Misplaced Pages

#5994

104-562: In 1962, the founder and chief of the Société des Automobiles Alpine , Jean Rédélé , with the support of Shell , requested to Renault Gordini -tuned engines for a sports car programme centred on the 24 Hours of Le Mans , similar to the ones used by BP -sponsored rival Bonnet . Rédélé got a 1-litre inline-four engine and his objective was to build a prototype capable of winning the index of performance award. He contacted Colin Chapman for

208-601: A Formula One car as a testing mule which lead directly to their entry into the Formula One World Championship in 1977. A second European Formula 2 championship followed with René Arnoux in 1977 with the customer Martini team, before Alpine sold the F2 operation to Willi Kauhsen to concentrate on the Le Mans and Formula One programs. Alpine Renault continued to develop their range of models all through

312-464: A 1.3-litre engine. An A210 driven by Mauro Bianchi won the overall classification of the 1966 Macau Grand Prix for touring cars. Rédéle used the results to convince Renault of giving him support for the construction of a car aimed at the overall victory in Le Mans. Gordini was commissioned to build a new 3-litre V8 to be fitted on the A210 chassis, although it would not be ready for the 1967 edition. Before

416-593: A 2017 relaunch for the Alpine brand. The Vision was later presented at the 86th Geneva Motor Show by Alpine. The production version reused the A110 name and the first official pictures were revealed on 28 February 2017 prior to the unveiling at the 87th Geneva Motor show. On 10 December 2020, Alpine and MV Agusta announced that they would make a special edition of the MV Agusta Superveloce influenced by

520-503: A 275 LM and a 275 GTB. The Swiss team also ran a pair of the latest 7-litre Corvette Stingrays in the GT division. There were two British privateer Ferraris. David Piper had done a major rebuild of his car, replacing most of its aluminium body with a polyester/fiberglass shell to reduce weight. A number of manufacturers stepped up to fill the leading prototype positions vacated by Ford and Ferrari: Porsche's ongoing development program wound up

624-516: A Five-speed manual gearbox and with the group 4 model get a higher tune with more cubic capacity and 3 twin barrel Weber carburetors . After the A310, Alpine transformed into the new Renault Alpine GTA range, produced from plastic and polyester components, commencing with normally aspirated PRV V6 engines. In 1985 the V6 turbo was introduced to complete the range. This car was faster and more powerful than

728-528: A class victory in its competition debut at the 1963 edition of the Nürburgring 1000 km . At the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans , however, none of the three M63s entered finished the race and one of their drivers, Brazilian Christian Heins, died. After the problems encountered, Alpine built three units of a revised model based on the M63, named as M64. The new cars were entered alongside some of their predecessors into

832-693: A comfortable 4-lap lead over the surprising next pair: the new Matra was scrapping with the 2-litre Alfa Romeo of Giunti/Galli. Meanwhile, Stommelen's delayed Porsche 908 was back on song and closing in fourth (170 laps). Fifth, on the same lap, was the Swiss Porsche 907 of Squadra Tartaruga with the Bianchi/Depailler Alpine (169 laps - back after falling to 15th to fix their exhaust) leading the Alfas of Facetti/Dini and Casoni/Biscaldi. The Cortanze/Vinatier Alpine had moved up to 9th ahead of

936-554: A company revamp, Renault announced that Renault Sport was again merged into Alpine to form an Alpine business unit. In 2024, Alpine started producing electric vehicles by rolling out the Alpine A290 . As part of its global expansion, Alpine in 2023 announced plans to enter the North American market in 2027 with a mid-size electric crossover and a large electric SUV. Using Renault 4CVs, Jean Rédélé gained class wins in

1040-456: A competition weight for the car of around 620 kg (1,367 lb), the performance was excellent. Alpine achieved increasing success in rallying, and by 1968 had been allocated the whole Renault competition budget. This close collaboration with Renault allowed Alpines to be sold and maintained in France by normal Renault dealerships. Real top level success started in 1968 with outright wins in

1144-603: A dealership network in the country, with these new electric vehicles being developed specifically to meet the preferences of American consumers. The first assembly plant for Alpine was at a small workshop owned by Rédélé on the Pasteur avenue in Dieppe. In 1969, to cope with increasing demand, the assembly was moved to a larger facility on de Bréauté avenue, its present location. The Dieppe plant has 3.8 hectares of covered buildings. As of 2019 , it had 386 employees. The plant

SECTION 10

#1732798764006

1248-529: A faulty connection but was able to get a replacement engine from the JWA team. During the April test many drivers had complained about the layout of the new chicane, being too tight. By September it had been redesigned to greater satisfaction. This year the start time was moved forward to 3pm for the spectators’ sake due to the earlier onset of darkness. The honorary starter was Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli . Race-day

1352-473: A joint venture ( Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham or SAAC) owned equally by both parts, with the aim of developing affordable sport cars under the Alpine (for Renault) and Caterham (for Caterham Cars) brands, which would be available in 2016. In this partnership, Caterham acquired 50% ownership of the Renault's Dieppe assembly plant assets. On 10 June 2014, Renault announced it would be repurchasing

