One-of-32 Alpine A110 R Alonso Edition for sale

You know you’ve made it as a racing driver when a manufacturer names a car after you. Well, that and all the trophies. Just think of the Johnny Cecotto and Roberto Ravaglia edition BMW M3s, the Tommi Makinen Mitsubishi Evos and the countless specials Lotus has produced to honour the great Jim Clark just to name a few.

Then there are the cars where a racing legend has played a part in its development, even if their name hasn’t been slapped on the boot lid. We’re all familiar with Ayrton Senna’s input on the original Honda NSX of course, while Michael Schumacher had a hand in developing the Ferrari Enzo (the seven-time Formula 1 champion would get his own special Fiat Seicento and Stilo, but the less said about those the better). This Alpine A110 R Fernando Alonso Edition, however, combines the best of both worlds, wearing the name of the two-time F1 champion and a bespoke setup developed by the man himself. 

The story behind the Fernando Alonso Edition is a bit of an awkward one. See, when Alpine unveiled its track-focused A110 at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, only one of its drivers, Esteban Ocon, was present for the car’s reveal. That’s because its star driver Alonso had announced three months prior that he’d be driving for Aston Martin the following season, and therefore had zero interest in attending media duties for a team he’d be leaving in just a few races time. So Alpine had a new variant of the A110 to show off with a special version named after a driver who was a) about to leave for a rival team and b) didn’t bother showing up for the car’s reveal. As such, there aren’t any pictures or videos (that we can find, anyway) of the ’05 and ’06 champ standing next to the car that bears his name, let alone driving it. 

However, that shouldn’t take the sheen off what is, controversy aside, a properly cool F1 special. The big change was uprated dampers that could be manually lowered by 10mm, which in turn increased stiffness by 5 per cent, for a setup honed by Alonso around the Barcelona GP circuit. It was also packed with visual upgrades, some more subtle than others, like a matte black vinyl on the boot lid, orange brake callipers, Alonso’s yellow, orange and blue motif on the door inserts, and his signature on the dash and bonnet.

Some neat touches to what is otherwise a standard A110 R, which is to say you get the same 1.8-litre turbo four banger with 300hp as the non-Alonso model. Carbon wheels came as standard, as did the F1-derived matte paint, though the Alonso Edition does continue the blue hue onto the bonnet, whereas on the standard car it’s all glossy carbon. You also get the R’s racy Sabelt carbon bucket seats, albeit with Alonso’s signature embroidered into the headrests – a handy reminder that this ain’t no ordinary R.

It was a lot, lot rarer, too. Production was capped at 32 units, a nod to the Spaniard’s F1 win tally (and given he’s still in F1 some 20 years after his first title win, there’s hope that number may one day grow). As such, it’ll cost you more than a standard R, with this 530-mile car priced at £129,900. If you can’t be bothered to muck about with the dampers to unlock Alonso’s special setup, which Alpine advises for track use only, then you can save a few bob and nab this equally blue, equally carbon wheel’d A110 R for a £44k discount. Slap on some Alonso stickers and all but the 31 other owners will be none the wiser…