Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives

## AGS

### Points

0 (best finish: 8th, 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, Gabriele Tarquini; 1990 Canadian Grand Prix, Yannick Dalmas)

### Last entry

1991 Spanish Grand Prix

**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.

## History

Henri Julien, a French mechanic, founded the team while running the "Garage de l'Avenir" filling station in Gonfaron, a provincial French village. Julien attended minor-class racing events on a regular basis in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although he was not an exceptional driver, the technical knowledge he gained eventually led him to begin building racing cars.

Julien's first car, the AGS JH1, debuted in 1969. It was a small single-seater intended for the "Formule France" category. The car was designed by Julien's former apprentice, Belgian mechanic Christian Vanderpleyn, who had worked at the garage (and racing team) since the late 1950s and would stay until 1988. Soon after, AGS moved on to manufacture its own Formula Three cars, which were ambitious but not good enough to compete seriously with the cutting-edge Martinis that dominated the series at the time.

AGS took another step forward in 1978, when it began competing in the European Formula 2 Championship. Nonetheless, the car, now known as the AGS JH15, was designed, built, and operated entirely by Vanderpleyn. Formula 2 was a difficult task for the small team, which raced in 1978 and 1979 without scoring any championship points. The early 1980s were slightly better. AGS was one of the few teams that ran their own cars (the others were Maurer, Minardi, and Merzario), and the team eventually began to score points on a regular basis. Soon, some victories followed. AGS made history when works driver Philippe Streiff won the final Formula 2 race in 1984, driving an AGS JH19C. AGS entered Formula 3000 in 1985 with the JH20, which was based on the Duqueine VG4 Formula 3 chassis. The JH20 was powered by a Cosworth DFV engine supplied by Swiss tuning firm Mader. The results were mediocre in 1985 and 1986.

By the late summer of 1986, AGS had entered its first Formula One race, the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Its structure was somewhat unusual: the team had no more than seven employees and was still based at the Garage de l'Avenir in Gonfaron.

AGS appeared with a car designed by Vanderpleyn. The JH21C was a strange combination of former AGS F3000 vehicles and Renault F1 parts that were extensively used. The car was powered by a well-used Motori Moderni turbo engine (the only time these Carlo Chiti-designed engines were given to a customer team) and driven by Italian Ivan Capelli. Didier Pironi tested the car at Paul Ricard a few weeks earlier, his first time driving an F1 car since his leg-breaking accident in the 1982 German Grand Prix. Capelli did not finish its first or second race in Portugal due to technical difficulties.

Despite designing a car for the 1987 season, financial difficulties prevented the team from entering the championship. Financially, 1988 began well but ended in disaster. AGS had a solid sponsor in the French Bouygues group, who promised to support not only racing but also the construction of a new factory outside Gonfaron. After AGS began work on the new facility, Bouygues left 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 a variety of goals. The situation quickly deteriorated. The team management changed frequently (Vanderpleyn, for example, moved to Coloni), causing a lot of chaos.

This section is incomplete. If you'd like to help, please add the relevant information.
## Key personnel

 Claude Galopin
 Michel Costa
 **Chief Designer** | Michel Costa
 Mario Tollentino

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Hodges, David (1990). *A-Z of Formula Racing Cars*. Bideford, UK: Bay View Books. p. 279. ISBN 1870979168.