NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Alpine A442

The Renault Alpine A442 is a sports prototype racing car, designed and built by Alpine, but funded and powered by Alpine's owners Renault, specifically to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Variants were entered for the event in 1976, 1977 and 1978, and an A442B finally won the race on the third occasion, in the hands of Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud. Also entered in 1978 was the updated Renault Alpine A443 model; essentially an A442 chassis, but powered by a new 2138cc engine. Following this all-French victory in the premier French motorsport event, Renault withdrew from sports car racing to concentrate their efforts in Formula One. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... GTP sports cars racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991 Sports car racing is a form of circuit racing, with cars that have two seats and enclosed wheel wells. ... Alpine A110 1600S Alpine was a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars which used rear mounted Renault engines. ... Renault S.A. is a French vehicle manufacturer producing cars, vans, buses, tractors, and trucks. ... FranÃ§ois Castaing is a 27-year veteran automotive executive with Renault, American Motors, and Chrysler. ... General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Atomic mass 26. ... The steel cable of a colliery winding tower. ... Simplified space frame roof with the nearest unit polygon hightlighted in blue A space frame is a truss-like, light weight rigid structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. ... A double wishbone suspension is an automobile independent suspension design using two parallel wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. ... A double wishbone suspension is an automobile independent suspension design using two parallel wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. ... Renault S.A. is a French vehicle manufacturer producing cars, vans, buses, tractors, and trucks. ... Gordini was a Formula One constructor and engine manufacturer from 1950 until 1956. ... The Ford Essex V6 engine V6 and V-6 redirect here. ... Air foil bearing-supported turbocharger cutaway made by Mohawk Innovative Technology Inc. ... In Automobile design, an MR or Mid-engine, Rear wheel drive layout drives the rear wheels with an engine placed just in front of them, behind the passenger compartment. ... Founded by Mike Hewland in 1957, Hewland is a British engineering company specialising in racing car gearboxes. ... This is an article about manual transmission in general; for guidance on how to drive with a manual transmission, see Manual transmission driving technique. ... 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Didier Pironi (March 26, 1952 - August 23, 1987) was a Formula One driver from France. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_France. ... Jean-Pierre Jaussaud won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1978 and 1980. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_France. ... Patrick Tambay (born 25 June 1949 in Paris) was a French Formula One driver. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_France. ... Jacques-Henri Laffite (born November 21, 1943) is a French former racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1974 to 1986. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_France. ... Jean-Pierre Jarier (born July 10, 1946) is a French Grand Prix racing driver, now retired. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... Derek Reginald Bell MBE (born October 31, 1941 in Middlesex, England) is a former Formula One driver who raced for the Ferrari, McLaren, Brabham, Surtees and Tecno teams. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_France. ... RenÃ© Arnoux - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... GTP sports cars racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991 Sports car racing is a form of circuit racing, with cars that have two seats and enclosed wheel wells. ... Auto racing (also known as automobile racing or autosport) is a sport involving racing automobiles. ... Alpine A110 1600S Alpine was a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars which used rear mounted Renault engines. ... Renault S.A. is a French vehicle manufacturer producing cars, vans, buses, tractors, and trucks. ... The 24 Hours of Le Mans (24 Heures du Mans) is the worlds most famous sports car endurance race, held annually at Circuit de la Sarthe near Le Mans, France, in the French Sarthe dÃ©partement. ... The 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 44th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 12 and 13, 1976. ... The 1977 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 45th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 11 and 12, 1977. ... The 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 46th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 10 and 11, 1978. ... Didier Pironi (March 26, 1952 - August 23, 1987) was a Formula One driver from France. ... Jean-Pierre Jaussaud won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1978 and 1980. ... Formula One - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Design

Alpine had been working with increasingly close ties to Renault since 1971, and by the beginning of the A442 project in 1975 the two companies were almost completely merged. Renault finally bought Alpine outright in early 1976, Renault inheriting Alpine's sports prototype program. The A442 was a direct evolution of the successful Alpine A440 and title-winning A441 models. However, unlike the previous cars, the A442's 2.0L Renault-Gordini powerplant boasted a large Garrett turbocharger, pushing power output to 490bhp. Over the next three years this would increase to well over 500bhp, with the A443's 2.2L unit developing 520bhp. Gordini was a Formula One constructor and engine manufacturer from 1950 until 1956. ... Garrett Engine Boosting Systems is a subsidiary of Honeywell Corporation. ... Air foil bearing-supported turbocharger cutaway made by Mohawk Innovative Technology Inc. ...

