Depailler shines in the Alpine

In 1971, Patrick Depailler was already proving his speed in Formula 3 at the wheel of this pretty and fast Alpine A360 Renault. He is seen here-above at the Paul-Ricard, and next to him in the white #7 car, one can recognise James Hunt in the Team Rose Bearings March 713M. These two young talents, both very brave and determined, were soon going to shine in the F1.

Jean Rédélé’s Dieppe ‘Alpine’ workshops evolved into Renault’s competition arm in the early 50’s and were absorbed by the Regie in 1973. The F3 A360 had a space frame chassis, a Renault R16 based pushrod OHV engine giving circa 120-125 bhp breathing thru the mandatory F3 air restrictor and a 5-speed Hewland Mk8 gearbox.

Picture-below: Patrick Depailler at full speed in his Alpine A360-Renault in 1971, during his victorious French F3 season.