1976 Inaltera LM GTP w/ Cosworth DFV V8 Engine: Warm Up, Acceleration & Fly Bys!

Here's a video about a very special sport prototype. The car is called Inaltera LM and it was built in 1976 by French racing driver Jean Rondeau in order to comply with the new LM GTP class conceived by ACO in the same year, as opposed to the Group 6 open-cockpit prototypes by FIA. It was a class for cars with closed bodywork running to a fuel consumption formula instead of an engine displacement formula until the advent of Group C.

When at the end of 1974 Matra announced its retirement from competitions after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times in a row, the French fans found themselves without valid alternatives on which to divert their cheering. The 1975 race was an affair between the British teams Gulf-Mirage and Lola, with their cars powered by Ford Cosworth DFV engines dictating the law. In 1975, efforts were being made to re-enter a French car in the following year's race. There were two parallel projects: the first had as protagonist the ex-driver Jean Rondeau, the other was led by the Peugeot designer Gérard Welter. The projects were united by the idea of creating a GTP car and powered by the 2.7-litre PRV V6 engine (Peugeot, Renault and Volvo). It wasn't as powerful as the Cosworth DFV but it was French and that was enough to arouse the interest of potential financiers. Rondeau wasn't very convinced on the reliability of that V6 so, stimulated by the success achieved by the Mirage, he opted for the British engine for its GTP project.

This decision deprived him of the sponsorships of French companies, which instead continued to support the Welter project, but an ingenious idea allowed him to safeguard the future: he signed a big sponsorship agreement with multinational coloured paper producer Inaltera that included entering the cars branded as Inaltera. With this move, Rondeau was on everyone's lips and caused such a sensation that at the 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans TF1, the main French broadcaster, gave specific orders to its commentators not to mention the name of Rondeau's sponsor or even the official name of the prototype.

The Inaltera LM was built on a steel spaceframe chassis, strengthened by aluminium box sections with double wishbones suspensions on both front and rear. Front discs were limited in size by the GTP regulations, which dictated a maximum wheel size of just 13". High speed stability was ensured by two fins on each side of the wide tail. The 3.0-litre Cosworth DFV V8 engine was able to produce around 420 hp and the car weighed around 800 kg.

At Le Mans in 1976, only chassis number 002 and 003 participated in the race, with chassis number 002 driven by Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise finishing 8th overall and 1st in class. Behind them was chassis 003 with Jean Rondeau Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, and Christine Beckers finishing 21st overall and 3rd in class. The following year, all three chassis would be entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Chassis number 001 wore race number 88 and was driven by Jean Rondeau and Jean Ragnotti, finishing fourth overall and first in class, as well as being the first French-built automobile to cross the finish line that year. The other two Inalteras finished 11th and 13th overall.

After that, Inaltera pulled out of motor racing. Rondeau ventured on, building similar cars under his own name. He would later become the only person to win Le Mans with a car bearing his own name. Thanks to his success, his privately designed and built machines became the inspiration for the IMSA GTP class rules developed in 1980.

Watch one of the three chassis in action at Monza Circuit during last week's test day by Kuno Schär!

#Inaltera #InalteraGTP #CosworthDFV
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I have to thank my friend and youtuber @Italiansupercarvideo for the great collaboration done during the event. Don't forget to subscribe to his channel!!

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Camcorder: Canon Legria HF G30 & GX10 + Canon DM-100 Microphone
Event: Kuno Schär Test Day 2021
Where: Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy

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Видео 1976 Inaltera LM GTP w/ Cosworth DFV V8 Engine: Warm Up, Acceleration & Fly Bys! канала 19Bozzy92