Frank Lyons in a 1989, Ald C289 leads Trevor Reeves in an Emka 84C competing in the Group C race at the 2016 Silverstone Classic
ALD was the creation of Louis Descartes, a keen motor racing enthusiast who had begun his career in the French Hill Climb Championship driving such diverse cars as a Renault 8 Gordini and a Lola. The director of a public relations company from Levallois-Perret in Northwest Paris, Descartes formed his own racing team, ‘Automobile Louis Descartes’ (ALD) in 1984. Jean-Paul Sauvee was recruited to design and build a new Group C2 car for the team. Based around a conventional sheet-aluminium monocoque with triangulated front and rear suspension, the first ALD was powered by an ex-Schnitzer BMW M1-style, M80 440bhp six-cylinder engine. The ALD ‘01’ made its debut at Le Mans in 1985 driven by Louis Descartes himself, Jacques Heuclin, (the mayor of Seine-et-Marne) and Daniel Hubert, who had designed the car’s bodywork. As a small private constructor, one of the last in sports car racing, the team did well to make the finish of the 24-hour race. Between 1986 and 1988, ALD continued to develop the original car and produced chassis ‘02’, ‘03’ and ‘04’. All were BMW-powered and most of the C2 WEC/WSC rounds were entered. In 1989, chassis numbers ‘05’ and ‘06’ were built as customer cars for Didier Bonnet while a new works car was constructed using a carbon-fibre/honeycomb chassis powered by a Cosworth DFL V8. Designated ‘C289’, the car represented a quantum leap forward technologically and was campaigned in all the WSC rounds of 1989 including the 24 hours of Le Mans. The EMKA Aston Martin was a Group C racing car built by Maurice Gomm & Protoco for EMKA Racing with the aid of Michael Cane Racing and powered by an Aston Martin engine. The first chassis, EMKA C83/1 was initially introduced in 1983 and competed in the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing a respectable 17th overall. A revised C84/1 also raced at the 1985 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished in 11th place after briefly leading the race in the opening hours.
Size: 3645px × 2387px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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