In 1971, the Alpine A310 sports car landed on showroom floors. The new coupe, gunning for the likes of Porsche's 911 and Ford's Mustang, turned out to be a disaster. Based on a tubular steel chassis ...

Alpine was founded in Dieppe, France, in 1954 by Renault tuner Jean Redele, who had turned out 4CVs for such events as the Mille Miglia, Coupe des Alpes and Le Mans. Racing success led to the ...

While the A310 wasn't as successful as its WRC-winning predecessor, in high-performance, V6-powered guise, it managed to become a thrilling sports car that many enthusiasts saw as a more sophisticated ...

After military service a career as war correspondent was on the cards. But then an exclusive bursar programme in automotive journalism came 'a-knockin' - and so a 26-year journey spanning newspapers, ...