Alpine A310

The Alpine A310 is a sports car built by French manufacturer Alpine, from 1971 to 1984.

Dieppe-based Alpine, once an independent company specialising in faster Renaults, later a Renault subsidiary, established a fine competition history with the Alpine A110 winning the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally and World Rally Championship. The successor was the Alpine A310, initially powered by tuned 17TS/Gordini four-cylinder engine, still rear-mounted. The maximum power reaching 127 PS (93 kW; 125 hp), thanks to the use of 2 twin-barrel 45 DCOE Weber carburetors.

The first model of the A310, built 1971-1976, was a car with 4 cylinder engine and 6 frontlights. In 1976 the A310 was restyled by Robert Opron and fitted with the more powerful and newly developed 90-degree 2700 cc V6 PRV engine, as used in some Renaults, Volvos and Peugeots.

The basis of the A310 was a hefty tubular steel backbone chassis, clothed in a fiberglass shell. Like the ill-fated De Lorean DMC-12, which used the same PRV powertrain, the engine was mounted longitudinally in the rear, driving forward to the wheels through a manual 5-speed gearbox. With 149 bhp (111 kW) on tap, the A310 PRV V6 was Renault's performance flagship capable of 220 km/h (137 mph) and acceptable acceleration. The tail-heavy weight distribution gave handling characteristics similar to the contemporary Porsche 911.

In the later Models (1983-1984) of the A310 a "GTPack" which was inspired from the Group4 A310 racing cars would be developed, it gained wheel arches, larger spoilers front and rear. A few Alpine A310 V6 GT Pack Kit Boulogne was built (27), the PRV-V6 was bored out to a 2.9 L motor was modified by Alpine, fitted with 3x Weber 42DCNF carburetors that pushed power to 193 hp (144 kW).