RENAULT ALPINE. The very name Alpine—pronounced, of course, Alpeen—suggests mountain roads and rugge

The very name Alpine—pronounced, of course, Alpeen—suggests mountain roads and rugged rallies, but this remarkable marque from Dieppe can add the reclame of outright victory at Le Mans and many other sports car, Formula 2 and 3 race successes to its very distinguished rally record. Founded in 1952 by Jean Redele, son of the Dieppe Renault concessionaire, Automobiles Alpine have always been closely associated with the nationalised Regie Renault, and the co-operation of Amedee Gordini, the famous sorcier of car preparation and tuning, adds to confusion over a marque of considerable versatility. Beginning with the 750cc Renault 4CV engine/gear unit, Alpines have wearer of the Blue: Alpine-Renault's neat little fibreglass coupes were consistent performers at Le Mans.

The Therier & Tramont 1,296cc A210 car, seen hem at the April Test Day of 1968, won that year's Index of Thermal Efficiency outright, followed by two more Alpines, and also placed 10th overall always been rear-engined, advancing through the years via Dauphine, R8 1100 and R16 1500 to more exotic Gordini units, and then to the sophisticated V6 developed at the special Renault-Gordini engine facility at Viry-Chatillon.

While Automobiles Alpine have always partic-ipated with true Gallic enthusiasm in competition, their bread-and-butter comes from production models, fleet little fibreglass coupes, again Renault-powered, and also built under licence in other countries. Stepping into the compatriot DB-Panhard's shoes, the little blue space-framed Alpine A210 coupes resumed the tradition of having at least one French winner at Le Mans almost every year.

They won the Index of Thermal Efficiency in 1964 and again in 1966, by which time Renault had absorbed the Alpine concern, Redele becoming com-petitions chief. Alpine-Renaults won two classes at Le Mans in 1967, and took both the Index of Performance and Thermal Efficiency categories in 1968. In that year, too, responding to mounting Renault ambition for outright victory at Le Mans,

Alpine fielded four new A220 models with 3 litre Gbrdini-designed V8 engines. They proved disappointingly underpowered, how-ever, with eighth their best placing well behind the Fords, Matras and Porsches. After another Index of Performance win for the 1100cc car in 1969, the name next loomed large in rallying, where Alpine's fierce little rear-engined A110 Berlinettes with 2 litre engines and low coupe bodywork began to nose in among the Porsche 911s, Ford Escort TCs and Lancia Fulvias.

After spasmodic successes in 1968 and 1969, Redele really made the cars work, for in 1970 the Al lOs won nine Rally Champion-ship qualifying events and became close runners-up to Porsche. The follow-ing year the snarling blue Berlinettes—the "French Porsches", rear-engine oversteer included !—found top form, won ten events, and scooped the Euro-pean title from Saab, Porsche and Lancia.

They took the title a second time in Berlinette: From racing, Alpine-Renault turned in 1970 to a successful spell of International rallying. This 1-6 litre Type A110 of Vinatier Jacob took third place in the snowy 1970 San Remo-Sestriere Rally, which was won by Therier's sister car. Alpine won the European Rally Championship title both in 1971 and 1973 1973, after which Alpine-Renault returned to sports car racing, their efforts strengthened by sponsorship from the big Elf petrol consortium which had earlier supported Matra.

A new sports prototype, the Type A440, was built around Renault-Gordini's highly promising 2 litre Type CH V6 four-cam engine developed at Viry-Chatillon. This featured four valves per cylinder, cogged belt camshaft drives, Lucas fuel injection, wet cylinder liners, electronic ignition and an output of around 270bhp at 9,800rpm.

A tubular space-type frame was used, and this new Alpine barquette made its debut in 1973 with small local success. In 1974 it reappeared as the A441, the frame reinforced with sheet aluminium, and the engine now a semi-stressed member and giving 285bhp.

The car made a clean sweep in the European 2 litre Championship by winning all seven qualifying races, after which the 441 was put into very limited produc-tion for sale to private stables.

Encouraged by this, Alpine-Renault now aimed for absolute victory at Le Mans—that same prestigious target, so hard to hit, which had lured Ford, Matra, Porsche and others before. Retaining the basic, well-proven A441 chassis, they followed Porsche's lead and turbo-supercharged the 2 litre V6 engine.

The use of exhaust pressure to drive a supercharger, which in turn compresses mixture into the cylinders instead of natural aspiration, offered considerably more power but brought problems in train. With a turbo-compressor turning at phenomenal speeds of up to 100,000rpm, enormous thermal problems are created, demanding new technology in metallurgy, cooling, lubrication etc, yet offering huge advantages.

A Garrett T05 compressor was fitted to the engine at Viry-Chatillon, and the output from the sturdy little four-bearing V6 unit was raised dramatically from under 300bhp to over 450bhp at a shrill 10,000rpm. A heat exchanger was installed between the compressor and the inlets, and Kugelfischer fuel injec-tion was employed, the specification also including a Hewland five-speed gearbox, Koni dampers, Girling disc brakes and Michelin tyres. Fitted into an open barquette body, the A442 ran its first race in March 1975; this was round two of the Championship of Makes, at Mugello, Italy, and to the delight of Renault, Alpine and Elf the new turbo beat the Porsches and the home-based 3 litre Alfa Romeos to win the 490-mile race.

Alas, this pleasing debut was followed by several failures during the rest of that season, with only two third places and a fourth to show. The year 1976 was little better, Alpine's biggest disappointment being their retirement at Le Mans, on which they based high hopes after the turbo had made the fastest practice and race laps. For 1977 they ran four cars there, but the little 2 litre engines, now giving a full 500bhp, wilted under the pace, three departing with piston trouble and one with a disarrayed gearbox.

For Alpine-Renault's third straight try at Le Mans, in 1978, no effort or expense was spared; after over 3,250 miles of high-speed testing in France and the USA, they fielded three A442s and a newer 2.1 litre 520bhp A443, all with improved aerodynamics involving longer tails, lateral skirts and controver-sial full-width canopy screens which cut drag but also driver vision. In a race in which no other make led, and the Renault turbos regularly topped 220 mph down the 3.7 mile Mulsanne straight, one 442 finished first at an average speed of 130.6mph, and another fourth, the pair nicely sandwiching two 3 litre turbo Porsches. Although in its four-year career the turbocharged A442 won only two races—its first and its last—Renault had achieved their aim of an all-French victory at Le Mans, and withdrew from sports car racing to concentrate on Formula 1.