In the mid-1960s, Matra enjoyed considerable success in
Formula 3 and
Formula 2 racing, particularly with the
MS5 monocoque-based car, winning the French and European championships. In ,
Jacky Ickx surprised the F1 establishment by posting the third-fastest qualifying time of 8:14 at the
German Grand Prix at
Nürburgring in his 1600cc
Matra MS7 Formula 2 car, which was allowed to enter alongside the 3000cc
Formula One cars. In the race, he failed to finish due to a broken suspension. in with the
Matra MS80-
Ford at the
Nürburgring. The car wears the
Bleu de France,
the national racing colour of France. pictured with the
Matra MS84 at the Nürburgring driving the
Matra MS670 Group 5 Sports Car in the
1973 1000 km Nürburgring race. Matra entered
Formula One in when
Jackie Stewart was a serious contender, winning several Grands Prix in the
Tyrrell-run
Matra MS10 which competed alongside the
works team. The F1 team was established at
Vélizy-Villacoublay in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. The car's most innovative feature was the use of aviation-inspired structural fuel tanks. These allowed the chassis to be around lighter, while still being stronger than its competitors. The
FIA considered the technology to be unsafe and decided to ban it for . Matra
CEO Jean-Luc Lagardère made a strategic decision for the championship: the Matra
works team would not compete in Formula One. Matra would instead focus its efforts on
Ken Tyrrell's
privateer team (renamed
Matra International) and build a new
Ford Cosworth DFV-powered car with structural fuel tanks, even though it would only be eligible for a single season. The decision was even more radical given that Matra was seeking a partnership with
Simca, which would preclude using
Ford-branded engines for the following year. Stewart won the 1969 title easily with the new
Cosworth-powered
Matra MS80 car, which was designed by
Gérard Ducarouge and
Bernard Boyer, and corrected most of the weaknesses of the MS10 car. The 1969 World Drivers' and Constructors' Championship titles were the first titles won by a French constructor, and still remain the only titles won by a car built in France as well as a car entered by a privateer team. It was a spectacular achievement from a constructor that had only entered Formula One the previous year. France became only the third country (after the
United Kingdom and
Italy) to have produced a
winning constructor, and Matra became the only constructor to have won the Constructors' Championship without running its own works team. Like
Cosworth,
Lotus and
McLaren, Matra experimented with
four-wheel drive during the 1969 season.
Johnny Servoz-Gavin became the one and only driver to score a point with a 4WD car, finishing sixth with the
Matra MS84 at the
1969 Canadian Grand Prix. The MS84, along with
Brabham's
BT26A, was one of the last
spaceframe cars to compete in Formula One. For , following the agreement with
Simca, Matra asked Tyrrell to use their
Matra Sports V12 engine rather than the Cosworth. Stewart got to test Matra's V12, but since a large part of the Tyrrell budget was provided by
Ford, and another significant sponsor was French state-owned petroleum company
Elf, which had an agreement with
Renault that precluded supporting a Simca partner, the partnership between Matra and Tyrrell ended. Matra V12s powered the
Shadow DN7 car in two races of the season and then cars built and entered by the
Ligier Formula 1 team in –, and again (under the name
Talbot Ligier) in –, winning three races (the
1977 Swedish Grand Prix,
1981 Austrian Grand Prix and
1981 Canadian Grand Prix).
Jacques Laffite's victory at the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix was the first Formula One victory for a
French-licensed team and a French engine, as well as the first all-French victory in the Formula One World Championship. The company was also successful in
endurance racing with cars powered by their V12 engine. The
sportscar racing team was based at first at
Vélizy-Villacoublay and then moved to
Le Castellet, near
Marseille, France. The
Matra MS670 sports prototype won the
24 Hours of Le Mans in
1972,
1973, and
1974. It also delivered the
World Championship for Makes to Matra in both
1973 and
1974 seasons. ==Racing models==