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Also historic F1 car preparation remains the highest art…
During
From left to right Alain Verrier, Bernard Duffort et Michel Royer test the calculator of a F1 V6 Turbo…
At the last World Series at Zolder, we came eye to eye with the historic racing cars of the Renault Histoire & Collection. We spoke to Christian Schmaltz about what it takes to drive and maintain these « bolides ».
Electrotechnician Eric Vollat checks the data on a RE40.
To keep these cars running is a daunting task. First of all, these racing cars were not built to last, so they will not score very high on parts longevity or service friendliness for that matter. Racing cars were also in constant development, being altered from race to race.
Here you see the RS01, the first F1, making its debut in 1977…
These developments are nowadays fully documented by IT-engineering data, backed up further with gigabytes of race data and information, but the history of development and alterations was not kept so meticulously decades ago. This means that the historic racing car represents a snapshot, a « frozen » moment in the development, and could be beset with flaws which might have been engineered away a few races later, but of which there is no written record. This leaves the present-day mechanics and engineers to « rediscover » the uphill path which their former colleagues took when working and racing with these cars. Of course, it helps that these cars are not anywhere driven to the limit nowadays, but the (city) circuits, tracks and above all running temperatures are again vastly different from former racing conditions…
On the left, in the yellow shirt, is the logistics specialist, on the right You see Bernard DUFFORT, the man presently in charge of electronic F1 development at Viry-Chatillon, who helps the team to prepare and set up the historic racing cars…
Presently, 9 persons are in charge of the technical and logistical aspects of the historic Renault collection. The majority of this team is occupied with the running of the 600-odd cars of the collection, the focus being this year on running the historic F1 cars.
Enjoying the historic event in Zolder: René Arnoux, F1 pilot, Xavier Laporta Marketing Director Renault Belgique, and Aline Calla attachée de communication.
These mechanics of the Renault Histoire & Collection are helped in the restauration, set-up and preparation of the racing cars by the engineers and specialists of the Renault F1 Centre at Viry-Chatillon and by the men of Renault Sports Technologies for the sports racing cars. We took some photos in Zolder paddock of the men from the present F1 team and the Histoire & Collection unit while preparing the Renault monoposto’s, and it clearly shows that their task is just as complex as it was for their colleagues during the heydays of these machines…
Hans Knol ten Bensel
Christophe Mirot starts the RE60. The portable computer allows him to program the different parameters of the engine.
Michel ROYER, « Motoriste » of the Renault F1 team, works on the calculating unit or « calculateur »
Here You see the RE60n the last generation of the V6 Turbos. This car is driven at historic events by Erik Comas. Erik was the works driver for Nissan Japan until last year. He now owns a « stable » of 12 Renault Alpine Berlinettes, which are regularly prepared for clients who like to participate with it in the Monte-Carlo Historique, the Tour auto … his « écurie » is called Comas Historic Racing…
Alain Verrier, « mécanicien » of the Histoire & Collecion Team who changes a calculating unit to check its programmation.
