François Migault

Born on the 4th December, 1944, in Le Mans, François Migault had thirteen Grands Prix starts, racing for Connew (described by motorsports historian Doug Nye as “probably the most under-financed of all true Formula One specials”), BRM, Embassy Hill and Williams. He had twenty five starts at Le Mans between 1972 and 2002, finishing on the podium three times, in 1974, 1976 (his best result of second place) and 1981. He was fifth on the all-time start list and holds the record for the most different teams entered, with 16. In the 1980s there were a number of Paris-Dakar Rallies with Mercedes Benz and he set a World Speed Record on the open road of 416 km/h with a Peugeot WM.

He started racing in his early twenties and in 1968 won the prestigious ‘Volant Shell’ award then in 1969 he was invited by Luigi Chinetti to share a NART Ferrari Dino 206 S at Le Mans but the car did not start the race due to a practice accident.

He progressed to F3 in 1970, racing a Tecno TF70 entered by his Écurie Volant Shell team, and was third and fourth at Monthlery, sixth at Nogaro and Rouen plus seventh at Magny-Cours and Thruxton, with his best results second at Zandvoort and Albi (from pole).

1971 started in South American F3 in January, with four rounds in the TF70, where his best finish was fifth at Interlagos. Returning to the French F3 championship, with Ecurie Shell Volant now running a Martini MK7, he was fourth at Monthery and won at Nogaro (from pole), was second at Pau, fourth at Monthlery and sixth at La Chatre plus third at Charade, Nogaro and Albi, to finish fourth in the standings. He was also sixth with the car in an International F3 round at Thruxton. Contesting sportscar races with Tom Clapham Racing’s Taydec Mk2, he and Peter Hanson were seventh and eleventh at Charade and Paul Ricard while in two solo drives with a Taydec Mk3 he was third at Monthlery and tenth in the 500 km Nurburgring. In European F2 outings he was fifth with a LIRA-Team Lotus 69 at Rouen then in September was fourth at Albi in a March 712M, finishing eleventh in the final standings. Also in September he, Jean-Claude Perramond and Alain Jallot raced a Porsche 911 S in the Tour de France, finishing fourteenth and fifth in class. In November he was back in South America, racing the Lotus 69 in two F2 races, where he retired at Interlagos and finished seventh at the Autodromo Oscar Cabalen in Cordoba, Argentina.

Francois made his F1 debut in 1972, driving for the small, underfunded, Connew team. Peter Connew was an apprentice draughtsman and after attending the Italian GP at Monza in 1969, his interest was piqued by the sound of the engines and the design of the cars. Although he was able to get a job with the Surtees F1 team, he eventually resigned to design and build his own car. A garage was rented in Chadwell Heath, London and he, and a small band of helpers (including Roger Doran and Connew’s cousin Barry Boor) began machining, welding, and fabricating nearly every part of the chassis. The fibreglass body panels were even made in the garage and anything that could not be made by themselves, or at a team member’s regular place of employment, they haggled to purchase at outside suppliers. Their target was to be at the opening round of the 1972 season but, despite working non stop, they realised they would not be ready and revised their debut schedule to Monaco. Several drivers came along to Connew but eventually, François signed to contest five European Grands Prix-Monaco, France, Great Britain, Germany and Austria. Despite any reservations Francois may have had regarding the scale of the task facing them, Boor said “he was young, and to have an F1 car that was going to be his was exciting. That it was being made in a tiny lock-up was neither here nor there. F1 was his dream, too. A lovely bloke, he mucked in and wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.” However, they missed Monaco as it took until early July for the car to be ready so the French GP was chosen instead. The crew loaded the PC-1 and their spares into a truck borrowed by Francois and set off to Clermont-Ferrand but while driving through France, they broke down and they had to be towed to the city of Le Mans for repairs. It was decided to test the car at the Bugatti Circuit before going to Clermont-Ferrand but when the car was unloaded, a rear A-arm had been damaged beyond repair in transit and the team had no spare. The team finally got car into practice at the British GP at Brands Hatch, featuring a red and yellow livery and running a used Ford Cosworth engine. Unsurprisingly, they recorded the slowest time but a cracked suspension upright was later discovered and they were unable to race. Despite not filing an official entry for the German GP, they nevertheless travelled to the Nurburgring but were denied entry by the race officials, even though a petition was signed by almost every team requesting they be allowed to compete. They finally made their first start in Austria, where Francois qualified at the back of the grid despite some engine troubles. During practice the car had sprayed oil all over the track, though the officials eventually allowed into them the race. He had moved up four places but, on lap twenty two, an aluminium bracket that secured a lower rear wishbone snapped, though he was able to bring the car safely to a halt without damage. The PC-1’s final appearance that year came in a non championship Victory Race at Brands Hatch in October, with David Purley behind the wheel. However, he did not start due to an electrical problem on the warm up lap while Francois, who had entered with a March 721G, failed to qualify. Connew said that, despite his wealthy background, François “was a non-arrogant guy that could mix with every type of person and to work with people to achieve the objective.” In sports cars that year there were several Chevron B21 drives plus he was second in a Taydec Mk.3 at Monthlery. In outings with Charles Pozzi’s North American Racing Team (NART) Ferrari 365 GTB/4 he and Daniël Rouveyran were second in the Tour de France and eleventh (fifth in class) in the 1000 km Paris at Rouen but in his Le Mans debut, the pair retired after twenty two laps due to clutch problems.

