RONDEAU. In 1980 Jean Rondeau became the first man in history to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race in a c

In 1977 the Inaltera team ran at the Day-tona 24 hours in preparation for Le Mans, at which three cars were entered, two cars running in the Group 6 sports prototype class, one in GTP. Once again all the cars finished, the GTP chassis fourth overall, winning its class, driven by Rondeau/Rag-notti. The Group 6 cars finished 11th and 13th for Beckers/Lombardi and Beltoise/ Holbert.

The 1978 race saw the debut of the Ron-deau M378, a development of the Inaltera. Engine and chassis were similar to the previous car but bodywork changes in-cluded a longer finned tail which partially covered the rear wheels.

The new car was entered in the GTP class with one of the Inalteras now owned by Swiss Andre Chevalley as on of its rivals. The older car was faster in practice but by the end of the race the M378 of Rondeau/Darniche/Haren was ninth overall and won the class again. The Inaltera was thirteenth driven by its owner and Trisconi and Rondeau's 100% finishing record was maintained.

Three cars were entered for the 1979 race, two in Group 6, a third trying to main-tain dominance of the GTP class. Bodywork and suspension changes had been made to the design which was now running as the M379 and was fitted with Heini Mader prepared DFV engines. The Group 6 class and fifth overall went to rally drivers Darniche/Ragnotti with ex-F1 men Pescarolo/Beltoise second in class and tenth overall. The GTP car blotted the marque's copybook by registering its first retirement in four years of Le Mans competition.

The M379 was uprated B specification for the 1980 race, with revisions made to inter-nal air flow and cooling. Two narrow aero-foils were mounted each side between pairs of vertical fins atop a lengthened tail section.

Mader tuned DFVs were used again with three cars entered, two in Group Six, one in GTP. Pescarolo/Ragnotti in one of the former disputed the lead with the Por-sche favourite in the wet early stages be-fore moving ahead at around quarter dis-tance. The sister Group Six car climbed into second place soon after.

By the ten hour mark Pescarolo had re-tired with a blown head gasket leaving drivers Rondeau/Jaussaud to challenge the Por-sche that was now leading. With six hours remaining the German car ran into trouble. Despite pressure from the repaired Por-sche the M379B held on to win and Jean Rondeau was a national hero. Almost for-gotten in the hysteria, the GTP class had again been won by Rondeau, the car of Spice and the brothers Martin finishing third overall.

Jean Rondeau lived in Le Mans and became ensnared by the lure of its 24 hour race. He set about building his own car, having failed to find a potential winning drive. On paper, his mission was at best optimistic. But somehow Rondeau managed the seemingly impossible. Ian Bamsey asked Philippe Beloou, Technical Director in 1980, how it was done.

Jean Rondeau lived in Le Mans. He had the 24 Hour race in his blood. A club racing driver, he got a Le Mans ride in a humble Mazda in '75 and vowed to build his own car to win. Consequently, the ambitious 31 year old formed a team, A.T.A.C. (Association pour la vulgarisation et la promotion des techniques de courses automobiles) with some friends.

They and set about the de-sign of a car to conform to the GTP class the ACO had just announced for the 1976 run-ning of its classic.

GTP called for a full height windscreen, token baggage space and a higher mini-mum weight than the regular spyder-bodied prototypes while aiming to attract a variety of engine solutions: only a maximum con-sumption of 35 litres per 100km. was speci-fied. Rondeau envisaged use of the Peu-geot V6 engine and designed a coupe

shape with the help of Robert Choulet who ran the Eifel fixed floor wind tunnel. Choulet had previously worked with Porsche (on the 917LH) and Matra. By the autumn Rondeau had a proposed body shape which he was able to paint in Inaltera colours.

One time amateur racer Charles James ran the Inaltera decorating materials com-pany and he still had big ambitions in racing. He agreed to fund the proposed GTP car providing it was known as an Inaltera and was Cosworth DFV propelled.

A workshop was rented in Le Mans' Rue Hoche (no. 100) and eight young assistants were employed under Rondeau and Vic Elford who was appointed Team Manager, leav-ing the founder to concentrate on the tech-nical side.

All eight assistants spent the last quarter of '75 helping with the design: Hubert Rohee was chief draughtsman; Daniel Menage was the chassis specialist while Jacques Besneville and Jean Phil-ippe Desmottes concentrated on the bodywork. The other four mechanics were Philippe Beloou, Philippe Bone, Lucian Monte and Jean-Pierre Devaux.

Construction of the Inaltera began at the start of '76. It was a straightforward design with a plated spaceframe (Sixties Ferrari style) as the team lacked experience of monocoques and the GTP stipulations dis-couraged a traditional monocoque tub by excluding pannier tanks and limiting pan-nier width to 230mm.

