Alpine A441

The Alpine A441 is a two-litre Group 5 sports prototype built by the French company Alpine, with Renault as co-developer, to contest the 1974 European 2 Liter Sports Car Championship. It was designed by the French engineer and racing driver André de Cortanze and developed from the A440 barchetta of 1973, with a longer wheelbase, a Hewland gearbox, a lighter magnesium and light alloy engine and a tubular chassis reinforced with riveted aluminium sheets. Four cars were built and run as works entries, each driven by a French driver, and they won every round of the 1974 championship. Alpine took the constructors' title and Alain Serpaggi the drivers' title, ahead of his team mates Gérard Larrousse and Jean-Pierre Jabouille. In 1975 the car passed to private teams, one example served as the test bed for the turbocharged A441T and its successor the A442, and the A441 was retired at the end of that season.