LITCHFIELD ALPINE A110
How to improve on perfection with a sympathetic upgrade
The Alpine A110 is one of a small handful of cars to have earned itself a coveted Autocar fivestar road test verdict in 2018. A perfect rating doesn’t necessarily indicate a car that cannot in any way be improved, however, and it is with that view that Gloucestershire tuning company Litchfield Motors has turned its considerable expertise to the development of its own A110.
Litchfield’s assessment included a trip to the Nürburgring where, in the words of company founder Iain Litchfield, the A110 was “amazing, but a touch road-biased to be really effective on track”. In time, he and his engineers will develop a suspension package for the car, an exhaust system and perhaps even offer a limited-slip differential to replace the standard open differential. The first upgrade Litchfield has made available to customers is an engine remap that costs £995 (before VAT) and increases power output from the 1.8-litre turbo engine to 300bhp and torque to 298lb ft.
Those are substantial gains of 21% in both cases, or 51bhp and 62lb ft of torque, enough to bump its power-to-weight ratio up from 226bhp/tonne to a Porsche 911 Carrera S-matching 273bhp/tonne.
But Litchfield is more concerned with the quality of the remap and how well it works out on the road than the raw numbers. In testing, the engineers stretched the four-cylinder motor all the way out to 330lb ft, but Litchfield reckoned that much shove made the car “undrivable”, so it’s been pegged back.
This uprated A110 has an explosive level of straight-line performance that you simply don’t expect. It really f lies, but without feeling compromised on the highway.
In normal driving, you’d have no idea the engine management software had been fiddled with. The boost comes in good and low in the rev range, from as little as 2000rpm, and at 4500rpm the engine gets going again for the final dash to the redline. It is a pity this motor doesn’t spin to the other side of 7000rpm, just to prolong the rush of acceleration. Throttle response is good without being razor sharp, although the same applies to a stock A110.
The chassis has no trouble coping with the extra power and, even on wet roads under a wide open throttle in second gear, traction remains good.
It isn’t always the case that more speed equates to more fun in a performance car, but here that applies. Without compromising the A110’s sublime chassis or its manners in everyday driving, Litchfield has made the Alpine more thrilling to drive than ever.