Alpine (of the A110 type) experience
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2025 12:16 pm
So a few weeks back Mr @scotta forwarded an email from Alpine inviting people to apply to join an experience day at Knockhill. I stuck my details in and kinda forgot about it, until I got a phone call confirming my place. And so did Scott. And his eldest boy. And his missus. And his brother. And niece. And her husband. And several other people he knows…… 
The circuit already uses A110’s as their experience cars, and the format was to pair each attendee up with an instructor to complete a couple of “do it like this” laps, before swapping seats. They also invited existing customers to take their Alpine’s on-track.
Fast forward to the day, and during registration I’m asked if I’m taking my car on track. No – I don’t own an Alpine. “That’s OK – the session is open. Up to you”. Scott had actually mused the evening before that this might happen, but I was still a bit surprised at this – so went with an “erm – maybe?” and got signed on accordingly.
So it turned out that the open track sessions were completely separated from the experience sessions. Which makes complete sense when I actually give it any thought. Scott – spitting feathers about his A110 being out of action for this opportunity - headed off to the pits in his BMW like a scalded rat. By the time I’d rolled round there everything was emptied from his boot, he and one of his boys had their helmets on and – they were off.
I’m still somewhat hesitant at this point. I don’t have track cover on my normal insurance, and I hadn’t arranged any specific track cover. Whilst I wasn’t aware of any issue with the car that might prevent me taking it on a track, I hadn’t done any prep on the car. And whilst I know Knockhill, I don’t know Knockhill. Really not sure this is wise?
But the weather is gorgeous. Track-spec brake fluid put in for Anglesey is less than a year old and pads, discs and tyres are all good. I have my helmet with me as I assumed we’d need one for the experience sessions (we didn’t) and the track is currently occupied by Scott in his BMW, one of his A110 owning mates, and….. there is no and. Just two cars.
Danger levels rather massively reduced compared to any normal track-day > my brain risk needle is swinging from “not sure this is wise” to “could you really allow such an opportunity pass you by?”. All loose items out of the car. Helmet on. Scott’s other son suddenly appears at my passenger door – already with his lid on. And we’re trundling down the pit lane.
I wasn’t setting any lap records – avoiding pretty much all kerbs and braking earlier than I needed for most corners. Still reaching well into 4th along the main straight (3rd runs to 101mph, but I wasn’t looking at the speedo). Just did two 6-lap sessions to manage heat and ensure I didn’t get too carried away. But yeah. That was pretty cool, and a nice unexpected surprise.
A110
I’ve passengered in Scott’s A110. I like them. I was lucky to be put in the group for one of the two A110S present – so 300bhp rather than 250bhp. And also lucky to be paired with a young instructor who was knowledgeable on both car and circuit, and encouraged me to press on and use all of the track. No helmets required as they apply an 80mph limit for the day (and apparently according to MrA have the stability control set to Sport as opposed to Track). The speed limit is fairly loosely applied – I backed off at 95 rather than 80 on my laps and he was OK with that. As noted above – I don’t know Knockhill well. The vast majority of my circuit “experience” comes from Project Cars 2, and whilst it’s a great sim – it’s invariably very strict on track limits. Drop your outside wheel fully over the white line and you have an immediate penalty, so you drive to those limits. My instructor unwound big chunks of that – getting all wheels fully up onto the exit kerb at McIntyres so the car is cornering all the way from there to the entry of Butchers. Use lots of entry kerb at the chicane, and again loads of exit kerb at Clarks. It would have been much better if I’d received this guidance before I took the Evora out of course, but hey-ho. And the A110S? Not many laps, so all feelings are really “initial impression” only, but it felt very nicely balanced and you could definitely tell it’s light in the way it moved. Decent steering feel. A bit stiffer than the Evora, so better suited to the track environment, and the OEM PS4 (notS) were finding reasonable grip. I didn’t have the opportunity to stand on the brakes, but assume they’ll be decent with the car lacking mass. DCT changes are really fast, and whilst I still love manuel, there’s no arguing with the efficiency. And yes they are quick little cars. The last 1500rpm or so approaching the redline felt particularly urgent. My only issue was my elbow hitting the side bolster of the seat (which are the same as in Scott’s car) when I needed to apply larger amounts of lock – so this mainly annoyed at the hairpin. I assume this was a wheel / seat height / position issue that I could dial out, but wasn’t going to mess around with it whilst driving. TL;DR? – I still like A110’s.
Edit: Imgur still playing up
Other shizzle
They had a pair of simulators set up in the pits with a fastest-lap competition going on. Some F1 game (driving an Alpine obvs) at Silverstone (full circuit). It was more arcade than sim. Supervised – everyone was allowed only one session comprising 8 laps. Rig was all good Moza kit, but the the wheel force feedback was set at a low level, and the brake pedal in particular was pretty non-feelsome. It took about 5 laps just to settle into the rig, game, and car (I’ve never played a game with F1 cars before) and to understand where track limits were triggered – these were pretty strict and any transgression invalidated your lap. So you only really had around 3 laps by the time you’d found any rhythm.
My final lap was my quickest, and put me on the top of the leaderboard. To be fair I reckon there was still at least another full second pretty easily available with another 10 laps more seat time, but them rules are them rules. All was good until some absolute bellend went faster by 0.08 seconds. At the end of the day I remained in second, and the dicknose remained first.