Contesting European F2 in 1973, his Ecurie Shell-Arnold team ran a Pygmee MDB18 plus he continued with NART’s Ferrari in sports cars. He and Sam Posey were fourteenth (and sixth in class) with the 365 GTB/4 in the Watkins Glen 6 Hours plus he was fifth in a Le Mans 4 Hours alongside Lucien Guitteny. Highlights were second place with Milt Minter in the Daytona 24 Hours then, returning to La Sarthe in June, he and Luigi Chinetti Jr. finished thirteenth overall and third in the GT5.0 class.

Francois had a full season of F1 in 1974 with BRM and raced alongside Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo. He retired the P160E in the first round at Argentina (water leak), then was sixteenth and fifteenth in Brazil and South Africa. There were retirements in Spain (engine) and Monaco (brakes) but despite qualifying ahead of his team mates in fourteenth at the British GP, a first-lap collision put him back down the field and at the end of the race he wasn’t classified. He did not qualify in Germany though finished fourteenth and sixteenth in France and Belgium but in two drives in a P201 at Zandvoort and Monza he retired due to gearbox issues. His best race came in the non-championship International Trophy at Silverstone, where, after qualifying sixth with the P160E in a field of over thirty cars, he finished fifth. Shared drives in a Maserati powered Ligier JS 2 saw thirteenth with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud in the Imola 1000 km and sixth with Guy Chasseuil in a Paul Ricard 750 km. In June, he recorded his first Le Mans podium when finishing third alongside Jean-Pierre Jabouille with a Matra-Simca MS670C and in later years said that his best memory from racing was, without question, “La Matra au Mans en 1974.”

He briefly returned to F1 in 1975 with outings with Embassy Hill and Williams and he continued with Ligier in sports cars. Ligier had begun their long association with Gitanes and, co-driving the JS2 with Jean-Pierre Jarier, the pair finished sixth in the Dijon-Prenois 800 km and he was twelfth (fourth in class) at the Spa 1000 km with Jean-Louis Lafosse. Three JS2s were entered for Le Mans, two with Ford Cosworth power and the third by a V6 Maserati and were driven by Jean-Louis Lafosse and Guy Chasseuil plus Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Jean Pierre Jarier, with Francois teamed with Henri Pescarolo. He and Pescarolo had led for several hours before having to retire from the race after fourteen hours due to a puncture though Chasseuil/Lafosse finished second, only a lap behind Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx’s winning Mirage GR8. He contested two Grands Prix with the Embassy Hill team and drove the second GHI alongside Rolf Stommelen in the Spanish race at Montjuic. Unfortunately, on lap 26, Stommelen’s rear wing broke, sending him into the barrier but after bouncing off it and back onto the road, his car was sent flying over the barrier on the other side of the track. Sadly, five people were killed by the car and the driver suffered a broken leg, a broken wrist and two cracked ribs. The race continued for another four laps before being halted and Francois, who had a needed a lengthy repair stop after a collision while being lapped, was eleven laps down and not classified when it ended. In the Belgian race at Zolder, he retired after 57 laps with broken suspension and this would be his final GP as although he appeared with Frank Williams’ team in France, his engine failed during practice, so he did not start the race.

