Four-time F1 World Champion Alain Prost and multiple-rally winner Jean Ragnotti have been confirmed to drive at this year’s Festival of Speed as Renault ships the cream of its competition car crop to Goodwood.
Both drivers played a key role in the successful development of turbocharging in Formula 1 and rallying, Prost taking four wins in the Renault RE40 (main picture) – that so nearly carried him to the 1983 F1 World Championship – and Ragnotti in his Renault 5 Maxi Turbo (below), which was the first turbocharged car to win a WRC Rally when he steered it to victory in the Monte Carlo Rally in ’81. The firm will bring both cars to Goodwood.
Also confirmed to appear is the RS01 (shown below) – Renault’s pioneering turbo-charged F1 car that suffered chronic unreliability in 1977 earning it the nickname ‘the yellow teapot’. The heavily developed car would go on to take points in ’78 and win the French Grand Prix in ’79.
The wave of company heritage comes to the famous hillclimb as the marque celebrates 110 years of engine building with models spanning the years, on display. These include the Type K, which featured the manufacturer’s first four-cylinder engine and won the Paris to Vienna race in 1902, the 1935 Viva Grand Sport and the fantastic V6 Alpine A110.
There will be a handful of concept machinery in the form of the all-electric ZOE making its British debut, the two-seater battery-powered Twizy urban commuter and the Alpine A110-50 (bottom of the page) that was built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the A110 Berlinette.
