Photos: Hubert Melot is a man of stories. All his life he worked at Renault, at dealers but also at the development centre. He participated in numerous rallies, such as the Mont Ventoux rally in 1967 with an Alpine. In 1970 he was present during Jour G.

Hubert Melot (88) worked for Renault throughout his career. Born in Lyon and after a classical education, he followed a technical training which included an internship at Paris-Rhône. He completed this internship with great success. He worked in a garage in his spare time while a teenager.

When he joined Renault, he started in the truck service department. "That may not have been glorious, but I experienced it as an interesting time. It brought me into contact with techniques that were not used on passenger cars at the time, especially in the areas of braking and steering."

At the Renault dealership in Vénissieux, he was soon promoted to technical agent after his military service in Algeria. "There I came into contact with the son of the owner who drove rallies with a 4CV fitted with a five-speed gearbox. That car was equipped like a 1063. He asked me to prepare this car for the rallies and to be present during the events for technical interventions. I was allowed to use all the dealer's tools and materials. The son in question was also technically gifted, and he built a four-speed gearbox for his daily 4CV all by himself. At that time my own means of transport was a 100 cc Terrot motorbike.”

Hubert soon made a move to Renault Marseille where he became responsible for after sales in Corsica. At that time there were two dealers on the island. There he also got the opportunity to work on sporty models of Renault. During several participations in the Tour de Corse, he experienced his technical inventions and adjustments in practice. He started with an Alpine A106 equipped with a special engine with a hemispherical cylinder head. Hubert remembers this engine as a small miracle, but at the same time extremely fragile. After that he got behind the wheel of a Dauphine 1093 (1962) and a R8 Gordini in 1964.

"After the 4CV came the Dauphine, but I also worked a lot at the dealership on the Frégate, an ambitious car for Renault that was not yet fully developed when it was introduced. The many faults had to be solved with good after-sales service."

Motor racing ran like a thread through the sixties for Hubert Melot. "In 1963 I took part in the Monte Carlo Rallye. Renault participated with two specially prepared R8s and three R4s. One of them was for me together with Jean-Pierre Manzon, the son of the famous Gordini driver Robert Manzon. We were in 28th place in the general classification when we lost a bolt from the steering rack in the Chartreuse massif. That cost us a whopping 40 places in the standings." What followed for him in 1964 was the Coupe des Alpes in a Renault 8 Gordini 1150 together with Jean Vinatier (Jeannot l'Alpine) and the Mont Ventoux in a Berlinette Alpine GTH 1,150 cc.

In 1970 Hubert was appointed competition assistant to the commercial management. As a result, he worked on the 8 Gordini, but especially on the Gordini versions of the R12 and R17. These sporty models played several roles at the same time. Hubert: "In Western Europe, they served as a standard-bearer for the normal models. But in Eastern Europe, where direct publicity was not allowed, motor racing was the way for a manufacturer to present products to a large audience. I was helped right from the start by the interest and importance that managing director Jean Terramorsi attached to the competition."

"I was there when in July 1970 the Renault 8 Gordini was succeeded by the 12 Gordini during the famous Jour G at Le Castellet. There was a direct comparison between the two cars on the track, which unfortunately the 12 Gordini won by only half a second. It is a pity that no one was concerned about a phenomenon that occurred with the Renault 12. This was already noticed in 1965 with the R16. When accelerating quickly in low gears, the front of the car lifted so much that traction was lost and steering became heavier. With the normal Renault 12 this was seen as acceptable, but with the 12 Gordini and later the 17 Gordini with much stronger engines it was a real problem. It could have been solved by a different tuning of the stub shafts. One of the three prototype 12 Gordinis that had participated unsuccessfully in the Morocco Rallye in 1970 was given a host of modifications that created a fast and reliable car for bad road conditions. Modifications were also made to the track cars in a tiny workshop on the Quai du Point du Jour in Boulogne. Some of these technical changes were made available to private teams as a complete kit for the 807-engined version. It resulted in a comprehensive competition guide for the 12 and 17 coming directly from our office."

In 1965, Patrick Landon had resigned from Renault to join his father François who ran the Renault dealership in Ajaccio, Corsica. During a drive in his Renault 8 Major he saw another car of the same type. Driving behind each other, the speed went up considerably, until both of them stopped. It turned out to be Hubert Melot, at that time responsible for the after sales of Renault in Corsica. In 1969, they became colleagues when a special team was set up at Service Produit to create a competition division for the Eastern European countries: local drivers, 8 Gordinis at the start and R16s for service made for a fantastic human adventure. Hubert Melot also felt he had to give the drivers some training. The adventure lasted four years and the warm contacts, including with the famous Hungarian driver Attila Ferjancz, have remained.

