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Philippe Alliot tells all (1)

10. Nov 2021 
by Philippe Alliot
4369 views

The RAM Racing, which was formed in 1975 by Mike Ralph and John Macdonald, was a Formula One team which competed during the racing seasons of 1976 to 1985.  Philippe Alliot remained with RAM for 1985, with German ace Manfred Winkelhock entered in the second car, and the new RAM 03- Hart was designed by the excellent Gustav Brunner.

Philippe Alliot remembers: “It was probably the best chassis I had the chance to drive, in my whole career. It was a creation of engineer Gustav Brunner, who later had a great career at Ferrari.”

Unfortunately, the Hart engine, a four cylindres turbo, was made of crystal and never finished a race. But for example, at the Zeltweg track in Austria, in the very fast last corner before the pit straight, I was faster than Senna, Prost, Mansell…, in the middle of this corner.”

My team mate was Manfred Winkelhock, a very fast driver, who sadly had a fatal accident that year. Because of the very bad results due to this terrible reliability, I then returned to Formula 3000 the following year, where I won at Spa in front of all the Formula One team managers.”

Two weeks later, I was called up to replace Jacques Laffite, who had suffered a terrible accident at Brands Hatch in the Ligier, powered by the Renault turbo, a fantastic engine. Finally, I participated in a total of 116 Grand Prix as well as three seasons at Peugeot in the World Endurance Championship, with Jean Todt as team principal.”

During my career, I had the satisfaction to be chosen by the greatest names in motorsport such as: Hugues de Chaunac, John Macdonald, Jean Todt, Guy Ligier, Gérard Larrousse et Ron Dennis.

Source: DR

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