1456-502: A narrow lead in the Championship coming into this final round, looking for its first overall FIA Championship. So four 908s were prepared for the works team, in langheck (longtail) form for the long fast straights. Their top pair were Jo Siffert (4 wins) and Hans Herrmann (2 wins). Rising sports-car start Vic Elford (the other race winner) was with Gerhard Mitter , Porsche regulars Rolf Stommelen and Jochen Neerpasch had

1560-562: A new 5-speed ZF gearbox and larger rear brakes' cooling inlets. Its debut was at a non-championship race, the Paris 1000 km in the Montlhéry track, where the car problems became evident. For 1968, new regulations banned the four to seven litres engines used by various Alpine rivals such as Chaparral , Ferrari , and Ford which increased Alpine's hopes. The new Alpine contender, the A220,

1664-591: A new starter motor fitted. Approaching 9pm, with the Fords and Porsches now all back on the same lap, the order was changing as often as the pitstops took place. The four Alfas had a stranglehold on the Index of Performance. Soon after, Henri Grandsire had another accident in the Alpine, when it got airborne over the hump at the end of the Mulsanne straight. Again, he was fortunate to be able to walk away uninjured. Then

1768-622: A notch with the new Porsche 908 fitted with a new 3-litre flat-8 producing 330 bhp and over 310 km/h (190 mph), the first time Porsche competed in the largest engine class of the regulations. Still quite unreliable, Porsche had to rely on their 907s to give them race victories early in the year, but the 908 came good at the Nürburgring race. Due to their low profile, the cars used small, but very bright quartz-iodine headlights, but this necessitated two alternators in each car rather than dynamos. With 5 wins to Ford's 4, Porsche had

1872-483: A number of major events, including the Mille Miglia and Coupe des Alpes . As his experience with the 4CV grew, he incorporated many modifications, including special five-speed gearboxes replacing the original three-speed unit. To provide a lighter car, he built a number of special versions with lightweight aluminium bodies, driving them at Le Mans and Sebring with some success in the early 1950s. Encouraged by

1976-586: A number of minor body changes to allow the use of R8 mechanicals. This new car was the A110 Berlinette Tour de France , named after a successful run with the Alpine A108 in the 1962 event. Starting with a 956 cc engine of 51 bhp (38 kW), the same chassis and body developed with relatively minor changes over the years to the stage where, by 1974, the little cars were handling 1800 cc engines developing 180 bhp (134 kW)+. With

2080-426: A number of other Le Mans veterans were killed or seriously injured over the racing season. These included Ludovico Scarfiotti (Rossfeld hillclimb), Jo Schlesser (French Grand Prix), Brian Redman (injured at Belgian Grand Prix), Mike Spence (Indianapolis), Chris Irwin (Nürburgring) and the great Jim Clark at Hockenheim. Circuit safety would become a greater and greater priority at Le Mans and in motor-racing in

2184-562: A series of factory racing Renault 17 Gordinis (one driven by Jean-Luc Thérier ) that won the Press on Regardless World Rally Championship round in Michigan, US. Having achieved the rally championship, and with Renault money now fully behind them, Alpine had set their sights on a new target. The next aim was to win at Le Mans . Renault had also taken over the Gordini tuning firm and merged

SECTION 20

#1732798764006

2288-444: A special assembly line and moved to a low-temperature coating plant (able to paint both the alloy and plastic elements) and then to a sanding robot (to remove imperfections) and wiping robot (to clean the vehicle). Final assembly is made on a single line, with logistics teams preparing beforehand the vehicle's components to travel along the line with it. Cockpits are assembled and put on by the side and pre-assembled powertrains are put on

2392-406: A talking point, Ford volunteered to sponsor a major road realignment on the main straight, installing a chicane just before the pitlane. The changes added at least 10 seconds to a lap, as well as causing greater wear on tyres and brakes. Although the track had been widened and safety features of the track improved in the aftermath of the 1955 disaster , this was the first significant layout-change to

2496-446: A tense and close championship between Ford and Porsche. The winners were Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi , in the J.W. Automotive Gulf-Oil Ford GT40 . Despite Porsche finishing second and third, the victory was enough to give Ford the manufacturer's title. There were also two major accidents during the race ending the racing careers of Willy Mairesse and Mauro Bianchi (Lucien's younger brother), who both suffered severe burns in

2600-498: A time of 3:44.1. On race-week, Jo Siffert matched Ickx's test time exactly with his Porsche 908 to take pole position. The next day Stommelen and Elford claimed the next places, ahead of Rodriguez's Ford and Servoz-Gavin's Matra. The best Alpine was Bianchi's 3:43.2 in 8th, Vaccarella got his Alfa in 14th while the Howmet clocked 20th with 3:56.0. The best Ferrari was Müller's down in 27th (4:01.8). The Belgian Ford lost its oil through

2704-586: A very stiff chassis based on a central tubular backbone which was to be the hallmark of all Alpines. Alpine then took the Michelotti cabriolet design and developed a 2+2 closed coupe (or ' berlinette ') body for it: this became the Alpine A108, now featuring the Dauphine Gordini 845 cc engine, which on later models was bored out to give a capacity of 904 cc or (subsequently) 998 cc. The A108

