Competition car Unregistered

Chassis no. RE 50-01 Engine no.

- One of the five RE 50s still in existence

- Important test car in the development of the model

- Known history, has remained with the constructor throughout its life

- Driven by Tambay, Warwick and Jaussaud in extensive testing

When Renault Sport presented the new RE 50 to the press at the end of 1983, its director Gérard Larrousse emphasised how bitter the competition was between the leading teams in Formula 1, especially with the arrival of newcomers like Honda and Porsche. “Formula 1 has become a national issue”, he explained, insisting on the change in dimension in the sport, in the space of just ten years.

To respond to the slowdown at the end of the 1983 season, Renault Sport was restructured and the RE 50 received a completely redesigned engine, the EF4, which gave up the KKK turbochargers in favour of Garrett units offering better performance. This engine, which was also fitted to the Lotus and Ligier single-seaters, took account of the new regulations which stipulated a maximum of 220 litres per Grand Prix: the FIA wanted to limit the race for ever greater power by controlling the fuel consumption of the engines, which could now reach 800bhp. The line-up of drivers at Renault had changed too, with Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick succeeding Alain Prost and Eddie Cheever.

 

RE-01 was the first of the ten RE 50s built by Renault Sport (of which only five remain today). For the first six months of the year, the car was reserved for numerous tests and experiments, which are described in detail in the excellent book Renault F1, Les années turbo (Jean-Louis Moncet, Bernard Dudot, Jean Sage, published by Albin Michel in 1991), from which much of the information below is taken.

 

The car made its debut on 14 December 1984 at Le Castellet for five days of testing with Patrick Tambay, who was joined by Derek Warwick for two further sessions on 4/5 January. It was equipped at this time with hydraulic suspension. On 16 January, the team met again in Rio to prepare for the first Grand Prix of the season: Warwick continued the development work, tracking down the teething problems on the car, while carrying out tyre and endurance tests, both with and without the hydraulic suspension.

Testing continued from 6–10 February at the Paul Ricard track, with Warwick driving it. “I’m braking too early, because I don’t have enough confidence in the suspension”, he indicated at the start. He was timed at 301.5kph on the main straight and on 9 February he stressed: “The wind is dangerous in the Verrerie and Double Droite du Beausset corners”, where Tambay came off the track for this very reason a few hours later, driving another RE 50.

It was to Kyalami that the Renault Sport team headed next, from 27 February to 3 March, for a series of tests using a body with an ‘internal’ or ‘external’ airflow, various turbos, injection housings and carbon brakes ... On 3 March, Warwick concluded: “The car is stable.” A week later, on the Michelin test track at Ladoux, the car’s movements were analysed by means of a Thomson on-board camera, with Tambay at the wheel.

A month later, the team was at Zolder in Belgium, where Warwick carried out an endurance test: “The tyres perform consistently but take quite a long time to warm up, the response time of the engine is very good.” From 16–18 April, it was Tambay’s turn to drive RE 50-01 at Dijon, ahead of the French Grand Prix on 20 May. He worked on its dynamic balance and obtained “A good balance, except at the entry to the hairpin, where the car understeers and makes braking difficult.” After a visit to Ladoux on 19/20 April, the car performed several tests on the former airbase at Crucey, driven by Jean-Pierre Jaussaud.

RE 50-01 carried out two more lengthy test sessions, the first at Dijon from 5–7 June and the second at the Paul Ricard track, both with Warwick, who made this amusing remark: “The gearbox isn’t very good, but for all that, it’s the best I’ve had.”

 

The list of all these tests shows just how difficult it was to set up a Formula 1 car. For example, as the quantity of fuel was limited in the regulations, the decision was taken to ‘compress’ it by refrigerating it before refilling the car, gaining at least ten litres. But at the same time, the engineers had to devise a heating system for the fuel tank outlet to ensure the engine ran smoothly. At this level of performance, the slightest detail was important: saving 10kg by using carbon brake discs, which were difficult to set up, represented a few tenths of a second on each lap ...

 

This RE 50-01 played its part in this fascinating development work, and at the end of the season, it had covered 9709km, one of the highest figures recorded by any Renault single-seater that decade. Proof of the significant contribution it made to Renault’s F1 story.

Despite this, the 1984 season did not prove as successful as the team had hoped, and although Warwick and Tambay were often well placed in qualifying, they struggled to resist the steamroller that was McLaren, led by Niki Lauda and Alain Prost, who, ironically, had risen to fame at Renault. The French company’s V6 Turbo nonetheless remained one of the best on the grid and Lotus-Renault finished third in the 1984 World Championship. Moreover, at the Austrian Grand Prix on 19 August, for the first time in the history of Formula 1, not one of the cars had a naturally-aspirated engine: all the constructors had moved over to turbocharged engines, following in Renault’s tracks.

 

At the end of the season, RE 50-01 was transferred to Renault’s Public Relations department to lead a quieter life. It took part in various displays and driving demonstrations during the World Series by Renault, before being permanently put into storage. Bearing Patrick Tambay’s colours and the racing number 15, mechanically incomplete, but coming with a detailed history and being sold directly by the manufacturer; it represents a historical testimony to the glory years of the Renault turbos in Formula 1. Specialists and enthusiasts alike will be sure to recognise it.