Forever heroes

Early on in his career at Renault Sport, Jean Ragnotti had to deal with turbochargers. These were used from 1980-on and he remembers that the 5 Turbo was faster than the Lancia Stratos. “It took a lot of getting used to as a car with turbocharged engine continues to rev when you stepped back from the gas. Moreover, the turbos were not very reliable in the early days and that’s why I have not been able to drive very effectively in the 1980-season. But on the other hand, we won the Monte Carlo rally outright in 1981.” He believes the Monte Carlo Rally was the most difficult one of them all. “You had to pay strict attention throughout the rally. And in addition, you could choose just one type of tyre for the entire rally, which then had to perform well on paved and unpaved roads, on snow and ice. In average, 20- to 30% of the course would see the latter.

Jean knew that the turbo engine was still under development in those years, when modifications were constantly being made. “The turbo, for example, was particularly ‘violent’ on snow and ice. By the end of 1981 the engine was good for 292 hp. The following year we did with 10hp less, but I got an improved response time in return. This made the car much easier to drive. This only improved in later years, while at the same time the power output increased once again, from 320- to 350hp, up to even 400hp. The 5 Turbo Maxi saw everything optimized, both in terms of power as handling. Despite the fact that four-wheel drive appeared at the rally scene, the two-wheel driven cars were still faster on tarmac.”

Jean makes a quick jump to modern cars with turbo engines. “These cars are easy to drive as you hardly notice the presence of the turbo anymore. Their flexibility is almost that of an electric car, very linear.”

The racing career of Jean Ragnotti (1945) spanned 51 years, starting in 1967 as an amateur on Renault 8 Gordini. The Renault 12 Gordini that he drove in 1973 was the first Renault works car in which he entered the scene. Many would follow.

Jean Ragnotti

By 1996, he exchanged his motor sports career for an active role at the WSR (World Series by Renault), demonstrating the well-known 360 degrees skids at full speed on many a circuit. He starts to shine: “At the Nürburgring I once drove 206km/h when I entered the 360-skid. That gave such enormous forces to the car that it lost its plastic side windows. I have always been an instinctive driver and never wondered which particular action I performed in which particular order to make such a ‘360’. But I did think about it later, because many people asked me again and again just how I did it. Well, it was not only about the driver, but also about the right preparation of the car. Tyre pressure, for example, had to be increased.”

Jean-Pierre Jabouille (1942) joins us after apologizing that he may not understand all the questions since he has become partially deaf and uses a hearing aid. But at some times we do not even hear ourselves when just outside the hall where we are situated, the Renault 5 Maxi Turbo is started up to thunder along on the track.

Jabouille has been involved extensively in the development of Renault’s turbo engines in Formula 1 cars, and others. “The turbo caused major problems in the beginning. This made the engine the biggest challenge during its development in the second half of the 1970s. Also, aerodynamics were mostly overlooked at the time, while so much could be gained from them. In the meantime, I simply learned from experience. Even so that Renault’s aerodynamic specialists came to ask me for advice.” 

Jean-Pierre Jabouille

Jean-Pierre remembers that everything was new for the up and coming Renault Formula 1 team: the engine, the chassis and also the use of Michelin radials. The influence of these tyres certainly was big. They had the advantage of not deforming, thus providing a better grip. Little by little, the team succeeded in improving on the various elements. Milestones were also reached when the different disciplines turned out to work well together. Most engineers were not yet familiar with the positive influence of aerodynamics. At the end of the turbo era, the Renault engines achieved power outputs of around 1,500hp. Nowadays the F1 engines use some 1,000hp. Back then they used 250 litres of fuel to finish a race, now just 100 litres. According to Jabouille, this shows the giant leaps Formula 1 made in 25 years time.

Jean-Pierre: “There was a lot of scepticism in the F1 in the early days about the use of turbos. Lots of jokes were made about it, particularly among the other teams - the competition did not believe in it at all. Perhaps there was every reason for that at the time. Only in the middle of the straights, engine power was optimally available while in the bends there was nothing at all. The engines ran great under cold conditions, in hot weather they were hopeless.”

“Renault’s development of the turbo engines started in 1972/1973. Initial tests were carried out with one large turbocharger (RS01), but soon two small turbos, with a much-improved response time (from the RS10-on) were used. We were also slowly but surely gaining benefits of improved streamlining. When I drove a turbo powered Renault RS10 over the finish line as the winner during the French Grand Prix in 1979, that gave a full French victory: a French driver in a French car on a French circuit and on French tires. We were very proud!”

But not long after this victory, Jabouille had to give up F1. A crash during the Grand Prix of Canada on the Montreal circuit in 1980 ended his active career. “I broke both my legs and then had troubles with both legs and knees. At that time, a driver was positioned very much in the front of the car, which meant that you were hit even in the slightest collision. I remained in the car for 30 minutes after the crash took place.”

Looking at the current state of affairs in Formula 1, Jean-Pierre Jabouille wants to add one more thing: “The sport remains a great technological showcase, but I believe that things have gone too far nowadays. It’s the driver who should step more to the foreground now.”