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! 13th

! 9

! Scuderia Ferrari

! Scuderia Ferrari

Ferrari V6

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References

External links

Category:1952 births Category:1987 deaths Category:People from Villecresnes Category:French racecar drivers Category:French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Category:French Formula One drivers Category:Ferrari Formula One drivers Category:European Formula Two Championship drivers Category:Atlantic Championship drivers Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Category:French people of Italian descent Category:Sport deaths in England Category:Motorboat racers killed while racing

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