The Alpine A110R is billed as the ultimate version of the French sports car maker’s mid-engined A110, a hardcore range-topper that’s honed for the racetrack but still useable on the road – it’s Alpine’s answer to the Porsche Cayman GT4 in philosophy, if quite a different proposition in reality. It’s also a very different take on the original A110, which went against current trends with its soft suspension, liberal body roll and modest grip.
There’s no cap on A110R production, and Alpine insiders say they plan to keep the R alive as long as possible despite the upcoming switch to Alpine EVs. At £89,990, the A110R is not a cheap car – £38k more than the base car, and £28k more than the A110 GT and S.
We recently got behind the wheel on twisting roads on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, and at Jarama circuit.
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What are the spec highlights?
Chassis changes are key. Already a corker with double wishbones all-round and famously limber damping, it’s significantly firmed up for the R and equipped with coilover suspension with ZF dampers than can be adjusted through 20 clicks (if you jack the car up and wind round a red collar at the top of the coilover unit).
Spring rates are 10 per cent stiffer all-round, anti-roll bar stiffness is up 10 per cent front, 25 per cent rear, and the suspension is 10mm lower than the A110R for road use, but can be lowered by a further 10mm for track use if you break out the (specialised) spanners.
Michelin Cup 2 tyres sized 215/40 R18 front and 245/40 R18 at the rear are unchanged from the optional rubber on the A110S but insiders point out the S wasn’t developed on the Cup 2 tyres – the R was.
Brembo brakes with 320mm discs front and rear are standard – another option for the S – but the R has improved cooling thanks to new ducting on the upper front suspension arms and undertray.
What about weight, aero, performance?
Weight falls by just 34kg to 1082kg but it’s important to remember that the A110 is roughly 300kg lighter than any rival, so making it lighter still is a tough task, and the measures are pretty extensive. Most of this involves carbonfibre: carbonfibre for the bonnet, roof and rear engine lid, Sabelt carbonfire seats and even full carbonfibre wheels.
Aerodynamics are said to be tweaked with help from the F1 team – rear downforce rises by 29kg versus the S (thanks to a swan-neck rear spoiler) but drops by 30kg at the front for a more stable balance.
The 1.8-litre four and seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox remain as they were from the S – so 296bhp and 251lb ft, though there is a new 3D-printed exhaust outlet.
How does the A110R drive?
Immediately the R feels the much tauter, more direct car you’d expect versus the standard car and the S too, and its damping does feel pretty tough at lower speeds on the fairly average access roads leaving the Jarama circuit.
On this evidence it would feel quite unyielding on UK roads, but Alpine’s get-out-of-jail card are those 20-click adjustable dampers, which counter-intuitively are at their softest at setting number 20 and increase in stiffness though to one. The factory default is 10, but Alpine’s put us in slightly stiffer setting nine to work more temperature into the semi-slick Michelin Cup 2s in cold but dry conditions.
It feels perfectly liveable on the smoother tarmac and higher speeds of the Spanish motorway network, though, plus the gurgly bass of the engine and pleasingly direct gear shifts are rousing rather than rowdy, and tyre noise is far from intrusive. There’s plenty of padding and under-thigh support in these otherwise bare-bones carbon Sabelt seats too – I’d want harness pads but I’d happily do a long-distance road trip on this evidence (though the lack of a rear-view mirror due to the vision-blocking carbon rear screen or digital screen is at best annoying).
As per its brief, it’s on twistier stuff that the A110R really comes alive. The electrically assisted steering of the standard A110 and S leaves room for improvement, and it’s certainly much sharper in the R. Apparently nothing has actually changed but It feels different owing to the stiffer chassis – more direct and precise, gorgeously weighted and more tactile too, partly thanks to an Alcantara-wrapped rim adding a very welcome McLaren-esque flavour.
Despite extensive revisions, this still couldn’t be anything other than an A110 with its sparky agility, compact feel and feathery weight, but rather than the driver having to second-guess and manage body roll during cornering and weight transfer during braking, everything is translated more directly, so you can roll it into corners more aggressively, brake later (lovely firm brake pedal by the way) and simply carve the R harder. This car has SO much grip.
While the R’s mid-engined dynamics are still exploitable, there’s a much more neutral balance on the road to pretty quickly damp things down – more so than both the standard car and S. Performance might be unchanged versus the S, but tap into it all over twistier stuff and very little will touch this modestly powerful French sports car.
How does it compare on the race circuit?
Jarama really confirmed what we learned on the road, in terms of body control and that much more planted feeling. The key was getting a better feel for the balance in extremis. Sure enough, the R is very stable but will still rotate quite nicely if you trail it in to turns on the brakes, which doesn’t just feel fun, it’s a more efficient and satisfying way to get a car into the apex. But the grip from those Cup 2s and the revised chassis means its quick to neutralise any oversteer and has some gentle front-end push through faster corners in the name of stability. No LSD plus sticky rubber means this isn’t one to indulge oversteer antics lightly – and isn’t particularly satisfying when you manage it.
Personally I’d want to tweak the bias a little more to oversteer and I’d need more time with tyre pressures and damper clicks to do that but even out of the box it’s a load of fun.
Alpine A110R: verdict
The A110R successfully uncorks the base car’s go-faster potential with a much more precise, planted feel and nicer steering too. It gives its driver confidence to really dig into the mid-engined dynamics with exceptional body control, endless grip, and a more neutral balance (if one we’d properly tweak to be a little less neutral).
While this does feel a much more serious kind of package, it’s one that retains the core values we’ve long admired about the rest of the A110 range – particularly its eager agility and response. It also seemed pretty liveable on a longer journey (faffy harnesses and no rear-view mirror aside).
It’s a big premium over an A110 S, but our key concern relates to just how stiff it will feel in the UK – it’s a crucial point but one that will have to wait for another day.