Alpine has chosen the 24 Hours of Le Mans of the centenary to present the A424_β, the hypercar with which the transalpine company will be at the start of the FIA World Endurance World Championship and the IMSA. A very ambitious double program that aims to relaunch grandeur in some way with a project that touches on French excellence in the racing world through the creation of an LMDh.
Motorsport, therefore, is not only Formula 1 and 60 years after the first participation in the 24 Hours of the M63 wanted by the founder Jean Rédélé in 1963 to aim for the “Energy Efficiency Index” and the “Performance Index”, two themes that have forcefully returned to the fore today, Alpine broadens its sporting interests with the clear intention of challenging the other major manufacturers, not only with the official Signatech team, but also with customer teams.
If in the Circus the heart of the team is in Enstone, the “gravity center” of the Hypercar is Viry-Chatillon, freer due to the constraints that the budget cap applies to F1. The Paris office coordinates the activities that in this project involve Oreca for the chassis, Mecachrome for the engine and Sygnatech for track management. The French DNA is clearly visible in the A424_ß.
“Today we present the car that heralds our Hypercar destined to challenge the major competitors as early as next year. Faithful to our values, this new prototype projects Alpine into the future, while being part of the family of our creations, starting with Alpenglow and the A290_ ß. Refined, elegant and distinctive with its emblematic and iconic design, it embodies our present but also the future, thanks to the involvement and investment of our designers in its development”.
Raphaël Linari, Head of Sport and Exterior Design at Alpine, is proud of the work done…
“We started working on the first sketches in 2021, before establishing the relationship with Oreca. We managed to recover one of their frames at the end of the year, to have a basis on which to design an Alpine. It took us a whole year, because we needed a period of study to understand the constraints involved, given that the driver’s seat determines the configuration of many associated volumes”.
“After the aerodynamic tests we came to sculpt the shape of the A424_β. It was a long job, but very rewarding because it had to fit into a performance window imposed by the regulations.
Our vision was that of a very pure bodywork, like that of a road-legal supercar. And in the end we moved away from the boxy look typical of the Le Mans prototypes”.
The rear LEDs take up the A of the brand, just as the arrow is recognizable on the front. In short, the style is very distinctive, as is the name of the A424_β itself: the A followed by three numbers, the first of which is a 4, respects the tradition of victorious Endurance cars, the 24 refers to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and to 2024, while β indicates the last phase before launch.
The secret of betting on the LMDh is being able to distribute the efforts of a project over a pool of technical partners. Alpine’s return to the top Endurance class will take place by continuing the excellent partnership with Signatech which is already active in LMP2 and the A424 development tests.
Philippe Sinault is proud to be the operational arm of Alpine…
“Our ten-year adventure has been marked by European and world titles in various fields. Now more than ever, it is a real source of pride and a successful result to represent Alpine, both at the top of Endurance and in other collaborations with the A110 Cup, the A110 GT4, the A110 Rally and soon also the A110 Pikes Peak”.
“Before starting this new chapter, our mission was to face the transition season in LMP2, waiting for the Hypercar. From this year we will also be involved in the development of the A424 starting this summer. We have recruited many talented people from various backgrounds and we will be lucky to be able to count on the support of Viry-Châtillon with the invaluable experience of Bruno Famin, Christophe Chapelain and François Champod”.
The Hypercar is very beautiful, it will also have to be competitive…
“Born from the competition for the sake of the competition, Alpine has ever-growing ambitious goals – concludes Laurent Rossi -. Motorsport is not a mere pastime, it is something that runs through our veins and permeates the DNA of our “band of racers”. Forty-five years after our historic victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, our presence is not the result of a great ambition”.
The other Builders are warned…
