In a move that US revolutionary war hero Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette would no doubt approve of, Alpine is looking to conquer the 2023 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
The French sports car manufacturer will do so with a heavily modified version of its track-ready A110 R coupe. Known appropriately as the A110 Pikes Peak, this one-off was developed in conjunction with Signatech.
Downforce is generated by the car’s aggressive front splitters and deflectors, and the gargantuan rear wing. An inlet on the roof helps to funnel air into the mid-mounted engine, and also serves as a mounting point for a shark fin that bisects the aforementioned rear wing.
Closed-off wheels, large side skirts, and a big rear diffuser finish off the A110 Pikes Peak’s aero package.
As both France and the US have flags slathered in red, white and blue, the car’s colour scheme honours both countries. The tri-colour strip down the centre of the bonnet pay tribute to the French flag, while the array of stars on the roof acknowledges the home of the Second Amendment.
Up front, the A110’s headlight array has been replaced by a set of thin LED strips. At the rear, the tail lights now reside in three vertical strips: two along the side rails of the rear wing, and one on the central ridge of the shark fin.
Alpine says the A110 Pikes Peak’s engine has been tuned to deliver 373kW (500hp), while weight has been trimmed to 950kg.
For reference, the most powerful road-going version of the A110 has a 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine making 221kW and 340Nm.
The lightest road-legal model, the A110 R, tips the scales at 1082kg, and is said to be able to complete the 0-100km/h dash in 3.9 seconds.
Although Alpine has not provided any indicative performance figures, the A110 Pikes Peak should be a little quicker than the even the fastest street-legal variants.
The Alpine A110 Pikes Peak will compete in the Time Attack 1 category, which features modified versions of road-going cars.
Alpine’s attempt to tackle Pikes Peak will be driven by Raphaël Astier, who won the FIA’s 2022 R-GT championship in the rally-tuned A110 R-GT.
He has also competed four times on the Pikes Peak hill climb, managing an Attack 1 victory in 2019 in a 2017 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Turbo, and then winning the Open category in 2021 with a 2015 Porsche BBI Turbo Cup.
Astier will begin testing and fine-tuning the car next week, and will then fly to Colorado to complete preparations for this year’s race, which takes place on June 25.
MORE: Everything Alpine A110
