Based in Dieppe, a stone’s throw from the Alpine assembly lines, the former engine tuner Technomap is seeking to promote its new skills. In its own way: here is the A110 HE2HP, a 600 hp plug-in hybrid and four-wheel drive that we approached during its development.
For a whole generation of rallymen, Technomap sounds like the iconic Renault Sport preparer. Since 1994, its passionate wizards have propelled the Clio Williams and their descendants to their highest level of engine performance, before gradually branching off into other activities. The company now masters the design and development of electrical architectures, before their integration into cars, but also boats and planes.
” We have been working behind the scenes for years on behalf of manufacturers » explains Christophe Vergneault, the manager of Technomap. who adds: We wanted to show the extent of our skills in the best possible way. The demonstrator is before our eyes! » Externally, the HE2HP project (for High Performance Ethanol Electric Hybrid) is neither more nor less than a classic Alpine A110 whose covering specific does not accompany any change of wheels, brakes or aerodynamic appendages. The first difference arises when approaching the rear part, whose engine appears bare under the glass (the original A110 hides it under a thick trim). David Helluin, project manager at Technomap, is quick to explain it to us.
Thermal engine: already 400 hp!
” We started with the original engine, the 1.8 TCe which also powers the Mégane 4 RS. Based on our experience on the latter, we have revised the turbo, the exchanger, the intake circuit (which now passes through the rear trunk) and the electronic computer to reach 400 hp”, he explains. The next evolution will even be able to reach 450 hp with forged parts and an engine map adapted to use with superethanol.
The original Getrag seven-speed EDC transmission is replaced here by a real racing sequential box (supplied by 3MO), both faster and capable of handling more torque. It still required the installation of a clutch pedal, essential for take-off. ” Fitting a clutch to a car that doesn’t have one was a bit of a headache…” confides David, who no longer counts the hours spent on this necessarily motivating project. But that was not the toughest challenge.
Electric motor: 200 hp more…
Our tour of the owner continues forward, where the aforementioned changes could pass for a joke. The installation of the 160 kW electric motor thus required a titanic amount of work. In addition to the removal of the luggage compartment and the original brake booster (braking is therefore no longer assisted), it was necessary to plan the side members for the passage of the gimbals, to advance the cooling system as much as possible and above all to completely rethink the architecture. of the front axle, now equipped with combined spring-shock absorbers arranged horizontally! Let’s not forget the displacement of the original fuel tank, rejected between the combustion engine and the passengers instead of the optional subwoofer.
And the battery in all this? Fixed where there was room left, that is to say between the two passengers. The 21 kWh and 800 V rechargeable pack thus runs from the front apron to the rear apron without upsetting the layout of the original Recaro seats or increasing the weight of the assembly tenfold thanks to a mass contained at 99 kg. According to David, ” the battery would rather weigh 140 kg if the car were to be homologated ». The state of demonstrator indeed allows certain latitudes, in particular in terms of resistance to shocks: no reinforced protection of the battery pack, no more deformation zone behind the front bumper. This Alpine A110 has nothing to do with a Salon prototype, however, since it drives well and truly, as a brief passenger ride around the Technomap workshops proved to us.
As a passenger in the A110 HE2HP
The start in electric mode (therefore in traction!) is in no way a monastic parenthesis. The reduction gear, fixed like the rest without the slightest silent block, invades the small cabin with a piercing sound of siren when accelerating. The 100% thermal mode is paradoxically quieter. It engages with a press of the central button, redesigned in the same way as the displays of the counters and the touch screen (another skill of Technomap). Despite the brief accelerations of David, whose thousands of hours spent designing this prototype logically temper the desire to go into the background, the sensations remain: vigorous thrust of the prepared TCe, hissing of the turbo wastegate and instantaneous passages reports already announce the nasty character of an A110 not yet switched to mode full power.
The famous siren sound returns to the engagement of this ultimate configuration, the hybrid, which theoretically cumulates 600 ch… and constitutes the next big challenge of the HE2HP project according to David. ” Both motors run properly independently, he said. We now have to work on their simultaneous operation and define different hybridization laws by favoring, for example, the torque of the electric when exiting a bend then the extension of the thermal in the long straights.. »
It will no doubt be difficult to contain the ardor of this catapult. The merry folks of Technomap are, however, aiming for a weight/power ratio of 2 kg per horse which would propel our national Alpine to the level of a 1,000 hp Ferrari SF90! At 1,263 kg on the scale (40 kg below the initial target), the A110 HE2HP will have no trouble matching the ratio of the Italian supercar. The first tests on a closed track will also serve to define the necessary optimizations of tires and braking, before a more official run on the Bugatti circuit of Le Mans, where this curious beast should finally reveal its true potential. We are already burning to testify…
TO READ. Alpine Ravage test: we drove the craziest A110!