After the 12 Gordini came the 17 Gordini. Based on the TS, an optimal competition car was built that was used all over the world on all types of road surfaces in various categories. The Service Compétition built up the car by adding reinforcements here and there and by making other constructions lighter. It yielded good results. Hubert: "President Bernard Hanon was very pleased with the victory with the R17 during the Press-on-Regardless rally in Michigan, part of the World Rally Championship. Unique for a front-wheel-drive Renault. That had positive consequences for my salary. The otherwise aloof man rewarded my work by noting that I was now a real problem-solving engineer, even though I had not been trained for that and therefore did not officially have the title."

Hubert Melot also worked on the A310 V6 Groupe 4 with which Guy Frequelin won the national title in 1977. "We started from a four-cylinder Alpine A310 and listened very carefully to the drivers' experiences. We solved the torsion problems by increasing the rigidity of the bodywork with a specific frame. It's a shame that we couldn't compete for the world title, because the car certainly had the potential for it."

Because Renault's major interest was in selling series models, Hubert Melot made a move to the Centre Technique Renault (CTR) in Rueil. "There I was given access to all conceivable technical tools and equipment. Cars for series production offer great challenges for people like me who are interested in technology. I worked there, among other things, on the brand's standard-bearers, such as the 30 TS and the R25." Hubert remained with the CTR until his retirement in 1987. From 1981 to 1987 he was attached to the quality department.

We met Hubert Melot in his current home in St. Jean d'Ardières south of Mâcon. It was originally his parents' holiday home. "During my earlier holidays, I spent almost all the time here at a local garage. There I repaired almost all electrical parts."

Hubert is getting on in years, but during our conversation many clear memories surfaced. For example, he remembered that when the Renault 14 was already in production, he had made proposals to make the suspension a bit stiffer, which would have had a considerable positive impact on the car's handling. But because the car was already near the end of its life cycle, these improvements were not made.

Photo: Guy Frequelin won the 1977 French national rally title with an A310 V6 Group 4 that Hubert worked on. He also optimised the Renault 17 for use in motorsport, as here during the 1975 Rallye of Monte Carlo.

After lunch, we went to his nearby storage area where the necessary personal history could also be found. And history is something he was brought up with at an early age. His father was a historian and lawyer, and from the First World War he published under the pseudonym Jean d'Ardière. Hubert still has almost all of his father's publications. Each floor turned out to be a true museum with an endless series of collections. He has a story to tell with each item like in the living room with a showcase with wooden Renault logos on the doors. "I once brought that cabinet from the Île Seguin. In Louis Renault's time, all department heads were given such a cabinet to store documents. This one was to be thrown away. Later, I had it restored and replaced the wooden panels with glass. This cabinet now houses mostly miniatures of Renault models I have been involved with."

Hubert appears not only to have kept his father's publications. In the shed was a Fiat from 1915 that was bought by his father shortly after the First World War. After its active life, the car remained in the family. Naturally, Renaults are also part of his collection. In the back, under a thick layer of dust, was a light grey 4CV, and in the foreground, a Dauphine Gordini in wonderful condition with 48,331 km on the clock. A good example of the collector's mania: "Years ago I thought it would be fun to buy a Solex. By now I have found about fifty of them."

Photos: Hubert Melot saved this special Gordini engine from demolition. In his garage, he likes to talk about technology, such as this 1915 Fiat that his father used to drive. His collection also includes a beautiful Dauphine Gordini with low mileage.

A special item was an engine block that stood carelessly in a corner on a wooden frame with castors. Hubert Melot brightened up when we asked him how and why. This was an engine that has never been used in a car. It was developed by Amédée Gordini based on the engine of the Dauphine. The engine was on the verge of being consigned to the scrap heap when a workshop at 69 Boulevard Victor was demolished. Fortunately, someone rang Hubert about it. "It is a very special engine with a completely new cylinder head. In October 1957 Renault launched the Dauphine Gordini with an engine that developed more power. After that, it seemed to be quiet between Renault and Gordini until 1962. In that year the Dauphine 1063 appeared. But in the meantime, Gordini certainly did not sit still. He made several improvements to the engine with three main bearings known from the 4CV and Dauphine. The result was this engine with a cylinder head which in the end was never taken into production. But it is an engine that can be seen as a forerunner of the famous engines from the 8 Gordini. Inlet and outlet valves are mounted at an angle and the spark plugs are in the middle of this engine.”

Gordini applied the cross-flow principle to this cylinder head, with the intake along with carburettor on one side and the exhaust on the other (not fitted here.) An intervention that alone provided a substantial gain in power. All these modifications were later seen in the 1.100-engine of the first 8 Gordinis and of course also in the later 1.300 and derivatives. Hubert wrote about it in the eighties in the magazine Prise Directe of the CAR Île de France of which he was president after Gilbert Hatry.

After a long day, we bid farewell to this amiable man who has meant so much particularly to the sporting development of Renault, but who in all his modesty has never claimed credit for it.