The radical Alpine A110 R arrives in Singapore

Ahead of the Singapore F1 night race, Alpine Singapore has unveiled the most powerful, lightweight and track-focused vehicle in the Alpine portfolio — with the help of Alpine F1 team driver Esteban Ocon and reserve driver Jack Doohan.

This is the Alpine A110 R and it’s easily the most extreme road-going version of the A110. Said extremities are down to its weight loss regimen, improved aerodynamics and increased power gains over the A110 S.

For starters, the car has a dry weight of just 1082kg thanks to extensive use of carbon fibre on the rims – that shave 12.5 kilos (of unsprung mass), carbon fibre single-shell seats and harnesses (for an additional 6.5kg reduction), a carbon bonnet (that weighs just 3.9kg) and a carbon fibre panel in place of the rear windshield.

The carbon fibre components and removal of several elements of the passenger cabin amount to a weight loss of 34kg over the already lightweight A110 S.

Then come the aerodynamics of the A110 R, which have been tweaked to allow more cooling for the brakes and the engine but also provide additional downforce and grip. The A110 R rides 10mm lower than the A110 S, but that ride right can be further lowered by another 10mm for track use.

The rear wing (affixed via swan neck mounts) is specially designed for the A110 R’s track-focused nature, mounted 18mm further back than the A110 S to work in tandem with the extended rear diffuser to increase downforce and reduce drag.

Mounted aft of the passenger cab is the same 1.8-litre turbocharged four-pot as the A110 S, but uprated to produce 300 horsepower and 340Nm of torque.

The power is routed through a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox that allows the A110 R to sprint from 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 285km/h.

However, all the aforementioned upgrades come at a cost. Without factoring COE, the Alpine A110 R costs S$528,800, which is a rather steep S$210,000 increase over the A110 S.

The Alpine A110 R is available on an indent-only basis, no surprise given its high starting price, but it is perhaps one of the best examples of a track car that prioritises weight reduction over outright power gains. 

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This article was first published in CarBuyer.