In 1976 he was signed by Osella for the European F2 Championship, with Hans Binder and Giorgio Francia as team mates, and finished sixth and eleventh at Thruxton and Hockenheim in the Osella FA2-BMW. He competed at Le Mans with the Gulf-Mirage team, which had been taken over by Harley Cluxton after John Wyer’s retirement. The two cars which had finished first and third in the previous year’s race were entered again and driven by Derek Bell/Vern Schuppan and François was paired with his close friend and former Ligier mate Jean-Louis Lafosse. Although Bell and Schuppan were expected to be the team’s leading car in the event, he and Lafosse battled well through the race for second place against the De Cadenet Lola T380 of Alain de Cadenet and Chris Craft. During the race, when the Bell/Schuppan Mirage lost four laps at 1am fixing its alternator, the second Mirage took over third place. By the halfway point, at 4am, Jackie Ickx and Gijs van Lennep’s Martini Porsche 936 had a two lap cushion over their Porsche teammates and six over Lafosse in the Mirage, with the De Cadenet fourth and the second Mirage fifth. With four hours to go, their Mirage was now only two laps ahead of the De Cadenet but as the race neared its end, with less than twenty minutes to go, the rear engine cover of Lafosse’s Mirage flew off. Although they lost time in the pits having it replaced and then trying to restart, Lafosse was able to stay a lap ahead of a hard-pressing Craft and at the flag, Ickx and van Lennep took an eleven-lap victory over Francois and Lafosse while the other Mirage (the previous year’s race-winner) was fifth.

He switched to a NART Ferrari 365 GTB/4 for 1977’s 24 Hours and he and Lucien Guitteny finished sixteenth (fifth in class) though he, Francis Polak and Marcel Tarrès retired Opel Gosset Racing Team’s Opel Commodore from the Spa 24 Hours due to losing a wheel. In outings in 1978 with Grand Comp Car’s Ferrari 365 GT4/BB, he and Guitteny were sixteenth (third in class) at Le Mans and twenty second in the Daytona 24 Hours plus eleventh in the Watkins Glen 6 Hours.

In 1979, he and Alain de Cadenet were second and sixth in the Silverstone and Brands Hatch 6 Hour races with the De Cadenet Lola LM but retired at Le Mans. Returning to La Sarthe in 1980, he and de Cadenet were to be joined by Desire Wilson but she was involved in a very heavy crash during practice and was ruled out of the race. They were running in fifth place in the race but an engine support came loose while François was driving and after losing fifty five minutes having it sorted they eventually finished seventh and third in class.

There was a further podium result in 1981, driving a Rondeau M379C–Ford with Gordon Spice. Jean Rondeau entered five cars and the other four were driven by himself and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Jean Ragnotti/Jean-Louis Lafosse, Henri Pescarolo/Patrick Tambay plus Philippe Streiff/Jean-Louis Schlesser/Jacky Haran. Rondeau had won the previous year but he retired during the night and at 7am, the Haran/Schlesser/Streiff car was running second while the other Rondeau had been delayed by ignition problems that limited their maximum revs and speed. At the finish, the Jacky Ickx/Derek Bell Porsche took victory and two M379Cs came home second and third, with Francois and Spice following Schlesser, Streiff and Haran. The result also meant an impressive 1-2 class finish but sadly, Jean-Louis Lafosse, who had been Francois’ teammate when they finished second in 1976, was killed during the race and two marshalls were injured.

He retired a Rondeau M382 in the following year’s 24 Hours then had six DNFs between 1983 and 1990, driving a Ford C100, a Lola T610-Cosworth, a WM P86-Peugeot, a Courage C22-Porsche and an ALD C289-Cosworth.

In the early 1980s François entered three Paris-Dakar Rallies, alongside his brother Jean with a Mercedes 230 G in 1981 and a Mercedes 280 GE in 1982 (with the pair finishing fifteenth) then with Michel Gauvain in 1983 in a Mercedes 280 GE.

