Alain de Cadenet

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Alain de Cadenet 1975

De Cadenet driving a Ferrari

Driving an Alfa Romeo P3

Alain de Cadenet (born 27 November 1945 in London) is a television presenter and former racing driver. After a career in sports car endurance racing, he has hosted numerous shows and broadcasts for the Speed Channel, ESPN, the Velocity Channel and the Petrolicious website.^[1] De Cadenet hosted Legends of Motorsport for Speed between 1996 and 2000, as well as the network's coverage of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. During the 2000s, he hosted Speed's Victory By Design, in which he drove vintage racing cars and discussed their history. In 2012, de Cadenet hosted Renaissance Man for the Velocity Channel (now called the Motor Trend network), covering cars, motorcycles, the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and racing at Monaco.

Biography[]

Alain de Cadenet is the son of Maxime de Cadenet, a lieutenant in the French Air Force, and his English first wife, Valerie. He was educated at Framlingham College.^[2]

Career[]

He made his reputation building and driving his own sports prototypes, taking on works teams and occasionally beating them. In 1972, he persuaded Duckhams Oil to sponsor a car he commissioned Gordon Murray to design for the Le Mans 24 Hour race. De Cadenet finished 12th overall. In 1976 he finished 3rd overall at the Le Mans.^[3] In 1980, with co-driver Desiré Wilson, he won two rounds of the World Sportscar Championship —the Monza 1000 kilometers and Silverstone 6 hour events. This was a major achievement in an era of increasing professionalism, when it was very difficult for privateers to defeat larger, better-funded teams that had factory support.

A passion for collection[]

Cadenet also races classic and vintage cars, having owned and raced numerous examples, particularly Alfa Romeos. In addition to cars, he also collects motorcycles and aircraft, and operated a Supermarine Spitfire. A video on the Internet shows a clip from a documentary in which a Spitfire flies extremely low over his head.^[4] He was also a collector and authority on George V stamps, and advised the Royal Mail on their collection.

Personal life[]

He is divorced from Anna de Cadenet, with whom he has two children, Alexander and Amanda. He is now married to Alison de Cadenet and has a younger son, Aidan.

Official results[]

24 Hours of Le Mans[]

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1975	Alain de Cadenet	Chris Craft	De Cadenet-Lola T380 Ford-Cosworth	S 3.0	291	14th	5th
1976	Alain de Cadenet	Chris Craft	De Cadenet-Lola T380 Ford-Cosworth	S 3.0	338	3rd	3rd
1977	Alain de Cadenet	Chris Craft	De Cadenet-Lola T380 Ford-Cosworth	S 2.0	315	5th	3rd
1978	Alain de Cadenet	Chris Craft	De Cadenet-Lola T380 Ford-Cosworth	S 2.0	273	15th	6th
1979	Alain de Cadenet	François Migault	De Cadenet-Lola T380 Ford-Cosworth	S 2.0	10	DNF	DNF
1980	Alain de Cadenet	François Migault	De Cadenet-Lola LM Ford-Cosworth	S 2.0	313	7th	3rd
1981	Alain de Cadenet Belga	Jean-Michel Martin Philippe Martin	De Cadenet-Lola LM Ford-Cosworth	S +2.0	210	DNF	DNF
1982	Grid Racing	Desiré Wilson Emilio de Villota	Ford-Cosworth	C	7	DNF	DNF
1983	Primagaz	Yves Courage	Cougar C01B Ford-Cosworth	C	86	DNF	DNF
1984	Charles Ivey Racing	Chris Craft Allan Grice	Porsche 956B	C1	274	DNF	DNF
1986	Primagaz Team Cougar	Yves Courage Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Cougar C12 Porsche	C1	267	18th	11th

References[]

External links[]

• Profile on Historic Racing^{[permanent dead link]}