Amédée Gordini facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Amédée Gordini
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Gordini in 1938
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Amédée Gordini
23 June 1899 |
| Died | 25 May 1979 (aged 79) |
Amedeo "Amédée" Gordini (born June 23, 1899 – died May 25, 1979) was a famous car racer and car builder. He was born in Italy but moved to France. There, he became known for making fast sports cars and improving engines.
Contents
The Story of Amédée Gordini
Early Life and Racing
Amédée Gordini was born in Bazzano, Italy, in 1899. From a young age, he loved cars and racing. As a teenager, he even worked as a mechanic for Alfieri Maserati, a very famous car maker.
After serving in the Italian army during World War I, Gordini moved to Paris, France, in 1926. He got married and started a family there. In France, he began racing Fiat cars. He competed in big races like Grand Prix motor racing and the tough 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Gordini especially liked the Fiat Balilla car. He took a Balilla chassis (the car's frame) and turned it into a special racing car called a roadster. This was the car he used in his first races.
The "Mechanic-Wizard"
In 1934, Gordini met Henri Pigozzi, who was in charge of Fiat cars in France. Pigozzi was also Italian and had moved to France after the war. They quickly became friends. Pigozzi soon started his own car company called Simca.
Gordini had a great reputation as a racer and an engineer. He understood Fiat cars very well. Because of this, he became the head of Simca's racing team. He was amazing at making car engines much more powerful without spending a lot of money. People started calling him "le sorcier de la mécanique," which means "the mechanic-wizard." He stayed with Simca until 1951. Later, his son, Aldo Gordini, joined his racing team as a mechanic and sometimes a driver.
Building His Own Racing Cars
Gordini eventually left Simca because he wanted more support for racing at the highest level, like Formula One. So, in 1952, he started his own company, called Gordini. His goal was to build his own sports cars for racing.
His cars were incredibly fast, especially at the Le Mans race track. Gordini's skill with engines was legendary. He could make regular engines perform like powerful Grand Prix engines. Many people thought this was impossible!
Today, you can see some of Gordini's amazing cars in a museum in Mulhouse, France. The Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse has a 1954 Type 16 Grand Prix car and a 1956 Type 32 single-seater. They even have the Gordini 26 S, which was driven by the famous French writer Françoise Sagan.
Working with Renault
Even with his racing successes, it was hard for Gordini to find enough money to keep racing after World War II. His company struggled financially. But in 1957, Renault, a very large French car company, came to help.
For the last twenty years of his career, Gordini combined his amazing technical skills with Renault's financial power. Together, they created many high-performance versions of popular cars. These included the Renault Dauphine, Renault Caravelle, Renault 5 Alpine Turbo, Renault 8, Renault 12, and Renault 17.
Interestingly, in Brazil, a version of the Renault Dauphine was made by another company. In 1962, they renamed this car "Gordini" because of his popular nickname!
Later Years
Amédée Gordini passed away in Paris in May 1979, just before his 80th birthday. He was buried in the Montmartre Cemetery. He died a few weeks before the first Formula One victory of the Renault V6 turbo racing engine. This engine was developed by Renault Sport, the division where Gordini had merged his own company and worked since 1969.