2808-478: A year as well. However, without a competitive Renault Formula Two engine available, the F2 cars could neither be known as Renaults nor Alpines while powered by Ford-Cosworth and BMW engines and were labelled Elf 2 and later Elf 2J. A Renault 2.0 litre engine arrived in time for Jean-Pierre Jabouille to win the European Formula 2 Championship in 1976. By this time, Alpine with Jabouille driving had built

2912-472: Is semi-automatised, with high worker input (before the launch of the 2017 A110, vehicles were almost completely hand-built) and focused on low-volume, high quality assembly. It can produce an average of 15 A110s per day. The plant press neither steel nor aluminium (the A110s are mostly built on prefabricated alloy panels). The plant has not a welding section, as the A110 chassis and bodywork are riveted and glued on

3016-428: The 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans where an M64 powered by a 1.1-litre engine won its class and the index of performance (chassis 1711). An M64 also won its class at the 12 Hours of Reims of that year (chassis 1711). In 1965, Alpine introduced yet another revised version of its prototypes, named as M65. At the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans , none of the Alpine prototypes entered finished the race, although M65s won their class at

3120-615: The Alpine A110 called the Superveloce 800 Alpine, there would be approximately 110 models made. In January 2021, Alpine said it would absorb the Renault Sport entities (Renault Sport Cars and Renault Sport Racing), merging them with the existing Alpine operations to form a new Alpine business unit. The company also said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Lotus Cars to co-develop an electric successor for

3224-602: The Coupe des Alpes and other international events. By this time the competition cars were fitted with 1440 cc engines derived from the Renault R8 Gordini . Competition successes became numerous, helped by the fact that Alpine was the first company fully to exploit the competitions homologation rules. In 1971, Alpines finished first, second and fourth in the Monte Carlo rally , using cars with engines derived from

Alpine A210 - Misplaced Pages Continue

3328-576: The Equipe Nationale Belge and British Maranello Concessionaires. Ferrari hopes therefore fell back onto the four-year old 275 LM in Group 4. The North American Racing Team (NART) entered three different Ferraris: 1965 race-winner Masten Gregory re-joining his winning 275 LM car, a 275 GTB in the GT category and a Dino 206 S in the 2-litre Prototype class. Similarly, Scuderia Filipinetti had several options and also settled on running

3432-521: The Mazda MX-5 . In February 2009, Renault confirmed that plans to revive the Alpine brand had been frozen as a direct result of the 2008–2009 global financial crisis and recession . It was later revealed that Renault had been working on a prototype around 2007, named the Renault W19. The car featured many design cues from the A110 of the 1960s and was based around the drivetrain and chassis of

3536-606: The Renault 16 . In 1973 , the newer A110 1800 finished first, second, third, and fifth and went on to win the World Rally Championship outright, beating Porsche , Lancia and Ford . During this time, production of the Alpine A110 increased and manufacturing deals were struck for A110s and A108s with factories in a number of other countries including Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Bulgaria. With 1973 came

3640-522: The Renault Alpine A442 . Alpine (automobile) Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS , commonly known as Alpine ( / ˈ æ l p ɪ n / , French: [alpin] ), is a French manufacturer of sports cars and racing cars established in 1955. The Alpine car marque was created in 1954. Jean Rédélé , the founder of Alpine, was originally a Dieppe garage proprietor who began to achieve success in motorsport with one of

3744-645: The Talisman concept (Z12), but the project was ultimately shelved and the Z11 was not shown. In 2005, Renault was reportedly developing a new Alpine car, codenamed project W16. The concept was a small, mid engine 2+2 SUV based around the design of the Renault Wind concept car. The project never came to fruition. In October 2007, Renault's marketing boss Patrick Blain revealed there were plans for several sports cars in Renault's future line up, but stressed that

3848-515: The carrosserie Chappe et Gessalin . They were amongst the pioneers of auto glassfibre construction and produced a small coupe, based on 4CV mechanicals, called the Alpine A106 . The A106 achieved a number of successes through the 1950s and was joined by a low and stylish cabriolet. Styling for the car was contracted to the Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti . Under the glassfibre body was

3952-460: The 12 Hours of Reims and the Nürburgring 1000 km of that year. Following the Le Mans results, Alpine decided to overhaul completely its prototype design and introduced the Alpine A210 (although some lightly modified M65s also participated in some races badged as A210). In the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans , Alpine made a 1-2-3 in the energy efficiency index, with speeds of up to 270 km/h using

4056-612: The 1970s, Alpine continued to campaign the A110, and later the Alpine A310 replacement car. However, to compete with Alpine's success, other manufacturers developed increasingly special cars, notably the Lancia Stratos which was based closely on the A110's size and rear-engined concept, though incorporating a Ferrari engine. Alpine's own cars, still based on the 1962 design and using a surprising number of production parts, became increasingly uncompetitive. In 1974 Alpine built

4160-424: The 1980s they built the special R5 Turbo cars, following the rear engine formula they had always used. They built all Clio Williams and RenaultSport Spiders. The factory put its Alpine badges on the early batches of the mid-engine Clio series one Clio V6. The Clio Series 2 was also assembled there with more recent RenaultSport Clio 172 and RenaultSport Clio 182s. Between 1989 and 1995, a projected new Alpine named

