The Alpine A110 is a
sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
produced by French automobile manufacturer
Alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
from 1963 to 1977. The car was styled as a "
berlinette", which in the post-WWII era refers to a small enclosed two-door
berline, better-known as a
coupé.
The Alpine A110 succeeded the earlier
A108. The car was powered by a succession of
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
engines. A
car also named Alpine A110 was introduced in 2017.
History
Launched in 1963, the A110, like previous road-going Alpines, used many Renault parts, including engines. While its predecessor the A108 was designed around
Dauphine components, the A110 was updated to use
R8 parts. Unlike the A108, which was available first as a
cabriolet
A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers.
A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...
and only later as a
coupé, the A110 was available first as a berlinette and then as a cabriolet. The most obvious external departure from the A108 coupé was a restyling of the rear bodywork. Done to accommodate the A110's larger engine, this change gave the car a more aggressive look. Like the A108, the A110 featured a steel
backbone chassis
Backbone tube chassis is a type of automobile construction chassis that is similar to the body-on-frame design. Instead of a two-dimensional ladder-type structure, it consists of a strong tubular backbone (usually rectangular in cross section) ...
and a fiberglass body. The A110 was originally offered with 1.1 L R8 Major or
R8 Gordini engines. The
Gordini
Gordini () is a division of Renault Sport Technologies ( Renault Sport). In the past, it was a sports car manufacturer and performance tuner, established in 1946 by Amédée Gordini (1899–1979), nicknamed "Le Sorcier" (The Sorcerer). Gordini b ...
engine has a power output of SAE at 6,500 rpm.
The A110 achieved most of its fame in the early 1970s as a successful
rally car
Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...
. After winning several rallies in France in the late 1960s with the cast-iron R8 Gordini
Cléon-Fonte engines the car was fitted with the aluminium-block
Cléon-Alu from the
Renault 16
The Renault 16 (R16) is a D-segment family hatchback produced by French automaker Renault between 1965 and 1980 in Le Havre, France. The Renault 16 was the first French winner of the European Car of the Year award.
Market placement
In the early 19 ...
TS. With two
twin-venturi Weber 45
carburetors, the TS engine has a power output of DIN at 6,000 rpm. This allowed the production 1600S to attain a top speed of . The long-wheelbase Alpine A108 2+2 coupé was replaced with a new restyled 2+2 coupé based on the A110 mechanicals called the A110 GT4.
The car achieved international fame during the 1970–1972 seasons competing in the newly created
International Championship for Manufacturers
The FIA International Championship for Manufacturers (IMC) was a rally series culminating in a champion manufacturer. The championship was run from 1970 to 1972 and it was replaced by the FIA World Rally Championship in 1973. All the nine rall ...
, winning events throughout Europe, and earning a reputation as one of the strongest rally cars of its time. Notable performances included a victory in the 1971
Monte Carlo Rally with Swedish driver
Ove Andersson
Ove Andersson (3 January 1938 – 11 June 2008), nicknamed ''Påven'' ("the Pope"), was a Swedish rally driver and the first head of Toyota's F1 programme.
Early life
Andersson was born in Uppsala and grew up on a remote farm. His father bough ...
.
After Alpine's acquisition by Renault in 1971, the International Championship was replaced by the
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...
for
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: ...
, at which time Renault elected to compete with the A110. With a team featuring
Bernard Darniche
Bernard Darniche (born 28 March 1942 in Cenon, a commune in the Gironde department) is a French former rally driver. He won the European Rally Championship in 1976 and 1977 and the French Rally Championship in 1976 and 1978, each time behind the ...
,
Jean-Pierre Nicolas
Jean-Pierre Nicolas (born 22 January 1945) is a retired French professional rally driver who competed mainly in the 1970s.
Nicolas took five WRC event wins in the World Rally Championship. His best result in the drivers' championship was second ...
and
Jean-Luc Thérier
Jean-Luc Thérier (7 October 1945, Hodeng-au-Bosc – 31 July 2019, Neufchâtel-en-Bray) was a French rally driver. He was the highest scoring driver in the inaugural World Rally Championship in 1973 and the only one to win three events. However, ...
as permanent drivers and "guest stars" like
Jean-Claude Andruet
Jean-Claude Andruet (born 13 August 1940 in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, Montreuil) is a retired French professional Rallying, rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship.
