Tag Archives: Gordini

Pur Sang De La Route – Renault R8 Gordini

When Renault decided to replace it’s rear engine rear wheel drive Dauphine models in 1962 it choose ignore the front engine front wheel drive layout used on the Renault 4 first seen in 1961 and kept the Dauphine layout for the R8 and later more luxurious R10 models designed by Philippe Charbonneaux.

Renault R8 Gordini, Rally Day, Castle Combe,

During the design stage of the R8 it appears there were plans for ALFA Romeo to expand their relationship with Renault to include building a version of this car which never came to fruition, however the unusual styled bonnet / hood with its central crease, shared with the 1960 still born prototype front wheel drive ALFA Romeo tipo 103, is possibly a remnant of the initial co operative intention.

Renault R8 Gordini, Rally Day, Castle Combe,

Novel features for a car of this size at this time were all round disc brakes and the 43hp 1 litre / 61 cui Cléon-Fonte engine featured a sealed for life cooling system first seen on the Renault 4.

Renault R8 Gordini, Rally Day, Castle Combe,

While the R8 was narrower than the Dauphine it replaced the front seats were actually wider than those on it’s predecessor.

Renault R8 Gordini, Rally Day, Castle Combe,

“Le sorcier” Amédé Gordini produced a cross flow cylinder head for the larger 1108cc / 67 cui R8 engine which when fitted with twin Solex carburetors produced 89hp which was fitted to a close ration four speed gearbox for the R8 Gordini model that featured uprated rear suspension and marketed, only in blue with white racing stripes, as a “pur sang de la route / thoroughbred of the road” in 1964, with it’s 110 mph capability it was faster than the contemporary luxury Citroën DS19.

Jean Vinatier, seen at the wheel in the opening scenes of the clip above, with co driver Roger Masson drove an R8 Gordini to victory in the 1964 Tour de Course tarmac rally in Corsica this was followed by two more victories on the same event by Pierre Orsini with Jean-Baptiste Canocini in 1965 and Jean-François Piot with Jean-François Jacob in 1966 completing a hat trick of Tour de Course victories for the model.

Renault R8 Gordini, Rally Day, Castle Combe,

In 1967 the face lifted R8 Gordini featured additional Cibie Oscar driving lights and the engine capacity was increased to 1255 cc / 76 cui which with the cross flow head and twin Weber carburetors produced 99hp.

Renault R8 Gordini, Rally Day, Castle Combe,

More major international Rally successes followed on the Rallye du Maroc won by Robert La Caze
with Raymond Ponnelle in 1967 and Jean-Pierre Nicolas with Jean de Alexandris in 1968, the following year Marc and Hélène Gérenthon won the inaugural Rallye Côte d’Ivoire, while in 1970 Bob Watson with Jim McCauliffe won the five round Australian Rally Championship in their R8 Gordini.

The 1970 example seen in these photographs taken at the recent Castle Combe Rally Day was first registered in the UK in September 2002 and has been seen in the hands of Renault gear box expert David Wheeler on the La Vie En Bleu Prescott Hillclimb.

Thanks for joining me on this “Pur Sang De La Route” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Rally Day tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Acrylic Glass Bubble Top – Alpine A442 B #A442/3

The Alpine A442 B was the penultimate evolution of Alpines 1970’s sports car program that first came to light in 1973 when Renault sponsored the development of the 2 litre / 122 cui Renault Gordini CH1 V6 that sat in the back of the Alpine A440 sports car driven by Jean Pierre Jabouille at Magney Cours.

The following season the second evolution A441 swept the 1974 European Sportscar Championship scoring 9 wins from 9 races with Jabouille, Alain Cudini, Gérard Larrousse, and eventual champion Alain Serpaggi all wining races. over the winter of 1974/75 one of the A441’s was fitted with a turbocharged version of the CH1 V6 that had been designed by François Castaing and Jean-Pierre Boudy.

Alpine A442 B, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

At the second round of the 1975 World Sports Car Championship the turbocharged A441 made it’s debut and with Jabouille and Larrouse at the wheel became the unfancied winner beating the normally aspirated 3 litre / 183 cui Alfa Romeo and turbo charged Porsche 908 to become the first turbocharged prototype to win a World Championship. For the remainder of the 1975 season the newer Alpine A442 evolution was used but it was no match for the Championship winning Alfa Romeo.

1n 1976 Alpine continued using developing the A442 in the World Sportscar Championship but it was completely overshadowed by the new turbocharged Porsche 936 which won all seven races leaving the A442 with three second places as the best results and a distant second in the championship a position which it shared with Osella. Le Mans which was not part of the championship saw Jabouille, Patrick Tambay and Jose Dolhem qualify on pole but the single A442 entered but it retired with engine failure before half distance leaving the Porsche 936 to claim the first of three Le Mans victories.

