Alpine Le mans return confirmed for 2013

Lee beat me to it (nothing better to do while he nurses his balls) but I think if true, this deserves a thread of its own.

Le mans return

[stephendell]

MEDIA INFORMATION
08-03-2013

ALPINE TO COMPETE AT LE MANS AND IN ENDURANCE RACING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 35 YEARS

- In November 2012, Renault announced its intention to revive the Alpine brand with the creation of Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham.
- Ahead of the launch of the brand’s first new car, which is expected to reach the market in 2016, Renault has planned a number of operations in order to keep the Alpine name in the spotlight, including an entry of five A110 berlinettes for last January’s Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique.
- The announcement of Alpine’s return to endurance racing in 2013 marks another step in this process. The brand will contest the Le Mans 24 Hours and the 2013 European Le Mans Series.

On 5 November 2012, Renault’s senior management announced its intention to revive the Alpine brand within the framework of a partnership with Caterham. Today, under the leadership of CEO Bernard Ollivier, the recently-created Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham is already working on a new car which is expected to reach the market in 2016.
In the meantime, the brand is gradually building up to its return to consolidate its image thanks to carefully-tailored programmes in all its traditional areas of activity.

After presentations at the 2012 Monaco F1 Grand Prix and at the Le Mans Classic week of the Alpine A110-50, which was released to mark the 50th anniversary of the celebrated ‘Berlinette’, five Alpine A110s were officially entered for the recent Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. They were given a warm welcome by the public and afterwards joined other models of the make founded by Jean Rédélé at the Rétromobile Show in Paris, France, at the beginning of February.

Today, another important step has been taken with the announcement that an Alpine prototype is to race in the competitive 2013 European Le Mans Series endurance racing championship (ELMS), as well as at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours (June 22-23).

The decision to compete at Le Mans fits perfectly with the brand’s heritage, since Alpine contested the famous 24-hour race 11 times between 1963 and 1978, running a total of 55 factory cars. In addition to its successes in the ‘Energy Index’ classification in 1964, 1965 and 1968, as well as in the ‘Performance Index’ classification in 1968 and 1969, its efforts harvested seven class wins in total and, above all, outright victory in 1978 with the Alpine A442B prototype shared by Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Didier Pironi. The two Frenchmen were joined in the top four by the A442 of Jean Ragnotti and Guy Fréquelin.

For its return to Le Mans, Alpine has joined forces with Signatech. The Philippe Sinault-run team will enter an Alpine LMP2 prototype with an Alpine chassis powered by a 500hp Nissan engine for the five rounds of the ELMS, including the opening race at Silverstone, England (13 April). The drivers will be Pierre Ragues and Nelson Panciatici.

The highlight of the season will naturally be the Le Mans 24 Hours. The name of the third driver who will join the team for the world’s most famous endurance race will be announced when the car is officially presented at Le Castellet, France, on 24 March.
Said Carlos Tavares: “Alpine’s return to the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours in 2013 marks the beginning of a new adventure which is set to last. The passion that drives us is matched only by the humility and careful attention paid to costs that epitomise this comeback which itself has been made possible thanks to the involvement of our partners and supporters who I would like to thank formally here. Together, step by step, we will do our very best to write another exciting page in the history of Alpine, a truly outstanding name in the world of French sports cars.”
Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/alpinesportscars
ENDS
Press enquiries:
Mike Gale, Manager, Product Affairs
01923 697653, 07812 967680
mike.gale@renault.co.uk @renaultukpr

Jeremy Townsend, Director, Communications
01923 697592, 07977 289327
jeremy.townsend@renault.co.uk @renaultukpr

This Press release, photos and videos are available to download from www.press.renault.co.uk.

PRESS KIT
03-08-2013

A HISTORY OF ALPINE’S ENDURANCE
RACING PROTOTYPES

INTRODUCTION

- Alpine is undoubtedly the only French car brand to have enjoyed success in rallying, single-seater racing and sports cars. Not only that, but this success was achieved with distinctly modest financial means,
compensated for by plenty of passion...

- The recent Rallye Monte Carlo Historique underlined just how fresh Alpine’s glorious past in rallying continues to be in people’s memo-ries, whilst the triumphs notched up by Renault’s engines in Formula 1 over the years – in chassis made by Renault, Benetton, Williams and Red Bull – have continued the marque’s winning run in the sin-gle-seater arena.

