Henri Julien (motor sports)

Henri Julien (18 September 1927 – 13 July 2013) was a French racing car driver and motor sports team founder. He founded and managed the Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives (AGS) racing team, which participated in the European Formula Two Championship and Formula 1 in the 1970s and 1980s.

Henri Julien's father ran a petrol station with an affiliated car garage in the Provençale village Gonfaron with the name Garage de l'Avenir ("Garage of the Future"). After his apprenticeship, which he conducted partly in Toulon, he managed the company since 1947.

During the 1946 Grand Prix season, Julien visited the Grand Prix at Nice, one of the earliest competitions after World War II, and developed an interest in motor sports.

In 1950, Julien designed his first single seater racing car based on Simca components for junior teams up to 500 cc and drove this competitively. A second car was built in 1952, which had a BMW engine. In 1957, he built his JH3, also known as the Julien-Panhard. This car had an 850 cc two-cylinder Panhard engine and front wheel drive as well as several Panhard production components.

At the end of the 1950s, Julien focussed on the recently established Formula Junior. He modified his cars according to the rules of this class, but participated personally only in a few races in southern France.

Julien participated in 1959 with his Julien-Panhard at the Grand Prix of Monaco Junior in Formula Junior. He qualified and finished in 19th place, after being lapped 4 times by the winner, Michael May, in a Stanguellini. Julien entered once again in Monte Carlo in 1960 with the slightly modified JH4 version of this car with a smaller radiator face, but he did not participate in the race for unknown reasons. Some sources say that he had not qualified, others state that he did not try at all.

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