4264-427: The 1980s. The A310 was the next modern interpretation of the A110. The Alpine A310 was a sports car with a rear-mounted engine and was initially powered by a four-cylinder 1.6 L sourced Renault 17 TS/Gordini engine. In 1976 the A310 was restyled by Robert Opron and fitted with the more powerful and newly developed V6 PRV engine. The 2.6 L motor was modified by Alpine with a four-speed manual gearbox. Later they would use

Alpine A210 - Misplaced Pages Continue

4368-462: The 2-litre category. Alpine also ran the A210 in the 1300cc and 1150cc Prototype classes, including a debut for 30-race Le Mans veteran Bob Wollek . Finally, two of the homologated A110 were run in the GT category by French privateers. British entries were limited. The Lola T70 now had a 5-litre Chevrolet engine in the Sports category. John Woolfe commissioned Chevron to build a new car. The B12

4472-515: The 2016 and 2019-2020 championships and winning three Le Mans 24 races. Through its partnership with Signatech, Alpine also launched GT4's touring car and rallying programmes for its A110. In September 2020, Groupe Renault announced it would rename its existing Formula One team as Alpine F1 Team , while Renault would remain as the engine marque. In January 2021, the Alpine company said it would absorb all existing Renault Sport racing activities besides Formula One. In March 2021, Alpine presented

4576-496: The A110. In May 2021, Les Ulis -based Renault Sport Cars was officially renamed Alpine Cars and turned into the main development hub for Alpine as well as the whole Renault group sports cars. In mid-2023, Alpine announced its plans for global expansion, including entering the U.S. market by 2027. The brand will introduce a mid-size electric crossover and a large electric SUV as the first vehicles in its North American lineup. Discussions have been initiated with AutoNation to establish

4680-601: The A710 "Berlinette 2", was designed and two prototypes were built. The A710 used the 2-litre, 150 horsepower engine from the Renault Clio Williams mounted in an aluminium chassis. Renault's marketing department stated that the car would need to be less basic and include more modern features such as electric windows and air conditioning. Subsequently, the project was deemed too costly (600 million francs), and as adding more modern equipment and interior would compromise

4784-724: The Alpine Endurance Team, a WEC's top class team managed by Signatech and using a "grandfathered" Rebellion R13 . In October 2021, Alpine said it would enter two WEC prototypes built on the LMDh rules from 2024 onwards, with the running side managed again by Signatech. Oreca was announced as the chassis main developer and builder (assisted by Alpine Racing's Enstone operation) and the engine development side would be carried out by Alpine Racing's Viry-Châtillon base. (2017–present) (2024–present) (2025) 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans

4888-576: The Alpine name to use in the UK. In May 2012, images of a new Renault Alpine concept titled as Renault Alpine A110-50 were leaked prior to its debut in Monaco. Its styling was based on the Renault DeZir presented in 2010. In November 2012, Renault and Caterham Cars announced the purchasing by the latter of a 50% stake in the Renault's wholly owned subsidiary Société des Automobiles Alpine to create

4992-526: The Alpines of Guichet and Bianchi next. Eighth was the leading 2-litre car, Giunti's Alfa with the Matra and Piper's Ferrari filling out the top-10. Porsche then also started having problems as Stommelen and Elford both had electrical issues delaying them. Worse though was when the leading car's clutch broke just before 7pm, stranding Siffert out on the track unable to get back to the pits for repairs. This left

5096-647: The Belgian VDS customer team. This year, for an unknown reason, the April test weekend coincided with the British round of the International Championship. Jacky Ickx set the benchmark for JWA, with a 3:35.4 lap, then promptly left for Brands Hatch to win the endurance race. It was also the first appearance of the new Porsche 908, in the hands of Rolf Stommelen. It was found to need major aerodynamic refinement, but Stommelen eventually got

5200-511: The GTA series as the 'great unsung supercar of the 1980s'. The Alpine A610 was launched in 1991. It was re-styled inside and out but was still recognisable as a GTA derivative. The chassis structure was extensively reworked but the central box principal remained the same. The front was completely re-designed the interior was also greatly improved. Air-conditioning and power steering were fitted as standard. The total production run for A610s derivatives

5304-439: The Group 3 GTs. It effectively banned the big-block Fords and Chaparral, as well as the big Ferraris and the new Mirage and Lola-Aston Martin and marked the end of an era. The theory was that manufacturers would turn to the use of 3-litre Formula One engines to save development costs. However, it was the immediate implementation in the next year that caused much unrest with the companies. The CSI cited ‘safety concerns’ justifying

SECTION 50

#1732798764006

5408-670: The Mitter/Elford Porsche snapped its alternator belt. When the officials found that the team had changed the alternator they were disqualified (much to the chagrin of team manager Huschke von Hanstein ) as that was a part not permitted to be replaced during the course of a race. Just before 11pm another alternator problem took out the Buzzetta/Patrick team car too (from 4th) and Porsche's hopes of outright victory were gone. Yet JWA could not be complacent, as they were also down to one competitive Ford with two-thirds of

5512-459: The Netherlands. 1989 saw the launch of the limited edition GTA Mille Miles to celebrate Alpine's 35th anniversary. Production was limited to 100 cars, all fitted with ABS braking, polished wheels, special leather interior and paintwork. This version was not available in right hand drive. 1990 saw the launch of the special edition wide-bodied GTA Le Mans . Otherwise mechanically identical to

