Jean-Paul Driot and René Arnoux founded DAMS that stands for Driot-Arnoux Motorsports in 1988. From the early stages of their existence, in 1988 their drivers Erik comas and Éric Bernard finished second and third in the International Formula 300 Championship. A year later Comas would win the championship title. A result Olivier Panis equalled in 1993 and Jean-Christophe Boullion in 1994. Both Driot and Arnoux had the taste and wanted to climb the ladder with DAMS. Therefore, as early as the spring of 1990, the team was linked with the Formula One. The story becomes only more interesting from this point. While the team indeed came with the GD-01 in 1994/95, Driot tried to take-over the Ligier team from Guy Ligier in 1992!
The fact that Driot tried to take-over the Ligier team in 1992 was until recently an unknown fact for me. While doing my research about their plans for Formula One in 1991 and 1992 I accidentally came across this I assume long forgotten fact. I have a theory why they tried this, as there is little information known about their attempt.
DAMS made a big impression in the International Formula 3000 Championship by winning in their first year the team’s title and in their second year in 1990 the drivers and team title. Interestingly is that the team was in May 1990 on speaking terms with Lola to discuss about a deal for 1991. At that time, Larrousse used the Lola chassis however they were focussing on constructing their own car designed by Gerard Ducarouge. However, the team would move from Paris to Paul Ricard at the end of the season. This meant that the team had no time to build their own car.
It seemed that Larrousse already said goodbye to Lola as their supplier. That’s the reason why Jean-Paul Driot was on speaking terms with Eric Broadley. How far the talks went is unsure; it is known that Larrousse negotiated the contract back. Therefore, the team used in 1991 still the Lola chassis.
For DAMS, it seemed they were really working on their debut in the Formula One. In those days, yep I say those days, it was common for teams to take the chance to debut in the Formula One. A good example is Keith Wiggins Pacific Grand Prix team that originally was to debut in 1993. Forti is another example of a team that just took the step to Formula One. In October 1991, Jean-Paul Driot had some talks with Richard Divilia at Nogaro, according to some sources it was not just a talk between two motorsport enthusiasts.
Divilia would not the first ex-Ligier employee Driot would speak with in the weeks to come. In 1990, due to the lack of results and financial insure times Ligier reorganised their team. The team only scored four points since 1987; a team with government support should do better. It is interesting that Driot spoke in this early stage to Ligier personal. Eventually a couple of “fired”Ligier people would start working for DAMS. In March 1992, Driot hired former Ligier engineer Claude Galopin to work on the Lola (Formula 3000) from Jean-Marc Gounon and Frederic Gosparini alongside Alain Rouy.
In late June Jean-Paul Driot had several meetings with Guy Ligier and eventually tried to buy the team from Guy Ligier. There are several stories going on about what the deal would have been. It is said that DAMS had backing from ELF. While the other story goes about a leveraged buyout. Which means that money will be borrowed to take-over the team. Eventually, the money has to be paid back by the purchased team. Mostly the assets are used as a security. Eventually the purchase of the team did not happen.
It was not the last time Driot tried to purchase the Ligier team. In the autumn of 1993, when Guy Ligier left and Cyril de Rouvre took control of the team there was another attempt. Somehow, the Ligier team was the spill in the Formula One constantly rumoured to be taken over. Cyril believed that people in the Formula One tried, on purpose, to destabilize his team. It seems that Driot spoke a couple of times with Cyril about a purchase of the team. Sources state that Driot had backing form the French Ministry of Youth and Sport. Eventually, Flavio Briatore purchased Ligier and made it’s Benetton’s B-team.
Jean-Paul Driot kept active in the International Formula 3000 Championship though announced in November 1993 that his team was working on their F1 entry. As i’ve written about before. This time not by taking over a team, no they would build their own car from “scratch”, well not completely. The GD-01 which was intended to debut in 1995, later postponed for 1996, looked similar to the Pacific PR01. Indeed, the Pacific based on the unraced Reynard design from the early 1990s. The GD-01 looked obsolete aerodynamic wise. Eventually, after tested at the Bugatti Circuit by Jan Lammers and Éric Bernard the team decided to ditch their F1 attempt.
