Renault Alpine A440 1973-1974

1973 was an important year for Alpine. Following the oil crisis Jean Rédélé was forced to sell 55% of the shares of the Société des Automobiles Alpine to Renault.

At the same time la Régie Renault and Elf were very interested in the popular 2 litre European Championship (Group 7) for sportscars which attracted the interest of many manufacturers (at least semi-officially) and which had similar rules to Formula 2.

The biggest difference was that, unlike Formula 2, the engine didn't have to be homologated. Therefore Renault Alpine decided to build their own chassis and their own engine, creating the A440. It was powered by a Gordini-designed 2 litre V6 engine, which had 285bhp.

But it laid the foundations for the A441, which would turn the Renault Alpine fortunes around.

[SIZE="1"](Sorry for the silly model car pic, I couldn't find any of the real car)[/SIZE]