Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives

AGS
Full name	Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives
Base	Gonfaron, France
Founder(s)	Henri Julien
Noted staff	Cyril de Rouvre ; Patrizio Cantù; Hughes de Chaunac; Gabriele Rafanelli; Christian Vanderpleyn; Claude Galopin
Noted drivers	Ivan Capelli ; Pascal Fabre ; Roberto Moreno ; Philippe Streiff ; Joachim Winkelhock ; Gabriele Tarquini ; Yannick Dalmas ; Stefan Johansson ; Fabrizio Barbazza ; Olivier Grouillard
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	1986 Italian Grand Prix
Races entered	80
Engines	Motori Moderni, Cosworth
Constructors'; Championships	0
Drivers'; Championships	0
Race victories	0 (best finish: 6th, 1987 Australian Grand Prix and 1989 Mexican Grand Prix)
Pole positions	0 (best grid position: 10th, 1988 Canadian Grand Prix)
Fastest laps	0
Final entry	1991 Spanish Grand Prix

Last updated May 14, 2024

Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives (also known as AGS and Gonfaron Sports Cars) was a small French racecar constructor that competed in various racing categories over a period of thirty years, including Formula One from 1986 to 1991.

Foundation

The team was founded by the French mechanic, Henri Julien, who ran a filling station, the "Garage de l'Avenir", in Gonfaron, a provincial French village.^[2] In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Julien regularly attended racing events in minor classes. Although not an outstanding driver, the technical knowledge he gained eventually prompted him to start constructing racing cars.

First car

Julien's first car, the AGS JH1, saw the light of day in 1969. It was a small single-seater, intended for the category of "Formule France". The car was designed by Julien's former apprentice, the Belgian mechanic Christian Vanderpleyn, who had been with the garage (and the racing team) since the very late 1950s and who would stay on until 1988. Soon, AGS went progressed and manufactured its own Formula 3 cars, which were ambitious but not good enough to compete seriously with the state-of-art Martinis which dominated the series at the time.

Formula 2

AGS took another step ahead in 1978 when the team started competing in the European Formula 2 Championship. Still, the car - by now the AGS JH15 - was self-penned (by Vanderpleyn), self-built and self-run. Formula 2 was a difficult task for the small team, racing 1978 and 1979 without scoring any championship points. The early 1980s were somewhat better. AGS was one of the few teams who ran its own cars (Maurer, Minardi and Merzario were the others), and eventually the team was able to score points regularly. Soon some victories came, too. AGS made history when works driver Philippe Streiff won the final race of Formula 2 in 1984, using an AGS JH19C.

Formula 3000

In 1985, AGS switched to Formula 3000 with the JH20, based on the Duqueine VG4 Formula 3 chassis.^[3] The JH20 used a Cosworth DFV engine supplied through the Swiss tuning firm Mader.^[3] Results were mediocre in 1985 and 1986.

Formula One

Beginnings

By late summer 1986, AGS entered the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, its first Formula One race. Its structure was somewhat bizarre: The team had no more than 7 employees and was still operated from the Garage de l'Avenir in Gonfaron.

AGS appeared with a car that was once again penned by Vanderpleyn. The JH21C was a strange mixture between former AGS F3000 vehicles and Renault F1 parts which were used extensively. The car was powered by a well-used Motori Moderni turbo engine (the only time these Carlo Chiti-developed engines were given to a customer team) and driven by Italian Ivan Capelli.^[3] A few weeks before, the car had been tested at Paul Ricard by Didier Pironi, driving an F1 car for the first time since his leg-breaking accident in the 1982 German Grand Prix. Due to technical difficulties, neither in its first attempt nor in the following race in Portugal did Capelli see the finish.

For the team's first full F1 season in 1987, Vanderpleyn penned the JH22, which used a normally-aspirated Cosworth DFZ but was otherwise much the same as the JH21C.^[3] The car was initially driven by Pascal Fabre, who had driven for the team in Formula 2 in 1982. He proved to be a reliable driver, finishing eight of the first nine races, but was never in serious contention for scoring points and failed to qualify on three occasions. AGS improved in the last two races of the season when Fabre was replaced by the Brazilian Roberto Moreno (who saw his first chance in Formula One since 1982 when he had failed to qualify a Lotus works car). In Adelaide, Moreno scored the first championship point for AGS,^[3] which meant that the team finished the season equal on points with the better-financed Ligier and the returning March team.

Takeover

In 1988, AGS started with a new car, the JH23,^[3] and Philippe Streiff as the team's only driver. Streiff drove quite powerfully and qualified well, but he saw the chequered flag only four times; in all the other events of that year technical failures or accidents were recorded. Financially, the year started well and ended with a disaster. AGS had a solid sponsor - the French Bouygues group - which promised to support not only the racing activity but also the completion of a new factory outside Gonfaron. After AGS had started work on the new facility, Bouygues withdrew from the team, leaving Julien without any support. To save the team, he eventually had to sell it to Cyril de Rouvre, a French entrepreneur with various ambitions.