The chassis ended at the firewall bulkhead: the engine was fully stressed with the rear suspension hung from the transaxle. Twin water radiators were set into the firewall bulkhead, one either side of the cockpit, and the fuel tank was also centrally positioned (behind the seats) so the location of the centre of gravity would be unaffected as its 160 load diminished. The straightforward spaceframe was pro-duced in house from steel tubing and alu-minium panelling.

The suspension was of the classic outboard type with coil springs over Koni dampers. The Michelin shod car ran on Gotti 13" diameter magnesium/alu-minium three piece wheels (front and rear wheels had to be the same diameter) and was stopped by 10" diameter AP discs grabbed by AP four pot calipers.

The rear brakes were inboard, as was common in Formula One, to save unsprung weight. The transmission was a Newland TL200 five speeder as used by Ligier in Formula One, running a cam and pawl differential and fed through an AP triple plate clutch.

From small acorns... The Rondeau campaign began with backing from Inaltera, after which the local team's first cars were named. This is the 1976 Inaltera-Cosworth GTP.

The clean-shaped fully enclosed body (conforming to the minimum overall height of 1100mm) sported only a small engine oil radiator in the nose as the water radiators fed through side ducts flanking the cockpit area.

The body was of g.r.p. with Marchal lights, while Smiths supplied the instru-ments. The radiators (including one at the back for the gearbox) were from Sofica, while the fuel cell was from Superflexit. A 15 litre oil tank was carried in the engine bay. The Inaltera came out at almost 900kg whereas GTP regulations allowed an 850kg minimum.

However, it was designed primarily to be robust. By the mid Seventies Mirage had shown that the combination of Cosworth DFV engine and Newland gear-box could last 24 hours and (in the absence of Matra) win.

Neither the engine nor the gearbox manufacturer had planned to join the marathon running game but both had responded positively to the needs of teams such as Mirage. Cosworth had developed an 'endurance' DFV with reduced compres-sion ratio, softer cams and a more conser-vative rev limit. Revving to 10,000rpm it produced around 420bhp.

The Inaltera team bought three such engines and set about the construction of two additional chassis prior to the 1976 24 hour race. The first Inaltera chassis made its debut at the private Bardinon circuit in the spring of '76.

Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Bel-toise both drove it over the course of a number of days and found it "quite correct", Beloou recalls. No fundamental modifica-tion was required and further tests were carried out at Paul Ricard then, for the two chassis to be run at La Sarthe, at the Miche-lin test track three weeks prior to the race.

It was a dream debut, both cars finishing with Pescarolo/Beltoise winning the GTP class in eighth overall while Rondeau/Jean-Pierre Jaussaud/"Christine" (Elford's com-panion) ran home 21st. Broken dampers were among the delays and the team sub-sequently switched to Bilstein.

Devaux left the Inaltera team after the race to join Ligier but otherwise it remained intact and at the request of James it sent two chassis to the Daytona 24 Hours in February 1977 where, alas, both retired. The cars ran on Goodyear in Florida and the team decided to stay with the American crossplies.

For its second Le Mans assault all three cars were prepared with the same three engines as used in '76, and one entry ran in Group 6 without ballast. In the course of rebuilding weight had been saved, nota-bly through lighter tubing and thinner body panels. The basic weight was now a re-spectable 820kg.

The three engines were run in 480bhp "Formula One" trim and Mulsanne speed went up from 300 to 320kph. Again the team recorded a 100% finishing record, Rondeau/Ragnotti winning GTP with a splendid fourth overall (only losin third in the final hour).

And on that high note the Inaltera adventure abruptly ended. Charles James had parted ways with the firm and as a direct consequence its racing team was disbanded. Everyone was laid off and the equipment was sold, lock, stock and barrel, to Heini Mader. Rondeau didn't give up hope.

A Tyrrell-influenced six wheeler project for '78 had to be shelved but he did manage to find a small amount of money enabling construc-tion of the first `Rondeau' chassis to begin in January '78. The backing was secured with the help of Marjorie Brosse (wife of the Prefect of La Sarthe) who had acted as the team's PR since early in '77 and was from the SKF, Facom and Marchal companies.

In addition, the town of Le Mans lent an old workshop on the Montehard industrial estate. The first Rondeau was built with the for-mer Inaltera personnel working their eve-nings and weekends. It was very close to the original Inaltera design but with "evolu-tionary" changes throughout.

The basic body shape went unchanged: there were no funds for wind tunnel work and the old g.r.p. master was used once more. On the chassis, machined rather than welded parts saw a certain amount of weight saved: 760kg was now the unballasted figure. The basic specification was otherwise almost identical to that of the earlier cars.

