RallySport Magazine March 2017

FEATURE: RENAULT ALPINE A110
TECH SPEC
Body: Unitary all glassfibre, central
steel tube with subframes front and
rear.
Motor: 4-cylinder in line, pushrodoperated
valves, rear-mounted
1596cc. 155bhp at 7,000rpm.
Gearbox: 5-speed.
Suspension: Wishbones in front, swing
axle with diagonal radius rods in
rear, plus double dampers
Brakes: Discs. Weight: 680kg
helmets, the heat inside the tiny cockpit
was almost unbearable.
Those were the bad things. The good
things more than outweighed them.
The car was absurdly easy to drive,
just like a go kart. The steering was very
direct and responsive and on gravel the
car felt so precise it was like no other
rally car I have driven, before or since.
In spite of the pronounced rear
weight bias, oversteer was only present
when provoked, either by flicking the
car or using lots of power.
The engine was superb - crisp and
flexible and with lots of medium range
torque. The rev limit was 7000rpm, but
the car was so quick I realised early
in the event it was not necessary to
stretch it that far.
The traction, even on the skinny 165 x
15 Michelins fitted by the Alpine factory,
was exceptional, better than our 1970
championship-winning R8 Gordini.
It was obvious that barring incidents,
the car was easily fast enough to win
over the XU1 Torana of Colin Bond and
the Datsun 260Z of Stewart McLeod.
The Don Capasco was a long, hard
rally, with many of the competitive
stages being run three times over the
weekend. I think we did the Mineshaft
four times.
There were some minor dramas,
including a failed starter motor that
forced Jeff and I to both get out and
push when I nosed off the road and
stalled the engine on a stage, and a flat
rear tyre on the very last competitive
section.
We arrived at the final control with
the rear tyre flapping about, to the
delight of the assembled TV crews. We
won the rally by over nine minutes.
Jeff Beaumont had his own problems,
which became my problems too. The
event was the first in Australia run to
kilometre distances instead of miles,
and the usual “point two, turn left at T”
became very exciting with the speed
of the car and the braking distance
reduced by a factor of 0.62.
We went very close to “straight on at
T” a few times before we realised the
problem!
Considering the late start, limited
service and lack of spares, the win was
unexpected and all the more satisfying
for it. Great car, great event.
MARCH 2017 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 37