COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE 21­06­2016 THE EXCITEMENT BUILDS AT THE 2016 GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED Two show cars previewing the all­new Alpine sports car due to be unveiled at the end of this year Strong presence at the exclusive Cartier Style & Luxe display Three Alpines running up the hill, including the currently competing Signatech­Alpine A460 LM P2 competition car that won the 24H of Le Mans last week­end Attended by Michael van der Sande (CEO, Alpine) and Antony Villain (Alpine Design Director) Excitement will continue to build around the legendary French sports car brand Alpine at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed, with no less than two show cars previewing its imminent new road­going sports car. The Alpine Vision and Alpine Celebration will showcase Alpine’s thinking for this exciting new sports car, the Celebration two­seater regularly running up the Goodwood hill. Also performing some high speed climbs will be the very Alpine that won the 1978 Le Mans 24 hour race, the victorious Alpine A442 B to run with its 2016 contemporary, the Alpine A460 LM P2, winner of the prestigious race of the 24H of Le Mans last week­end. Alpine will also enjoy an impressive presence at the Cartier Style & Luxe display on the lawns close to Goodwood House. Not only will the very first Alpine, known as ‘Le Marquis’, be present for inspection, but also the very latest in the alluring shape of the 2016 Alpine Vision show car. There will be five more fascinating Alpines besides, including a Willys Interlagos, this the Brazilian­built version of the A108 that was the forerunner to the famous A110, as well as a rare A110 cabriolet and the 1977 Meyrignac concept car produced by a budding car designer as the ultimate Curriculum Vitae. The legendary A110 will also be represented, with a 1964 example that was once the star of a French TV series, and the very last A110 ever made. The presence of all these cars will underline Alpine’s fascinating and illustrious past in glamorously entertaining style, besides heightening the already considerable anticipation of the marque’s soon­to­be­revealed production sports car. Hillclimb 1978 Alpine A442 B This is the racecar that won Alpine outright victory in the 1978 Le Mans 24 Hours, with Jean­ Pierre Jaussaud and Didier Pironi. Its success was the culmination of five years of work, the A 442 B evolving from the first normally­aspirated A 440, the A 441 and then the turbocharged 442. There were many wins in Sport World Championship events on the way, but plenty of heartache before Alpine’s ultimate goal was scored. The A 442 B was powered by a 2.0 litre turbocharged V6 that enabled it to hit a staggering 223mph on the Mulsanne straight and set what was then the fastest­ever lap time recorded by an Alpine at La Sarthe. On the day of its victory Renault President and CEO Bernard Hanon, who had set Alpine’s Le Mans goal, announced that the team would withdraw from endurance racing to contest Formula One. 2015 Alpine Celebration This compact, subtly curvaceous sports coupe is both a signal of intent, and an homage to the storied history of Alpine that lies behind it. Created in 2015 to celebrate 60 years of the Alpine sports car brand, this mid­rear engine two­seater is a strong hint at the all­new sports car that Alpine will go on sale in 2017. The deep blue colour scheme is the same shade that adorns the Alpine prototypes that made a triumphant return to endurance racing in 2013, this livery also referencing earlier Alpines that played such a pivotal role in the brand’s earlier Le Mans adventures between 1963 and 1969. Of these the A110 coupe is the most famous, and it’s this car whose sculptural ghost can be seen in the Alpine Celebration, from the slender nosed, gently domed and creased bonnet to the inset paneling in its flanks, the distinctively raked D­pillars and the curving wrap of its rear screen. But the Alpine Celebration flaunts plenty of 21st century features too. Carbon detailing underlines the high­tech features of the car’s body, from its spoiler to the side sills, diffuser, rear air intakes and mirrors. But more than these details it’s the Alpine’s compact form and wide­track stance that are most potently suggestive of the kind of dartingly quick, agile performance that has made legends of these cars. 2016 Alpine A460 LM P2 Alpine sports racing cars have had glittering histories on the racetrack, most notably as winners of the Le Mans 24 hour race in 1978 with the Renault Alpine A442B. The Alpine name is once again present in this world famous race, and the series