The Alpine Alpenglow Is A 335bhp Hydrogen-Combustion Sports Car

We know the Alpine A110, and therefore any future of petrol from the French sports car manufacturer, is on its last legs. An insanely-expensive run-out special is due next year before an electric replacement comes later in the decade. However, it may not be the end of the combustion-engined Alpine – say hello to the Alpenglow.

This new sports car uses a hydrogen-combustion turbocharged 2.0-litre four-pot, good for 335bhp. Alpine, you have our interest.

The company is keen to stress the Alpenglow isn’t a concept car, but instead a ‘rolling lab’ – a prototype which will be used as it explores the feasibility of putting a hydrogen-combustion engine into production.

Don’t get too excited about any chances of a road-going version, though. Alpine describes it as a ‘racing car’ (despite the fact it’s not actually going racing) and under the skin is the chassis of an LMP3 prototype. Power is delivered to the rear wheels through a sequential gearbox.

If you’re sensing a bit of déjà vu with the Alpenglow, that’s because a concept with the same name cropped up a couple of years ago. This prototype does look pretty similar to that car still, albeit with some changes to make it actually work. These include a redesigned crash box and new NACA ducts at the front of the car to feed air into the oil and water radiators.

The height of the car has been raised too to accommodate a larger cabin, which now has two seats presumably to house a nerd with a laptop for data-collection purposes or to scare passengers on hot laps.

Alpine remains hush on any acceleration statistics – presumably with LMP-sourced mechanical bits making it an absolute dog from a standing start – although it has claimed a top speed of over 167mph.

It’ll get a chance to hit that figure at Spa-Francorchamps’ Kemmel Straight as it undertakes some demo laps at the Belgian tracks’ 6-hour WEC race on May 11, before being wheeled out to the Circuit De La Sarthe for some demo runs at the weekend of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.