Alpine & Renault · The Sports Prototypes #2# Volume 2: 1973-1978

by Roy Smith

Sports prototype racing is about endurance - for the drivers, for the teams, and for the companies involved. Under the new management at Renault, and with assistance from Elf, the state-owned French oil company, Alpine made a remarkable return to sports car racing, vividly described here along with the reputations that were won and lost.

Alpine won the European sports car championship and developed a new car, an innovatory vehicle that used a new engine. Not only that, it developed a turbocharged unit to try to win at Le Mans. We see the passion and dedication for racing over a long period, with stunningly fast slippery aerodynamic designs that allowed them to take many pole positions and fastest laps. We see ultimately the new management and a new name, Renault Sport, that still survives today, and the trials and tribulations of trying to develop a V6 turbo engine. We see great engineering and huge, even comical disasters. Despair, frustration and ultimately joy are all part of the effort to eventually take the greatest prize in sports car racing - winning the Le Mans 24 hours.

Contents:

• The second coming
  The return to racing, a new engine, new management, new ideas, 1973 season
• Domination
  The 1974 season, all the races, developments and championship victory
• What might have been
  The 1975 world championship, the new Turbo charged car, the trials and tribulations, the failures
• Close but no cigar
  The 1976 world championships, first attack at Le Mans since 1969, fast car, but unreliable
• It all ends in tears
  The 1977 season, concentration on Le Mans, Mirage uses Renault Engines
• Victory
  The 1978 Season the Victory at Le Mans, mission accomplished
• What happened next! - Le Mans via Indianapolis to Bonneville
  The remarkable story of how the engines from the Le Mans programme, formed the basis of an Indianapolis effort and today one is being used to attack a land speed record

Buch, Hardcover, 25,5 x 25,5 cm, 224 Seiten, 359 größtenteils farbige Abbildungen, englischer Text