RONDEAU 3 SERIES 1981-88 COSWORTH. The M382 chassis was essentially that of its predecessor fitted w

Rondeau's win opened the sponsorship floodgates and for 1981 no less than five cars were entered, all in M379C configura-tion. The rear aerofoil had grown to fit across the full width of the tail and there were smaller windscreens on the three Group Six cars, two of which were running 3.3 litre DFL engines.

Just over two hours into the race the 3.0 litre Group Six car of Lafosse crashed on the Mulsanne straight killing the driver.

The Tambay/Pescarolo car with a Mader 3.3 DFV suffered engine problems which eventually stranded it out on the circuit with a flat battery. The Rondeau/Jaussaud car with a Cosworth-built DFL was out soon after with handling difficulties caused by a broken chassis. The surviving GTP cars of Haran/Schlesser/Streiff and Spice/Migault were second and third overall, the French trio winninig the class.

1982 found Rondeau running a full pro-gramme of races in the first year of Group C. The M382 was an interim design, the team awaiting completion of its new ground effect M482 chassis. The new car was troubled and raced just once, during the whole sea-son; the stop gap machine then became the mainstay of the'82 works effort.

The M382 chassis was essentially that of its predecessor fitted with the inboard rear suspension and revised brakes of the ground effect car. A longer tail section with squarer aerofoil supporting fins distin-guished the newcomer from the M379. Electrical problems in practice and the race caused by the notorious vibration problem inherent in 3.9 litre DFL engines affected the entire works three car Le Mans team.

Migault/Spice/Lapeyre managed to lead early on until they came to an ignition sen-sor failure induced halt at Arnage and Pescarolo/Ragnotti/Alliot joined them a

short while later with a similar fault. Jaus-saud/Rondeau ran in the top ten during the early hours until a forty minute pit stop dropped them down the field before finally retiring with a dropped valve in the ninth hour. Haran's ex works M379C retired just short of half distance with engine failure. Bussi's M382 managed a fifteenth place finish despite a troublesome clutch while Yver with another ex-works M379C finished tenth and added to the so-nearly triumphant Rondeau score for the Manufacturers' title.

Porsche ruled in '83 with works and cus-tomer cars. However three M382s and an M379C were entered at Le Mans. A 3.3 litre M381 and the 3.0 M379C were factory entries backing up the still unimpressive M482. The 3.3 car of Lapeyre/Snobeck/ Cudini was only a couple of seconds slower than the M482s in practice but was retired after two hours, a water leak having caused the engine to overheat. The 379C driven by Elford/Verney/Gouhier ran reliably into the top twenty but the engine broke after ten hours. The two surviving 382s finished 19th and 20th, Guuitteny/De Dryver/Yver in the latter's car leading home Herregods/Wit-meur/Libert in Bussi's example.

1984 saw the Bussi and Yver machines running again with a 379C owned by Grand competing in the C2 category. The C2 car was the only survivor, finishing eleventh overall and second in class.

In 1985 Bussi's car was driven to 15th place by Justice/Sotty/Oudet while Yver's car retired just after midnight with a broken engine. For the 1986 race Patrick Oudet shared his M382 with Justice until the oil pressure faded while the M379C of Del Bello/Sotty and new owner Roussiaud, running in C2, finished 17th. Bussi's car was entered for the 1987 race but failed to appear. However, the following year a 379C (actually the third placed car in 1980) finished but was unclassified.