1978 Rondeau M378 #72
Pilots: J. Rondeau, B. Darniche, J. Haran
Team: Jean Rondeau
Race: 9th overall (1st in GTP class) at Le Mans in 1978
Spark - S8452 (resin)
Published 05/09/25
After the FIA banned the mighty 917 for 1972, Matra was very quick to seize the opportunity. And they did great, winning Le Mans three years straight from 1972 to 1974. Matra felt that three wins was enough and withdrew, and then it was John Wyer’s turn (again). For his 1975 win, Weyer used a Cosworth DFV engine to power his Mirage. The Cosworth DFV came from F1, and is what we would call today a “crate engine”. In other words, you could buy one, install it in your car and go racing. Since it won Le Mans, that meant it was a good engine. By then, Jean Rondeau had amassed a huge experience at Le Mans, and Weyer’s win got him thinking… Rondeau felt that for a victory he only needed a good car, yet a good car wasn’t cheap to develop.
At the time, the most expensive part of the development of a race car was the engine. However, the Cosworth DFV was ready, reliable and affordable. With the engine issue solved, that left only the chassis and ancillary systems. So, as a true garagista, he rented a warehouse at La Sarthe and went to work. His chassis design was standard for the era, a steel tubular spaceframe with aluminum sheet reinforcement. He placed the Cosworth DFV, a 2998 cm³ V8, as a stressed member of the chassis. The DFV transmitted its ~330 kW (450 hp) to the rear wheels via a Hewland five-speed gearbox. In terms of suspension, he used a very conventional system: double wishbones at the front and parallel links and twin trailing arms on the rear. Covering everything up, he commissioned French Bureau de Design Ovale to design a fiberglass body.
Rondeau was far from wealthy, so to make his idea a reality, he needed sponsorship. Him being a Le Mans native, was a bonus for securing local sponsorship. However, he used a British engine, and that mucked things up. To offset that “blunder”, so to speak, he had a brilliant plan and contacted Inaltera. Rondeau offered Inaltera, a big French wallpaper manufacturer, a very interesting proposition. He would name his car after them, Inaltera LM. Inaltera bought the idea and Rondeau started working on the car. He designed the car for GTP (Grand Touring Prototype), instead of Group 6, the playground of Porsche and Renault. As the first outing of a small team, he would have better chances in GTP. He got two cars ready for the 1976 race, and the Inaltera LM #2, came in first place in GTP.
With the 1976 success, the following year the Inalteras were back. While in 1976 they finished in eight and 21st, in 1977 they did even better: fourth and 11th. And once again they came in first in GTP, this time with Rondeau himself at the wheel. Despite the smashing results, things would take a turn for the worse. French TV stations refused to mention the name of the car, since Inaltera was not a TV sponsor. Moreover, Rondeau was difficult to deal with – he earned the reputation of being a prima donna. So, after 1977, Inaltera decided to terminate the sponsorship. Despite the terrible blow, Rondeau scrambled after sponsorship money. He was able to land a deal with SKF, a French bearing manufacturer. With a sponsorship deal secured, he would race again in 1978. This time, however, with his “own” car, the Rondeau M378.
Mechanically, the M378 was in essence the same car as the Inaltera LM. The difference was mostly on the body, where Rondeau refined the aerodynamics. Due to the sponsorship issue, Rondeau began working late on the M378. His small team struggled to get the car ready in time, which they did with only 40 days to spare. And of course, he only made one car, chassis #M378/001 – M378 #72. Piloting duties would be in the hands of Bernard Darniche, Jacky Haran, and of course, Rondeau himself. Things didn’t start out great, with the French trio only managing 40th place in classification. Nonetheless, the car was reliable and they took it to the limit. The result? Ninth place overall and another GTP class win. All in all, the 1978 Le Mans was an outstanding race for the French, with Renault coming first overall.
By now I’m sure that it is obvious that I’m a big Rondeau fan 😁. As I said elsewhere, to me he is the one and only true Mr. Le Mans. A local garagista that makes his own cars and races them to first place at Le Mans? Yep, fantastically badass awesome in my book. In my eyes, this is probably one of his three most important cars. The other two would be the Inaltera LM #2 and the other, of course, the M379B #16. I say that M378 #72 here is one of them because it was the first car to carry his name. Therefore, for a Le Mans nut and a Rondeau fan boy like me, a must have. And fortunately for me, Spark recreates his cars beautifully in 1:43. This is an outstanding representation in scale of the odd-ball real thing.