Spyder 550 550A

[Type550]

Steve,

there are a lot of race entry errors with the confusion between

Gonzague Olivier and Gustave Olivier who both raced 550s at the same time

Gonzague Olivier raced three times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche. His first was in 1953 and resulted in retirement, but in the next two he took the chequered flag; 14th in a Porsche 550 (and first in the 750-1100 cc class ) in 1954 and 18th in 1955. Subsequently, he became one of the privileged collaborators of Auguste Veuillet (five participations at the Le Mans 24 Hours) in Sonauto, the French Porsche importer based in Levallois.

Le Mans (from http://www.race-database.com/owner/owner.php?owner_id=Olivier)

1955 #66 Gustave Olivier/Wolfgang Seidel - Equipe Nationale Belge Porsche
1955 #65 Gustave Olivier
1956 #28 Gustave Olivier/Claude Storez

But then these results...
http://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/results/Gonzague-Olivier-F.html
http://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/results/Gustave-Olivier-F.html

[Type550]

[Steve Heinrichs]

for 1955, we show Gendebein as the co-pilot in Seidel's 550-15. We do not show Olivier.

for 1956, we show Olivier as pilot in Jeser's 550-0016.

for 1957, we do not show start 28 a t LM.


Steve Heinrichs

[Porschinelle]

Hi Steve
Hi Andrew

I have checked the French Le Mans 24 hours archives
The name of Gustave Olivier never appear
Gonzague Olivier was first a customer and then a friend of Auguste Veuillet the Sonauto boss
He was a gentleman driver and his real job was to run a famous motorboat shipyard
To day his boats are reaching enormous value as the Riva ones
Gonzague Olivier raced 3 times the Le Mans 24 hours
the first time was in 1953 on his personnal 356 with Ehgene Martin a

[Porschinelle]

In 1953 he was team manager and pilot as shown on the enclosed document
He did not finish the race with his co pi

[Porschinelle]

te Thirion

[Porschinelle]

In 1954 he raced the Le Mans 24 hours on a factory 550 with Zora Arkus Duntow as shown on the encl



osed document

[Porschinelle]

[Porschinelle]

Sorry I made a mistake in the previous post it was not the 12

[Porschinelle]

Sorry I made a mistake in the previous post it was not the Paris 12 hours but the Paris 24 hours as shon on the enclosed advertisement

[Porschinelle]

Despite the presence of 3 liters Gordini and Ferrari the 2 off 550 of Auguste Veuillet /Gonzague Olivier and Joseph Jesper/Annie Bousquet finished 1st and 2nd
Auguste Veuillet in white is seated in the middle of Gonzague Olivier on his left and Annie Bousquet on his right

[Porschinelle]

That same 1955 year for his last race at Le Mans he entered his own 550 and had Josef Jeiser as co pilot

[Porschinelle]

Its was Gonzague Olivier last race as pilot
They finished the race 18th overall and 2nd in class

[Porschinelle]

In 1956 Gonzague Olivier enter his own 550 at the Le Mans race for Claude Storez and Helmut Polensky but he only act as team Manager
It was a DNF

[Porschinelle]

Gonzague Olivier died in March this year at the age of 90 only a few weeks after that his son Jean Claude (big boss of Yamaha France) was killed in his Porsche Cayenne on the Paris Lille motorway by a drunk lorry driver who lost the control of his lorry and cross the motorway

I have checked many French documents and never find the existence of Gustave Olivier
On the contrary that name appear on US statistics but that is a translation mistake
I really thinck Gustave Olivier never existed