If you follow automotive news closely, you will no doubt have missed several social media posts and articles about two recent Alpine A110 accidents involving Gendarmerie Rapid Response Teams (ERIs).

These publications did not bypass the reaction on the network, as was the case in previous years, when the same fate befell one of the old Renault Mégane RS.

However, at Auto Plus we wanted to know a little more about it. Indeed, the number of accidents involving law enforcement Berlinettes is surprisingly high, even though the cars have only been on the road since last year.

Only last year, the copy ended up on the roof of the A4 highway. In early November, a second model stopped on the rails on the A36 motorway in Doux, and a few days later a third model was injured on a speedway in the Alpes-Maritimes.

Evil tongues will undoubtedly claim that these cars “not for the police”, but we will answer with what the women and men who use these cars every day get training of a private pilot company. From 2023, this training will be held on the Nevers Magny-Cours circuit. This starts with the driving position, steering for emergency braking, naturally including evasive maneuvers, trajectories and even simulations of escort and interception.

So, barring a big coincidence, if there are already “so many” accidents with these cars, wouldn’t there be a problem on the other side? To do this, we asked some questions to individual police officers who use these cars every day, as well as to a former Renault Sport developer who was involved in the development of the Alpine A110.

Alpine A110 was seen by one of the test pilots

As we saw during the first press tests of the car in 2017, the Alpine A110 is a fun car to drive, with a very well-tuned chassis for a good synthesis between comfort and dynamism. But we raised some “flaws” (even if we can’t necessarily call them that…) about high-speed driving.

And Yannick B., a former test pilot and developer of the Alpine A110, confirmed to us that this was the manufacturer’s desire. Not because the car is quite unstable at high speed, but because this phenomenon was a consequence of the manufacturer’s specifications regarding certain moments, specifically to keep an ounce of comfort for everyday use while trying to maintain a high degree of sportiness.

“The car had to be easy to drive under normal use and remain comfortable while remaining sporty. Synthesis was not easy to find, but we found it. On the other hand, the faster we go, the greater the demand for the cash register. There’s more body movement and it quickly becomes destabilizing at very high speed.”

But for Yannick B., these losses of control at high speed are caused by more than just this chassis setup: “During training, I sometimes notice that users of rear-wheel drive models do not necessarily take into account the advantages of good tires. For 245/40 rubber, as in the case of an A110 mounted on 18 inches, for example, tires with 30% wear lose more than 60% of their performance in the wet. Losing traction with the rear axle happens quickly and requires a lot more agility. This may also be one of the reasons for several accidents that have occurred recently, especially on wet roads..

According to Alpine’s recommendations, some crews fit the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber, a semi-clamper that works very well on dry ground, but “at 30% wear, it’s a disaster in the rain because its asymmetric profile is ‘closed'”emphasizes Yanik B. “Some gendarmes even preferred to drive a Mégane RS! »

What do the police think?

And what do the police think about their new cars? We tried to contact the communication service of the National Gendarmerie, but we did not receive an answer. However, several gendarmes were kind enough to answer some of our questions about the daily use of these cars.

It is obvious that from this is that it is an efficient car and very enjoyable to drive, “even if the practical aspects are somewhat lacking on board”explains the ERI member before going on about the car’s behavior: “With the first versions it was really quite strange at high speed at times, the car seemed to wobble a bit at high speed and it didn’t make for a very fast drive”.

Remember that the gendarmes first got the A110 Pure last year, that is, the base 252 hp versions, in particular with a more comfortable chassis setup that gives it that playful side that customers value so much.

But these A110 Pure have undergone some modifications today. Indeed, as one of our sources told us, “Alpine A110 Pures were modified between November 2022 and January 2023 at Aubevoye (27). They were converted into an S version with handling done by the brand’s chassis engineers. »

The 11 new Alpine A110s delivered in June 2023 already have 300 horsepower., as well as other chassis tweaks compared to the 252 hp Pure version. Springs lose 4mm and become 50% stiffer, while anti-roll bars become 100% stiffer. The portions of the rubber are increased, the tires are widened by 10 mm, with a softer core. As a result, and we also noted this during the Alpine A110S press tests, the car is much more stable at high speed.

A new machine and new aspects to understand

But you will surely tell us that the last two accidents in November therefore involved the A110S and therefore the stiffer landing gear versions. Indeed, it’s either the Pure version modified with S settings, or it’s the newly delivered A110S. In fact, as you may have also noticed, the last two accidents happened when the road was wet. Therefore, it seems that the problem does not come directly from the car, but many tires are used under certain conditions. With a certain degree of wear, these compounds can make it difficult to drive a car at high speeds.

And at this level, not all teams are in the same boat. “Everyone does to their own needs, we all had Michelin Pilot Sport 4s on the first 26 models delivered at the start, then Michelin Pilot Sport 5s on the 300bhp A110S. We currently work in Michelin Pilot Super Sport in our team. For comparison in the east of France with the weather and very low temperatures, the teams are in the Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 »– explains one of the interviewed gendarmes.

So what can we learn from these different testimonies? On the one hand, since the Alpine A110 is rear-wheel drive, there are obviously handling differences compared to the previous Renault Mégane RS or even the Seat Leon Cupra. But it doesn’t matter, ERI gendarmes are specially trained to handle any case, even if the error is and always will be human.

In addition to the known chassis settings mentioned above and whose problem seems to have been quickly solved by converting all A110s to the S versionit would seem, first of all, that the recent failures of the Gendarmerie with its Berlinetta are due to the pneumatic mounting, which is not necessarily adapted for use by the Gendarmerie in all conditions.

Driving fast in the rain with the Michelin Pilot Super Sport is obviously much more rock and roll than with a more versatile tire such as the Michelin Pilot Sport 5, very comfortable in the dry and wet, but less efficient than its a cousin. Super Sport on dry land.

And as mentioned above, each crew must find the appropriate tire fitter according to their geographical location to ensure that their functions are used with maximum safety.

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