- In endurance racing, Alpine started more than 200 races over two periods, extending from 1963 until 1969 (135 races), and from 1973 until 1978 (104). This programme harvested a long list international class and ‘index’ wins, as well as the brand’s memorable victory at Le Mans in 1978. Now, Alpine is poised to contest the world’s most famous 24-hour race once again in June 2013.

- To mark this exciting comeback, we invite you to take a journey back in time…

CONTENTS





PART ONE: THE ‘BLUE’ ERA – THE ALPINE-RENAULT PROTOTYPES


1.1 Two titles to set the ball rolling
1.2 A long list of ‘index’ successes
1.3 Putting France on top
1.4 Results and statistics: the 1960s




PART TWO: THE ‘YELLOW’ ERA – THE RENAULT-ALPINE PROTO-TYPES


2.1 Champions of Europe
2.2 The turbo effect
2.3 Victory at Le Mans
2.4 Results and statistics: the 1970s

THE ‘BLUE’ ERA – THE ALPINE-RENAULT PROTOTYPES


From the moment he launched his brand, Jean Rédélé made the decision to boost Alpine’s development by trying to be successful in motorsport.

The excellent results it obtained on the Mille Miglia and, later, the Rallye Monte-Carlo have been well-documented, not to mention the brand’s achievements on the Tour de France Automobile which earned the A110 its sobriquet ‘Berlinette Tour de France’. However, Jean Rédélé quickly recognised that an automobile manufacturer could only truly be considered a sportscar maker if it took competed at Le Mans 24 Hours, the jewel in the crown of the international sportscar calendar and a legendary race with a worldwide following, guaranteeing unrivalled positive publicity for anybody who won it.


1.1 TWO TITLES TO SET THE BALL ROLLING

In 1962, based on the recommendation of Gérard Crombac and José Ros-inski (esteemed journalists from France’s Sport Auto magazine), Rédélé approached Len Terry, a young English engineer who had worked on the Lotus 23 chassis. This solid base gained him precious time. As ambitious as ever, Jean Rédélé wished to enter several cars for the 1963 Le Mans 24 Hours. The intention was good, but the C.S.I. (Commission Sportive Internationale – International Sporting Commission, the body which then wrote motorsport’s rules) changed the regulations for 1964, and Terry’s chassis was suddenly rendered obsolete. Bernard Boyer and Richard Bouleau, two friends who had been behind the Sirmac ‘Formule Junior’ chassis, took over the reins and, in just a few months, designed a chassis composed of two tubular frames linked by a central beam, as seen on the Berlinette which was already the Dieppe brand’s benchmark model. The suspension was based upon Len Terry’s design, with moulded Lotus hub carriers, marking something of a precursor to the new, recently-announced partnership between Alpine and Caterham.

The powertrain was developed by Frenchman Amédée Gordini – known as the ‘wizard’ – based on the engine from the Renault 8 but benefitting from double overhead camshafts and twin Weber carburettors. All of this was carefully managed both technically and financially. In order to complete the project in the same assiduous manner, the design of the body was entrusted to an ingenious young technician who had trained under Romani at B.E.S.T. after working alongside André-Georges Claude on the famous ‘five-speed box’ for which Rédélé and his friend Louis Pons obtained a licence. That young man was Marcel Hubert, whose good sense, simplicity and interest in aerodynamics at a time when everybody else believed power was the be-all-and-end-all would revolutionise the prototype world until the arrival of the era of computer-aided engineering.

On April 7, after travelling from Dieppe, the first Alpine ‘prototype’ – named M63 for ‘Le Mans 1963’ – was unloaded at Le Mans where made its track debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours test day in the expert hands of José Ros-inski. Although he doubled up as driver, team director and Sport Auto magazine’s test-driver journalist, French Formule Junior Champion retained through it all a rare style that could not fail to impress Jean Rédélé. Powered by a small 996cc engine, Rosinski soon reached 220kph down the Mulsanne straight and set a superb benchmark lap time to prove the value of the ideas and the hard work of the striking blue machine’s de-signers.

It was the beginning of a unique adventure.

The ambitious Jean Rédélé was immediately won over and entered his new car in a round of the discipline’s prestigious world championship – and what a round it was: the awe-inspiring Nürburgring 1,000km, held in mid-May. As drivers, he despatched José Rosinski and the USA’s Lloyd Perry ‘Lucky’ Casner who was more accustomed to competing in big-engined cars and who had won the race in 1961 in the famous Maserati Type T-61 ‘Birdcage’. The fragile Alpine prototype (chassis 1701) – deemed "quite nervous" by its drivers – finished 11th overall and first in class, establishing a new lap record for its engine size for good measure. Point proved.