5616-552: The Nissan 350Z. The project was later cancelled, speculated to be due in part to the arrival of the Nissan GT-R , alongside the global financial crisis of 2008. The 2017 Alpine A110 heavily resembles this concept, however, despite featuring a mid engine layout. In France, there is a large network of Alpine enthusiasts clubs. Clubs exist in many countries including the UK, USA, Australia, and Japan. In March 2012 Renault bought

5720-504: The V6 Turbo, the engine was fitted with a catalytic converter and power was reduced to 185 bhp (138 kW). This model was available in the UK and right hand drive versions carried a numbered plaque on the dashboard. The Le Mans is the most collectable and valuable GTA derivative, since only 325 were made (299 LHD and 26 RHD). These were available from Renault dealers in the UK, and the country's motoring press are belatedly recognising

5824-686: The biggest entries were from Porsche and Alpine with 13 and 11 cars respectively. The new regulations did have a positive impact on redressing the imbalance of the Prototypes to the other two categories With the withdrawal of the Ford factory teams, J.W. Automotive had bought the rights to racing the GT40 and took over the Ford Advanced Vehicles facility at Slough . Backed by Gulf Oil and its distinctive light blue and orange livery. One of

5928-418: The car. The Howmets never raced again. The rain returned about 2.30am, got heavier and stayed for the rest of the night. Servoz-Gavin bought the Matra in with the windscreen-wiper faulty again. The Matra crew could not access the motor and were considering retiring until Henri Pescarolo angrily jumped in and took off in the rain, still with the faulty wiper. At the 3am halfway point, the Ford (177 laps) had

6032-411: The circuit since 1932. Diverting the racing away from the pits also significantly increased the safety of the pit-crews. Finally, in line with the global racing trend, commercial advertising was now allowed on cars. Although devoid of the big team entries from Ford and Ferrari there were still 94 applications for this year's race, and 58 cars arrived to qualify for the 54 starting places. Into that space

6136-525: The company Formula One programme and a partnership with Signatech for other programmes. The Alpine competition department had various racing programmes from the early 1960s onwards. At the end of 1976, the department was merged with Gordini to form Renault Sport. Some Alpine racing activities continued after that, including a 1978 Le Mans 24 overall victory with the Renault Alpine A442, partnering its parent Renault. In 2013, as part of

6240-450: The company was initially not going to run at Le Mans, however the deferred date allowed for more testing and a single MS630 longtail was prepared for team drivers Henri Pescarolo and Johnny Servoz-Gavin . French hopes for outright victory mainly rested on Alpine . A proven record in the smaller classes encouraged Jean Rédélé to move up to the main category. But the new Gordini-prepared Renault 3-litre V8 only produced 310 bhp for

6344-528: The crashes. Straight after the 1967 race , the CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale - the FIA ’s regulatory body) convened to discuss ways to limit the increasingly dangerous speeds in Sports car racing, mindful of what led to the 1955 disaster . It was decided to impose a 3-litre (120-litre fuel tank) on Group 6 Prototypes and a 5-litre limit (160-litre fuel tank) on Group 4 Sports. There remained no engine limit on

SECTION 60

#1732798764006

6448-478: The design, with the idea of mounting the engine on a Lotus 23 -based car, but the latter refused and the basic design development was left in charge of British engineer Len Terry , who created a concept similar to the Lotus. The final chassis design was made by heavy vehicle engineer Richard Bouleau and the external design by Bernard Boyer. The new car was named M63, and, although having some structural problems, it won

6552-536: The development of these cars and subsequent customer demand, he created the Alpine brand in 1954. It was named "Alpine" after his Coupe des Alpes successes. He did not realise that in England the previous year, Sunbeam had introduced a sports coupe derived from the Sunbeam Talbot , named the " Sunbeam Alpine ". This naming issue caused problems for Alpine throughout its history. In 1955, Rédélé worked with

6656-503: The few French cars that were produced just after the Second World War, the Renault 4CV . The company has been closely related to Renault through its history, and was bought by it in 1973. The Alpine competition department merged into Renault Sport in 1976 and the production of Alpine-badged models ceased in 1995. The Alpine brand was relaunched with the 2017 introduction of the new Alpine A110 . In January 2021, as part of

6760-548: The first model would not arrive until after 2010. Blain confirmed that Renault was unlikely to use a new name for its future sports car and would probably use the Alpine name to brand it. Blain described it as being a "radical sports car" and not just a sports version of a regular model. The new Alpine sports car was to have a version of the Premium Midship platform from the Nissan 350Z and would be classed to compete with

6864-445: The international petrol crisis, which had profound effects on many specialist car manufacturers worldwide. From a total Alpine production of 1421 in 1972, the numbers of cars sold dropped to 957 in 1974 and the company was bailed out via a takeover by Renault. Alpine's problems had been compounded by the need for them to develop a replacement for the A110, and launch the car alongside drastically increasing European petrol prices. Through

6968-413: The left and right sides, strewing metal, wood and earth across the track. The injured Garant was taken to hospital. At 4.30am, the 3rd-place Alfa Romeo was delayed in the pits which gave Matra the chance to also pit, losing 3 laps and finally fix the wiper-motor. Just before dawn the Guichet/Jabouille Alpine, that had been fighting back from the back of the field after its delay had almost made it back into

