Alpine A110 first ride: will it be a Porsche 718 Cayman beater?

We’ve seen the Alpine A110 production car – the model that revives the famous Alpine name – on the show stand at Geneva and we’ve learnt all about its technical specifications, but we won’t actually drive the car until October. However, I have just spent a day riding in it at Renault’s Aubevoye test facility in the north of France. 

Before I was allowed to belt myself into the A110’s fixed-back bucket seat, Chief Engineer David Twohig and Product Planning Director Eric Reymann took a few minutes to set the scene. "We started doing some customer clinics as far back as 2012," says Reymann, "first with pure car guys, people who owned specific Porsches, Caterhams or Lotuses, and then with everybody else. We found there was an appetite for a sports car that could be comfortable to use every day, but that was also fun on the circuit."

Alpine A110 makes Goodwood Festival of Speed dynamic debut

"We wanted to build a car that was a pleasure to drive on the road at 40mph," adds Twohig, "but still bloody good when you go and do a track day every couple of months." From there, Twohig and his team defined the A110’s technical specifications, placing lightness front and centre. 

"If the car is light,’ he continues, "that allows you to bring the spring rates down, so you don’t have a super stiff car that’s a pain to drive every day. That’s why the A110’s body is made from aluminium. 

"The second important thing is the suspension set-up. We’ve got double wishbones all-round, which is very unusual in this class. The 718 Cayman, for instance, has MacPherson struts on its front axle."

It’s worth revisiting chapter one of the vehicle dynamics textbook here, because those double wishbones, as well as the lightweight build, really do underpin every one of the A110’s dynamic characteristics. Double wishbones allow the engineers to control wheel camber in hard cornering, whereas a less sophisticated strut arrangement does not. By controlling wheel camber, you’re keeping the tyre contact patch flat to the road surface, rather than allowing it to ‘fall over’ into positive camber, where it can’t grip effectively. 

In a car with strut suspension, that can be achieved by fitting whacking great anti-roll bars to stop the body from leaning over in a bend. But that simply ruins the ride quality. 

"Because we have double wishbones all-round," explains Twohig, "we don’t have to fight against the body roll. That’s why the A110 uses very small, hollow anti-roll bars, which are really good for the ride."

With weight kept to a minimum – just 1080kg at the kerb – and that double wishbone layout, the foundations of a good sports car are in place. The A110 should be agile and grippy (even on its relatively modest Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres), with a pliant ride quality and good body control. Everything else should simply follow along from there.