Driver Scaff
Car Alpine A310 1600VE 73
Deep Forest Time 126.138
Report
The Alpine A310 sits right in the middle of quite an illustrious family tree, as a direct successor to the truly beautiful (and successful) A110 and forerunner to the unsuccessful, but wonderful A610 (later GTA). So how does this little rear engined rear wheel drive car stack up?
Well this particular example has had a full set of suspension and serious drivetrain modifications, the set-up was carried out on S2 tyres, with the lap time and other figures obtained with medium racing tyres fitted.
Looks wise its an acquired taste, looking very much a 70s car, its simply not as pretty as the previous A110. Then again few cars are. However the A310 does have a character all of its own and its looks certainly do grow on you.
Additionally if the entire idea of putting the engine in totally the wrong place for a balanced car is one you find absurd, then quite simply this is not the car for you.
As a point of interest, it is rumoured that the car in the short film Rendezvous, is not actually a Ferrari, but an Alpine A310. The sound was then added during editing. As the maker of the film has always refused to confirm the actual car or driver details, it still remains a subject of much discussion.
Scaff's 👍
As a starter car for anyone new to the world of rear engined rear wheel drive cars the A310 makes an excellent choice. Modified as we see here it displays all of the normal RR characteristics, but in a balanced and controllable manner.
Understeer, typically the bane of RR cars is well controlled as long as you adopt the characteristic RR slow in, fast out approach. When the understeer does set in, its well balanced and you get plenty of notice, this allows you to tuck the front in with a slight lift before the understeer develops to far.
As would be expected both power-on and lift-off oversteer are well developed in the A310, they are both readily and easily exploitable. The slight rear toe-in ensures that you can control both these characteristics, as it slightly delays the onset of the rules of physics. Bluntly put, given the fact that the very large rear overhang on the A310 is almost all engine; the back is going to step out. In my book, this can only be a good thing, as long as you are the one in control.
Its both easy to initiate and control a slide in the Alpine, even when fitted with the stickier racing tyres the back end can be coaxed out and held in a manner that makes you feel on top of the world. Fit sports or particularly normal tyres and the fun just keeps coming, it may not be the fastest way around a circuit, but it does raise a very big smile.
Scaff's 👎
Ive really struggled for this one, as Im finding it very difficult to dislike anything about this car. Once you get over the looks and realise that power is just not important for this car; it just starts to drag you in.
Stick any type of tyres on it, take it to a range of circuits and I had a blast on all of them, I just did not dislike a single thing about this car. Im sure some of you may find areas of the car to criticise, but to be blunt, I wont give a damn. I love this car.
Spec
202bhp@6,250rpm
173ft/lbs@5,300rpm
902kgs
0-30 2.18 secs
0-60 5.52 secs
1-100 12.78 secs
0-100-0 16.78 secs
1/4 Mile 13.773 secs @ 103mph
Top Speed 159.07mph
Modifications
Racing Exhaust
Racing Chip
NA Tune Stage 2
R3 Tyres for the lap, N2 and S2 tyres for fun (front & back)
Racing Brakes
Brake Balance Controller
Racing Suspension
Fully Customised Transmission
Triple Plate Clutch
Racing Flywheel
Fully Customised LSD
Weight Reduction Stage 1
Port Polish
Engine Balance
Oil Change
All are shown Front then Rear
Spring Rates = 7.0 / 5.5
Ride Height = 115 / 120
Damper
Bound = 2 / 3
Rebound = 4 / 5
Camber = 2.0 / 1.3
Toe = 0 / -1
Stabilisers = 3 / 2
LSD = 10/40/20
Brake Balance = 4 / 3
Gearbox = Auto 9 (adjust as required)
Once I purchased this car from the dealer I noticed that for a car of this size it comes with a pretty small engine. A 276HP 3.0L Inline 6. Not much of a powerplant for a 1680KG car. But, that's stock, and this is BESTuners. Let's see what we can squeeze out of it. 
Click here if you wanna go for a ride in this awesome car.
I gotta learn how to drive better now 