7072-401: The mainstream market was the fourth-generation Clio Renault Sport, which was put out of production at the site in 2018. Between 2015 and 2016, the plant also assembled the Bolloré Bluecar . Alpine Racing is the Alpine's motorsport division. It is made up of the Alpine subsidiaries Alpine Racing Limited (an Enstone -based operation) and Alpine Racing SAS ( Viry-Châtillon ) mainly for running

7176-658: The new A220 design. After racing earlier in the year, the car now had a rear spoiler to try to correct a dangerous aerodynamic fault: at the Nürburgring the Alpine of Henri Grandsire had got airborne and done a 360˚ loop. Jacques Cheinisse retired from racing to manage the racing team, and a big effort put eleven cars on the grid, second only to Porsche. The works team ran three A220s for Grandsire and Gérard Larrousse , Jean Guichet / Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Alpine engineer André de Cortanze / Jean Vinatier . Regular customer team Ecurie Savin-Calberson also entered one for Mauro Bianchi and Patrick Depailler and they also put an A210 in

7280-408: The normally aspirated version. In 1986 polyester parts were cut for the first time by robot using a high pressure (3500 bar) water jet, 0.15 mm (0.01 in) in diameter at three times the speed of sound. In the same year the American specification V6 turbo was developed. In 1987 the installation of anti-pollution systems allowed the V6 turbo to be distributed to Switzerland, Germany, Austria and

7384-464: The other. For two years Autodelta , the racing division of Alfa Romeo , had had a difficult time developing a new sports prototype. Both Jean Rolland and Leo Cella had been killed in testing accidents. The Tipo 33/2 was the new evolution and its 2-litre V8 engine put out 260 bhp. Autodelta had four cars entered including works drivers Nino Vaccarella / Giancarlo Baghetti and ‘Nanni’ Galli / Ignazio Giunti . It also supported two cars entered by

7488-480: The performance index. More bad results followed in 1969 . With results far below expectations and increased competence, Alpine pulled out of sports car racing in 1970 and focused their resources on rallying. Alpine, in partnership with its then parent company Renault, returning for the 1974 European 2 Liter Sports Car Championship with the Alpine A441 , finally achieving a Le Mans overall victory in 1978 with

7592-405: The pits, losing a place. Then with only 3 hours to go there was a sudden change at the top. The Alfa Romeo came into the pits with suspension failure losing 30 minutes, and 4 laps, getting it repaired. Then more dramatically at 12.30, the pursuing Matra got another puncture. In getting it back to the pits the disintegrating tyre damaged the battery, causing an electrical fire and putting it out of

7696-827: The previous year's Mirages was reverted to a GT40 while two new cars were built, this time all running a 5-litre V8, generating 415 bhp. The Gulf GT40s received some of the improvements of the Mirage, and a significant effort was made to reduce the weight of car using high-tech materials. A large part of the body was made of a very thin polyester sheet reinforced with carbon fibre . The cars were very competitive having already won four races. Wyer's two best drivers however weren't present: Jacky Ickx and Brian Redman , winners at Brands Hatch and Spa, had both broken limbs from Formula 1 accidents (at Mont Tremblant and Spa respectively) Former Ferrari-stalwart Pedro Rodriguez , and Alfa Romeo team-driver Lucien Bianchi were brought in for

7800-625: The price and performances, the project was cancelled. Despite its cancellation, the engine and aluminium chassis from the A710 were later used on the Renault Sport Spider. In 1999, Renault partnered with Lotus to develop the Z11 Berlinette, an art-deco design study investigating the return of the Alpine brand. The car was scheduled to be revealed at the 2001 Geneva Motor Show alongside the Koleos concept (codenamed Z10) and

7904-683: The promotional activities for the launching of Alpine roadcars, Alpine partnered with Signatech to enter a Nissan-powered, Oreca -built prototype into the European Le Mans Series championship's LMP2 class, re-establishing Alpine-badged racing activities. Signatech-Alpine won the team championship. They returned for the 2014 season. In 2015, the Signatech-Alpine combination entered into the World Endurance Championship (WEC)'s LMP2 class, achieving

8008-550: The prototype class, following on from the Rover-BRM last run in 1965. Ray Heppenstall designed a car on a Group 7 Can-Am chassis, with an aluminium shell from Howmet Castings . The Continental turbine was from a helicopter and rated as an equivalent to 3-litres with 325 bhp. It was very light but thirsty on its paraffin fuel. After a 3rd place at Watkins Glen it had shown reliability. Heppenstall drove one with race-veteran Dick Thompson while Bob Tullius / Hugh Dibley had

8112-456: The race occurred. Mauro Bianchi, running 6th, had recently left the pits when he crashed heavily approaching the Esses. The full fuel tank exploded in a fireball setting alight the car and the bordering straw bales. Bianchi was lucky to survive, although he had severe burns to his face and arms. Another casualty was the Matra which got a puncture going through the debris. Servoz-Gavin got back to

8216-465: The race still to run. Early in the second hour the second Howmet turbine had been in the pits for three hours fixing its rear suspension. Consequently, at 11pm it was disqualified for having not covered sufficient distance. The leading Howmet was also hobbled, running at 70% power, due to faulty fuel-control. Around midnight Dick Thompson hit oil at the Indianapolis corner, lost control and rolled

