One of the most interesting cars we’ve seen in the last few years from Renault is this very cool Alpine A110-50 concept that was designed and developed from zero. The car features a carbon fiber bodywork covered by a beautiful reinterpretation of the original Alpine Blue finish, along with some attractive orange accents. Since this was designed as a track-focused vehicle, it’s no wonder that it has a bunch of aerodynamic components like the protruding side skirts, front spoiler, large wing and a rear diffuser.
We notice the half-domed additional lamps which benefit from LED yellow lightning, reminding us of the original Alpine A110 Berlinette which is one of the best rally cars that ever existed and this year it’s celebrating its 50th birthday. Set to debut this weekend at the F1 Monaco Grand Prix, this Alpine A110-50 concept features air intakes on both of its sides and rides on 21-inch alloys that have a black finish and come with road-homologated Michelin tires.
Once you open up those extremely cool scissor doors you’ll get to see a competition-focused cockpit which features full harness belts, Sabelt bucket seats, racing steering wheel which has a built-in color screen, along with a roll cage. We should mention that the screen uses the same technology found on the Formula Renault 3.5 single-seater for providing the driver with all the relevant info that he needs.
Hiding underneath that lightweight carbon fiber body is a strengthened version of the tubular chassis found on the Megane Trophy, with both models having the same wheelbase length of 2,625 mm. However, the track of the Alpine A110-50 concept is a little bit wider as it measures 1,680 mm in the front and 1,690 mm at the back. Renault said that the vehicle weighs only 880 kg (1,940 pounds) while the weight distribution is almost ideal, with 47.8% in the front and the rest for the back.
The concept is powered by the V4Y engine found in the Megane Trophy, which is Renault’s version of Nissan’s VQ 3.5-liter V6 unit. For this model it is rated at 400 hp @ 7,200 rpm and has a peak torque of 311 lb.-ft (422 Nm) which is reached at 6,200 rpm. The engine is linked to a 6-speed, semi-automatic, sequential gearbox which sends those ponies to the rear wheels with the help of a limited slip differential.
The French automaker mentioned that they wanted to provide a very good driver feedback which is why the concept has not been fitted with any sort of driving aids like traction control or ABS so it should be quite fun to drive this beast. To provide the necessary stopping power, Renault’s engineers have equipped the A110-50 with steel discs that have a 365 mm diameter with 6-piston calipers for the front wheels, while at the back it features 330 mm discs that have 4-piston calipers.
Renault didn’t say anything about the possibility of putting this concept into production, but most likely they plan on reviving the Alpine brand which can only be a good thing since in the last few years Renault hasn’t really made any interesting cars.
Source: Renault