Difficulties

Things went soon from bad to worse. The new team management changed frequently (Vanderpleyn for instance went to Coloni) and brought a lot of disorder. Worse was to come; Streiff was paralysed in a testing accident in Brazil before the 1989 season.^[4]

Streiff was replaced with Gabriele Tarquini,^[4] who surprised with some great performances in the first half of the season. He was very close to the points in both the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix and 1989 United States Grand Prix, but retired in both races. Then things went better in the 1989 Mexican Grand Prix, where he finished sixth and scored his first point. But after these highlights, the team was never able to be as competitive again.

In the second part of the 1989 season, the team had to prequalify - a task that was nearly never achieved by Gabriele Tarquini and Yannick Dalmas. AGS then finished 15th in the Constructors' Championship, equal with the Lolas used by the Larrousse team. During the summer months, there were strong rumours that AGS would soon use a new W12 engine developed by the French designer Guy Nègre. This strange MGN (Moteurs Guy Nègre) machine saw the light of day in late 1988 and was tested in an old AGS JH22 chassis in the summer of 1989.^[5] It was clear that AGS was not related to these tests; they were completely private attempts by Nègre. The engine never found its way to a Grand Prix but it was announced to be used in a 1990 Le Mans car called Norma M6. The car was presented and attempted to race, but failed to qualify over engine issues.

Finally, AGS had to use Cosworth engines again in 1990. That year brought no improvement at all, Dalmas's 9th in the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix was the best result and by the beginning of the 1991 season the team was obviously close to its end. The team lacked money – at the first two Grands Prix of 1991, in Brazil and Phoenix the team's mechanics had to pay for their own hotel rooms.^[6] In the race itself, Tarquini finished 8th, which was the last finish ever of an AGS car. De Rouvre sold his team to some Italian entrepreneurs, Patrizio Cantù and Gabriele Rafanelli. Both changed little except for the driver line-up (Stefan Johansson was replaced with newcomer Fabrizio Barbazza) and the colours of the car (which were now blue, red and yellow instead of white). A new car, the JH27, was raced in the early autumn, but by then the team was in rags again, so the Italians closed the doors after the 1991 Spanish Grand Prix.

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points	WCC
1986	JH21C	Motori Moderni 615–90 1.5 V6 t	P		BRA	ESP	SMR	MON	BEL	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS	0	NC
1986	JH21C	Motori Moderni 615–90 1.5 V6 t	P	Ivan Capelli													Ret	Ret			0	NC
1987	JH22	Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8	G		BRA	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	ESP	MEX	JPN	AUS	1	12th
				Pascal Fabre	12	13	10	13	12	9	9	Ret	13	NC	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ
				Roberto Moreno															Ret	6
1988	JH23	Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
1988	JH23	Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8	G	Philippe Streiff	Ret	10	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	9	Ret	8	11	0	NC
1989	JH23B JH24	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	G		BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	1	15th
				Philippe Streiff	WD
				Gabriele Tarquini		8	Ret	6	7	Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
				Joachim Winkelhock	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
				Yannick Dalmas								DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ
1990	JH24 JH25	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Gabriele Tarquini	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNQ	Ret	DNPQ	13	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	Ret
				Yannick Dalmas	DNPQ	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	17	DNPQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	NC	Ret	9	DNQ	DNQ
1991	JH25B JH27	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	G		USA	BRA	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS	0	NC
				Gabriele Tarquini	8	Ret	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNQ
				Olivier Grouillard														DNPQ
				Stefan Johansson	DNQ	DNQ
				Fabrizio Barbazza			DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ	DNPQ

Related Research Articles

The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become too expensive, and was dominated by works-run cars with factory engines; the hope was that Formula 3000 would offer quicker, cheaper, more open racing. The series began as an open specification, then tyres were standardized from 1986 onwards, followed by engines and chassis in 1996. The series ran annually until 2004, and was replaced in 2005 by the GP2 Series.

The 1989 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Imola circuit on 23 April 1989. It was the second race of the 1989 Formula One season. The race was overshadowed by Gerhard Berger's massive accident at Tamburello corner. The race was stopped for one hour and restarted. The race was won by Ayrton Senna who started from pole position. The Grand Prix had a total of 39 entrants, the largest amount in Formula One history. This record was equalled in the following 14 races of the season but, as of 2022, it has not been broken.

The 1990 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 15 July 1990. It was the eighth race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship. It was the 45th British Grand Prix and the 26th to be held at Silverstone, which was the fastest circuit on the F1 calendar at the time. The race was held over 64 laps of the 4.78-kilometre (2.97 mi) circuit for a race distance of 305.9 kilometres (190.1 mi).

