Newsletter # 28 Feb

4 2010
RENAULT Sport & A lpine EXPO
Brisbane – 9 July to 25 July 2010
What’s it all about? If you missed the first three RSAE Newsletters and are wondering
what the RSAE is all about, please read page 6.

Something New (very new!)

The beautiful Renault Fluence – Coming soon to Australia?

Something Old - Alpine A442B Le Mans

(You’ll have to wait for the articles in Newsletter #5
Humble Scribe Eats Humble Pie!
Oh, the embarrassment of it!
First I mislaid photos of Ernst & Sonja Luthi’s A110 and now it seems that I have offended
many Alpine enthusiasts by naming as Renaults, cars which should properly be called
Alpines. I am indebted to Tim Moores and Roy Smith for drawing this blunder to my attention
and to RCCQ club member Al Kelly for editing their correspondence on this matter which
appears below:

A letter to the RSAE newsletter from Club Alpine Renault UK member Tim Moores…
Dear Phil,
Your latest issue of the Newsletter has a specification for an A108 that lists the manufacturer as
Renault Alpine and a photograph of an M64 labelled "Alpine M64 - another famous racing Renault".
With respect the manufacturer of both the A108 and the M64 was Société des Automobiles Alpine.
They were not built by Renault nor, formally, were any other Alpines.
Both marques have their own history and each has made a significant contribution to the world of
automobiles in their various guises. There are times where they have conflicted, times where they have
overlapped, times where they have inter-twined and times where they are almost indistinguishable but
nonetheless for that Jean Rédélé's Alpine was recognised formally as a marque many years before
Renault took a controlling interest. Subsequently Alpine was maintained by Renault as a separate
marque within the corporate whole and we should respect that distinction. As indeed is the case by the
formation of the Association des Anciens d'Alpine and the positive and dynamic interaction between
AAA and Renault Histoire et Collection.
Here’s a bit more detail on the history of the marque:
A Certificat de Dépôt d’Acte dated 22 June 1955 that recognised the foundation of Société des
Automobiles Alpine by Jean Rédélé was issued by the Tribunal de Commerce de la Seine.
The FIA Group B homologation papers of 1 August 1961 for the A106 are quite clear that the marque
is Alpine. Through the early years of Alpine's participation at Le Mans Jean Rédélé had great
difficulty sourcing engines because Renault did not want Alpine to be competitive against their
favoured marque CG. When it became clear that CG was becoming uncompetitive Renault’s attitude
softened and they stopped trying to block Alpine from using Gordini engines.
It was not until 1967, when Jean Rédélé was in the throes of negotiating with Renault to sell and
support Alpines through the Renault dealer network, that the
Renault diamond first appeared on the nose of the A110 and
"Alpine Renault" badging appeared on the engine cover. Up
until then the nose of Alpines had carried “ALPINE” and the
engine covers either no logo, ”ALPINE”, the flying “A” of
Alpine, or the model designation such as “ALPINE 1300”.
However, the chassis plaques give the manufacturer as “Societé
des Automobiles Alpine”
Gradually Renault increased its financial support to Alpine’s
competition activities in the latter part of the 60s as the company
sought to derive publicity benefit from Alpine’s competition
successes until Alpine became in essence their competition
department.
Even though the A310 was the result of a co-operative design study by Alpine and Renault that began
in 1968 it retained the Société des Automobiles Alpine plaque.

Renault did not take a majority holding in Alpine until 1973, 18 years after Alpine's founding and 11
years after the introduction of the A110. Even subsequent to Renault taking a controlling interest the
Alpine marque identity was retained within
the Renault corporate organisation.
Despite several years of the cars being
badged externally as Renault Alpine and the
use of that designation for publicity purposes
the chassis plaques showed the formal
manufacturer designation as Alpine Renault
as on this plaque of a car for the German
market.
However, by 1987 Renault had finally realised that in trying to draw benefit from the Alpine charisma
for their general production cars they had generated a significant disincentive to prospective buyers in
the top-end high-cost performance market sector from the association with Renault’s mass-market
cars. So the decision was taken to re-emphasise the Alpine marque to try to regain the lost status and
the new GTA received prominent Alpine badging for all markets except the UK where Alpine could
not be used as the overt manufacturer designation for legal reasons. By 1990 the Alpine badge was
back prominently on the nose of the cars and the name Alpine was again emblazoned on the rear
panel.
The A610 also carried external Alpine badging and an Alpine Renault chassis plate through to the end
of Alpine production in 1995. Since then various Renaults have been built in the Alpine factory but
they are, and will remain, Renaults.
I fully appreciate that Alpine would probably not have survived the 70s had they not been under the
Renault umbrella and received significant funding from Renault; a point that Jean Rédélé made to me
during one of our several brief discussions.

Regards

Tim Moores

RCCQ Club member Al Kelly then asked the question “Are the cars Alpine Renaults or
Renault Alpines? I have been told they were the former until 1973 when they became the
latter, although the factory cars continued to carry Alpine Renault stickers.

