This December 27 marks the 39th anniversary of the accidental death of Jean Rondeau very close to his workshop in the near suburbs of Le Mans. The period is also marked by the death of Charles James, the man who started it all with Inaltera.
Jean Rondeau is the only manufacturer driver to have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We are in 1980 and the Sarthe craftsman, pushed by his small team, defeated the ogre Porsche. Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud imposed the Rondeau M379 B two laps ahead of the Porsche 908/80 of Jacky Ickx and Reinhold Joest, the last step of the podium going to another Rondeau, that of Gordon Spice and the Belgians Jean -Michel (Maxime’s father) and Philippe Martin.
There is a lot to say about the Rondeau adventure that began in 1976 with Inaltera. Endurance-Info invites you to return to the works written on this magnificent story of a man from Le Mans who dreamed of one day winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A story like we can no longer see these days.
1 – Rondeau Victory at Le Mans!
Written in the wake of the 1980 victory, the book is jointly signed by Eric Bhat and Christian Courtel, with a preface by Jean Rondeau. Extract : “My deepest joy, in a somewhat bizarre way, does not come from the fact of having won, but from having seen the work of all my collaborators rewarded. They helped me with a blind faith and a fierce will, as one helps a friend, that is to say without counting. I feel unadulterated gratitude for them. It's their victory more than mine. »
2 – Rondeau to the race, to life…
Two years later, this second book was written in collaboration with Renaud de Laborderie. It's about the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the World Endurance Championship and Jean-Louis Lafosse, who died at Le Mans in 1981 on a Rondeau. Extract : “The last time I saw Jean-Louis Lafosse, it happened in the RTL studio, at the same time as Jacky Ickx, on Saturday lunchtime. He had – of course – arrived late for the show, shortly before the end. With every possible excuse… He was very relaxed, very fresh. And I only saw him again a few hours later, shortly after 5 p.m., between the shadows and the light, in the wreckage of No. 25, on this Mulsanne straight that he was apprehending. Like all of us…”
3 – Renée Rondeau – One rail too many
Renée, Jean Rondeau's mother, released her book in 1989, four years after the death of her son. We learn that at the end of 1985, Lancia had approached Jean Rondeau to take over the management of two prototypes for the 1986 24 Hours of Le Mans. Unfortunately, the Paris – Le Mans line turned everything upside down forever.
4 – Jean Rondeau, a story of men
Known in the world of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Michel Bonté also wrote about Jean Rondeau: “Since he came to see us at the editorial office of Maine Libre, at the beginning of 1973, to present us with the first copy of his Pilot's Guide, I have always had a particular affection for Jean Rondeau, mixed with a certain respect. Feelings that, of course, I never expressed to him in person. Such is life. The man hardly minced his words and, when he had something to express, he did not hold back. »
5 – Proof by 24 Hours
In 1979, Charles James, the initiator of the Inaltera project via the wallpaper company he managed, put down on paper this crazy sporting but above all human adventure.
6 – The Inaltera epic – Rondeau. The proof by 24 Hours
More recently, Charles James took up the pen again on two works of 400 pages each retracing the entire Inaltera/Rondeau adventure at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Everything is dissected there leading up to this famous Sunday June 15, 1980.
