CHAMPION PEDIGREE
FOR TOPGEAR MAGAZINE’S SPORTS CAR OF THE YEAR, WINNING RUNS IN THE FAMILY
The Alpine A110 was recently crowned TopGear’s Sports Car of the Year 2018, fending off heavyhitting competition with its poise, precision, styling and lightweight engineering – uniting the judges in a way few cars have managed before. Of course, Alpine is no stranger to success. In 1971 the French company rocked the world of rallying when the original A110 Berlinette won the famously treacherous Monte Carlo Rally, also taking second place for good measure. It won the event again in 1973, this time with a top-three podium lockout en route to winning the WRC manufacturer’s title the same year.
And it wasn’t just a rally star. In 1978 Alpine took outright victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans too. In fact, Alpine has built no fewer than 70 single-seater racing cars, including two F1 machines and 37 sports prototypes for endurance racing. Most recently, Alpine won the LMP2 class at Le Mans in 2016 and 2018, finishing an impressive fifth overall both times.
The all-new, all-aluminium A110 – built in the same factory as its world-champ ancestor – takes that winning philosophy then mixes it with some very 21st-century technology along with some weight-saving genius. The Brembo brakes, for example, incorporate the parking brake into a rear caliper, saving 2.5kg alone. At its lightest, it weighs just 1080kg.
Combine that with a mid-mounted, 1.8-litre turbocharged engine making 248bhp, and this rearwheel-drive coupe shoots from 0-62mph in only 4.5 seconds. It’s also incredibly agile and accurate – thanks
of course to its light weight, but also to double-wishbone suspension – so you don’t have to go a million miles an hour to enjoy it.
At the same time, there’s still enough headroom to accommodate a helmet. And plenty of performance to explore, whether you’re on a track or a twisty pass. And if you’re not, then it’s still an effortless car to use every day, with leather seats, a digital dashboard, 7-inch touchscreen, climate control and sat nav as standard.
Then there’s the way it looks. The twin headlights, those sculpted sides and bonnet spine, the single line running from front to rear, the wraparound rear screen, and the low tail with wide wheel arches… whichever way you look at it, it’s unmistakably Alpine. There must be something in the genes.