The Ligier JS29 was a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

car designed by

Michel Têtu Michel Têtu, born 6 August 1941, is a French engineer best known as a designer of racing sports cars and Formula 1 (F1) cars for marques such as Ligier, Alfa Romeo, and Renault. Early years Têtu was born in Châteauroux, France, in the depart ...

and Michel Beaujon for the

Ligier Ligier () is a French automobile and minibus maker created by former racing driver and rugby player Guy Ligier (1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of microcars. Ligier is best known for its involvement in the Formula 1 World Cham ...

team for use in the season. It was originally developed for use with an Alfa Romeo turbo power plant but prior to the start of the season, Ligier lost the use of the engine. The car had to be re-designed around a

Megatron Megatron is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the ''Transformers'' media franchise produced by the American toy company Hasbro and the Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. He is the tyrannical leader of the Decepticons, a villaino ...

Straight 4

turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...

engine. Redesignated the JS29B, it scored a single point during the season when driver

René Arnoux René Alexandre Arnoux (; born 4 July 1948) is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Arnoux won seven Formula One Grands Prix across 12 seasons. In 1977, Arnoux won the European Formula Two Championship. His be ...

finished 6th in the

Belgian Grand Prix The Belgian Grand Prix (; ; ) is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula One World Championship. The first national race of Belgium was held in 1925 at the Spa region's race course, an area of the country that had been associated ...

. Later in the season, the car was further refined to a JS29C specification.

Development

The JS29 was originally to be powered by a turbocharged Alfa-Romeo 415T 4-cylinder engine (the 415T had actually been in slow development by the

Autodelta Autodelta SpA was the name of Alfa Romeo's competition department. Established in 1961 as Auto-Delta by Carlo Chiti and Lodovico Chizzola, former Alfa Romeo and Ferrari engineers, the company was officially made a department of Alfa Romeo on Mar ...

since 1984 as a possible replacement for Alfa's heavy, thirsty and underpowered 890T V8 turbo). However, during pre-season testing lead driver

publicly gave his thoughts on the engine, scathingly comparing it to "used food" which gave Alfa's parent company

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

the excuse they had been looking for to pull the plug on the project. It was reported at the time that Fiat, who had just bought Alfa Romeo that year, did not want the then

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

based company involved in Formula One as a competitor to

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

, which at that stage they also part-owned. As a result of losing their engine supply so close to the start of the season, Ligier had to come up with an engine in order to compete. The team managed to get a supply of

Straight 4

engines for the season (the Megatron engine was the old

BMW M12 The BMW M12/13 turbo was a 1,499.8 cc four-cylinder turbocharged Formula One engine, based on the standard BMW M10 engine introduced in 1961, and powered the F1 cars of Brabham, Arrows and Benetton. Nelson Piquet won the FIA Formula One ...

engine formerly used by such teams as

Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British race car, racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Ta ...

. They had been acquired from

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

by Arrows major sponsor, American insurance company

USF&G USF&G was an American insurance company that existed from 1896 until 1998. It was originally called the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company. The insurer formed a holding company for its insurance businesses and changed its name to USF&G i ...

, and were re-branded ''Megatron'' for 1987 and ). The updated car with the Megatron engine was now designated the JS29B. Arnoux was retained for the season and he was joined by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

veteran

Piercarlo Ghinzani Piercarlo Ghinzani (born 16 January 1952) is an Italian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Ghinzani participated in 111 Formula One Grands Prix for Osella, Toleman, Equipe Ligier, Ligier and Za ...

. While

Guy Ligier Guy Camille Ligier (; 12 July 1930 – 23 August 2015) was a French racing driver and team owner. He maintained many varied and successful careers over the course of his life, including rugby player, butcher, racing driver and Formula One team ow ...

was able to lease the Megatron engines from the Arrows team, Arrows boss

Jackie Oliver Keith Jack Oliver (born 14 August 1942) is a British former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing, Oliver won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in , the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1969, and t ...

only supplied the French team with the bare minimum of engines while (somewhat understandably) keeping the best and majority for his own team. By the last race of the season in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, Ligier only had 7 engines to work with. The JS29 should have made its debut at the

1987 Brazilian Grand Prix The 1987 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 12 April 1987 at the Jacarepaguá Circuit in Rio de Janeiro. The race, contested over 61 laps, was the sixteenth Brazilian Grand Prix and the eighth to be held at Jacarepaguá, a ...

using the Alfa Romeo 890T V8 turbo until the 415T was ready. However, following Arnoux's unfavourable comments, and Fiat's withdrawal, this meant that the team had no engine with which to compete until the second race in

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

. It was there that the JS29B with its Megatron engine would make its competition debut. The JS29B was updated following the

Detroit Grand Prix The title of Detroit Grand Prix (United States Grand Prix – East) was applied to the Formula One races held at the Detroit street circuit in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America from 1982 through 1988. History In 1982, the U ...

to its final JS29C specifications. While the JS29 was originally designed for the 4-cylinder Alfa engine, it wasn't simply a case of slotting in the replacement Megatron 4-cylinder in its place. Major differences in the 'plumbing' of the two engines caused the team to have to completely re-design the cars rear suspension as tests showed that the Megatron was causing bad vibrations which was causing suspension failures. As a result of the late start to the season due to their switch of engines, the Megatron powered Ligiers were never truly close to the pace of the

Arrows A10 The Arrows A10 was a Formula One car used by the Arrows team to compete in the and Formula One seasons. The car was designed by Ross Brawn and was upgraded slightly in 1988, racing as A10B. 1987 As BMW announced its intention to officially ...

-Megatrons of

Derek Warwick Derek Stanley Arthur Warwick (born 27 August 1954) is a British former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing, Warwick won the World Sportscar Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans, both in 1992 with Peuge ...

and former Ligier driver

Eddie Cheever Edward McKay Cheever Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to , CART between 1986 and 1995, and IndyCar between 1996 and 2006. In American open-wheel racing ...

. Only at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain, Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" ( ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

did a Ligier (Arnoux) ever qualify in front of both Arrows-Megatrons and only once (Arnoux again at

Paul Ricard Paul Louis Marius Ricard (; July 9, 1909 – November 7, 1997) was a French industrialist and creator of an eponymous pastis brand which merged in 1975 with its competitor Pernod to create Pernod Ricard. Ricard was also an environmentalist and t ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

) did a Ligier even split the Arrows in qualifying.

Race history

Arnoux placed his JS29B in 13th place in qualifying for the team's first race of the year at San Marino but failed to start the race following an accident in practice. Ghinzani was 19th and withdrew from the race with handling issues. At the next race, the

, both cars were classified with Arnoux in sixth place for the team's sole point of the year. Ghinzani was 7th although out of fuel and this proved to be his best finish of the year. The JS29C was introduced at the team's home grand prix in France with Arnoux qualifying in 13th place on the grid. As with Ghinzani, he failed to finish the race itself. The cars usually qualified in the lower half of the grid, with Arnoux outperforming Ghinzani. The best qualifying achieved was Arnoux's 12th at the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix () was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history: the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hockenheimring in B ...

. The JS29C was Ligier's last turbo-powered car. It was replaced in the season by the Judd CV V8 powered Ligier JS31.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key)

References

;Books *

External links

Ligier JS29B at Chicane F1Ligier JS29C at Chicane F1Ligier JS29B at the Formula One DataBaseLigier JS29C at the Formula One DataBase
{{Ligier 1987 Formula One season cars Ligier Formula One cars