The Alpine A110 doesn't feel like a brand new car, and we're not talking about its ancestors. No, the fresh 2-seat model went from exciting concept to production delay and finally reached the "interesting but not a Porsche" stage of its existence.
The reviews weren't spectacular, but we honestly hoped Top Gear would find some way to add excitement to Renault's rear-engined toy. But they didn't, instead adding gasoline to the fire... quite literally.
Back in February, we learned that the A110 suddenly caught fire. The words "managed to escape" were frequently used, but we couldn't tell just how dangerous the situation was based on just one photo. Today, the BBC released the matching video, and it's a doozy!
Chris Harris and his co-pilot, Eddie Jordan, are shown at the starting line of the Monte Carlo Rally’s SS17 stage. They're quite excited to be in the only road-going car among all those rally legends, but moments after concluding that the A110 was built for those kinds of roads, the car stalls, displaying "Electric Failure Danger" on its dashboard.
Where there's smoke, there's also fire, and the two are forced to rapidly vacate the Alpine. The company has subsequently stopped all prototype driving activities pending its investigation. So we can't tell you what happened, but will instead share the hot lap of the Top Gear track performed by the famous tame racing driver, the Stig.
Everybody seems to think that the fire originated from the engine bay, most likely a small fuel leak. Even though this is the same 1.8-liter turbo that's fitted to the Megane RS, we're not too concerned. After all, the Harris Monkey was essentially going ham in something that's not yet fit for public consumption. The world needs more cars like this, and we should let something as trivial as a fire stand in our way. After all, Mustangs, Teslas and Alfas catch fire all the time.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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