Alpine A110 - 1971

The Alpine A110 was a sports car produced from 1962 to 1977 by the French car manufacturer Alpine (or Alpine-Renault). The A110 was born in 1962 as a replacement for the A108, which still remained on the list for a year in France, while it was produced under license in other countries for a few more years. Compared to the A108, the A110 shares the general lines of the bodywork, made of fiberglass. It differs externally for the design of the pavilion and tail, made sportier and more extreme in design, but also for the front with double faired headlights. Mechanically, however, the A110 is completely new: the chassis used for its construction was new, although it was also a central beam as in the case of the ancestor, and the mechanics adopted were new, coming from the then newborn Renault 8 and initially consisting of a 4-cylinder 956 cm³ engine, capable of delivering 50 hp of maximum power. With this drive unit, the A110 was close to 160 km. The A110 was certainly the most famous of the Alpines, thanks to its countless successes around the world. As soon as it was born, in fact, the A110 was immediately introduced on the race tracks and immediately began to make itself known, enjoying numerous successes. The A110, especially in the first versions, those with smaller engines, also served as a "school" for numerous aspiring pilots, some of whom emerged and became very famous, such as the Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi, then landed in Formula 1. After the first successes, more than anything else limited almost to the national sphere, the A110 underwent the first engine transplant in 1964, passing to the 1108 cm³ unit coming from the R8 Major and capable of delivering 60 HP of power, which later became 86 HP. In 1967, the A110 benefited from the 1255 cm³ engine, introduced the previous year for the R8 Gordini 1300. This engine produced 95 DIN hp, but there were two other engines of similar displacement (1296 and then 1289 cm³) capable of delivering respectively 110 and 72 CV DIN and it was thanks to these engines that the A110 began to impose itself on everyone's attention, establishing itself continuously in numerous rallies. But the definitive step came in 1969, when the A110 received the 1565 cm³ engine already mounted on the R16 and elaborated in such a way as to reach powers between 83 and 148 HP. In this way, the A110 achieved top speeds in the range of 210-215 km.