1906 Renault Type AK Grand Prix

The 1906 Renault AK 90 is undoubtedly one of the icons in the history of motorsports. This car was the first winner of a Grand Prix competition where vehicles from various countries articipated, thus giving the kick-off to Formula 1 International. This competition was held at a circuit near the city of Le Mans in June 1906, where the cars raced on the roads of the La Sarthe circuit with a length of 103.18 km for two days, thus completing a total distance of 238.16km. Ferenc Szisz won this first Grand Prix with the Renault AK 90 at an average of 101.195 km/h. 

The French automobile did not deviate from the competition in its basic design assumptions, but it had several solutions that gave it a great advantage. The car was built on a steel, ladder frame with rigid axles, suspended on semi-elliptical, longitudinal leaf springs and friction shock absorbers. Drum brakes were located on the rear axle only. At the front there is a four-cylinder engine consisting of two cast iron blocks with two-cylinders each with non-removable heads. A novelty was a high-voltage Bosch ignition system instead of a low-voltage one. The capacity of the unit reached 13-litres, and the power at 1,200 revolutions per minute reached 90 horsepower.

This superb recreation of the Grand Prix Renault is based on a large number of original Renault parts from the same era, many discovered in barns and hidden away in collections. The project was masterminded by John Brydon, a stalwart of the VSCC and a knowledgeable and talented engineer. Between 2000 and 2006 over 3,000 hours of work and arduous research were invested in order to recreate the machine and bring to life one of those Formula 1 pioneers and winner of the World's first Grand Prix. The whole project was carried out with the support of Renualt, and there are many letters on file discussing the restoration. The Renault four-cylinder engine is very similar to those used by the AK 90 (although smaller capacity) and the gearbox is characteristic of the brand with all the gears in one line. The rest of the mechanical parts are also from Renault as well as the chassis that was modified to have the exact measurements to those of the Grand Prix Car. The bodywork was created following the measurements of the blueprints provided by Renault Classic from their factory archives. The distinctive radiator was built from scratch involving the careful assembly of more than 1,800 0.3mm thick copper tubes.

The Renault was finished in time to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Renault's French Grand Prix win in 2006, and was displayed and run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It was fitted with the smaller 4.5-litre Renault engine that the car still runs today. John amazingly had gained approval from The Science Museum to copy the original 1906 13-litre engine, but unfortunatley there was not time to have this completed in time for the 2006 celebration. Much work has been done on remanfacturing the correct engine which was almost complete before ill health interrupted the process. The correct 13-litre engine now needs finishing and installing in the car to complete this most amazing project. The Renault has not been used since 2012 and will require recomissioning prior to seeing active use once again. However the did car run well with the 4.5-litre engine, and was actively used on track and for tours to the south of France. This rapid two-seater is an ideal entry for Goodwood's S.F. Edge Trophy Race and many VSCC events. Simply fantastic!