In 1987 he set a speed record of 416 km/h (258.5 mi/h) in a WM P86–Peugeot on a stretch of highway under construction, between St.Quentin and Laon. WM was formed by two Peugeot engineers, Gérard Welter and Michel Meunier, whose initials formed the company’s logo. They were first involved in the race preparation of Peugeot 204 cars and in 1969 they produced their first racing car, a WM P69, which they created from the chassis and mechanics of a 204. The team made their Le Mans debut in 1976 with a P76, built by a team of volunteers and with technical and financial support from Peugeot. The car evolved over the years, with a P78, P79/80 and then P81 but, in the mid-80s, Group C competition had intensified to the level that, as a small team with a tiny budget, they knew they had no chance of winning. However, their very low-drag cars were often the quickest on the Mulsanne straight so, shortly after 1986’s 24 Hours, WM embarked on Project 400 which aimed to be the first to exceed 400 km/h at the circuit. Unfortunately, the preparation for 1987’s race was marred by engine management problems and the car was unable to make two consecutive laps during the pre-race tests, scoring a speed of 356 km/h (221 mph). Once the problems had been resolved, they arranged an attempt on a public road speed record, on a stretch of the newly built A26 autoroute, which though completed was not yet being used. The French TV station TF1 covered the attempt, having a camera on board the P87 and another in a helicopter. On the 4th of June, François reached a speed of 416 km/h (258 mph), which was then the world road record. Unfortunately, at the 24 Hours race held a few days later, although one of the two WMs broke the speed record in practice (381 km/h), neither of them finished the race. WM returned for 1988’s race, taking two cars as it again targeted the 400kmh barrier and though the race was memorable for the battle between Jaguar and Porsche, WM’s driver Roger Dorchy broke the radar speed-trap on the Hunaudières straight at 405 kp/h (252 mph).

There were nine more Le Mans attempts from 1991 to his final outing in 2002. 1991 started with one race in Automobiles Louis Descarte’s ALD C91 then he raced a Courage Competition Cougar C26S-Porsche for six rounds, finishing sixth and ninth with Lionel Robert in 430 km races at Nurburgring and Monza and tenth in Mexico City with Tomas Sadana. Teamed with Jean-Daniel Raulet and Lionel Robert, they finished eleventh at Le Mans.

Francois raced a variety of cars during the 1990s, including a Porsche 962, a Dodge Viper, a Marcos Mantara and a Ferrari 333 SP and, away from Le Mans, he participated in the IMSA GTP Championship in 1992 and 1993. In the first year with Tom Milner Racing, he finished third at Road Atlanta with Hugh Fuller in a Spice SE89 plus fifth at Del Mar Fairground, alongside Jef Purner, with an Intrepid RM-1. In 1993 he was thirteenth at Le Mans with Kremer’s Porsche 962CK6 alongside Andy Evans and Tomás Saldaña plus eleventh (fourth in class) in the 12 Hours of Sebring with David Tennyson, Steve Fossett and Hugh Fuller in a Spice SE92P. There were six IMSA drives with a Kudzu DG-2 for Scandia Engineering, where he and Andy Evans were ninth (and class winners) in the 1 Hour 45 min races at Road Atlanta and Portland, ninth (and fourth in class) at the Watkins Glen 500 km plus in a solo drive he was seventh (and class winner) at a 2 Hour Lime Rock.

From 1994 onwards, he only entered the Le Mans 24 Hour races, missing it in 1999 and 2000 then returned in 2001 with a Pilbeam MP84-Nissan. His final appearance came in 2002, at the age of 57, sharing a Dome S101–Judd with Ian McKellar Jr. and Masahiko Kondo, though gearbox issues ended their race after 182 laps.

He continued to test racing cars plus worked as a racing drivers’ instructor until well in his sixties and competed in the very last race in Dakar in 2005, in a Funyo prototype, with Alain Roualland in the 6 Hours of Dakar.

Having lived for a time in Dakar in Senegal, he then moved to Bandol in the south of France, before returning to the Château de Bellefille, the family’s property in Chemiré-le-Gaudin, south of Le Mans. During the Le Mans weekend, his family and friends would enjoy large parties he hosted in his home. Francois was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and sadly passed away on the January 29th 2012, leaving three children, Céline, Antoine and Florent, and his funeral took place on February 1 in the church of Chemirè le Gaudin.