Alpine A441

History and Restoration of the Alpine Renault A441-3, P1

June 17, 2014 By pete

The Elf Switzerland-sponsored Alpine Renault A441-3, brought back to life by Flavien Marçais and seen here at the 72nd Goodwood members' meeting in the UK in March 2014, after 35 years in hibernation. (©Tim Moores)

Story by Roy P. Smith

In 1973, Renault, who by then were in the process of taking a major shareholding in the Alpine company based in Dieppe, were considering entering the European Sports Prototype Championship, the reason being that they had a new engine, created by the engineering team headed by François Castaing, an engineer with Amédée Gordini in the late 1960s before doing his National Service. The engine would be a V6; “But what shall we put it in?” asked the Renault management. It wasn’t long before the call was made to Alpine: build us a Sports Prototype please! [Read more…] about History and Restoration of the Alpine Renault A441-3, P1

History and Restoration of the Alpine Renault A441-3 P2

June 17, 2014 By pete

Marie Claude and Lella Lombardi at their own scrutineering at Le Mans.

Story by Roy P. Smith

The Sarthe circuit had changed somewhat since Alpine was last at Le Mans six years previously, so there was new data to acquire in that department. It was even more important that year because the traditional April testing period had been cancelled and no tests could be carried out to set fuel loads, refine the aero set-up, etc (remember there was the long, long Mulsanne straight to cope with here). Fuel consumption dominated everyone’s thoughts. The endurance test at Paul Ricard had been good; the car could go the distance and do it economically. [Read more…] about History and Restoration of the Alpine Renault A441-3 P2

The Alpine A440/441: A Brief Look at a Winner

June 17, 2014 By pete

A short history of a very important Alpine Renault.

Text by Roberto Motta
Photos: Renault Internal Archive / Press

While Roy Smith provided an interesting history on one specific Alpine A-441, (read story), Roberto Motta traces the development of the Renault Alpine Gordini A440 and 441 two liter endurance cars designed for the hotly contested 1971 2 liter European Championship and the 2 liter category of the World Sports Prototype Manufacturers’ Championship.

In ’71 the Alpine A110 had won the Monte Carlo Rally and the Alpine F3 successes proved that they could beat the British manufacturers. Alpine Renault decided to participate in endurance racing and to compete in the European Championship Sports 2000. But what was needed was a new engine that could power the Alpines.
The new 2 liter European Championship series met with great interest at both Renault and Elf and caught the attentions of Jean Claude Terrarmorsi and Claude Haardt, responsible respectively for competitions and Renault engines. Renault did not have a great deal of trust in the Alpine venture and were already involved in managing the Gordini works. [Read more…] about The Alpine A440/441: A Brief Look at a Winner