RSS Share 03/07/2006
Engine Intrigue For 1906 Grand Prix-Winning Renault Re-Creation

Renault’s victory in the first-ever Grand Prix will be celebrated at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed by a faithful re-creation of the victorious 1906 Renault AK 90CV. The car, built by experienced restorer John Brydon, is an early forerunner to Renault F1 Team’s World Championship-winning R25 and the two cars will appear alongside each other, book-ending 100 years of Grand Prix success.

Not only will the car be driven on the world famous hillclimb course, it will be displayed on Renault’s central display in front of Goodwood House alongside an original 12.9-litre engine – identical to the one used in the 1906 Grand Prix – after a fascinating discovery was made about the engine supplied for the project by the Science Museum.

Commenting on the engine, which had been held in the Science Museum’s aircraft section since acquiring it as surplus stock from France in 1932, Brydon explained: “The Science Museum provided an engine believing it to be a 15-litre automotive engine that had been stroked and bored to be used in airships. But when we stripped it down, we found it to almost exactly match the capacity, stroke and bore of the 12.9-litre Grand Prix engine.”

The discovery adds an intriguing twist to the story of Renault’s Grand Prix centenary, with Brydon adding: “We can’t be sure if it is the engine from the car that raced in 1906, but it is precisely the specification of that engine. We may not be able to prove it, as the actual car has vanished, but this could be the engine that won the first Grand Prix 100 years ago.”

Revealing that a date stamp of 13th April, 1906 had been found on the engine during Brydon’s work, the Science Museum’s Curator of Transport, Dan Albert, added: “We now believe this engine could have been used in the race and will be doing a lot of detective and forensic work to determine this fact. It does appear to have been used in an airship during the war, such as the Ville de Bordeaux, but there are no signs of significant modifications having been made.”

Commenting on the appearance of a Science Museum exhibit at the world famous event, Albert said: “It’s exciting to be part of the Goodwood Festival and the chance to meet people with knowledge of Renault’s history will be hugely important to our work with the engine. Certainly the engine uses unique engineering techniques that show Renault’s character and I’m delighted we are getting the chance to showcase this engine in public.”

After working 12 hours a day for six months, Brydon took the car onto the public highway for the first time on Tuesday, 30th May using a three-litre Renault engine and will ascend the hillclimb course using this engine. Commenting on the car’s appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, he said: “The 1906 Grand Prix is arguably the most important event in the history of motor racing and it is fantastic to celebrate that race at an event as prestigious as Goodwood.”

Brydon, from Hawksworth in Nottinghamshire, has restored more than 20 historical cars as part of a hobby that spans 40 years. He has been in possession of the Renault chassis for a number of years and was moved to restore the AK 90CV as the centenary of its groundbreaking victory approached.

Explaining how the project began, Brydon said: “I’ve had the chassis for around 15 years. It was actually being used as foundations for a chicken shed in Bradford and needed a huge amount of work to improve its condition but it is great to use an original chassis.”

With no contemporary detailed drawings of the car, Brydon made his own designs of the car based on the dimensions and original parts he had acquired. Brydon commented: “There are pictures of the original car, which Michelin kindly allowed me to use, and articles have appeared in journals over the years. But essentially I had to make my own detailed drawings.

“I knew the specification of the wheelbase and the tyre size so that was my s