that it’s a part of, the A460 competing in the LM P2 class. The Signatech­Alpine team has already seen considerable success, winning the 2013 and 2014 European Le Mans Series with the 4.5 litre V8 A450b. The A460 shares the same 550hp engine and six­speed sequential gearbox, but differs in being constructed as a closed coupe rather than an open­roof car in the interests of enhanced driver safety and improved aerodynamic efficiency. It’s the first closed­cockpit Alpine since the A220 of 1969. The A460 also has a new FIA­approved chassis that complies with the 2017 regulations. Winner in LMP2 Category of 2016 edition of the 24H of Le Mans with N. Lapierre, S. Richelmi and G. Menezes, the A460 has also scored top 10 placings in the first two races of the season and won at the recent Spa­Francorchamps round with car N°36. The two cars in the Signatech­Alpine team are identified by national flags: French for the N°36 prototype, and Chinese for the N°35 prototype. The latter is in the hands of Frenchman Nelson Panciatici – a cornerstone of the team since the programme’s early days in 2013 – and Chinese drivers David Cheng and Ho­Pin Tung. The N°36 car – the number which claimed back­to­back ELMS crowns in 2013 and 2014, as well as a top­three finish in the LMP2 class at Le Mans in 2014 – is shared by Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre, the USA’s Gustavo Menezes and Monegasque Stéphane Richelmi. Cartier Style & Luxe 1954 Le Marquis The Alpine marque was born out of one man’s obsession with making his Renault 4CV go faster. The 4CV was a small, rounded, rear­engined and popular machine of quite some charm, and Jean Rédélé reckoned it might go faster still if it wore a lighter and more aerodynamic body. He turned to the young and hugely talented Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti to help realise his dream, the idea being to have coachbuilders Allemano make the one­off bodywork in aluminium. The 4CV Spécial Sport turned out to be a major giant­killer in the 1953 Dieppe rally. At much the same Rédélé had become interested in glassfibre technology, had grown keener to become a car manufacturer in his own right and had heard about a wealthy American industrialist by the name of Zark W. Reed. Reed wanted to build plastic­bodied sportscar to sell in the US against MG and Triumph. The two met, and Jean Rédélé devised a plan for Reed’s Plasticar company to build a glassfibre­bodied based on the original version of the Michelotti car called the Marquis. The project ultimately came to nothing, but provided inspiration for the A106, and 2 “Rédélé Speciales” versions ordered from Italian coachbuilder Allemano. The car on display at Goodwood is Jean Rédélé’s own 4CV, as rebodied by Allemano to Michelotti’s design. After spending nearly 60 years in the USA as a consequence of the deal with Reed, this flame that lit the Alpine fire was repatriated to France by Jean­Charles Rédélé, the son of Jean. 1954 Alpine A108 Interlagos Jean Rédélé was not only a successful engine tuner and racing driver, but also a Renault dealer (at only 24, in Dieppe) and a Renault­sponsored business school graduate. As a consequence, his desire to become a small­scale producer of Renault­based sports cars was underpinned with considerable business acumen. Rédélé quickly appreciated the potential of having a car brand, and planned to develop one based on some key principles. His cars would be innovative, equipped with simple but competitive mechanicals beneath a lightweight, attractive body, whilst using the greatest number of mass­produced parts possible in order to ensure reliability and maintenance costs relative to the car’s performance. His second aim was to boost his company’s French activities by offering international licences for overseas manufacture. Realising that his cars were relatively straightforward to assemble and that their Renault mechanicals made them reliable and easier to repair, he set about finding partners in markets where Renault was already present. Eventually Alpines would be assembled in Brazil, Spain and Mexico in some quantity, and in smaller numbers in Bulgaria. Rédélé forged his first agreement with Willys Overland do Brasil, who already produced Dauphines under licence. The aim was to produce local versions of the Alpine A108, badged as the Willys Interlagos. Over an impressive 4­year run between 1962 and 1966, approximately 1,500 units were produced. This particular Willys Interlagos was bought in the early 2000s by a French Renault employee working in Brazil. When he returned to France the car came with him, but needed work that he was unable complete.