Andruet took three WRC event wins during his career; 1973 M ...
(who won the
1973 Monte Carlo Rally
The 1973 Monte Carlo Rally (formally the 42ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo), run in late January and hosted in the principality of Monaco, was the first rally on the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's (FIA) new World Rally Champion ...
) the A110 won most of the races where the works team was entered, making Alpine the first
World Rally Champion
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...
. Later competition-spec A110s received engines of up to 1.8 litres.
In addition to Alpine's own Dieppe factory, versions of the A110 were built under license by various other vehicle manufacturers around the world. From 1965 to 1974 the car was produced in Mexico under the name "Dinalpin" by
Diesel Nacional (DINA), which also produced Renault vehicles. From 1967 to 1969, the A110 was also produced in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
under the name "
Bulgaralpine
Bulgaralpine was a sports automobile produced in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and the result of a collaboration between Alpine (a French automobile firm) and ETO ''Bulet'' (a Bulgarian export trade organisation). Production lasted for three years (1967– ...
" by a partnership formed between SPC Metalhim and ETO Bulet, whose collaboration also resulted in the production of the
Bulgarrenault
Bulgarrenault (or Bulgar Renault) was an automobile produced in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and the result of a collaboration between Metalhim (a Bulgarian defence firm) and Bulet (a Bulgarian export trade organisation). Production lasted for f ...
.
In Spain, the Alpine A110 was produced by
FASA
Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city date ...
in
Valladolid
Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...
from 1967 to 1978. These were the only versions built outside France that were commercialised under the same names and to the same specifications as the French-built ones. FASA manufactured version A110 1100 (from 1967 to 1970) with 1108 cc engines, version A110 1300 (from 1971 to 1976) with 1289 cc engines, and version A110 1400 (from 1977 to 1978) with 1397 cc engines.
In 1974, the mid-engine
Lancia Stratos
The Lancia Stratos HF (''Tipo 829''), widely and more simply known as Lancia Stratos, is a rear mid-engined sports car designed for rally racing, made by Italian car manufacturer Lancia. The HF stands for ''High Fidelity''. It was a very succes ...
which was the first car designed specifically for rally racing, was operational and homologated. At the same time it was obvious that the
rear-engine A110 was nearing the limits of its development potential. The adoption of fuel injection brought no performance increase. On some cars, a
DOHC
An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...
16-valve head was fitted to the engine, but it proved unreliable. Chassis modifications, such as the usage of the
A310's double wishbone rear suspension, homologated with the A110 1600SC, also failed to increase performance. On the international stage the Stratos proved to be the "ultimate weapon", soon making the A110, as well as many other rally cars, obsolete. The A110 remains a staple of vintage racing events such as the
Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique.
In 2012, to mark the 50th anniversary of the A110, Renault produced a concept car called the
A110-50. The
modern production version of the A110 was introduced by Renault in 2017.
Engines
The A110 was fitted with a variety of engines between 1963 and 1977. Engines used on production cars included the following:
Specifications A110 Berlinette (1966)
Engine
Engine:
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
Straight-4
Power output: SAE (gross)
Compression ratio: 9.6
Chassis/Body
Overall length:
Overall width:
Height:
Turning circle:
Wheelbase:
Front track:
Rear track:
Dry weight:
Performance:
Top speed:
Unique characteristics:
Due to the rear-mounted engine there was no air-intake grille on the front of the body. Air was scooped from below the chassis and exhausted through near-horizontal openings on the rear fenders above and aft of the rear wheels for cooling.
Specifications A110 1600 Si (1973–75)
Engine
Type:
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
Electronic fuel injected Inline-four engine
A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft.
The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...
Bore x stroke:
Power output: SAE (gross) DIN (net) at 6,250 rpm
Torque: (gross)
(net) at 5,450 rpm.
Gearbox
5-speed manual
Chassis/Body
Chassis: Steel backbone
Body Panels:
Fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...
Curb weight (without a driver):
Length:
Width:
Wheelbase:
Track (Front/Rear): /
Height:
Performance
Top speed:
WRC Victories
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{Renault
A110
Group 4 (racing) cars
Sports cars
1970s cars
Cars introduced in 1963
Cars powered by rear-mounted 4-cylinder engines
Automobiles with backbone chassis
Rear-engined vehicles
World Rally championship-winning cars