Long-term effects
We’re not usually like this, but here we would first recommend reading another of our stories, the one about the Gordini T24S. There is a lot to read about Amadeo, later Amédée Gordini, in particular about his life and work before he came to Renault. After his Formula 1 attempts failed in the mid-1950s despite good approaches and had eaten up all of his financial reserves, Gordini was happy when he received the order from Renault in 1957 to breathe a little more life into the Dauphine. The ‘sorcerer’ was able to increase the power from 26.5 to 33, then 36 hp, and later there was also the ‘1093’, which even managed 49 hp – and in the 1962 Tour de Corse took 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th places.
Gordini was also involved in the successor to the Dauphine, which was presented in 1962. From 1964, there was the R8 Gordini (Type 1134), initially with the well-known 1.1-litre engine and 78 hp. With a top speed of 170 km/h, this vehicle was one of the fastest French cars of its time. Two years later, Gordini upped the ante even further, with a 1.3-litre engine producing 88 hp, which was pretty hot. An interesting design feature of these rear-wheel-drive cars was that they had a second tank in the boot (i.e. at the front), providing an additional 25 litres of fuel. Between 1964 and 1966, these R8 Gordinis always won the Tour de Corse, beating even the GTA Alfa and 911 Porsche. From 1966, there was also a brand cup in which many well-known French drivers earned their spurs, including Andruet, Darniche, Jabouille, Jarier and Ragnotti, to name just a few.
A total of 11,607 of these Renault R8 Gordini models were built, of which 8,981 had the 1.3-litre engine (which had well over 100 hp in racing trim). Perhaps these Gordinis can even be considered the first GTIs: they were available for purchase from Renault dealers, they were reasonably affordable – and they soaked much more powerful and expensive vehicles. The handling can be described as very unproblematic: because the rear-wheel drive car with its rear engine always came at the back anyway, more steering was done with the accelerator than with the steering wheel; the possible drift angles are breathtaking. And yes, practically all of them are painted in ‘Bleu de France’ (code 418). Good examples have now become expensive; RM Sotheby’s expects the vehicle shown here to fetch between 40,000 and 50,000 euros.
We have more exciting cars in our archive.
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