Special Feature: Gordini Renaults

BLUE BOYS

With Renault announcing it was launching a Gordini version of its latest Twingo, we thought it was time to revisit some of ‘Le Sorcier’s’ finest creations.

We hear the three Renault Gordinis before we see them. But as they head over the hill towards us, I’m instantly transported back to 1960s France. Gone are the chirps and tweets of modern life; the mobile phones and laptops are instead replaced by a devil-may-care spirit of revolution. For today at least, we’re swapping Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole for Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin.

While these iconic cars are as French as red wine and camembert, their creator was actually born and raised in Italy, working as a mechanic for Alfieri Maserati in his teens. After serving in the Italian army during the First World War, Amadeo Gordini moved to Paris in 1926 and quickly changed his name to the more French-sounding Amedee. He signed a contract with Simca in 1936 to build a series of sports cars before being hired by Renault to do ‘a bit of fine tuning’ in 1956. The rest, as they say, is history.

In 1957, 10,000 rather mundane Renault Dauphines were given the Gordini treatment. They looked standard enough, but with 55bhp lurking beneath, their power output was practically doubled. That’s when people started calling Gordini ‘Le Sorcier’.

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