The Ligier JS29 was a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

car designed by Michel Têtu 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 Champio ...

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 American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. Megatron is the cruel and tyrannical leader of the Decepticons, ...

Straight 4

turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

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 12 Formula One seasons (1978 to 1989). He participated in 165 World Championship Grands Prix (149 starts) winning seven of them, achieving 22 podium fi ...

finished 6th in the

Belgian Grand Prix The Belgian Grand Prix (French: ''Grand Prix de Belgique''; Dutch: ''Grote Prijs van België''; German: ''Großer Preis von Belgien'') is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula One World Championship. The first national race of ...

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

Development

The JS29 was originally to be powered by a brand new turbocharged Alfa-Romeo 415T 4-cylinder engine. 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. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

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 involved in Formula One as a competitor to

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

, 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

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engines for the season (the Megatron engine was the old

BMW M12 The BMW M12/13 turbo was a 1499.8 cc 4-cylinder turbocharged Formula One engine, based on the standard BMW M10 engine introduced in 1961, powered the F1 cars of Brabham, Arrows and Benetton. Nelson Piquet won the FIA Formula One Drivers' ...

engine formerly used by such teams as

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...

. They had been acquired from BMW 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, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

veteran

Piercarlo Ghinzani Piercarlo Ghinzani (born 16 January 1952) is a former racing driver from Italy. He currently manages his own racing team, Team Ghinzani, which was created in 1992 and is currently involved in several Formula Three championships. Early career Bef ...

. 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 owner ...

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

Jackie Oliver Keith Jack "Jackie" Oliver (born 14 August 1942 in Chadwell Heath, Essex) is a British former Formula One driver and team-owner from England. He became known as the founder of the Arrows team as well as a racing driver, although during his dr ...

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 Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 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 ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

. 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 was applied to the Formula One races held at the Detroit street circuit in Detroit, Michigan, United States of America from 1982 through 1988. History In 1982, the U.S. became the first country to host three W ...

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 redesign the car, most notably its 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 close to the pace of the

Arrows A10 The Arrows A10 was a Formula One car used by the Arrows Grand Prix International, 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 announce ...

-Megatrons of

Derek Warwick Derek Stanley Arthur Warwick (born 27 August 1954) is a British former professional racing driver from England, who lives in Jersey. He raced for many years in Formula One, collecting four podiums but never winning a Grand Prix. He did, however, ...

and former Ligier driver

Eddie Cheever Edward McKay "Eddie" Cheever Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver who raced for almost 30 years in Formula One, sports cars, CART, and the Indy Racing League. Cheever participated in 143 Formula One World Championshi ...

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 (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) 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 R ...

. 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 Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

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