8320-557: The race, the A210 was used for the early test of the first radial treadless tire for racing (the Michelin A1). At the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans, the official Alpine team and the satellite Écurie Savin-Calberson entered with seven A210 (five with the 1.3-litre inline-four engine, one with a 1.5-litre engine and one with a 1-litre engine) and a M64 (with a 1-litre engine). A 1.3-litre and the 1.5-litre A210s won their class, although none get an index win. The V8-powered A210 (named as A211)

8424-459: The race. Paul Hawkins / David Hobbs (race winners at Monza) had their regular car while Brian Muir / Jackie Oliver had the new chassis. There were also regular GT40 privateer entries, from Claude Dubois (with drivers Willy Mairesse /”Beurlys”), and Mike Salmon, having recovered from the burns he got in his Ford the previous year. Ferrari was true to his word and boycotted Le Mans, which also left several of his customer teams stranded, like

8528-591: The race. The Swiss Porsche that had been running so reliably inherited second. In the end it was a comfortable 5-lap victory to the GT40 of Rodríguez and Bianchi. For Pedro Rodríguez, it was only his second finish after 11 attempts. For Lucien Bianchi it was his 13th Le Mans. In an excellent run for the new Squadra Tartaruga team, Steinemann and Spoerry came in second just a lap ahead of the Stommelen/Neerpasch works car. The repaired Alfa Romeo of Giunti/Galli

8632-505: The rapid action. Enzo Ferrari cancelled his Prototype program. He was not alone in believing a 5-litre Sports car would outperform a 3-litre Prototype, and that only the big manufacturers would be able to make the minimum 50 big-engined cars to get Group 4 homologation. Because the race was rescheduled and the longer period of darkness, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) permitted one battery change. With high speed being such

8736-683: The rear. Apart from low-volume cars, the Dieppe plant also assembles racing cars (as the Clio Rally4, a rallying car based on the fifth-generation Renault Clio ), co-develops racing cars, produces and sells parts for racing cars, and tunes engines. From the late 1970s, Alpine's Dieppe plant produced Renault Sport models and, after the discontinuation of the Alpine brand in 1995, it became its main focus. Renault Sport models produced over time by Alpine include: Renault 5 Turbo, Renault Sport Spider , Clio Renault Sport , Mégane Renault Sport . The last Renault Sport model produced by Dieppe aimed at

8840-668: The smaller Alpines, two of which (the Thérier/Tramont 1.3-litre A210 and the Andruet/Nicolas 1-litre works cars) won the two lucrative Index prizes. The leading GT car was the Belgian Porsche of Jean-Pierre Gaban, giving the 911 the first of many overall GT wins for the model. The final classified car, and the only British entry to finish, was the Austin-Healey Sprite in 15th. The Matra board

8944-460: The spring of 1968. The rescheduled race increased the chances of the Group 6 Prototypes against the Group 4 Sports cars, as the new Prototype cars had matured during the season. It also increased the amount of darkness that drivers would be racing in compared to June, by about three hours: a total of 11 hours. Its new date made it the tenth and final round of the 1968 World Sportscar Championship of

9048-672: The stake from Caterham Cars in SAAC, renaming it Société des Automobiles Alpine. During 2015, two new Alpine concepts were introduced: the Alpine Celebration, unveiled at the Le Mans race weekend, and the CGI -created Alpine Vision Gran Turismo . In February 2016, at an event held in Monte Carlo , Groupe Renault's chief Carlos Ghosn unveiled the Alpine Vision showcar (a model close to the planned production Alpine) and announced

9152-674: The third while the Americans Joe Buzzetta/Scooter Patrick the fourth. The company also supported three privateers running the reliable 907 'langheck': Spaniard Alex Soler-Roig , Frenchman Philippe Farjon and the new Swiss team Squadra Tartaruga of Rico Steinemann. The new Matra 3-litre V12 had its race debut simultaneously in May at the Monaco F1 GP and the Spa 1000 km. Capable of a powerful 380 bhp,

9256-535: The three Ferrari 275s of David Piper, NART and Scuderia Filipinetti. There were still 30 cars classified as runners. The first two Alfas still led the Index of Performance, narrowly ahead of the Andruet/Nicolas Alpine and the Swiss Porsche. Soon after 5am Sylvain Garant aquaplaned and lost control of the big Corvette at the end of the pit straight in the rain. It slammed into the track-walls on both

9360-527: The top-10 when an alternator failure stopped their charge. Dawn at 6.30am was gloomy and very wet, however the rain did eventually cease. The Ford now had a 7-lap lead over the Alfa Romeo and Matra, both on the same lap, delighting the French spectators. The Andruet/Nicolas Alpine had also now taken over the Index lead Soon after 11am, with less than four hours left in the race, the most serious accident of

9464-452: The track into the trees. Mairesse suffered broken bones and head injuries which left him in a coma for two weeks and ended his racing career. At the end of the first lap, Porsches were in the top four places, with Stommelen in the lead. Siffert took the lead on the fourth lap (already lapping tailenders ), with the Fords running in 5-6-7. Johnny Servoz-Gavin bought the Matra in with a malfunctioning windscreen-wiper. The rain had stopped and

