Ahead of the A110 R’s debut earlier this week, Alpine had a surprise for deep-pocketed Formula 1 fans. Meet Fernando Alonso’s version, a limited edition special with an incredible €148,000 price tag in France where the regular R retails for €105,000. Needless to say you are looking at the most expensive car ever sold by Renault’s performance division.
Only 32 will be made, and there’s a very good reason for that. The veteran racer won 32 races during his illustrious F1 career, which began in 2001 at the Australian Grand Prix with Minardi. As you may have heard, the Alpine driver has signed a multi-year contract with Aston Martin to replace Sebastien Vettel. 41-year-old Fernando Alonso Díaz has made it clear that he has no plans to retire anytime soon.
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Okay, but what’s so special about this car to warrant a huge €43,000 premium? Well, it comes exclusively in matte blue to reflect the Alpine F1 car and sports Alonso’s signature on the rear windshield. The French flag was replaced with Alonso’s blue-yellow-orange scheme, with the latter colors having been used on the brake calipers and in the cabin. The interior gets the driver’s signature embroidered onto the headrests.
Perhaps the biggest change is for the carbon fiber hood as it has been painted in a matte blue. There are also individually numbered plaques to show the exclusivity of the special edition while the sun visor carries Alonso’s motto: “There is more than one road to the top of a mountain.” A signed replica helmet is included with the purchase of the vehicle.
The A110 R Fernando Alonso retains the turbocharged 1.8-liter petrol engine with 300 horsepower and 340 Newton-meters (250 pound-feet) of torque. Specific to track use is a lowered ride height of 10 millimeters (0.4 inches). It gets 18-inch carbon fiber wheels with 320 mm Brembo brakes and all the other goodies from the R.
As a final note, it’s worth mentioning this isn’t the first sports car to be signed by Fernando Alonso as there was also a Ferrari 599 GTB about a decade ago, built by Maranello to celebrate 60 years of F1 triumph.