No longer regarded as a newcomer, Alpine found itself the subject of sig-nificant publicity ahead of the Le Mans 24 Hours which took place just one month later.

Two more cars had been built in time for the French race, which meant it was a trio of M63s that turned up for scrutineering, under the proud gaze of Jean Rédélé. An astute businessman, Rédélé had signed a licensing production agreement in Brazil the previous year with Willys, a company that was already producing Dauphine Renaults and henceforth Alpines, marketed under the ‘Interlagos’ moniker. In the name of reciprocity, Willys’ development driver Christian ‘Bino’ Heins was entered in the race alongside José Rosinski in one of the M63s (chassis 1702). Unfortunately, the young Brazilian was tragically killed at 8:20pm on Saturday when he went off on some oil left by the broken sump of Bruce McLaren’s Aston Martin. He was the only driver ever to lose his life at the wheel of a factory Alpine. All three M63s were withdrawn. A fortnight later, the two surviving cars were entered for a race in Reims, finishing ninth and 11th respectively as Rosinski once more triumphed in the ‘under 1,000cc’ class. At the end of the 1963 season – Alpine’s first in prototype competition – Rosinski was crowned the discipline’s French Champion. From that point on, Alpine was recognised as a serious contender and the cars sporting the arrowed ‘A’ on their bonnet went on to compete at Sebring (Florida, USA), in the Targa Florio (Sicily, Italy) and at the Nürburgring in Germany’s Eifel Mountains. Subsequent versions of the constantly evolving car were named M63, M63B and M64, the latter being more refined than its forbears. It should be noted that these cars continue to compete today in historic meetings – and are still enjoying considerable success.


1.2 A LONG LIST OF ‘INDEX’ SUCCESSES

Counting on the car’s streamlined body and small engine, Alpine notably targeted the ‘Efficiency Index’ (based on the ratio between fuel consump-tion and speed) and the ‘Performance Index’ (the ratio between distance covered and engine size). This target would be swiftly achieved when, in 1964, Irishman Henry Morrogh and French gentleman driver Roger Delageneste came close to completing 4,000 kilometres in the Le Mans 24 Hours, triumphing in the 1,150cc class (and setting a new lap record to boot) after using only 13.1 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres, a performance which earned Alpine the Efficiency Index prize. Both the general public and the specialist media widely praised this feat – one that was not lost upon Renault which was edging noticeably closer to the Alpine brand.

The same crew contested the 12 Hours of Reims, winning the 1,300cc category before finishing as class runners-up in the Paris 1,000km at the end of the season. The French Sportscar Championship crown – clinched this time by Roger Delageneste in the M64 – was just reward for Alpine’s efforts.

For 1965, Alpine unveiled an evolution of its new prototype, christened the M65 and featuring a truncated rear with finned wings that immediately brought better stability to the car. With a small 1,100cc engine, Henri Grandsire – a recent French F3 Champion in an Alpine – exceeded 250kph at Le Mans before being forced to retire from the race. Payback came in style three weeks later when four Alpine prototypes crossed the finish line in formation in Reims. Now equipped with what would go on to become the famous 1,300cc Gordini powerplant, they achieved a top-four clean sweep in their class. Better still, on September 5, Lucien and Mauro Bianchi achieved the first outright victory for an Alpine prototype by triumphing in the notoriously difficult Nürburgring 500km in their 1,300cc M65 (chassis 1719). Photographs of these successes were widely published in the press.

The M65 evolved into the A210 after it was fitted with suspension benefit-ting from raised ground clearance and different underbody shielding, even if, from the outside, the body shape did not change. Alpine’s test and de-velopment driver Mauro Bianchi set a blistering lap time at April’s pre-Le Mans test day before two A210s proceeded to win their class in Italy’s Monza 1,000km and Belgium’s Spa 1,000km. These successes were fol-lowed up at Le Mans in June when Henri Grandsire – who played Michel Vaillant on TV, driving Alpine-Vaillants in a regular Sunday series – pre-vailed in the 1,300cc class. At the same time, Roger Delageneste, who shared a car with Jacques Cheinisse, claimed the Efficiency Index prize for a second time in chassis 1721. From that point on, Alpine became known as ‘the world’s fastest litre of petrol’ according to a particularly assertive advertising slogan devised for Renault by Publicis. Mauro Bianchi clinched overall victory in Macau with an A210 (chassis 1722) on November 20 – in front of an awestruck Asian crowd – after having similarly dominated the touring car race there in a Renault 8 Gordini.

