Since in one of my posts some people had said that they had never heard of the ZIG luxembourgeoise F3 car, I decided to create a small post to talk specifically about this vehicle and save this information somewhere. It should be said that I am not an expert on this car, and simply I became interested in subject due to my own involvement in the text described under, and everything written below was collected from various pieces of information I found on the internet.
For the full feature of the early Luxembourg GPs, go to: https://sportscardig...urg-grand-prix/
The story of ZIG begins at the end of the 40s, in a Luxembourg destroyed by the war. The reintroduction of motorsport on the European continent in the post-war context was already underway, and one of the main disciplines that participated in this process was the 500cc F3. Jos Zigrand, the most prominent Luxembourg driver of its time (having participated in some races in the BENELUX region between the 30s and 40s) wanted to participate in this process, designing, for this purpose, a single-seater car built entirely in Luxembourg, with the intention of participating in this category. This choice was not due to a lack of funds, as Zigrand was the main salesman and representative of the Bugatti brand in the Grand-Duchy, which certainly demonstrates that Jos would not have any financial problems to buy a cutting-edge F3 car, such as a J.B.S. or a Cooper; however, this was not Zigrand's objective, who persisted in his objective of creating a new type of industry in his country.
Feasibility studies for this Formula 3 car began at some point in 1949, with the project being completely developed in Zigrand's garage in Esch-Uelzecht, on the border between Luxembourg and France. A year of work resulted in the official presentation of the prototype during the 1950 edition of the Luxembourg GP, still contested by Sports Cars. Named after its creator, the original ZIG was an indigenous copy of a Cooper MK.II, with the cars lines closely resembling the British machine. However, some details clearly stood-out in the design, especially due to the limitation constraints imposed by the machine's birthplace: for example, due to the scarcity of aluminum and other essential materials for the construction of the vehicle in Luxembourg (still a reflection of war), many of the components used in the construction of the ZIG(1) were reused from other secondary sources: for example, the car's bodywork was built with aluminum panels reused from Second World War planes, while the gauges were borrowed from other existing vehicles.
Originally Jos Zigrand planned to equip the car with a Fiat-Topolino engine, the same one that powered some 500cc Italian F3s, but this engine proved insufficient for Jos' ambitions, who decided then to equip the car with a BMW engine, with just 34 hp. Despite exhaustive tests throughout the year to improve the machine, Jos remained dissatisfied with the vehicle's performance, choosing instead to develop a new project.
The ZIG(2) appeared in early 1951, looking like a slightly larger version of ZIG(1). Despite the apparent aerodynamic differences, the big change between the ZIG(1) and (2) was that the new vehicle was equipped with a J.A.P. engine, one of the best 500cc F3 engines available on the market, and which was much more powerful and reliable than the old BMW.
The ZIG(1) never participated in any race, remaining stored in Zigrand's personal collection for the following years. However, the career of the ZIG(2) was completely different, being Luxembourg's official entry in the two Grand Duchy GPs contested by F3 cars (1951 and 1952), driven by another Luxembourg driver, Paul Ries. From there the history of this car gets a little more hazy, with sources indicating that the ZIG(2) participated in races until 1961 - a point at which the 500cc F3 no longer existed. However, what I can guarantee for sure is that the last record of a ZIG in an event that I found was 1958, in a Luxembourguoise national Hill Climb event.
It is worth noting that, despite being developed for F3, most of the events in which ZIG participated were actually Hill Climb races, especially in traditional locations for the discipline within the Grand Duchy, such as Kautenbach and Vianden.
Another interesting point about the ZIG is that the vehicle served as the basis for the formation of Ecurie Luxembourg, the first de-facto Luxembourg motorsport team. Although the recognized date of the squad's foundation is January 15, 1958, it is possible to trace the team's origins to the Zigrand venture in 1951 and 52, with ZIG(2) being entered under the Ecurie Luxembourg banner (6 years before it was officially founded!) in both races.
I would like to have more information of this car to share, having searched exhaustively for a copy of the newspaper presented by Feltes in the documentary below (minute 2:07, the newspaper D'Amicale, published in Esch-Uelzecht) during my research for the Luxembourg GP text, but I had no luck in finding it.
For those who want to see the doc, I warn in advance that its only available with German subtitles.
Edited by FlyingSaucer, 30 September 2024 - 14:46.