One brand new engine was bought from Cosworth while one ex-Inaltera engine was bought from Mader as a spare. The Rondeau 'M378' was finished just in time for a day's shakedown on the Le Mans Bugatti circuit prior to the race where no major problem arose. The team now had a few full time employees: Bone, Desmottes, Rohee and Thibault, a newcomer experi-enced in chassis and suspension construc-tion, though Elford was no longer associ-ated with it.

The car of Rondeau/Jaussaud at Le Mans in 1980 on a routine pit stop. It ran through to the finish without major setback and made its constructor a national hero.

experienced few problems other than a broken gear shift linkage once rear body rigidity had been attended to in qualifying. Again Mulsanne speed was in the region of 320kph and yet again the local team claimed the GTP prize, ninth overall this year.

After the race the team rebuilt the car, tested it at Bugatti then closed the doors of the borrowed workshop while more money was sought. Nothing further happened until January 1979 when major backing from ITT was confirmed. Later VSD and Merlin Plage also came in.

Rondeau moved his base to Champagne, 10km. from the town, and took on faithful helpers Beloou, Monte, Besneville and Menage full time once more. Henceforth Rondeau concentrated on administration and Beloou became Techni-cal Director.

Two more chassis were con-structed and, according to Beloou, "for the first time our aim was to win outright". There was no fundamental difference between the rebuilt M378 and the two new M379s. The M378 had an improved gear linkage and similar modifications where appropriate to assist the all important quest for reliability.

There was also a reprofiling of the nose to decrease downforce: the '78 car had too much downforce at the front follow-ing a subtle redesign of its nose from the lnaltera shape. The new cars were to the same design but without ballast to run in Group 6 in the search for outright winning pace.

The team had looked at the possibility of removing the windscreen and cockpit canopy but concluded that a complete re-design was called for and that was beyond its financial means. The '79 trio was completed just before the race, again allowing only a little time for testing on the Bugatti circuit.

Group 6 car for Pecarolo/Beltoise was tried with modified front suspension geometry as the small wheel diameter had led to slow corner oversteer in the past but the experi-ment (shifting the front roll centre) was not a success. Again 480bhp engines were run to 10,000rpm (9,800rpm on the Mulsanne) and again the top speed was in the region of 320kph. The team only had three engines, all Mader prepared. In the absence of Renault, it was allocated the prime paddock position. Rondeau shared the GTP car with old friend Jacky Haran. In the wet Haran aqua-planed off the circuit and hit the guardrail.

The impact broke the chassis: the first re-tirement in nine starts. However, both Group 6 cars came home, overcoming problems with the gear linkage, cracked rod ends and troublesome wets that rapidly chunked. Ragnotti/Darniche won Group 6 with fifth overall while Pescarolo/Beltoise ran home tenth overall. July '79 found the team without finance once again. However, outside engineering contracts kept it in business and one of the two surviving Group 6 cars was modified in response to the problems incurred during the race. Alterations included small winglets at the rear as rear end downforce had been found wanting and Gurney flaps had added too much drag.

By January 1980 some backing had been found and the modified car was tested over 26 hours at Paul Ricard. This was the first real test for the M378/379 design away from the race. The only problem that occurred was a bro-ken finger in the gearbox: "we were sure now the car was as reliable as possible" says Beloou. Three cars were again prepared, with support from Le Point and renewed backing lnaltera GTP, 1976 style. The Cosworth engine nestles in a tube -frame based sports-prototype chassis, unusual at this time not only for its construction but also for its coupe body.

from ITT, all to the `M379B' (Ricard) speci-fication, again weighing around 760kg without ballast. Two chassis were the '79 Group 6 machines updated, the third was new. The same three engines were run (the team still having no spare) and again one example was run in GTP (a new car bal-lasted by heavyweight body panels), two in Group 6. The GTP entry was backed by Belga and was crewed by Gordon Spice and the Martin brothers and yet again the team won the category, finishing a splendid third overall.

However, in Group 6 it suffered its first retirement due to mechanical failure, its Pescarolo/Ragnotti car (which had won pole) cracking a cylinder overnight while leading. The Rondeau/Jaussaud Group 6 entry had failed to qualify on the Wednesday due to metering unit and (two) ignition box breakages.

On Thursday the car refused to run: yet another ignition box was changed. The problem was eventually traced to one rogue wire - just in the nick of time to make the race. At the weekend the only problem was a reluctant starter motor which re-quired cold water coaxing! That caused anxiety for Rondeau and Jaussaud when each took a turn to spin out on the circuit! But the car was kept going and shrugged off a late challenge from lckx' Porsche 936. So it was that Rondeau and his trusty help-ers were invited to share a glass of cham-pagne with President Giscard d'Estang, celebrating the first ever Le Mans win for a driver/constructor, and the first for an in-habitant of the town.