The Market for Two-Seat Sports Cars is Evolving with the Arrival of an Alternative Offer

When looking at the market for two-seat sports cars, it's clear that there isn't as much variety as one might expect. However, this current landscape presents a unique opportunity to offer something different and breathe some new life into the market. The latest addition to the lineup is a car that embodies a little bit of French flair, setting it apart from its competitors.

Engine Details Revealed

The engine of the car has been a topic of speculation, with many wondering what lay beneath the hood. Finally, the answer has been revealed: it's a 1.8L four-cylinder turbocharged unit. The key figures for this engine are 250 brake horsepower and 320 Nm of torque. While the power figure alone may not be impressive, there are other factors to consider when evaluating the performance of this car.

Agility and Fun on the Road

The target of this car was to create a very agile vehicle that's enjoyable to drive on the road. The team behind the project emphasized that breaking lap records is not the primary goal; rather, it's about creating a car that provides an engaging driving experience. Power-to-weight ratio, weight distribution, and traction are all crucial aspects that were carefully considered when designing this car.

Aluminum Used for Optimal Weight Distribution

When choosing the materials used in the construction of the car, aluminum was selected due to its excellent weight-to-strength ratio. This choice allowed the engineering team to achieve an overall weight of 1.8 kilograms, which is a significant accomplishment given the complexity of modern cars. The rear caliper is particularly noteworthy, as it features an integrated electronic parking brake that reduces the weight by about 5 kilograms.

Ease of Entry and Ergonomics

Upon opening the door, one of the first things noticed is how easy it is to get in and out of the car. This is a notable feature for a two-seat sports car, which often presents accessibility challenges. The cockpit has been designed with ergonomics in mind, featuring a steering wheel, pedals, and an instrument panel that are all nicely aligned. A 10-inch TFT display is also present, offering a configurable interface that lines up with the three chassis modes.

Good Fit and Finish

The interior of the car boasts a welcoming atmosphere, thanks to the numerous touches of leather and Bru aluminum accents. The seats are developed in collaboration with Sabelt, which has resulted in a weight of 13.1 kilograms per seat – roughly half the weight of typical sports seats. This focus on comfort and refinement adds an extra layer of enjoyment to the driving experience.

Stability Control Modes

The stability control system features three modes: normal for everyday road driving, sport mode for enhanced handling, and track mode for maximum agility and speed. The choice of double unequal length wishbones front and rear was deliberate, as it allows for a more agile setup that can handle both on-track performance and reasonable road speeds.

Tire Choice and Aerodynamics

The tire selection for this car is designed to be relatively narrow, with 235/35R15 in the rear and 205/30R16 up front. These tires are part of the overall mobile setup, where the car will slide reasonably early at moderate speeds, allowing drivers to interact more closely with the vehicle. The design team worked extensively on aerodynamics, particularly for the rear diffuser, which was achieved without using a fixed lip spoiler.

The Legacy of the Berlinette

When designing this car, the engineering team took inspiration from the original Binet, an iconic sports car from the past. This reverence for the classic design is evident in various aspects, including the front end's lighting signature and the rear glass curves that evoke the sleek lines of the binet. The absence of a fixed lip spoiler or pop-up spoiler was deliberate, reflecting the philosophy of Aline.