The 1990 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jerez on 30 September 1990. It was the fourteenth race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship, and the fifth and last Spanish Grand Prix to be held at Jerez.

The 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 43rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 26 March and ended on 5 November. Alain Prost won his third Drivers' Championship, and McLaren won the Constructors' Championship.

Gabriele Tarquini is an Italian former racing driver. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored a single championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify. He has subsequently raced successfully in Touring Cars, winning the BTCC in 1994, the ETCC in 2003 the WTCC in 2009 and the WTCR in 2018.

Fondmetal S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of alloy wheels, founded in 1972 by Gabriele Rumi.

Life was a Formula One constructor from Modena, Italy. The company was named for its founder, Ernesto Vita. Life first emerged on the Formula One scene in 1990, trying to market their unconventional W12 3.5-litre engine.

Coloni Motorsport, also known as Scuderia Coloni, was an auto racing team from Italy. Founded by former racing driver Enzo Coloni in 1983, the team participated in Formula Three between 1983 and 1986, before racing in Formula One as Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems between 1987 and 1991. They made 82 attempts to take part in a Formula One race but only qualified 14 times. Since then, under the management of Enzo Coloni's son Paolo, the team has been successful in Formula Three, Formula 3000 and GP2 Series. Between 2006 and 2009 the team ran under the name of Fisichella Motor Sport, with support from Formula One driver Giancarlo Fisichella and his manager Enrico Zanarini.

The AGS JH22 was a Formula One racing car designed by Christian Vanderpleyn and used by the French AGS team in the 1987 Formula One season.

The Tyrrell DG016 was a Formula One racing car designed by Maurice Philippe and Brian Lisles and raced by Tyrrell Racing in the 1987 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was powered by a customer Cosworth DFZ engine and driven by Jonathan Palmer and Philippe Streiff. The "DG" in the car's name was a reference to the team's major sponsor, Data General.

The Ligier JS31 was a Formula One car designed by Michel Têtu and Michel Beaujon for use by the Ligier team in the 1988 Formula One World Championship. The car was powered by the new, normally aspirated, 3.5-litre Judd CV V8 engine and ran on Goodyear tyres. It was driven by French veteran René Arnoux, in his third season with the team, and Swede Stefan Johansson, who joined from McLaren. Johansson joined the team late in the off-season in place of West German Christian Danner, who had originally signed to drive but was unable to fit in the car comfortably.

The Coloni C4 is a Formula One car designed by Christian Vanderpleyn for the Coloni team for use in the 1991 Formula One season, although it never qualified for a race and was the slowest car in the field.

The JH23 was a Formula One car built and raced by the AGS team for the 1988 Formula One season. It was powered by the Ford Cosworth DFZ engine. A single car was entered, driven by experienced Frenchman Philippe Streiff.

Henri Julien was a French racing car driver and motor sports team founder. He founded and managed the Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives (AGS) racing team, which participated in the European Formula Two Championship and Formula 1 in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Coloni C3 was a Formula One racing car designed by Christian Vanderpleyn for the 1989 Formula One season. Built to replace the Coloni FC188 used in the previous season, the C3 used a 3.5-litre Cosworth DFR V8 engine. Although not ready for the start of the 1989 season, the C3 made its début at the 1989 Canadian Grand Prix in the hands of Roberto Moreno and Pierre-Henri Raphanel. The C3 was not successful and frequently failed to pre-qualify for races during 1989. It was updated to the C3B for the 1990 season, with the Cosworth DFR being replaced by a Subaru 1235 flat-12 engine; however, this engine was large, heavy and underpowered. Bertrand Gachot, Coloni's only driver for 1990, failed to pre-qualify in any of the eight races that he drove the C3B. Following a fallout between Enzo Coloni and Subaru, the C3C was developed, once again using the Cosworth DFR; although Gachot was usually able to pre-qualify this version, he never managed to qualify for a race. In 1991, the C3C was evolved into the C4, but results did not improve and Coloni folded at the end of that season.

The Fondmetal GR02 was a Formula One racing car designed by Sergio Rinland and his Astauto studio for the 1992 Formula One season. Built to replace the Fondmetal GR01, as Fondmetal's team boss Gabriele Rumi had never been impressed by that car or its predecessor, the Fomet-1, the GR02 used the same 3.5-litre Ford HBA5 V8 engine as its predecessor. Gabriele Tarquini gave the GR02 its début at the 1992 Canadian Grand Prix, whilst team mate Andrea Chiesa first drove it in the following 1992 French Grand Prix. Although the GR02 showed promise, and drew praise from the media, Fondmetal's financial difficulties meant that they withdrew from Formula One after the 1992 Italian Grand Prix.

