Alain De Cadenet, Racer, Reporter, Raconteur, Has Died

Alain de Cadenet, who found success as an amateur sports car racer and went on to fame as a television host in several series about great old race cars, has passed away at 77.

De Cadenet raced sports cars from the 1960s to early ‘80s.

“I was invited to Brands Hatch by a friend of mine who was racing there, and I had never been to a motor race in my life,” he told Classic Driver. “I had a rather cracking model girlfriend, so I took her down with me. She disappeared—apparently she went off with some guy who was a racing driver, so I thought I’d better go motor racing. Although I got into it because I thought it would be a great way to get with women, I started to rather enjoy the racing.”

So he started racing sports cars. It was at a time when innovative privateers still stood a chance of beating the increasingly well-funded factory teams. He was one of the few drivers from any era who built and raced their own cars. De Cadenet drove at Le Mans numerous times, finishing as high as third in 1976 in his own De Cadenet-Lola T380 Ford-Cosworth. He raced that car in the 24 Hours of Le Mans from ‘75 to ‘79 then switched to another De Cadenet, a Lola LM Ford-Cosworth. He also piloted two Cougars and a Porsche 956 at Le Sarthe. He drove a car listed as a Duckhams LM 72—with sponsorship from Duckhams Oil—to a 12th-place finish at Le Mans in 1972 after getting Gordon Murray to design the car. In 1980 he and co-driver Desiré Wilson, one of only five women to have ever raced in F1, won two rounds of the World Sports Car Championship, beating several factory teams at the Monza 1000 Kilometers and the Silverstone 6 Hours.

De Cadenet is best known for his television work, where he brought not only his handsome visage to the screen, but a lifetime’s accumulated knowledge of—and passion for—sports cars. He hosted shows for The Speed Channel and ESPN, among others, and may be best known for the shows Legends of Motorsport and Victory by Design.

His interests were wide and varied, ranging from stamp collecting, of all things, to fine wine and vintage airplanes. If you ever want to pick yourself up in times of trouble, watch the clip where Alain de Cadenet is almost run down by a Spitfire, or this one of de Cadenet slamming on the brakes in his Ferrari.

De Cadenet made many friends over the years, among them, the great racer Brian Redman, who shared a hospital room with de Cadenet after both crashed in the Targa Florio in 1970. In a recent note to de Cadenet, Redman, who could have been speaking for so many of us, thanked de Cadenet for his lifetime of friendship.

"...just wanted to let you know how much I have valued our friendship over so many years. You have had an amazing life! Everyone loves you."

We should all have such good friends. And through his many television appearances and over his long racing career, many of us felt like we knew him. Godspeed Alain.