The various lives of Alain de Cadenet

Walking through Kensington one day in the 1980s I saw an Alfa Romeo parked by the kerb. No everyday saloon but an 8C 2300, even then worth a million or so. I recognised it as belonging to Alain de Cadenet and later on I asked him if he didn’t think that a bit risky. “Oh no,” he said cheerfully. “Most people don’t know what it is and a thief wouldn’t know how to start it.” Typical of the insouciant ADC, who after a life lived in fast machinery and fast circles has died aged 76 in New York from cancer.

In his various lives as racing driver, car constructor, TV presenter, commentator and philatelist Alain de Cadenet breezed through with the dash and panache of the 1930s Bentley gang or the riotous postwar crowd. Articulate, ebullient, untiringly enthusiastic, he was perfectly at home in the pits, in the cockpit or behind a microphone. You could easily imagine him piloting a Spitfire – which naturally he did, although it’s his close shave with a Spitfire propeller as it screams inches above him while he narrates to camera that’s the defining image there.

But the playboy air concealed an intelligent and knowledgeable man who could write about cars, aeroplanes and philately with equal facility – he was a leading expert on George V stamps. He wrote regularly for car magazines, and in the 1980s set up a consortium to try to buy Motor Sport from then owner Wesley J Tee. Over a lavish dinner he and the group pumped me for inside info, which I was happy to hand out – the idea of DeCad steering the ship sounded a lark. Not least for his fund of tales of adventure around the globe. He was great company. Sadly, this was yet another offer that Wesley J strung along and then refused at the last minute.

Aside from a brief 1971 foray into F1, running an old Brabham BT33 for his pal Chris Craft, Alain’s forte was sports car racing. From a Porsche 904 and 908 to Dino 206 he progressed to his first Le Mans entry, piloting a Ferrari 512M, but it was as a constructor/driver that he made his mark, co-opting young Gordon Murray to design a car using Brabham parts which he and Chris Craft took to 12th place in 1972.

There was a new de Cadenet-Lola for 1975 which, with a revised aero package, the pair drove to a magnificent third the following year and fifth a year on, ahead of many better-funded works outfits. For 1980 came the de Cadenet LM4, now shared with Desiré Wilson, which reaped victories in the Monza 1000Kms and Six Hours of Silverstone, and seventh at his home from home Le Mans with François Migault. If his team operated in Hesketh style, not seeming to take things seriously, the achievements were significant. Alain was a wizard at stretching a shoestring a long way, and charming sponsors.

Retiring from racing in 1988, Alain turned to microphone and camera, commentating for Speed and ESPN and effortlessly fronting many a documentary on cars and planes. His was an always welcome presence in classic racing and at concours d’elegance around the world, where his knowledge counted, but I’ll remember the off-duty days. After a visit to the classic car dealers in Queen’s Gate Place Mews it was always worth knocking on Alain’s door opposite to see what was in the garage of his mews house: not many people prepare Le Mans cars below their sitting rooms.