The JH24 was a Formula One car built and raced by the AGS team for the 1989 Formula One season. It was powered by the Ford Cosworth DFR engine. The car only managed to qualify for one race. The cars were driven by Gabriele Tarquini and Yannick Dalmas, who replaced Joachim Winkelhock in the middle of the 1989 season.

The AGS JH25B was a Formula One car designed by Michel Costa for use in the 1991 Formula one season by the French AGS team. It was powered by the 3.5-litre Ford DFR V8. The car was driven by Italian drivers Gabriele Tarquini, Fabrizio Barbazza, and Swedish driver Stefan Johansson.

The AGS JH15 was an open-wheel race car intended for Formula Two, designed, developed, and built by French racing team and constructor AGS, in 1978. The car ran and competed in individual Formula Three motor races for four years, until 1981. It was also the team's first Formula Two race car chassis, after a long period of building Formula Three cars for junior categories.

References

↑ "The history of the Team F1 AGS Formule 1". Agsformule1.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2014-02-04.
↑ As of 2011, it remains in existence.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Hodges, David (1990). A-Z of Formula Racing Cars. Bideford, UK: Bay View Books. p. 279. ISBN 1870979168.
1 2 Boddy, William, ed. (May 1989). "Slow Progress for Streiff". Motor Sport . p. 429.
↑ Waterman, Jim (23 June 2019). "The Saga of AGS – Partie S: Sans Henri, Sans Garage, Sans Avenir…". gprejects.com. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
↑ Nygaard, Peter (1991-04-18). "Stefans bittra kval" [Stefan's unqualified agonies]. Teknikens Värld (in Swedish). Vol. 43, no. 8. Stockholm, Sweden: Specialtidningsförlaget AB. p. 73.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "The history of the Team F1 AGS Formule 1". Agsformule1.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2014-02-04.

[2] As of 2011, it remains in existence.

[Hodges-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hodges, David (1990). A-Z of Formula Racing Cars. Bideford, UK: Bay View Books. p. 279. ISBN 1870979168.

[around89-4] 1 2 Boddy, William, ed. (May 1989). "Slow Progress for Streiff". Motor Sport . p. 429.

[5] Waterman, Jim (23 June 2019). "The Saga of AGS – Partie S: Sans Henri, Sans Garage, Sans Avenir…". gprejects.com. Retrieved 1 June 2023.

[TV891.73-6] Nygaard, Peter (1991-04-18). "Stefans bittra kval" [Stefan's unqualified agonies]. Teknikens Värld (in Swedish). Vol. 43, no. 8. Stockholm, Sweden: Specialtidningsförlaget AB. p. 73.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Formula One constructors
2024 season	Alpine Aston Martin Ferrari (results) Haas McLaren (results) Mercedes (results) RB Red Bull (results) Sauber (results) Williams (results)
Former	AFM AGS Alfa Romeo (results) AlphaTauri Alta Amon Andrea Moda Apollon Arrows (results) Arzani-Volpini Aston-Butterworth ATS (Italy) ATS (Germany) BAR Behra-Porsche Bellasi Benetton (results) BMW (results) Boro Brabham (results) Brawn BRM (results) BRP Bugatti (results) Caterham Cisitalia Coloni Connaught Connew Cooper (results) Dallara De Tomaso Derrington-Francis Eagle Eifelland Emeryson EMW ENB Ensign ERA EuroBrun Ferguson Fittipaldi Fondmetal Footwork Force India (results) Force India (Racing Point) Forti (results) Frazer Nash Fry Gilby Gordini Greifzu Hesketh Hill Honda (results) HRT HWM Jaguar JBW Jordan (results) Kauhsen Klenk Kojima Kurtis Kraft Lancia Larrousse LDS LEC Leyton House Life Ligier Lola Lola (Haas) Lola (MasterCard) Lotus (1958–1994) (results) Lotus (2010–2011) Lotus (2012–2015) Lyncar Maki March (results) Martini Marussia Maserati (results) Matra MBM McGuire Merzario Midland Milano Minardi Modena MRT Onyx OSCA Osella Pacific Parnelli Penske (results) Porsche (results) Prost Protos Racing Point RAM Realpha Rebaque Renault (results) Reynard Rial Scarab Scirocco Shadow Shannon Simtek Spirit Spyker Stebro Stewart Super Aguri Surtees SVA Talbot-Lago Tec-Mec Tecno Theodore Toro Rosso (results) Token Toleman Toyota Trojan Tyrrell (results) Vanwall Veritas Virgin Williams (FWRC) Wolf Zakspeed
Proposed	Andretti-Cadillac Audi Bravo F1 DAMS Direxiv Dome FIRST Hitech GP Phoenix Prodrive Stefan US F1
Although World Championship races held in 1952 and 1953 were run to Formula Two regulations, constructors who only participated during this period are included herein to maintain Championship continuity. Constructors whose only participation in the World Championship was in the Indianapolis 500 races between 1950 and 1960 are not listed.