Conclusion

The arrival of this car in the market marks an exciting development for two-seat sports cars, offering something distinct from its competitors. By emphasizing agility and fun on the road, while balancing performance with refinement and accessibility, the team behind this project has created a compelling vehicle that is sure to captivate enthusiasts and driving aficionados alike.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhen you look at the market for two- seater sports cars these days there's not that much out there and there are some obvious choices and they're obvious choices because they are absolutely great cars this comes along with something different it's got a little bit of let's say French flare so I think for the first time in a long time we have an alternative offer which is going to breath some new life into the market there's been a hell of a lot of speculation about what engine is in the car so we can now finally reveal it's a 1.8 L uh 4-cylinder turbocharge unit and the key figures are 250 brake horsepower 320 newon M we want to emphasize that the target of this car was a very agile car very fun to drive on the road we're not necessarily setting out to break lap records here the power figure alone means nothing we have to talk about power to weight we have to talk about weight distribution and we have to talk about traction but we also need a stiff structure so that the chassis is going to work well aluminium is a really great choice when we look at the different trade-offs so the overall weight of the car 1,80 kg so that's a figure that all the engineering team were really really proud of a huge challenge doing a modern car that's usable every day fighting to shave every gram especially the rear caliper is quite interesting with an integrated electronic parking brake shaving about 5 kg off off the weight of the car the first thing we hope that you'll notice when we open the door is that the car is really easy to get into and it's really easy to get out of which is quite unusual for you know two-seater sports cars second thing you notice are the ergonomics of the cockpit everything's nicely in line steering wheel pedals instrument panel the instrument panel we've gone for a 10in TFT display the nice thing about that it's configurable so we've got three molds in the instrument panel that line up with the three chassis modes and the third key element is really good fit finish we've worked a lot to make sure that the cockpit is welcoming there's quite a lot of leather in there but we also have touches of Bru aluminium and a couple of touches of carbon fiber here and there the seats are developed with sabelt and they're coming in at 13.1 kg per seat that's roughly half the weight of what we you'll find in a in a typical sport seat so the stability control has three modes we have a normal mode for normal road driving a sport mode that allows a little bit more slip angle on on the car and then finally a track mode where we can have quite a lot of slip angle on the car the choice of double unequal length wish bonds front and rear was a key choice that allows us to set up the chassi in a way that's agile uh so that the car is relatively mobile it's going to slide reasonably early so that we can actually play with the car not just on a track but also on a a real Road at reasonable speeds and all of that ties into the Tire Choice we've made for the car we've got reasonably narrow Tire sections for a modern car 235 rear 205 fronts and again this is all part of the mobile setup for the car where the car is going to play with the driver a little bit like the berlinette did back uh back in the day and we're very proud of the work that's been done by Anthony Villa and the design team because you can see the respect that those guys have for the original Binet um we can see the front end with the lighting signature the rear glass curves around and Dives like the binette and also that very pure rear end with no spoiler no kind of break in the line of the car so these are all cues towards the berlinette so we had a lot of sleepless nights working out the aerodynamics of the back end of the car so we didn't want to put a fixed lip spoiler on it a pop-up spoiler really really wasn't in the philosophy of Aline so you can see under the car how much work's been put into underbody aerodynamics and particularly getting that rear diffuser to work and of course the car is very very uh it's bigger than the original berlinette which was a truly tiny car but by the standards of modern sports cars this is a very very compact packagewhen you look at the market for two- seater sports cars these days there's not that much out there and there are some obvious choices and they're obvious choices because they are absolutely great cars this comes along with something different it's got a little bit of let's say French flare so I think for the first time in a long time we have an alternative offer which is going to breath some new life into the market there's been a hell of a lot of speculation about what engine is in the car so we can now finally reveal it's a 1.8 L uh 4-cylinder turbocharge unit and the key figures are 250 brake horsepower 320 newon M we want to emphasize that the target of this car was a very agile car very fun to drive on the road we're not necessarily setting out to break lap records here the power figure alone means nothing we have to talk about power to weight we have to talk about weight distribution and we have to talk about traction but we also need a stiff structure so that the chassis is going to work well aluminium is a really great choice when we look at the different trade-offs so the overall weight of the car 1,80 kg so that's a figure that all the engineering team were really really proud of a huge challenge doing a modern car that's usable every day fighting to shave every gram especially the rear caliper is quite interesting with an integrated electronic parking brake shaving about 5 kg off off the weight of the car the first thing we hope that you'll notice when we open the door is that the car is really easy to get into and it's really easy to get out of which is quite unusual for you know two-seater sports cars second thing you notice are the ergonomics of the cockpit everything's nicely in line steering wheel pedals instrument panel the instrument panel we've gone for a 10in TFT display the nice thing about that it's configurable so we've got three molds in the instrument panel that line up with the three chassis modes and the third key element is really good fit finish we've worked a lot to make sure that the cockpit is welcoming there's quite a lot of leather in there but we also have touches of Bru aluminium and a couple of touches of carbon fiber here and there the seats are developed with sabelt and they're coming in at 13.1 kg per seat that's roughly half the weight of what we you'll find in a in a typical sport seat so the stability control has three modes we have a normal mode for normal road driving a sport mode that allows a little bit more slip angle on on the car and then finally a track mode where we can have quite a lot of slip angle on the car the choice of double unequal length wish bonds front and rear was a key choice that allows us to set up the chassi in a way that's agile uh so that the car is relatively mobile it's going to slide reasonably early so that we can actually play with the car not just on a track but also on a a real Road at reasonable speeds and all of that ties into the Tire Choice we've made for the car we've got reasonably narrow Tire sections for a modern car 235 rear 205 fronts and again this is all part of the mobile setup for the car where the car is going to play with the driver a little bit like the berlinette did back uh back in the day and we're very proud of the work that's been done by Anthony Villa and the design team because you can see the respect that those guys have for the original Binet um we can see the front end with the lighting signature the rear glass curves around and Dives like the binette and also that very pure rear end with no spoiler no kind of break in the line of the car so these are all cues towards the berlinette so we had a lot of sleepless nights working out the aerodynamics of the back end of the car so we didn't want to put a fixed lip spoiler on it a pop-up spoiler really really wasn't in the philosophy of Aline so you can see under the car how much work's been put into underbody aerodynamics and particularly getting that rear diffuser to work and of course the car is very very uh it's bigger than the original berlinette which was a truly tiny car but by the standards of modern sports cars this is a very very compact package\n"