1974 Renault Alpine - Alpine A110 1300

The French rally legend

Converted into a competition car around 25 years ago

Rallied for years in the Austrian championship

Rebuilt engine with no competition use since

In 1962, Alpine introduced the A110 as the “Berlinette Tour de France”. The name, borrowed from the famous sports-car race across France, was very much a statement of intent. It could already be read as a warning shot in the direction of the opposition, because the new A110 proved remarkably quick.

Jean Rédélé had founded Alpine in 1955 and quickly realised what could be achieved with mass-produced Renault components when weight and centre of gravity were kept low enough. Beneath its glassfibre body sat a backbone chassis, while Renault-sourced four-cylinder engines worked away at the rear. The close relationship with Renault provided access to a broad range of engines and allowed Alpine to develop the car continuously. The A110 became faster and more powerful. From initially modest capacities eventually came 1.6-litre versions producing well over 100 hp. Today, finding one’s way through the jungle of A110 variants is no simple matter.

The Alpine A110 was small, light and looked almost dainty beside many of its rivals. In rallying, that proved to be precisely the advantage. While others needed ever more power, the French car made do with remarkably little car. At barely more than 700 kilograms, there was simply no need for horsepower in abundance. More importantly, the Alpine was agile, compact and damnably quick on twisting special stages. Its rear-mounted engine provided plenty of traction – and allowed those who knew what they were doing to throw it around at spectacular angles.

By the end of the 1960s, the works Alpines had swept much of the opposition aside in the French championship. Alpine then set its sights further afield, taking the fight into European and international rallying, ultimately fielding the A110 1800 in Group 4 trim. When the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers was held for the first time in 1973, the title went convincingly to the French team.

The Monte Carlo Rally in particular became one of the A110’s great stages. Ove Andersson won there in 1971, while in 1973 Jean-Claude Andruet, Andersson and Jean-Pierre Nicolas filled the first three places.

Then came stronger, more modern opposition, most notably Lancia’s Stratos. The A110 eventually had to surrender its place on the top step. Its recipe, however, remained compellingly simple: little weight, enough power and as little road as possible between two corners.

This Alpine A110, a road-going 1300 VC, was brought to Upper Austria by its current owner shortly before the turn of the millennium. A passionate rally driver, he had exactly one thing in mind for it: getting from A to B on special stages as quickly as possible. The Alpine was duly prepared for the job with all the necessary tricks of the trade.

Although already converted into a rally car, it still received Austrian historic individual type approval at the end of 2000. By then it had already been inspected and approved by the OSK and made its competition debut on the Pyhrn-Eisenwurzen Rally.

Over the following years, the Renault Alpine became a regular on the starting lists of the Austrian Rally Championship. More recently, things have grown quieter around both car and driver. Which is not to suggest that it has become any less serious a piece of competition machinery. Its engine was rebuilt several years ago and the car has not been raced since.

This Alpine represents exactly what it was built for in the first place: being faster than the others.