Roger Hick scoured France to find his dream A110 – and then he found it in Milton Keynes
“Alpine comes first in the name, as in Alpine Renault. There’s never been a Renault Alpine.”
So says Roger Hick, with sufficient authority for me to doubt my memory of cars such as the Renault Alpine GTA Turbo and Renault 5 Alpine Turbo. In any case, you don’t question a man, in the presence of his Alpine A110 1300 S, who has owned two Alpine Renault V6 Turbos and whose daily driver is a current-model Alpine A110.
“I bought my A110 1300 in 2000, largely in this condition but there’s nothing I haven’t changed,” says Roger. “I’d seen pictures of the model and thought: ‘That looks pretty. I’ll save up for one.’ So I scoured France for one and found this in Milton Keynes!”
The car had been restored by its then owner but, says Roger, he couldn’t get on with it for some reason: “I took it to a club track day once and a chap came up to me and said: ‘You’re doing well in that. The last time I saw this, it never faced the same way twice in a lap!'”
Bristling with lights and plastered with contemporary sponsorship stickers, the car looks every inch a works team special. However, it was never campaigned and has simply been converted to look the part. Not that it’s all mouth and no trousers.
Its R8 Gordini cross-flow engine has been converted to works spec with larger valves, forged pistons, Saenz H-beam conrods, specially made wet liners, an in-period Renault ‘Kit’ camshaft and a finned aluminium oil sump. Thanks to all these goodies, the pushrod engine now produces around 130bhp at 7200rpm (in standard form it would have produced 80 horsepower), but when the rev limiter is raised to 8000rpm, it puts out 134bhp.
“It’s a lovely, free-revving engine and, in a car weighing no more than 625kg, the power is more than ample,” says Roger, beaming. All that sauce is directed to the rear wheels via a five-speed gearbox.
Elsewhere, the car has a quick steering rack and powerful works ‘Big Brakes’ with calipers at the rear from a Matra (“they were hard to find”). The wheels are Gotti Bi-Metal items with steel rims and cast aluminium centre spokes. The glassfibre body is mounted on a steel tubular chassis.
Of course, the car’s motorsport tech is highly appropriate. The original A110 has an illustrious competition record, at the height of its powers locking out the podium of the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally and, the same year, winning the inaugural World Rally Championship.
Roger’s 1300 S is a 1971 car. “It’s hilarious to drive – noisy and quite physical,” he says. “You need a good legful to stop it. The steering is very direct too. You don’t lift off in corners because the back will come out immediately. Instead, you do a bit of lift-off to turn it in, then power out. Understanding how it will behave is key.”
Roger loves his new A110 and has done 62,000 miles in it but is in no doubt which of his 110s he prefers. He says: “If I had to choose, it would always be the older one. It’s just so engaging. I paid £20,000 for it in 2000 and now they’re about £75,000. If I had to sell it, I’d get a lot less, but if I had to buy one, I’d have to pay a lot more! I think I’ll stick.”
