Alpine
Alpine A210
The Alpine A210 is a sports car prototype manufactured by Alpine that competed in sports car racing from 1966 to 1969. The car is derived from the M series prototypes (M63, M64, and M65) introduced by the company in the early 1960s and powered by Gordini-tuned Renault engines with small displacements. In 1967, a short-lived V8-powered version of the A210, named as A211, was introduced. A major redesign of the A211, the A220, was unveiled the following year. As a consequence of the poor racing results for the two redesigns, Alpine withdrew from sports car racing all of 1970 to 1973, returning for the 1974 European 2 Liter Sports Car Championship with the Alpine A441, finally achieving the overall win at the 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Renault Alpine A442.
Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
All Alpine A210 data: UK builds, safety, recalls, model years →
History
=== M63, M64, and M65 === In 1962, the founder and chief of the Société des Automobiles Alpine, Jean Rédélé, with the support of Shell, requested to Renault Gordini-tuned engines for a sports car programme centred on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, similar to the ones used by BP-sponsored rival Bonnet. Rédélé got a 1-litre inline-four engine and his objective was to build a prototype capable of winning the index of performance award. He contacted Colin Chapman for the design, with the idea of mounting the engine on a Lotus 23-based car, but the latter refused and the basic design development was left in charge of British engineer Len Terry, who created a concept similar to the Lotus. The final chassis design was made by heavy vehicle engineer Richard Bouleau and the external design by Bernard Boyer. The new car was named M63, and, although having some structural problems, it won a class victory in its competition debut at the 1963 edition of the Nürburgring 1000 km. At the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans, however, none of the three M63s entered finished the race and one of their drivers, Brazilian Christian Heins, died. After the problems encountered, Alpine built three units of a revised model based on the M63, named as M64. The new cars were entered alongside some of their predecessors into the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans where an M64 powered by a 1.1-litre engine won its class and the index of performance (chassis 1711). An M64 also won its class at the 12 Hours of Reims of that year (chassis 1711). In 1965, Alpine introduced yet another revised version of its prototypes, named as M65. At the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans, none of the Alpine prototypes entered finished the race, although M65s won their class at the 12 Hours of Reims and the Nürburgring 1000 km of that year. A210. Followi
Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.
More photos
Sources
- Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2651146CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_A210CC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1372464676 · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alpinea210.jpgCC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo: Sottotono · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.