In common with the earlier cars, the engine was suspended inside a relatively small steel spaceframe chassis, which was then clothed in a much longer glassfibre body. The extra length of the body was mostly to be found in the tail section, to improve high-speed aerodynamic efficiency, and hence top speed on the long Mulsanne straight at Circuit de la Sarthe. The bodywork was a conventional open two-seater arrangement. Designed as a "hare", to stretch their Porsche 936 rivals to breaking point, the A443 also incorporated a slightly longer wheelbase. Following wind tunnel testing during the autumn and winter of 1977, the A442B and A443 were introduced in 1978 each sporting a plexiglass "bubble" partial roof, resulting in an additional 8kmh in top speed at la Sarthe, but reducing visibility from the driving seat. However, during pracice for the 1978 Le Mans race, A443 drivers Patrick Depailler and Jean-Pierre Jabouille complained that the bubble made them feel claustrophobic and trapped engine heat inside the cockpit, making driving conditions intolerable. Therefore, only the A442B ever competed with the bubble in place. Simplified space frame roof with the nearest unit polygon hightlighted in blue A space frame is a truss-like, light weight rigid structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. ... The composite Rutan VariEze, a home-build light aircraft Glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), is a composite material or fiber-reinforced plastic made of a plastic reinforced by fine fibers made of glass. ... Mulsanne is the famous straightaway on the Circuit de la Sarthe that is used in the sports car endurance race 24 Hours of Le Mans. ... The Circuit de la Sarthe is a race track near Le Mans, France. ... The Porsche 936 was introduced in 1976 by Porsche as a successor to the Porsche 908 to compete in the FIA Group 6 sports car world championship, which it won (as did the Porsche 935 in its championship) . The open top, two seater spyder was powered by a 2140cc 540... NASA wind tunnel with the model of a plane A wind tunnel is a research tool developed to assist with studying the effects of air moving over or around solid objects. ... Structure of PMMA: (C5O2H8)n Structure of methyl methacrylate Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or polymethyl-2-methylpropanoate is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate. ... The 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 46th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 10 and 11, 1978. ... Patrick AndrÃ© EugÃ¨ne Joseph Depailler (born in Clermont-Ferrand, 9 August 1944 - died 1 August 1980) was a Formula One driver from France. ... Jean Pierre Jabouille was a Formula One driver from France. ...

By 1978, Gérard Larrousse had moved up from works driver to manage the Renault Sport team. He laid out the team's priorities: win at Le Mans, then focus all attention on repeating the success in Formula One. Renault ploughed a huge budget into developing the A442 into a Le Mans winner. Many hours were spent in testing, particularly using long airport runways to simulate the mechanical and aerodynamic stresses induced on the long, fast Mulsanne straight. In addition, Renault's engine department went to work on squeezing as much power out of the five year old powerplant as was possible. Capacity was upped to 2138cc, just short of the theoretical 2142cc limit for turbocharged cars, and this revamped engine was installed into the new, lengthened chassis, becoming the A443. Gerard Larrousse was a Formula One driver from France. ... Runway 13R/31L of El Dorado International Airport, BogotÃ¡, D.C., Colombia. ...

In full qualifying trim, with the bubble roof, the A443 achieved a top speed of 236mph on the Mulsanne straight, making it the fastest car ever produced by Renault, a record which still stands today and includes all of Renault's F1 entries.

Race history

The A442 made its competition debut in March 1975, at the Mugello 1000km, with Jabouille and Larrousse. Despite the relatively underdeveloped turbo addition to the Renault engine, the car lasted long enough for the team to take a surprise win in its very first race. However, subsequent repeated mechanical failures meant that going in to the 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans, over a year later, the team had failied to win another race. That run of form was not to change, and the single car entered dropped out with engine failure before half of the 24 hours had elapsed. The 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 44th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 12 and 13, 1976. ...

For the Renault management, success at Le Mans was a huge prestige issue, and for the 1977 race the Renault Sport works team fielded three cars - and drafted in endurance specialist Derek Bell - supported by an additional, privately entered A442. In the intervening period between the two Le Mans starts, the Renault Alpines had taken second and third places in the 500km ACF race at Dijon-Prenois, as well as second place at the high-speed 4h Monza round. Expectation and publicity levels were high. It was therefore something of an embarassment when not one of the four cars reached the finishing flag. Renault's yellow and black liveried squad did not compare favourably with Porsche's repeated wins and reliable, fast cars. The 1977 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 45th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 11 and 12, 1977. ... Renault Sport Technologies (commonly known as Renault Sport or RST) is the motorsport division of Renault. ... Derek Reginald Bell MBE (born October 31, 1941 in Middlesex, England) is a former Formula One driver who raced for the Ferrari, McLaren, Brabham, Surtees and Tecno teams. ... The Automobile Club of France (French : Automobile Club de France) (ACF) is a prestigious mens club founded on November 12, 1895 by Albert de Dion, Paul Meyan, and its first president, the Dutch-born Baron, Etienne van Zuylen van Nijevelt. ... Dijon-Prenois is a 3. ... Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is a motorsport race track near the town of Monza, Italy, north of Milan. ... Dr. Ing. ...

At the 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans, their huge development program paid off. Once again, the works team entered three cars: an old A442, renamed A442A; the bubble-canopied A442B; and the A443. A second A442A was entered by Ecurie Calberson. The work carried out since the 1977 race meant that, for once, Renault was on a par with the dominant Porsche 936 turbo cars, and the two models shared the first six places on the grid equally. From the start, the A443 was the class of the field. Jabouille took fastest lap before the engine finally broke in the 18th hour, making it the second Renault retirement after the Bell/Jarier A442A works car had suffered transmission failure at the half-way point. However, fortunately for Renault, Pironi and Jaussaud in the A442B were well placed to inherit the lead. The 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 46th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 10 and 11, 1978. ... The Porsche 936 was introduced in 1976 by Porsche as a successor to the Porsche 908 to compete in the FIA Group 6 sports car world championship, which it won (as did the Porsche 935 in its championship) . The open top, two seater spyder was powered by a 2140cc 540...

The pairing held on to the lead for the final few hours, finishing four laps ahead of the second-placed Porsche. The privateer A442A also finished well, taking fourth place. After the final flag Pironi was too exhausted to climb up to the podium, where Jaussaud took the trophy alone.

References

Categories: Renault vehicles | Racing cars | 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

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Race history

References

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