Renault reinterprets the Alpine A110 to commemorate its 50th Birthday ByMike Hanlon

06:29 May 25, 2012

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Renault reinterprets the Alpine A110 to commemorate its 50th Birthday

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It's fifty years ago since the Renault Alpine A110 Berlinette was introduced as one of the most beautiful road cars of its time, embodying light weight and sweet handling and furthering the long and successful Renault motorsport heritage by winning rallies all over the world.

Not surprisingly, such a memorable automotive birthday has precipitated a very appealing concept car.

The Renault Alpine A110-50, is a reinterpretation of the original Alpine's key features in a thoroughly modern way. It has focussed on the most characteristic design features of the original A110 with newly sculpted flowing bodywork.

Some of the other design features you can see carried across include the half-domed lamps becoming full LED yellow lighting and the 3D rear window which reveals the mid-rear engine.

Air intakes on each side echo the ducts on the rear wheel arches of the original Berlinette.

The right-hand duct is for gearbox cooling, the left for the engine bay.

Produced by Faster, the carbon-fibre bodywork features a new shade of blue which refreshes and reinterprets the famous original ‘Alpine Blue’.

One of the most interesting aspects of the reinterpretation is the shape - unlike the original which was built before ground effects design was invented, the aerodynamic efficiency of the A110-50 is largely generated by ground effect.

At the front, a splitter hidden in the bumper generates low pressure, which results in significant aerodynamic downforce.

At the rear, a diffuser accelerates air flow beneath the floor. Ground effect therefore accounts for more than one-third of the car’s downforce, with the rest coming from an adjustable rear wing.

The research and design of this air flow was conducted using Computational Fluid Dynamics, a cutting-edge technology used particularly in F1. CFD involves studying movements of a fluid, or their effects, by resolving digitally the equations which govern the fluid.

This technique was used by Renault Sport Technologies primarily in order to fine-tune the aerodynamics and study the behaviour of the New Me?gane Trophy as a function of air flow.

Every opening panel does so with dynamics worthy of the finest GTs, with the bonnet hinged at the front and the engine bay cover opening towards the rear. The doors feature a scissor motion.

Produced with the renowned expertise of Renault Sport Technologies, the Renault Alpine A110-50 concept car is imbued with the world of motorsport.

It benefits from the experience gained from the racing Me?gane Trophy by using the same technical platform.

Developed on the same technical platform as Me?gane Trophy, the Renault Alpine A110-50 concept car also boasts the same chief technical characteristics.

It runs the Renault V4Y engine block, a 3.5 litre 24-valve 400hp V6 mounted in a mid-rear position.

The crankcase (semi-wet), moving parts (pistons, connecting rods, crankshaft), valve train (camshafts and valve springs) and exhaust system are specific compared to the version featured on productions models.