Alpine A110S
REPORT 2
£60,645 OTR/£71,689 as tested/£749pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
Does the concept of a lightweight dissolve on contact with Real Life?
DRIVER
Ollie Marriage
MONTH TWO WITH A NEW CAR AND IT’S OFF TO STIG. GREAT. AT LEAST it’s not new new the A S came to us with miles on the clock Run in enough to take it down to Dunsfold present it to the white clad auto assassin and stand well back
Now Stig isn’t the biggest fan of the standard A Too soft and squidgy said the sad slope of his shoulders when back in series it put in a min secs lap Which made it faster than a Toyota Supra and matched a Ferrari F How much faster is it with stiffer suspension uprated brakes wider stickier tyres a wing and an extra bhp?
Er secs Hmm Not a whole hill of beans is it? A min secs lap I’m struggling slightly to see why the gap wasn’t bigger This time round it’s running on Michelin’s track day targeted Pilot Sport Cup rubber a option conditions were warm and ideal and looking at how hard he was going Stig wasn’t having an off day He’s never had one of those
Yes the A S is a kg heavier boasts no more torque lb ft and I suspect the optional carbon fibre rear wing a mildly bonkers
although you do get a carbon front splitter thrown in actually creates more drag than it does aero benefit but the main factoid I want to throw in here is that stiffer isn’t necessarily faster
But in the grand scheme of things the time improvement is irrelevant next to the fact Stig much preferred the A S I could read so much into the perky folding of his arms crisper chassis better balance and control less understeer I don’t dispute any of that But Stig is a binary being faster better But faster better on road More investigation is required on this and will come in the form of a roadtrip to Ireland next month