Obituary

Amedee Gordini

The Italian-born, but French naturalised, racing car constructor Amedee Gordini died on the weekend of the Monaco GP as he was nearing his eightieth year. He started tuning Simca-Fiats in the thirties and really came into his own after the war, first with Simca backing, and then on his own, building his own Gordini racing cars. Most of the French drivers of that era cut their teeth with the Gordini team before moving on to more powerful teams. It was Gordini who set Jean Behra, Maurice Trintignant, Andre Simon, Robert Manzon and many others on the road to stardom.

When he closed down his racing car factory he was supported by Renault for engine work with Alpine and later Renault themselves, and the current V6 racing engine is traced back to Gordini, while a Gordini version of the Renault 5 is still in production. His own 2-litre six-cylinder racing cars were his most successful, and after he retired he sold all his factory sports and racing cars to the Schlumpf brothers, and there are a dozen or more in the Mulhouse Museum.