1963 Alpine M63

Jean Rédélé of Paris was the youngest Renault dealer in France, with a dealership in Dieppe. In the very early 1950s, he raced using a Renault 4CV, which was a small, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive that Mr. Redele viewed as having great rallying potential. He raced at the Dieppe-Rouen Rally and the Monte Carlo Rally before he started racing in the French Alps, where he had a lot of success. A victory in the 1954 Coupe des Alpes would lead to a new automotive sports car prototype manufacturer named 'Alpine', created in 1955.

In 1962, Rene Bonnet was entrusted by Renault with the latest Gordini-tuned engines to contest the 24 Hours of LeMans. After the Bonnet cars had disappointing results, Redele requested that Renault give him access to the Gordini-tuned engines. By the close of 1962, the deal was set in place, which left Redele and Alpine with very little time to create its first purpose-built racing car.

Lotus designer Len Terry created drawings for the Alpine racing car, which were similar to the Lotus. These designs were later modified after new 1963 racing regulations were introduced. Richard Bouleau created the final chassis design while Bernard Boyer created the external design. What remained from Mr. Terry's designs were the suspension configuration and the dimensions of the overall vehicle. The final product had similarities to the Alpine A110 production car.

The Gordini four-cylinder engine was placed mid-ship, with the LeMans car having a 997cc displacement. It had an alloy cylinder head, twin overhead camshafts, and Weber carburetors.

The new car was called the M63 and it won its class on its racing debut at the 1963 Nurburgring 1000 KM. At LeMans, however, none of the three M63s were able to finish the race. In the sixth hour, Brazilian driver Christian 'Bino' Heins was involved in a fatal accident. A second Alpine retired a short time later due to clutch failure. The third M63 retired due to engine failure.

Alpine continued to race the M63 cars during the 1963 season, and into 1964 when they raced at Sebring.

The M63 was replaced by the M64, which was given a lighter, yet strong, spaceframe chassis. It would go on to earn the Renault-engined Alpine its first success at LeMans after winning its class and the Thermal Efficiency Index. An M64 would win its class at the 12 Hours of Reims.

For 1965, Alpine introduced another revised version of its racing prototypes, the M65. However, none of the M65 cars would finish the 1965 24 Hours of Lemans. They did win their class at the 12 Hours of Reims and the Nürburgring 1000 km in 1965.

by Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2018