Alpine A110 R Le Mans is a £120,000 special edition

Resplendent in its white and blue 24 Heures du Mans livery, it’s still a subtle and elegant treatment. The bonnet, roof and rear wing all feature a thin double line of blue. The Alpine lettering, Alpine badges, wing endplates and wheel lips are all blue too. The smallest change? A shark fin on the rear carbon deck, that’s a nod to the A480 LMH car. There’s a Le Mans signature on the spoilers, side sills and headrests, while the circuit’s layout can be seen engraved on the sun visor.

Are too many so-called limited editions coming out of the factory without an actual build number these days? The A110 R Le Mans breaks that trend, with plates denoting each car of the hundred to be made, also featuring the Le Mans signature.

Of course, Alpine’s history at the legendary endurance race predates the most recent A480. In fact, it’s 60 years this year since Alpine first competed at La Sarthe, with the M63 in 1963. In the years to follow it was back a number of times in various classes, with the A442B’s overall win of 1978 being the peak of the marque’s success. 

Would we have hoped for the option of a colour scheme aping that most famous yellow, black and white machine? Perhaps, though it might have come out similar to the ‘Tour de Corse 75’ edition. Regardless, the colours it does wear are those Alpine’s next hypercar challenger – also to be revealed this weekend – will bring to next year’s race. 

A sticky point for the Le Mans? It’s not cheap, starting from £120,000, or a sturdy £30,000 more than the standard A110 R. Even so, for those dedicated fans of Alpine and Le Mans, we suspect 100 might not be enough.