The Alpine A220 chassis n°1736 is a new type 68 car. Despite the criticisms and the mixed results of the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans, Alpine still has good reason to believe in the potential of the A220. The main development for 1969 is the transfer of the water and oil radiators to the extreme rear of the car, cantilevered. This assembly made it possible to close the sides and to remove the obligation of a luggage compartment and the spare wheel, to relocate the battery and the oil tank to the front.
Number 29 with green facings is entrusted to the drivers of the Alpine Formula 3 team, Patrick Depailler and Jean-Pierre Jabouille. It qualified in 17th position with an honest time of 3'45"6 but more than 13" behind the best of the three-litre prototypes, the Porsche 908 of Rudi Lins and Willi Kauhsen.In testing, our Formula 3 drivers have already experienced oil pressure problems. But Jabouille will experience other emotions when, at the end of the first lap, he sees John Woolfe's Porsche 917 come off the road in front of him and explode against the Maison Blanche rails. Crossing a sea of fire, the Alpine will not come out unscathed and its pilot will have to stop at the bottom of the descent towards the esses of Tertre Rouge in order to put out the beginning of a fire.
Covered in dry ice. the Alpine returns to the pits for a good cleaning and at the end of the first hour, it occupies the 34th place. Two hours later, it is 19th but the first oil leaks are not long in coming, the bolts and the gaskets of the casing not resisting the vibrations of the engine, as at Spa. Again delayed at the 7th and then at the 10th hour, number 29 will be the only three-litre to see sunrise, moving up to 11th position at the 14th hour. Around 6 a.m., it resumed the track after changing the crankcase seal, but half an hour later, it was abandoned, connecting rod cast.
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