Think Bleu de France at Le Mans and a whole host of marques spring to mind, with Bugatti, DB, Matra and Alpine jostling for first place. In 1973, when Matra beat Ferrari in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Renault bought out Alpine and transferred its sports operations to Renault Sport.

PRELUDE IN BLUE

The sports programme of the newly-formed Renault-Alpine was geared towards a two-fold ambition for the second half of the 1970s: the 24 Hours of Le Mans coupled with Formula One.

1975 saw a Renault-Alpine A441 prototype at the 43rd 24 Hours of Le Mans, in the form of a 2-litre V6 engine shrouded in blue livery and driven by a female line-up. It was Marie-Claude Beaumont's fifth participation at the Le Mans and her first time there in a prototype, while her co-driver Lella Lombardi had become the only woman to score points in Formula One six weeks earlier. The French/Italian duo was forced to retire, however, after qualifying ninth.

In 1976, Renault-Alpine entered a new A442 prototype, this time donning the yellow and black Renault Sport livery. Its 2-litre engine used turbocharging; a technology introduced by Porsche at the 24 Hours of Le Mans two years earlier. Jean-Pierre Jabouille took pole position but retired during the race, leaving victory to the Porsche 936 driven by Jacky Ickx and Gijs van Lennep and powered by a 2.1-litre turbocharged 6-cylinder flat engine.

Turbocharged duelling

In 1977 and 1978, Porsche and Renault-Alpine undertook an exciting era of duels at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, four years after the Matra-Ferrari battle at the race’s 50th anniversary.

Starting once again from pole position on 11 June 1977, the Renault-Alpine driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille, this time alongside Derek Bell, held the lead for 17 hours before being retired on Sunday morning. The other two Renault-Alpine cars in the race met the same fate, and the Porsche 936 enjoyed a second consecutive win, in the hands of Jacky Ickx, Jürgen Barth and Hurley Haywood. 

Renault achieved its goal in the Sarthe in 1978. Although Jacky Ickx qualified the Porsche 936 on pole position, Renault-Alpine consistently topped the time sheets on the track. Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud sped to the front of the pack before passing the baton to their teammates Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Patrick Depailler for 12 hours. When they retired, Pironi and Jaussaud regained the lead and held onto first place right up to the chequered flag, while the third Renault-Alpine driven by José Dolhem, Guy Fréquelin and Jean Ragnotti took fourth place.

Renault-Alpine then withdrew from endurance racing to devote itself fully to Formula One, chalking up a top-five finish at the 1978 US Grand Prix and the team's first victory in the 1979 French Grand Prix. The 1978 title at Le Mans 24 Hours was also a triumph for Gérard Larrousse, who had become Renault’s sporting director after winning Le Mans twice with Matra as a driver in 1973 and 1974.

These three achievements not only earned him the right to join Luigi Chinetti and Carroll Shelby in the select circle of those who have won both as a driver and a team owner, they have also gained him a place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Hall of Fame which will be inaugurated at the prestigious Centenary event.

PHOTOS: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES DU MANS, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS – From top (Copyright ACO Archives): of the three Renault-Alpine cars entered in 1978, only the winning car #2 driven by Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud had an aerodynamic bubble cockpit; the silhouette and engine of the 1975 #26 A441 underpinned the Renault-Alpine programme at Le Mans; Jean-Pierre Jabouille’s technical prowess and speed (#19 in 1976, #9 in 1977) greatly contributed to the success of the Renault-Alpine programme; the final 1978 A443 version (#1, driven here by Patrick Depailler) was originally meant to sport the aerodynamic bubble seen on the victorious A442 B.