After an absence of more than 20 years, Alpine burst back onto the sports car scene in 2017 when it released the superb A110, a lightweight mid-engined rear-wheel drive sports coupe which side-stepped the horsepower race and delivered a knockout blow to the competition thanks to its sublime chassis and well-balanced handling. Those traits make for a rather good racing car too, as evidenced by the track-only customer-competition Cup and GT4 variants. Now Alpine has announced the introduction of the A110 Rally, a model that is being officially presented at the Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine this weekend.
With such a chequered rallying history, this is a rather momentous occasion as Régis Fricotté, Alpine Commercial and Competition Director explains: “This return to rallying is highly anticipated as Alpine made history when it won the first-ever World Rally Championship in 1973. To ensure the success of this new adventure, we have entrusted the research and development, production and commercialization of the Alpine A110 Rally to Signatech, our partner as well in the FIA World Endurance Championship and around the Cup and GT4 programs. The Alpine A110 Rally looks set to be a very fine car to drive and amazingly efficient.”
The A110 Rally incorporates the agile aluminum chassis that also underpins the GT4 and Cup cars and receives a number of modifications to enable it to meet existing FIA Rally regulations. Notable changes include a three-way hydraulic suspension system, powerful Brembo brakes and a whole raft of safety items such as an FIA homologated roll cage, Sabelt bucket seat and a six-point harness. A six-speed sequential gearbox sends over 300hp from the 1.8-liter turbocharged engine (up from the standard cars 250 hp figure) through a limited-slip differential to the rear wheels. A lot of development work continues to be carried out to ensure that the A110 Rally is easy to drive and allows both professionals and gentlemen drivers to push to their respective limits. The first Alpine A110 Rally cars should be delivered to customers in early 2020. Prices start at 150,000 euros before options.
Images courtesy of Alpine Cars
