RENAULT 5 ALPINE, 1978 MONTE CARLO RALLY

Can a rally car be considered a true ‘giantkiller’ if it didn’t actually win the rally? Well, yes, if it was a tuned productionclass Renault 5 that finished second only to a Group 4 Porsche 911, leaving monsters like RS Escorts, 131 Abarths and Lancia Stratoses flailing in its wake.

The 1978 Monte Carlo Rally was beset by unusually heavy snow, although this wouldn’t normally be an issue for the dedicated works teams. Renault, by contrast, didn’t even commit to a full World Rally Championship programme, merely competing the Monte Carlo and Tour de Corse rallies.

The 5 Alpine had already picked up the nickname ‘le skateboard’ in France. With 97bhp in a car weighing less than 1000kg, its power-to-weight ratio meant it matched the VW Golf GTI’S performance despite a 200cc deficit and undercut it massively, at £3740 to the Golf’s £6500.

Jean Ragnotti and team-mate Guy Fréquelin skipped their Calbersonliveried Group 2 Renault 5 Alpines over the hard-packed snow and ice to an easy class win and a second-and-third podium presence behind the Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.0 of Jean-pierre Nicolas. The roster of defeated cars included Walter Röhrl’s Fiat 131 Abarth and the Lancia Stratoses of Sandro Munari and Michèle Mouton. Not only that, it was also all broadcast night after night on French television.

Success prompted Renault to commit to more developments, creating the midengined 5 Turbo and putting the same engine in the front-engined Gordini

Turbo. But the 5 Alpine’s greatest legacy began in the aftermath of the Monte result. Golf GTI sales started to suffer in France, prompting French VW dealers to request a faster version for the French market to counter the 5. The 16-valve Oettinger-headed Golf 16S of 1980 was the result, a car sold only in France and Switzerland. Even Germany missed out.

But VW’S management had noticed, and the next-generation GTI would have an in-house 16-valve cylinderhead option. The hot hatch wars had begun. And for the past 40 years, the cars regarded as the benchmarks to beat have mainly come not from Volkswagen, but from Renault and its Sochaux-based rival Peugeot. And it all started with a giantkilling spree in the French Alps in 1978.

‘The roster of defeated cars included Walter Röhrl’s Fiat 131 Abarth and the Lancia Stratoses of Sandro Munari and Michèle Mouton’