BBC’s Top Gear America has released the footage that reveals the exact moment that the Alpine A110 caught fire, with Chris Harris behind the wheel and Eddie Jordan riding shotgun.
The accident, which happened at the end of January while the crew was filming for the latest season, is still being investigated by Renault’s revived brand, Alpine, so don’t expect to be cracking the mystery.
Now, back to the footage, which shows Harris having a blast while putting the French sports car through its paces during the Monte Carlo Rally’s SS17 stage. Monkey drives it like he stole it, to quote his co-pilot, Eddie Jordan, and is impressed with its dynamics, when he gets a concerning error: “Electric Failure Danger”.
Watch: Is The 2018 Alpine A110 Good Enough To Worry Porsche’s 718 Cayman?
Naturally, the Top Gear presenter pulls over to assess the situation, when he sees smoke coming from the engine bay. Flames were already devouring the rear lower side of the Alpine A110, so the duo was left with no alternative other than abandoning ship.
The enire car was engulfed by flames seconds later, which left it completely destroyed. The temperature was so high that its tires exploded, but by then, nobody was anywhere near it.
At the moment, Alpine isn’t letting anyone hop inside the A110, as they have “frozen all driving activities for pre-production cars”.
Right… so… that went… well… ? #TopGear @harrismonkey pic.twitter.com/BMlsnLAgl9
— BBC Two (@BBCTwo) April 1, 2018
Engage Chris Harris mode #TopGear @harrismonkey pic.twitter.com/DllzMvcYph
— Top Gear (@BBC_TopGear) April 1, 2018