Add in a lightweight mid-engine chassis and 252-horsepower engine, and we're more than sold. As cool as the road-going one is, we feel it's been outdone by its race car sibling, the A110 Cup.
The new A110 Cup features the same beautiful lines of the regular A110, but spiced up with a some racing seasoning. The recipe includes a contrast-colored roof, snazzy stripes along the sides, a tidy little spoiler on the tail, and a ride height that's about 1.5 inches lower. The headlights are covered, and we especially like the ones on the auxiliary lights, which are the reverse of the tape Xs you would see on classic race cars.
Mechanically there are multiple improvements, but none that would make the car wildly different from the road-going model. The standard 248-horsepower turbo four-cylinder benefits from intake and exhaust modifications for a boost of 18 hp to 266 total. It's bolted up to a six-speed sequential manual transmission. The chassis features joint-welded subframes, revised rear upper wishbone mounting points, and a roll cage. Losing most of the interior niceties also lowers the weight of the car by about 117 pounds from 2,432 pounds to 2,315. The lighter car sits on compression- and rebound-adjustable Ohlins shocks. Brakes are bigger and feature six-piston magnesium Brembo brake calipers all around.
The Alpine A110 Cup is a legitimate race car. Besides being co-developed with Alpine's World Endurance Championship car builder, Signatech, it will be eligible to race in the new Alpine Europa Cup race series. The series will begin next year after the car is released, and is sanctioned by the FIA. It's composed of six races at tracks in France, the U.K., Germany, Spain and Belgium. And yes, the Belgian race is at Spa-Francorchamps. Only 20 slots are available for the series. If you're interested in buying an A110 Cup and competing, the car costs €100,000 ($116,515), and Renault estimates less than the cost of the car to participate in the series.
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