Lighter, faster, more athletic: the Alpine A110R is coming soon to a track day near you.
It’s no secret that the Alpine A110 makes for a great roadgoing sports car in its standard guise, but with the new A110R, the French marque intends to unleash its full circuit potential. To us, that sounds like an incredibly tantalising prospect, but unfortunately, there’s a catch…
Before we get into that though, let’s take a look at what exactly the new Alpine A110R has to offer.
The A110’s strong suit has always been its handling, and in this new ‘Radical’ (hence the R) version, Alpine has emphasised that more than ever.
Throughout the A110R’s design process Alpine sought regular input from its F1 team’s personnel, and that has resulted in a wide array of upgrades. We’ll start with the visually noticeable stuff.
If you’ve had a good look at the pictures attached to this article, you’ll have noticed that the A110R is sporting a heavily revised aero package. This includes a new rear spoiler, flat-faced wheel rim design, and rear diffuser, as well as a flat floor tucked away underneath. According to Alpine, these changes have increased the A110’s downforce by 29kg at top speed, while at the same time, drag has been cut by 5%. In real-world terms, that means the A110 should now be blessed with more speed and agility than ever before.
To improve its circuit prowess further, the A110R has had its ride height reduced by 10mm compared to the A110S, while an extra 10mm drop can be achieved if you wish, thanks to the car’s adjustable dampers. The springs at each corner of the car have also been stiffened up by 10%, as has the front anti-roll bar. The rear anti-roll bar, meanwhile, is a whole 25% stiffer than before.
The tyres are a semi-slick Michelin variant, while the upgraded Brembo brakes have been given their own bespoke cooling channels, not seen on any other A110 model.
Then to complete the list of revisions, Alpine has managed to shed 34kg from the A110’s kerb weight, reducing its total mass to just 1082kg – a refreshing figure in the world of modern-day heavyweights. To do this, they’ve fitted different seats, removed the noise insulation from the engine bay and made a number of the exterior parts from carbonfibre, such as the bonnet, wheel rims, and engine cover. You also get a matt blue paint scheme, matching the hue of the marque’s F1 car.
As far as the powertrain goes though, there’s little to write home about. It remains the same 296hp 1.8-litre four-pot from the A110S, and the accompanying 7-speed automatic transmission hasn’t been changed either. Expect a more aggressive tone from the exhaust, though.
Nevertheless, the aero mods and weight saving solutions are enough to boost the car’s spec sheet a little. 62mph now arrives in 3.9 seconds (0.3 seconds quicker than the A110S), and it’ll top out at 177mph.
So then, where’s that catch that we referenced at the beginning? Well, unfortunately, it’s the price tag.
The Alpine A110R is expected to cost in excess of £70,000, and if Alpine was already struggling to out-sell the Porsche Cayman at a more attainable price point, what hope have they got of stealing a march on the six-cylinder Cayman GT4?
We’re huge fans of the A110, but even to us, seventy grand for a little 1.8-litre four-pot sounds a bit fanciful. To justify a cost like that, the Alpine A110R will have to be something truly special, but given how delightful the tamer models are, it’s not implausible that it could reach those heights. This is certainly one to keep an eye on…