Mine is a 1970 model and I insist it is referred to as an Alpine Renault (and if anyone says
"Alpine" I correct them to "Alpeen."! )”

Tim’s reply was as follows:

A 1970 car is an Alpine, as on the chassis

plaque will be "Société des Automobiles
Alpine". The use of Alpine Renault did
not begin to appear on the plaques until
after Renault took the controlling interest
in 1973 when the plaque stated Alpine
Renault. In the formal marque sense
Renault Alpine has never existed and is
therefore an inappropriate designation other than as a device for Renault corporate promotional
purposes.
If you look at the pictures of the Le Mans A44X series cars you will see that in the early days they
appear with Alpine Renault on the bodywork and Renault/Elf sponsorship, and continue with that
designation except for the official works entered cars that gradually have Renault Alpine externally
even though the cars are formally Alpine A44x as in the 1978 le Mans winning car that has the marque
designation Alpine A442b albeit entered and externally painted as Renault Alpine.

The convention for competition cars, until the advent of significant commercial sponsorship, had
always been chassis (ie. vehicle) manufacturer and then engine; hence Lotus-Ford, Brabham - Alfa
Romeo etc. whereas now we have Mercedes McLaren. That is why, after Renault's majority holding,
the marque designation became Alpine Renault.
I am continually astonished that someone will read the engine cover on my car that says "Alpine
Renault" and turn to their companion and say something along the lines of "Oh, a Renault Alpine, I
didn't know that Renault had built a car like this."
But I have to admit that apart from the chassis, bodyshell, Peugeot switches, Peugeot side lights, NSU
indicators, Matra rear brakes, main dashboard instruments, spring and damper rates, suspension
geometry, interior trim, fuel tank, oil cooler, radiator, lighting layout and a few other details my
Berlinette could easily be mistaken for a Renault. Much as a Lotus Elan might be mistaken for a Ford
Cortina or an MGB for a Morris Oxford which would be a much easier mistake to make.

Regards,

Tim Moores

Roy Smith, also of Club Alpine Renault UK and author of three books on Alpines added this:
From 1973 nearly all internal documents carried the letterhead Renault (though Alpine appeared on
those from Dieppe until the stationery ran out I guess!). Within the company everyone knew that
Renault was in control. Jacques Cheinisse, the then competition manager of Alpine, wrote an internal
report at the request of the Renault board about the competitions that Renault should target. Dated July
1st 1974, it carried the title Alpine Renault (a small act of final independence perhaps... I will ask him
next time I see him) and was called Evolution de la Competition Automobile Internationale.
In 1974 Renault was paying everything. The Alpine A441 in the World Championship Sports Car race
at the ring that year was entered under the name of Renault for the first time. On the front of the cars
Alpine came before Renault on all the cars up to the Le Mans 24 hours of 1977. It was still on the cars
in testing that year and was switched to read Renault Alpine only days before scrutineering began for
that year’s race.
Of course all Renault competition departments came under the management of Gerard Larrousse who
headed the new competition department of Renault from Jan 1st 1976. He created the name Renault
Sport in spring of that year, it was registered in June/July and officially launched to the press at the
beginning of December 1976, et voila, tout apres est Renault Sport!

Best regards

Roy Smith

All RSAE enthusiasts would be interested in the Alpine books written by Roy Smith and
published by Veloce in UK. The covers of these books are shown on the following page. For
further details, go to www.veloce.co.uk.
In Planning for 2011.........Amedee Gordini - a true racing legend
 What it’s all about!
In June 2004, six members of the Renault Car Club of Queensland (RCCQ) attended
the Alpine Recorde du Monde at Zolder racing circuit in Belgium. That event involved 667
RenaultSport, Gordinis, Alpines etc, from 52 car clubs and 16 different countries!
With the Alpine Recorde du Monde as inspiration, the RCCQ held the very successful
Renault Sport & Alpine Expo – 2005! We now plan an even larger event, the RSAE – 2010!
The Planned Itinerary for RSAE 2010 is:
• Friday 9 July – Welcome Function 7.00 – 9.00 pm.
• Saturday 10 July – Scenic Drive on some picturesque SE Qld roads with an official
assembly photo shoot and lunch at the destination.
• Saturday 10 July Evening – Gala Dinner 7 pm Robertson Gardens - includes an
interesting guest speaker and a Renault memorabilia auction.
• Sunday 11 July – A Grand Display of French Cars starting at 9:30 am at Brookfield
Pony Club Showgrounds, followed by a casual dinner for RSAE participants.
Optional additional events are:
• Monday 12 July – Track Day: A sprint event at an interesting local circuit.
• Tuesday 13 to Friday 16 July – Transit to Sydney along some interesting back roads.
• Sunday 18 July – Sydney All French Car Day.
• More driving excursions for those returning to Queensland, using a different route
for a real Australian outback experience.

We do NOT expect any 1939 RENAULT Juvaquatres to make it along to RSAE 2010,
although they would be very welcome!
If you know of one, please tell us!
 We do, however, expect a few chic Dauphines like this 1960 model.

Interested?
An ‘Early Bird’ registration form has been transmitted to you along with this Newsletter.
Even if you are not ready to complete the Registration Form just yet, please
let us know that you are interested so that we can put you on our emailing list for updates
on RSAE 2010.
Also, determine your work/holiday plans & consider booking your accommodation
early. It may help to keep an eye on the various forums, including:
http://renaultinaus.17.forumer.com/
Our regular RSAE Newsletters will keep you informed about the event and tell you of
some of the Renaults that we are so enthusiastic about.

We would like to provide everybody with regular updates

on RSAE 2010, but for that, we need your name and email
address!!
Questions?
Contact us at ‘enquiry@renaultclubqld.com.au’ or telephone Ian Both (07) 3279 0509 or
Phil Harrison (0419 885513).

RSAE 2010 - the best RENAULT event in

Australia ever. g it to Australia soon!