Alpine A442 B, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Derek Bell and Jabouille were on pole for the 1977 Le Mans 24 hour race driving today’s featured chassis #A442/3 before it had been upgraded to B spec. However none of the four A442’s finished the race, which was won by the Porsche 936 #001 featured last week, but one of the Renault Gordini CH1 V6 turbo powered Mirages did finish a distant second 11 laps in arrears.

For 1978, by which time Renault and Alpine had been fully financially integrated, a new Alpine A443 had evolved with a longer wheel base, slightly larger motor and an acrylic glass bubble roof. Drivers Jabouille and Patrick Depailler had the roof, which added around 5 mph to the cars top speed, removed because they felt claustrophobic and there was too much heat building up inside the cockpit. Even so they still qualified fastest of the Alpines at Le Mans albeit on second place on the grid behind a works Porsche 936 chassis #003 which qualified with an average speed of 147 mph by Jackie ickx. 3rd on the grid was the monstrous Porsche 935/78 known as Moby Dick with another works Porsche 936 the ’77 winner #001 alongside.

Alpine A442 B, British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Todays featured car now in B spec running with an acrylic glass roof and the standard 2 litre / 122 cui turbocharged V6 motor was 5th on the grid at Le Mans with Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud sharing the driving. The A443 of Jabouille and Depailler led much of the first half of the race interrupted by a set of unbalanced front wheels until it retired with a broken motor leaving Pironi and Jassaud to take over a commanding lead which it held to the end. Pironi passed out in the heat of the cockpit after he crossed the finish line.

Two of Porsche 936’s required gearbox rebuilds after which one of them crashed and the other chassis #001 came second ahead of the third placed 936 chassis #002 which required a turbocharger replacement while the 935 Moby Dick suffered from overheating and persistent oil leaks to come home 8th.

Having accomplished what they set out to achieve with the CH1 V6 program, along with two Formula Two open wheel championships in 1975 and 1976, Renault retired the Alpines from Sports car racing to concentrated all of it’s efforts on Formula One where it ran the first turbo charged Formula One car in 1977.

In 1979 Renault would become the first team to win a Formula One race with a turbo charged 1.5 litre 91.5 cui Renault Gordini EF1 motor at the French Grand Prix, which by coincidence was the race before the British Grand Prix where today’s photo’s were taken of #A442/3 in the paddock at Silverstone.

My thanks to Tim Murray for helping to identify the winning chassis of the 1975 Mugello 1000kms race which was widely reported to have been an Alpine A442 in contemporary journals like Motoring News but which contemporary photographs show the A441 development car.

Thanks for joining me on this “Acrylic Glass Bubble Top” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now.

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French Revolutionary – Matra Bonnet Djet VS

After building over 1000 vehicles including the successful DB Panhard HBR Charles Deutsch and René Bonnet parted company over a disagreement about the supplier of engines for future models.

Matra Bonnet Djet VS, Goodwood Revival

René was keen to switch to Renault motors while Charles wanted to stick with Panhards with which they had found much success.

Matra Bonnet Djet VS, Goodwood Revival

In 1962 Automobiles René Bonnet launched the Djet, with the D allegedly added to help french owners pronounce the name correctly. Fiberglass bodies for the Djet were manufactured by Matra, a company at the time more commonly associated with missile production, which were then glued to a steel chassis.

Matra Bonnet Djet VS, Goodwood Revival

The car is revolutionary because this is was the first sports car to go into mass production with a engine mounted behind the driver and ahead of the rear wheels the so called mid rear position.

Matra Bonnet Djet VS, Goodwood Revival

The VS, yes that is a ‘V’ as in roman numeral and not a ‘Z’, denotes that this car is powered by a 90 hp Gordini spec 1108 cc / 67.6 cui 5 bearing 4 cylinder Renault ‘Cléon’ motor which gave the model a top speed of 118 mph.

Matra Bonnet Djet VS, Goodwood Revival

The model was launched as the René Bonnet Djet in 1962 of which less than 200 were built by 1964 when as a consequence of focusing on racing activities Bonnet got into financial difficulties and was subsequently bought out by Matra.

Matra Bonnet Djet VS, Goodwood Revival

Matra launched improved versions of the Djet in 1965, like the 1966 example seen here and sold them successively under the Matra Bonnet Djet, Matra Sports Djet and Matra Sports Jet up until 1967 when production ceased with over 1,490 further vehicles completed.

Thanks for joining me on the revolutionary mid engined edition of ‘Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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