In February 1967, in the light of these continued successes, Renault agreed to release the budget required for the research and production of a three-litre V8 engine that would allow Alpine to battle for outright victory, with the Le Mans 24 Hours as the main goal. The project was entrusted to Amédée Gordini. Unfortunately for the ‘wizard’, however, the world of motor racing had by this stage significantly changed and the advent of big manufacturers with hefty financial and technical resources rendered the task of the independent craftsman rather more difficult. Gordini’s V8 powerplant was never competitive against the Matra or Ferrari V12s, nor against the Ford Cosworth V8.

Whilst waiting for this engine to appear, Alpine continued to successfully run its A201 prototypes – now officially badged ‘Alpine Renault’ – with 1,000cc, 1,300cc and 1,500cc engines, achieving strong results at Le Mans, Reims, Madrid, the Nürburgring, Montlhéry and even Kyalami in South Africa, where Depailler/Grandsire were 7th overall in a 1,500cc A210 (chassis 1725).



1.3 PUTTING FRANCE ON TOP

Famous for its Parisian student uprisings, 1968 was also a revolutionary year for Alpine in Dieppe. It all began in the autumn of 1967 when Gordini delivered his 3,000cc V8 engine. Immediately mated to an A210 (chassis 1727), the ‘A211’ was shaken down at Michelin’s test track in Ladoux, be-fore taking on Montlhéry’s concrete and asphalt in the Paris 1,000km on October 15. Grandsire and Bianchi finished seventh overall with this car, which – in another essential innovation – was equipped with slick Michelin radial tyres. Even Général de Gaulle was stopped in his tracks by the A211 when it featured on the Renault stand at the Paris Motor Show. The French President asked Jean Rédélé: “What purpose does motor racing serve?” To which the brand’s founder replied: “To put France on top, General!”

The A211 – soon affectionately nicknamed ‘La Grand-Mère’ (grandmother) – went on to compete in the Sebring 12 Hours (USA), the Monza 1,000km (Italy), the Nürburgring 1,000km (Germany) and the Spa 1,000km (Bel-gium), before making way for the A220 which appeared for the first time at August’s Zeltweg 1,000km, in Austria.

The cars were supposed to have participated in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, of course, but – fortunately for Alpine – the 1968 spring uprising caused the event to be postponed until September, allowing the company’s mechanics to finish assembling the cars in the Normandy countryside, given that the factories had all been taken over. Despite – or perhaps because – of these conditions, the four A220s produced only average performances in the uncharacteristically autumnal Le Mans 24 Hours. The chassis had been developed in haste and without a proper budget, while poor high-speed stability required the fitment of a special aero device, and the Gordini engine caused big vibrations in addition to being underpowered compared to the opposition. In short, it was a failure, and one that was made even more painful by Mauro Bianchi’s terrifying accident that left the A220 driver with serious burns, whilst his brother Lucien won in his Ford GT40. Amidst all of this misery and misfortune, Alpine was nonetheless able to take some comfort from a one-two finish in the Performance Index classification, led by rally drivers Jean-Claude Andruet/Jean-Pierre Nicolas in a 1,000cc A210 (chassis 1725), as well as victory in the Efficiency Index thanks to Jean-Luc Thérier/Bernard Tramont in a 1,300cc A210 (chassis 1721).

The three-litres cars gained their revenge in the following month’s Paris 1,000km, where the two A220s finished fourth and sixth overall. Then, on October 20, driver-cum-engineer André de Cortanze took an outright win in the Grand Prix de Casablanca, Morocco, driving an A220.

For the 1969 season, the research and design department – spearheaded by the aforementioned de Cortanze – modified the A220 by moving the radiators to the rear overhang. Top French drivers Patrick Depailler – who would claim the French F3 title in an Alpine A360 in 1971 – and Jean-Pierre Jabouille fully justified this choice by finishing sixth in the Monza 1,000km. Unfortunately, everything went wrong at Le Mans. All of the Alpines retired except the small 1,000cc A210 (chassis 1723) shared by the firm’s new development driver Alain Serpaggi and Christian Ethuin. They won their class and clinched the Performance Index victory. It was Alpine’s fifth and final Index triumph after three in the Efficiency Index (1964, 1965 and 1968) and two in the Performance Index (1968 and 1969). It was, moreover, the seventh class victory achieved between 1963 and 1969 – a laudable tally.

