Today we start our coverage of one of the racing highlights of the season; the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The start is planned for 3 pm on Saturday, June 12th and for the coming days we have prepared several features to get you properly warmed up for the legendary twice round the clock race. We kick off with a close look at the winner of the 1980; the Rondeau M379 Cosworth. The 30th anniversary of the victory will also be celebrated at Le Mans with a parade of almost all surviving Rondeaus on the Le Mans track ahead of the start of the 24 Hours. The cars will also return to the track a month later during the Le Mans Classic.
Having started with the Inaltera back in 1976, Jean Rondeau's win was several years in the making. He gradually developed the same design with a tiny budget. Despite never being tested, the cars were immediately reliable, scoring GTP class wins at almost every attempt. The small team's rare shot at victory came in 1979 and again in 1980 due to the absence of factory prototypes. Having failed the first time round, Jean Rondeau piloted his Rondeau M379 Cosworth to victory a year later together with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud. In doing so, Rondeau became the first and to this date only man to win the epic event in a car of his own design. Two years later Rondeau came achingly close to winning the World Championship with the interim M382 Cosworth. Soon after, the return of Porsche and other manufacturers raised the bar too high for the small team, which was forced to close its doors in 1984. Sadly, Jean Rondeau was killed in a freak accident on a rail-road crossing a year later.
Rondeau's achievements are stuff of legends and inspired the likes of Yves Courage and Henri Pescarolo to race cars of their own making. Since 1980 no independently designed and developed car has won at Le Mans and that is not likely to change in 2010.

Enjoy the links:

1982 Rondeau M382 Cosworth - Images, Specifications and Information

1979 - 1981 Rondeau M379 Cosworth - Images, Specifications and Information