9568-413: The track was drying. Soon Hawkins and Rodríguez were in, with their wet-weather tyres ruined. Then on lap 12, the lap it was due in, the third Ford went off when Muir planted it in the sand at the Mulsanne corner. After three hours of digging he burned the clutch out in his departure. By the end of two hours Siffert had lapped the field. Teammate Elford was second, with the two Gulf-Fords, Buzzetta's 908 and

9672-495: The trade mark (because of the mid-50s Sunbeam Alpine Mk I). In the 1970s, for example, Dieppe were building modified Renault 5s for the worldwide market. The rest of the world knew them as R5 Alpines but in the UK they had to be renamed to R5 Gordini . After numerous company takeovers, the multinational Stellantis own the British Alpine trademark as of January 2021. The Alpine factory in Dieppe continued to expand; in

9776-584: The two Gulf Fords of Rodriguez/Bianchi and Hawkins/Hobbs swapping the lead going into the night. Then at 9pm Hobbs came into the pits also with a faulty clutch and they lost nearly 2 hours repairing it. Although they got going again, the engine soon expired spectacularly at the end of the Mulsanne Straight, just after midnight. During the night the Guichet/Jabouille Alpine had pitted from 6th but lost three-quarters an hour getting

9880-674: The two to form Renault Sport . A number of increasingly successful sports racing cars appeared, culminating in the 1978 Le Mans win with the Renault Alpine A442 B. This was fitted with a turbo-charged engine; Alpine had been the first company to run in and win an international rally with a turbo car as far back as 1972, when Thérier took a specially modified A110 to victory on the Critérium des Cévennes . 1971 also saw Alpine begin construction of open-wheel racing cars. Initially in Formula Three , they were building Formula Two cars within

9984-548: Was 818 vehicles 67 right hand drive and 751 left hand drive. After production of the A610 ended, the Alpine factory in Dieppe produced the Renault Sport Spider and a new era was to begin. The last Alpine, an A610, rolled off the Dieppe line on 7 April 1995, with Renault abandoning the Alpine name. This was always a problem in the UK market. Alpines could not be sold in the UK under their own name because Sunbeam owned

10088-629: Was a one-off design with a fibreglass body and carrying a modified version of the 3-litre Formula 1 Repco V8 engine developing 330 bhp. Austin-Healey , as well as their regular Le Mans Sprite entry, developed a new 2-litre prototype with the Coventry Climax FWM V8 engine that put out 240 bhp. It was run by Healey's regular drivers Clive Baker and Andrew Hedges. In line with the ACO's commitment to technological development, there were two turbine -powered Howmet TXs entered in

10192-687: Was built between 1958 and 1963. In 1962, the A108 began to be produced also in Brazil, by Willys-Overland, being renamed the Willys Interlagos (berlineta, coupé and convertible). By now the car's mechanicals were beginning to show their age in Europe. Alpine was already working closely with Renault and when the Renault R8 saloon was introduced in 1962, Alpine redeveloped their chassis and made

10296-413: Was fourth, leading a formation finish of their Autodelta teammates coming in 4-5-6, the three of them separated by seventeen laps. Seventh was the green Ferrari of English privateer David Piper, delayed by overheating issues but surprisingly was the only Ferrari finisher this year. Eighth was the remaining 3-litre Alpine, driven by co-designer André de Cortanze and Jean Vinatier . It headed home three of

10400-479: Was showery and most of the cars started on wet tyres with a heavy shower just ten minutes before the start. Siffert, among a few others, started on pole with slicks however. In his rush to get away, Willy Mairesse did not shut his door properly. At the end of the Mulsanne Straight at a speed of over 150 mph (241 km/h), it flew open. Trying to close it he lost control and the Ford careered off

10504-545: Was the 36th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 28 and 29 September 1968 on the Circuit de la Sarthe , in Le Mans , France . A significant change was the imposition of 5 L (305 cu in) engine limits on Group 4 racers, to lower overall track speeds. Originally scheduled for the weekend of 15 and 16 June, the race had to be delayed until September due to protests, strikes, and civil unrest in France during

10608-422: Was unveiled at the 1967 Paris Motor Show and presented to Charles de Gaulle by Jean Rédélé and Renault's president, Pierre Dreyfus . The Gordini engine was compact as requested by Alpine, but proved to be unreliable. Alpine engineers also discovered it was impossible to adequately adapt the engine to the car. They adopted a transitional solution, modifying the A210's rear-end for the engine and adding new wheels,

10712-404: Was very different than its predecessor. It was wider, larger, and had bigger wheels. It adopted a right-hand drive layout different from all of its predecessors which were left-hand. This was judged better as most of the turns on circuits are right-handers. At the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans , only one of the four A220s that entered finished. It was just ahead of three A210s, which again did a 1-2-3 on

10816-416: Was very satisfied with its new car's promising performance and therefore decided to expand its racing programme. Rico Steinemann, second-place winner and a former racing journalist went on, later in the year, to succeed Huschke von Hanstein as Porsche's Racing Manager. 1968 would be a terrible year for racing accidents. As well as the career-ending injuries to Willy Mairesse and Mauro Bianchi at this race,

#5994