They also had the electric A290 and A390 there. There are several overlays of A110 "design language" on the latter - particularly the rear hatch/glass area.
The circuit already uses A110’s as their experience cars, and the format was to pair each attendee up with an instructor to complete a couple of “do it like this” laps, before swapping seats. They also invited existing customers to take their Alpine’s on-track.
Fast forward to the day, and during registration I’m asked if I’m taking my car on track. No – I don’t own an Alpine. “That’s OK – the session is open. Up to you”. Scott had actually mused the evening before that this might happen, but I was still a bit surprised at this – so went with an “erm – maybe?” and got signed on accordingly.
So it turned out that the open track sessions were completely separated from the experience sessions. Which makes complete sense when I actually give it any thought. Scott – spitting feathers about his A110 being out of action for this opportunity - headed off to the pits in his BMW like a scalded rat. By the time I’d rolled round there everything was emptied from his boot, he and one of his boys had their helmets on and – they were off.
I’m still somewhat hesitant at this point. I don’t have track cover on my normal insurance, and I hadn’t arranged any specific track cover. Whilst I wasn’t aware of any issue with the car that might prevent me taking it on a track, I hadn’t done any prep on the car. And whilst I know Knockhill, I don’t know Knockhill. Really not sure this is wise?
But the weather is gorgeous. Track-spec brake fluid put in for Anglesey is less than a year old and pads, discs and tyres are all good. I have my helmet with me as I assumed we’d need one for the experience sessions (we didn’t) and the track is currently occupied by Scott in his BMW, one of his A110 owning mates, and….. there is no and. Just two cars.
Danger levels rather massively reduced compared to any normal track-day > my brain risk needle is swinging from “not sure this is wise” to “could you really allow such an opportunity pass you by?”. All loose items out of the car. Helmet on. Scott’s other son suddenly appears at my passenger door – already with his lid on. And we’re trundling down the pit lane.
I wasn’t setting any lap records – avoiding pretty much all kerbs and braking earlier than I needed for most corners. Still reaching well into 4th along the main straight (3rd runs to 101mph, but I wasn’t looking at the speedo). Just did two 6-lap sessions to manage heat and ensure I didn’t get too carried away. But yeah. That was pretty cool, and a nice unexpected surprise.
A110
I’ve passengered in Scott’s A110. I like them. I was lucky to be put in the group for one of the two A110S present – so 300bhp rather than 250bhp. And also lucky to be paired with a young instructor who was knowledgeable on both car and circuit, and encouraged me to press on and use all of the track. No helmets required as they apply an 80mph limit for the day (and apparently according to MrA have the stability control set to Sport as opposed to Track). The speed limit is fairly loosely applied – I backed off at 95 rather than 80 on my laps and he was OK with that. As noted above – I don’t know Knockhill well. The vast majority of my circuit “experience” comes from Project Cars 2, and whilst it’s a great sim – it’s invariably very strict on track limits. Drop your outside wheel fully over the white line and you have an immediate penalty, so you drive to those limits. My instructor unwound big chunks of that – getting all wheels fully up onto the exit kerb at McIntyres so the car is cornering all the way from there to the entry of Butchers. Use lots of entry kerb at the chicane, and again loads of exit kerb at Clarks. It would have been much better if I’d received this guidance before I took the Evora out of course, but hey-ho. And the A110S? Not many laps, so all feelings are really “initial impression” only, but it felt very nicely balanced and you could definitely tell it’s light in the way it moved. Decent steering feel. A bit stiffer than the Evora, so better suited to the track environment, and the OEM PS4 (notS) were finding reasonable grip. I didn’t have the opportunity to stand on the brakes, but assume they’ll be decent with the car lacking mass. DCT changes are really fast, and whilst I still love manuel, there’s no arguing with the efficiency. And yes they are quick little cars. The last 1500rpm or so approaching the redline felt particularly urgent. My only issue was my elbow hitting the side bolster of the seat (which are the same as in Scott’s car) when I needed to apply larger amounts of lock – so this mainly annoyed at the hairpin. I assume this was a wheel / seat height / position issue that I could dial out, but wasn’t going to mess around with it whilst driving. TL;DR? – I still like A110’s.
Edit: Imgur still playing up
Other shizzle
They had a pair of simulators set up in the pits with a fastest-lap competition going on. Some F1 game (driving an Alpine obvs) at Silverstone (full circuit). It was more arcade than sim. Supervised – everyone was allowed only one session comprising 8 laps. Rig was all good Moza kit, but the the wheel force feedback was set at a low level, and the brake pedal in particular was pretty non-feelsome. It took about 5 laps just to settle into the rig, game, and car (I’ve never played a game with F1 cars before) and to understand where track limits were triggered – these were pretty strict and any transgression invalidated your lap. So you only really had around 3 laps by the time you’d found any rhythm.
My final lap was my quickest, and put me on the top of the leaderboard. To be fair I reckon there was still at least another full second pretty easily available with another 10 laps more seat time, but them rules are them rules. All was good until some absolute bellend went faster by 0.08 seconds. At the end of the day I remained in second, and the dicknose remained first.
They also had the electric A290 and A390 there. There are several overlays of A110 "design language" on the latter - particularly the rear hatch/glass area.
I stuck my head my head in when they returned to the pits with a “That wasn’t 80 mph