Sadly, it also marked the end of Alpine’s sportscar racing era after the make decided to focus henceforth on rallying. All that remained was for Jean Vinatier to drive an A220 (chassis 1731) to second place in an autumn race at Nogaro, southwest France, and for Jean-Pierre Jabouille to enter the same shortened A220 in the Critérium des Cévennes rally towards the end of the season. This car still exists in the same configuration, and was showcased on the Renault Classic stand at the 2013 Salon Rétromobile, in Paris, in February.



RESULTS AND STATISTICS: THE 1960s

25 prototypes built between 1963 and 1969

Production quantities by type:
M63: 4
M63B: 1
M64: 4
M65: 2
A210: 6
(A211: 1)
A220: 4
A220B: 4

44 cars entered for the Le Mans 24 Hours
7 class victories
3 ‘Efficiency Index’ victories (1964, 1965 and 1968)
2 ‘Performance Index’ victories (1968 and 1969)

Other notable successes:
3 outright wins…
Nürburgring 500km (1965)
Macau GP (1966)
Casablanca GP (1968)
French titles in 1963 (with José Rosinski, M63) and 1964 (Roger Delageneste, M64)

THE ‘YELLOW’ ERA – THE RENAULT-ALPINE PROTOTYPES

2.1 CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE

Renault took over Alpine on January 1, 1973. The famous competitions manager, Jacques Cheinisse, retained his role but henceforth worked for Renault. Under the impetus of Renault Gordini director Jean Terramorsi and Elf’s competitions director François Guiter, work began on the produc-tion of a V6 engine in 1972 and, on January 15, 1973, it was presented to the media. On May 1 of that same year, a new Alpine-Renault prototype – named A440 – made its race debut at Magny-Cours, near Nevers, France. At the end of that month, it entered another race, this time at Croix-en-Ternois, in northern France. In both events, the car was victorious in the hands of Jean-Pierre Jabouille. That was complemented by several other fine results (7th at Imola, 3rd at Charade, 2nd at Nogaro), although these were slightly overshadowed by the success of the Berlinette A110 in the World Rally Championship. It should be noted that in 1973, Alpine also won the F2 race at Pau (François Cevert), as well as in F3 (Alain Serpaggi) to confirm its status as a truly sporting brand.

Renault’s senior management was keen for Alpine to return to endurance racing and accepted that the return would take place in two stages. The first was to compete in – and, if possible, win –the new European 2-Litre Sportscar Championship. The next was to work on producing a car capable of winning the Le Mans 24 Hours outright, an ambitious but clearly stated objective.

Marcel Hubert, whose services were again called upon for this rebirth, re-worked his A440 by refining it in collaboration with André de Cortanze’s research and design department that was charged with redesigning the chassis. Henceforth, the engine was a load-bearing member positioned behind the driver, whilst the car’s handling was noticeably improved. This revised model was baptised the A441. Elegant and streamlined, it left be-hind the famous Alpine blue to dress itself in the white, yellow and black livery of Renault. It made its debut at Le Castellet in endurance racing’s newly-created European Championship. It scored a magnificent win out of the box thanks to the talented Alain Cudini who had won the European Formula Renault Championship in an Alpine A366 single-seater in 1972. The Frenchman won again on May 12 at Montlhéry in a national event. On June 23, at the second round of the European Championship, Gérard Lar-rousse prevailed in the same A441 (chassis 441-1), ahead of Alain Ser-paggi in the sister car (chassis 441-0). The circuit of Nogaro in southwest France witnessed the completion of the hat-trick, followed by victories at Misano in Italy, Enna Pergusa in Sicily, Hockenheim (Germany), Mugello (Italy) and Jarama (Spain). The car’s seventh consecutive triumph was enough to sew up the European Sportscar title, whilst Alain Serpaggi claimed the drivers’ laurels. With a score of 77 points, he saw off Gérard Larrousse (75) and Jean-Pierre Jabouille (73). It was truly a whitewash, given that the fourth-placed competitor totalled just 45 points.


