Gonzague Olivier
Gonzague Olivier (born September 27, 1921 - January 30, 2013 ) was a French racing car driver and boat builder .
Career
Gonzague Olivier is referred to as Gustave Olivier in some results lists and publications dealing with sports car racing . Obviously there is a mix-up of the first name, because nothing is known about a Gustave Olivier in connection with the topic of motorsport. In contrast, Gonzague Olivier's life and activities are adequately documented.
Olivier was a versatile athlete. In his youth he was water-skiing , a sport emerging in France in the late 1930s, and won several national prizes. After his motorsport career ended, he designed and built outboards in the 1960s - motor boats and engines that are now sought-after and expensive vintage boats and assemblies.
Until his death in 1976 he was friends with Auguste Veuillet , the first Porsche importer in France. In 1965, his son Jean-Claude joined the Sonauto company founded by Veuillet and subsequently built up the French Yamaha dealer network.
As a racing driver, Olivier was mainly active in his home country. He competed in rallies and competed in circuit races. With the Belgian Gilberte Thirion as his partner, he celebrated a class win in the Tour de Belgique for automobiles in a Porsche 356 1500S in 1953 . In 1954 the duo finished fourth overall in the Rally des Routes du Nord . On the circuit, his first success was second place behind Veuillet in a local race in Bordeaux in 1952. A month later, in June 1952, he finished eighth overall in the Hyères 12-hour race . His partner was Bernard Dubly, the racing car was a Simca 8 Sport . He competed two more times in Hyères . He achieved the best final placement in 1953 when he finished fourth with Veuillet. The 12-hour race was won by Peter Whitehead and Tom Cole in a Jaguar C-Type . In 1954 he won the Coupe du Printemps at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry and in 1955 the 24-hour race in Paris , also known as the Bol d'Or, on the same circuit .
For a French racing driver it was almost mandatory to compete in the 24-hour race of Le Mans . In 1954 , in the second of his three starts, he and Zora Arkus-Duntov won the racing class in front of vehicles between 0.7 and 1.1 liter displacement.
statistics
Le Mans results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
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1953 |
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Porsche 356 |
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failure | Engine failure |
1954 |
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Porsche 550/4 RS 1500 Spyder |
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14th place and class win | |
1955 |
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Porsche 550/4 Spyder |
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Rank 18 |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
season | team | race car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th |
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1953 | Gonzague Olivier | Porsche 356 |
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DNF | |||||||||
1954 | Porsche | Porsche 550 |
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14th | |||||||||
1955 | Gonzague Olivier | Porsche 550 |
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18th |
literature
- Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. 2 volumes. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .
Web links
- Results at Racing Sports Cars
- Gonzague Olivier at the Driver Database
- Obituary on 24h-lemans.com (French)
- Obituary for Porsche Club France (French)
- Advertisement for an Olivier boat (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gonzague Olivier as Gustave Olivier (18th place)
- ^ A Gustave Olivier at Racing Sports Cars
- ↑ Olivier Motorboat 1964
- ↑ Restoration of an Olivier boat
- ^ Rallye des Routes du Nord
- ↑ 1952 Hyères 12-hour race
- ↑ 1953 Hyères 12-hour race
- ^ Coupe du Printemps 1954
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Olivier, Gonzague |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French racing car driver and boat builder |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 27, 1921 |
DATE OF DEATH | January 30, 2013 |