Gonzague Olivier

Porsche 356 1500; Olivier contested his first rallies with this Porsche model

Porsche 550 RS Spyder

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
1953	Gonzague Olivier	Porsche 356	Eugène Martin	failure	Engine failure
1954	Porsche KG	Porsche 550/4 RS 1500 Spyder	Zora Arkus-Duntov	14th place and class win
1955	Gonzague Olivier	Porsche 550/4 Spyder	Josef Jeser	Rank 18

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953	Gonzague Olivier	Porsche 356	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
					DNF
1954	Porsche	Porsche 550	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
						14th
1955	Gonzague Olivier	Porsche 550	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
						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

1. ↑ Gonzague Olivier as Gustave Olivier (18th place)
2. ^ A Gustave Olivier at Racing Sports Cars
3. ↑ Olivier Motorboat 1964
4. ↑ Restoration of an Olivier boat
5. ^ Rallye des Routes du Nord
6. ↑ 1952 Hyères 12-hour race
7. ↑ 1953 Hyères 12-hour race
8. ^ Coupe du Printemps 1954