2.2 THE TURBO EFFECT

This avalanche of victories convinced Renault to persevere with the project and, at the same time, turn it up a notch. In order to do that, a new car was designed, but of even greater significance, without a doubt, was the engine that was mated with the A442 chassis: a 490hp two-litre turbocharged powerplant based on the V6 and developed by the in-house specialist Bernard Dudot. No less than that would suffice if Alpine was to become a points-scorer against the regular competitors in the keenly disputed European Sportscar Championship for Makes. However, it was a tran-sitionary car that lined up on the grid for the opening round at Mugello in Italy on March 23, shared by Larrousse and Jabouille – the A441 Turbo (chassis 441-1). The same pairing finished third in the Monza 1,000km on April 20 and was fourth in the Nürburgring 1,000km on June 1. The ACO (Automobile Club de l'Ouest), organiser of the Le Mans 24 Hours, wrote its own regulations. That year, there was no place for turbo engines. In 1975, the honour of defending Alpine’s colours in La Sarthe fell to French lady Marie-Claude Beaumont and Italy’s Lella Lombardi. Their weapon for this task was a normally-aspirated A441. During practice, the ‘diminutive’ two-litre car posted a highly promising eighth-fastest time, a mere three sec-onds off pole position. Unfortunately, a fuel feed problem swiftly curtailed what should have been a show of force. The all-female crew similarly re-tired from the 1,000km of Austria at the end of June, as did the two turbo-powered A442s that were also taking part. However, Gérard Larrousse and Jean-Pierre Jarier piloted one of these A442s (chassis 442-1) to third place in July at Watkins Glen, in the USA.

Renault’s new CEO Bernard Hanon was starting to ramp up the pressure: he wanted Renault to win the Le Mans 24 Hours and commissioned Gérard Larrousse as the man to help accomplish that mission. Larrousse ended his driving career in order to take over responsibility for the competitions department from Jacques Cheinisse. Renault Sport was officially created and Viry-Châtillon supplanted Dieppe as the headquarters for the brand’s motorsport activities. It was the turning of a momentous page. A team of drivers of the highest calibre – mostly from Formula 1 – was entered, a talented engineering squad was assembled and a clear objective was declared: to participate in the 1976 World Sportscar Championship for Makes. Notwithstanding the considerable means at the team’s disposal, there was a chaotic debut with a catastrophic collision between Depailler and Jabouille on the very first lap of the Nürburgring 300km on April 4 that completely destroyed one of the team’s chassis (the A442-0) and seriously damaged the other (chassis A442-1). In the Monza 4 Hours, new recruit Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Jarier finished second with the repaired car. Three cars were entered at Imola and all three retired, which didn’t leave particularly high hopes for the Le Mans 24 Hours, for which just one car (chassis 442-3) was entered, shared by Frenchmen Patrick Tambay and Jean-Pierre Jabouille. The latter nonetheless succeeded in showcasing the Renault-Alpine’s potential by putting it on pole position at an average speed of 230kph, having been clocked at 337kph down the Mulsanne straight. A piston failure put an end to the French pair’s challenge before the race had reached half distance. There was another double retirement in the Enna 4 Hours, whilst the Mosport 200 Miles in Canada saw Depailler finish fourth and then – partnered by countryman Jacques Laffite – second in the Dijon 500km, ahead of the sister car crewed by the two Jean-Pierres, Jabouille and Jarier.

The final balance from the year was modest in terms of the number of points scored, but the Renault Sport team learnt a great deal about both the Renault Gordini turbo engine and the Renault Alpine chassis.

2.3 VICTORY AT LE MANS

1977 witnessed a change in strategy, with an exclusive focus on the Le Mans 24 Hours, for which Renault entered four A442s. A comprehensive testing programme was put into place, with multiple endurance tests, pit-stop simulations and various body part tests.

Days before the race, the Renault Alpine armada enjoyed an early cele-bration by placing all four of its cars inside the top five in qualifying. Pole position was claimed by Jean-Pierre Jabouille, a man who knew the A442 better than anybody having followed its development right from the start. Unfortunately, the pistons in the turbo engine didn’t hold out and once again, the team left empty-handed.

