Before customer deliveries of the long-awaited Alpine A110 begin, the French marque has released a series of videos showing some of the torture tests the sports car has been subjected to.
The first clip shows the A110 sliding around on a gravel surface in a bid to determine its resistance to impacts and rock chips. The second test steps things up a notch by spraying the A110 in salt to ensure it is as resistant to corrosion as possible. The third and fourth tests then involve the Porsche Cayman rival driving through salt water and dust tunnels, all to ensure the car can cope with the toughest imaginable conditions.
In reality, these tests would have been conducted numerous times on numerous prototypes throughout the car’s development and have been matched by testing in locations all around the world. Even so, it is hard to replicate the degradation a car may experience decades after being delivered.
When the A110 lands in dealerships in Premiere Edition late this year, it will arrive with a turbocharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder offering 247 hp and 236 lb-ft (320 Nm) of torque. That may not sound like a lot but thanks to the car’s extensive use of aluminium, it only weighs 1,080 kg (2,380 lbs) and can hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.5 seconds.