The Alpine A210 was a sports prototype built and raced between 1966 and 1969.
History[]
After the success with the M63 and M64, Apline developed a new race car for the 1966 season. The car was to be used in national and international sports car racing. The A210 had an extremely aerodynamic body, the defining characteristic was the long tail with the two side fins was.
The car had two different transmission variants. For short sprint races it used a 5-speed Hewland gearbox. When at events such as the 24-hour race at Le Mans, where the A210 debuted, a Porsche gearbox was used.
The Alpines were raced at Le Mans between 1966 and 1969 where the cars were in the under 2-litre class. The engine ranged from a 85 kW (115 hp) 1-litre Gordini unit, to a 1.5-litre Agreggat unit which was fuel-injected and produced 131 KW (178 HP). On the long straights at Le Mans the cars had a top speed of 288 km/h. For a car with such a small engine, this was a huge top speed.
The A210 marks the first peak in circuit races for Alpine. After the 1969 season, the French manufacturer moved it's efforts to target rally sport. Only in the mid-1970s did it return to racing, but this time it was under the leadership of Renault.