1978 looked like being the last chance saloon. The CHS 2 V6 engine was now reliable, and aerodynamicist Marcel Hubert had further refined the car’s design with a bubble roof that acted as a windshield. Much testing had again been completed and, on June 10-11, 1978, the crowds were eager to savour a Franco-German duel at Le Mans. Four Alpines were entered for the showdown. Jabouille and Depailler’s A443 (chassis 443-0), with a re-bored 2,138cc engine, set the second-fastest time in practice. The talented driver from Clermont-Ferrand hit 359kph along the Mulsanne straight and lapped the circuit in 3m28.4s – a time that remains, to this day, the best ever achieved by an Alpine at La Sarthe. Assuming the role of the hare, the car featured consistently amongst the leading group. In the early hours of Sunday morning, it seemed to have the race in the palm of its hand, but an overdose of caution on the pit wall saw the turbo pressure reduced in order to conserve the engine – only for a piston to break as a consequence. With Jean-Pierre Jarier and Englishman Derek Bell having had to retire midway through the race due to a bevel gear failure, all hopes subsequently rested with the N°2 A442 (chassis 442-3) driven by veteran Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, 41, and the young Didier Pironi, 26. Under the guidance of race engineer Michel Tetu, the pair worked together superbly and adopted an intelligent approach. At 4pm on Sunday, they crossed the finish line victorious, having completed 5,044 kilometres at an average speed of 210kph. The fourth A442 (chassis 442-4), crewed by rally drivers Jean Ragnotti and Guy Fréquelin, finished fourth. It was the crowning glory, the Holy Grail finally attained.

This victory cemented Renault and Alpine’s place in motor racing folklore.




With its mission accomplished, Renault Sport elected to quit endurance racing to henceforth devote its efforts to Formula 1, and the rest is history...



RESULTS AND STATISTICS: THE 1970s
12 prototypes built between 1973 and 1978
Production quantities by type:
A440: 2
A441: 4
A442: 5
A443: 1
10 cars entered for the Le Mans 24 Hours
1 outright victory (1978)
Other notable successes:
7 race wins in the European 2-litre Sportscar Championship
European 2-litre Sportscar Champions (1974) with Alain Serpaggi



Now, 35 years later, a fresh page in adventure is about to begin…

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default ... ryId=27287

[stephendell]

Watch this space...

For something else club orientated (hopefully)

We get to go to opening race at Silverstone

[stephendell]

Yes. That is the suggestion I have put forward.

For its return to Le Mans, Alpine has joined forces with Signatech. The Philippe Sinault-run team will enter an Alpine LMP2 prototype with an Alpine chassis powered by a 500hp Nissan engine for the five rounds of the ELMS, including the opening race at Silverstone, England (13 April). The drivers will be Pierre Ragues and Nelson Panciatici.

For "Alpine Chassis" read "Oreca ( nee Courage even).
something like this:


for this season at least.

Must get my act together and ...possibly a good excuse to gwt a passport would love to see Alpines return to LeMans ...its a must...some...how

si21...I love proper sports car racing

[stephendell]

OK we have an offer of dedicated infield parking and discounted admission tickets for the new Alpine Le Mans car first outing on 14th April.

Can I have a show of interest below please as I don't want to do this unless we have a decent turnout.

Any Dieppe built sports cars.

I'd be interested...

i go every year to le mans (greatest motorsport weekend ) and have various contacts for tickets etc. so if this is going to be a definate that alpine are to return and a few people are wanting to go i could make some calls to try and sort out discount for camping pitch's etc. but would prob. wait until after this years event to start looking into it if you would like me too

[Alpineandy]

For "Alpine Chassis" read "Oreca ( nee Courage even).
for this season at least.

IIRC When they first came into F1 in 77 the test chassis was a martini (which itself was a development of the martini F2 car) and the race chassis was an evolution of that.
Then for 78 they started to engineer their own car.

I'd be interested. Just to make sure I'm getting this right:

Sunday April 14 at Silverstone?

(The Euro Lemans series says Silverstone is 12&13 April...)

I'd be interested. Just to make sure I'm getting this right:

Sunday April 14 at Silverstone?

(The Euro Lemans series says Silverstone is 12&13 April...)

yep confusing isnt it...

The ELMS race is a 3 hour race on Saturday 13th
The WEC is a 6 hour race on Sunday 14h

Just to confuse matters even more, Silverstone are listing a Renault
world series race on the Sunday but I believe that to be a typo as I think they may have copied and pasted the timetable from last year.
I am certain it is a Formula 3 race on the Sunday instead.

Both ELMs and WEC are for pretty much the same cars (no LMP1 in ELMS) and I am not sure which the "Alpine" is racing in therefore dont know on which day. Hoepfully this will become clearer nearer the event.

Would seem this is it:

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default ... ryId=27366