1978 LE MANS 24 HOURS: Renault triumphs at Le Mans with Michelin radial technology

It was this week forty years ago, on June 11, 1978, that Michelin and Renault-Alpine’s Pironi/Jaussaud put radial technology on the top step of the podium at Le Mans for the first time in the race’s history.

After suffereing a cruel defeat at the hands of Porsche at the previous year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, Renault-Alpine and its tyre partner Michelin were intent on eking revenge in 1978.

To prepare, they clocked up some 30,000 kilometres in testing to cure the reliability issues that had plagued the Renault-Alpine A442 in 1977, and four Michelin-equipped prototypes were eventually entered for the 46th running of the great endurance classic: a A443 (for Jabouille/Depailler), a A442a (Jarier/Bell), a A442b (Pironi/Jaussaud) and a A442 (Ragnotti/Fréquelin/Dolhem).

Having won the very first Le Mans 24 Hours in 1923, Michelin had made its comeback in 1965. Two years later, an Alpine A210 contested the race on radial slicks and it was this technology that was chosen for Renault-Alpine’s visit to La Sarthe in 1978, a year after its first employment in Formula 1.

Jabouille, who had qualified in second place, soon emerged in front and – by the end of Lap 3 – the French prototypes were running first, second and third after the Porsches had hit technical trouble. During the early hours of the night, though, Bell was forced to park up his A442a with a transmission problem.

At sunrise, the order was topped by Depailler in the Alpine A443/Michelin but his engine failed shortly afterwards, at 10am, handing control to the A442b of Pironi/Jaussaud. By this point, the clutch of the latter’s car was showing signs of weakness and Pironi was forced to remain at the wheel for the last two stints.

After covering a total race distance of more than 5,000km (a new record), Renault-Alpine and Michelin survived to pop the champagne on Sunday afternoon before focusing their attention on Formula 1. Their first grand prix victory followed in 1979, but Michelin would have to wait more than a decade for the third of its 26 Le Mans victories to date .