R. . . The latest addition to the Alpine range, the A110 R belongs to an elegance of its own, thanks largely to the widespread use of carbon fibre, a new race-ready chassis and countless innovations in key elements affecting functionality. and manipulation.
It is the first Alpine to pass in less than four seconds to start the 0-100 km/h state, achieving 0-100 km/h in 3. 9 seconds, with the starting state of 1000 m in 21. 9 seconds. Totally imaginable to find supercars that can do better, the lightweight frame and exact corners of the Alpine provide exciting driving pleasure. There is no such thing. So what exactly sets Alpine apart?
To perceive the philosophy of the brand, you have to go back in time to the roots of the brand. Alpine was created in the 1950s through hobby racer Jean Redele. He used road cars as the basis for modifications and control to turn small, slow family cars into racing machines. He changed the bodywork, giving his cars new plastic bodies that stored weight and stepped up the automotive look. In 1962 Redele built its first rally car. He kept the original vehicle’s chassis and engine along with the rest of the transmission, but gave it a completely new, smaller and smoother body with a very modern design. So, in 1963 the Alpine A110 was born, and it started racing the same year. Despite its modest powertrain, its close proportions and light weight allow the car to perform well. And when more horsepower was added, Alpines became a legend in the rally world, dominating Monte Carlo and becoming a true icon. It’s a secret? Lightness. Weighing around 700 kilograms, the car was more agile than the others and its power-to-weight ratio was unbeatable.
Fast forward to the fashionable times, and the A110 was relaunched in 2018. The car temporarily found an audience in Europe, fitting into the favorite of connoisseurs. One of them, Gordon Murray, compared his own A110 to his T. 50 hypercar. According to Murray, “Lightness is everything. “
On track or on the road, the fourth member of the Alpine A110, the A110 R, has raised the bar when it comes to agility.
The engineers’ specifications were clear: “Do whatever it takes to make this car radically fast. Lighten it. Squeeze it. Make it so exciting that the driving force will never let go.
Thanks to the widespread use of carbon fibre parts, the radical redesign of key elements and the removal of some parts, the A110 R belongs to a whole new category. skirts, gooseneck rear fender, rear diffuser, side fins, C-pillar air deflectors and carbon wheels. The position and inclination of the rear wing were discovered and adjusted with the help of our engineers from the BWT Alpine F1 team using their numerical modelling tools. Compared to the A110 S, already renowned for its driving excitement and performance, ground clearance has been reduced by 10 mm, drag by 2% and brake cooling by 20%. The high-performance adjustable suspension and the new anti-roll bar are particularly manageable.
Making the car much lighter, while adding key functionality components, was a challenge: for the engineers, it was a component of the game. Carbon fiber has become ubiquitous, resulting in a radically lighter A110 R. It weighs only 1082 kg, 34 kg. less than the “already very light” A110 S. And it is this lightness that makes the difference.
Today’s road cars are invariably safer, more comfortable and more reliable than their counterparts of yesteryear. It is for this reason that it would almost manufacture a 700 kg “plastic” car in the same way as the original A110 “Berlinette”. . However, the spirit of the original style was taken into account when designing the elegant A110.
“Some have criticized us for not having fiberglass like in the original Alpine,” explains Jean-Pascal Dauce, managing director of Alpine – Engineering Cooperation. “I would have liked to, but from the 1970s until today there has been a massive evolution in perceived quality, so we thought that through the construction of the plastic car, we would not have reached the point of quality we have now. “
The key elements that were taken into account were the design, the feel of the ground and the lightness of the car. The lightness was reflected in the selection of making a vehicle with chassis and structure of aluminum, with the front component and the triangle also made of aluminum.
“Alpine has everything that catches the eye and makes other people smile,” says Dauce. “We tried to keep that in the equation, and each and every time we worked on steering, braking and ‘feel’ the car, we kept in mind that it had to be a car that evoked passion, and that enjoyable. “
Today, there is no direct competitor to the A110 because, according to Dauce, Alpine is “alone on its small island. “He added: “It’s pretentious to say that, because Alpine is ‘better,’ it’s just one of kind. It is between the lightness at all prices and the discomfort that entails.
However, achieving this lightness is not easy.
“Already to get to 1100 kg, there were three hundred times we had to referee to win 1 kg, or maybe six hundred times we referee resolutions to earn 500 grams,” says Dauce. A thousand resolutions to gain a few grams, because you do not gain a kilo like that in a game just by saying ‘I have to be light’. There are times when it’s simple, but there are times when it’s very difficult. It is a resolution that will have to be assumed, you can not be lighter without wasting something, you have to optimize. paintings or to faint on weekends. You can lend your A110 to your older children or wife without any problems. It is easy to drive and park. But then when you switch to “sport” mode, it’s like, “Oh yes, that’s different. “
Alpine A110, A110 S and A110 GT
For Dauce, the progression of the new “radical” A110 R involved combining many elements to make it more exciting to drive, with lightness being key. “For me, this is the last edition in terms of sportiness of the A110. , which is already an exceptional car. It is the ultimate when it comes to offering 3 elements: driving pleasure, functionality and elegance.
Alpine Design Director Antony Villain explains that the concept of making the A110 R lighter, faster and more agile is not new: “We already had this edition of the car in mind when we first worked on the A110 in 2013. And now, when the resolution made to say “yes, we are moving to do it, it is the right time for the car”, we were very happy, because we also had the opportunity to redesign some of its parts. Aesthetically it is very different from the A110 of 2016, but also because we were able to play with the components of the car and the new materials. We already had some in the car, but we wanted to go much further.
Villain says that lightness is a must-have in the good fortune of the car: “Most of the time, when you need to increase functionality, you only increase torque, power. But the fact that we maintained the position that the A110 was lightweight, and even lighter with the new A110 R, with such a functionality advantage, was critical.
This “art of lightness” also affects Alpine’s progression of long-lasting electric models, which are scheduled to launch in the coming years. This will be key in its energy efficiency, but more importantly, in its sporty behavior and performance. It is just one component of the brand’s DNA.
Learn more about Alpine A110: Alpine and racing official website