Driving the A110 R: Alpine’s Most Hardcore A110 | Henry Catchpole - The Driver’s Seat

The Alpine A110 R is billed as the ultimate version of the featherweight French sportscar. But after driving it, Henry Catchpole began wondering what the R in its name might stand for. After pondering a few possibilities, he finally hit upon the answer, which doesn’t lie with the Alpine F1 team as you might expect but rather with the greatest hot hatch of all time. A quick look at the Alpine A110 R’s numbers could also have you questioning why it commands such a price premium over the original and S variants of the A110; It has no more power than the A110 S and the weight savings are a relatively minimal 34kg or 75lb. But dig a little deeper and it’s clear why the R very much deserves its top billing. For a start, the weight saving has been hard-won and strategic. For example, the standard buckets were an already trim (28lb 14oz) each, but the R has managed to shave another (5lb 8oz) off that figure. The carbon fibre wheels by Duqueine might give you sleepless nights if you have to