Alpine A424 Gets Le Mans Unveiling

After last week’s glimpse of Alpine’s new hypercar, we have finally been given the full reveal, as images of the Alpine A424_𝛽 became available to the motoring press and wider public. Unveiled in the most fitting location, Le Mans, the car is a concept that will soon become a reality and signals the return of the French brand to the top tier of endurance racing. When it appears next year, it will compete in the LMDh hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship, alongside other brands like Porsche and Audi in a packed field.

Alpine will continue its partnership with Signatech, having worked together at last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours and contributed to two WEC Championship title wins. French based Mechachrome has developed a 3.4-litre turbocharged V6 engine alongside Alpine’s Formula One engineers, while the chassis has been developed by Oreca. A Williams battery and the 50kW Bosch hybrid box work to produce 665bhp. Compared to its counterparts, the car is light, weighing in at just over a thousand kilos (1,030kg).

Like all its new cars, Alpine’s naming of the A424_𝛽 tells a story relating to its history. The first ‘4’ is a reference to Alpine’s last Le Mans winner, the A442B, driven by Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud in 1978, whilst the ’24’ refers to the Le Mans 24 Hour race. Of course, Le Mans is the pinnacle of endurance racing and Alpine will be hoping that next year’s version of this car can reach the same heights as 45 years ago.

The automotive world has experienced big changes since 1978 however, and this car from Alpine is a hybrid, allowing it to compete in both the World Endurance Championships (WEC) and the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. The exposure on both sides of the Atlantic will hopefully allow Alpine to sell more cars, especially to the North American market, where it hopes to make a big impact.

Testing has not yet been completed, but the real racing car will fire up its engine for its debut run in June, before undergoing a more rigorous test in July and August. Christophe Chapelain, chief engineer on the Alpine, said: “All of us can’t wait for our first laps. In the meantime, our engine continues to run on the dyno before a first start scheduled for June 28. Then we will conduct a shakedown by the end of July before starting a series of test sessions from August.”

“By August, we should have built a second car and fitted it with an engine to send it to the United States for wind tunnel testing in mid-November. With two preparation sessions, we’ll need to get as close as possible to the final configuration of the Alpine A424 as it will be used for homologation purposes.”

The first time we’ll see the A424_𝛽 will hopefully be in November in the 24 hour endurance race at Motorland Aragon in Spain.

Words: Mike Booth
Pictures: Alpine