Convert an Alpine into an offroad vehicle
Discussion
Has anyone considered doing it?
Following this recipe:
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/alpine...
Since Alpine is not doing it themselves (grrr), was wondering what it would take to get there.
Started looking at company that do rally conversion etc.
Idea would be to keep bodywork largely intact, maybe even keep same wheels albeit with more offroad biased deep section tires.
Raised suspension. Under body protection.
It will never be a 4x4 but i suspect this would be great fun to have a car that can go beyond tarmac.
Just wondering what it would take. It is often being done with vintage 911's so why not an Alpine 'Safari'. Back in the 1970's they were actually competing on soft / gravelly surfaces.
Following this recipe:
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/alpine...
Since Alpine is not doing it themselves (grrr), was wondering what it would take to get there.
Started looking at company that do rally conversion etc.
Idea would be to keep bodywork largely intact, maybe even keep same wheels albeit with more offroad biased deep section tires.
Raised suspension. Under body protection.
It will never be a 4x4 but i suspect this would be great fun to have a car that can go beyond tarmac.
Just wondering what it would take. It is often being done with vintage 911's so why not an Alpine 'Safari'. Back in the 1970's they were actually competing on soft / gravelly surfaces.
erics said:
Has anyone considered doing it?
Following this recipe:
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/alpine...
Since Alpine is not doing it themselves (grrr), was wondering what it would take to get there.
Started looking at company that do rally conversion etc.
Idea would be to keep bodywork largely intact, maybe even keep same wheels albeit with more offroad biased deep section tires.
Raised suspension. Under body protection.
It will never be a 4x4 but i suspect this would be great fun to have a car that can go beyond tarmac.
Just wondering what it would take. It is often being done with vintage 911's so why not an Alpine 'Safari'. Back in the 1970's they were actually competing on soft / gravelly surfaces.
That would be very cool, not unlike the Dakar 911, which I think looks fabulous and far far more 'useful' on the mean streets than the oh so many bewinged GT trackday specials that I personally think look a bit daft thumping their way around the crumbling roads we have here in the UK. Following this recipe:
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/alpine...
Since Alpine is not doing it themselves (grrr), was wondering what it would take to get there.
Started looking at company that do rally conversion etc.
Idea would be to keep bodywork largely intact, maybe even keep same wheels albeit with more offroad biased deep section tires.
Raised suspension. Under body protection.
It will never be a 4x4 but i suspect this would be great fun to have a car that can go beyond tarmac.
Just wondering what it would take. It is often being done with vintage 911's so why not an Alpine 'Safari'. Back in the 1970's they were actually competing on soft / gravelly surfaces.
i genuinely believe there is a market for these 'Mild Offroad' type fun vehicles. Plus it is somewhat related to the history of the brand.
The super slammed, winged, track car for the road era is somewhat a thing of the past. Arguably more so in the UK where the roads are so incredibly poor.
I looked at the Sport-X pictures in detail and it seems like they used Serac wheels shod with Michelin Primacy 4 season tires. So the only thing they did was to lift the car with specific suspension although i can't quite work out what the items are. Then underbelly pans to protect.
The wider body element, not sure if that is absolutely necessary. In fact, just like Porsche did with the Dakar or even Audi with the All-Road, bolt-on plastic moulded arch extenters would probably be acceptable.
Pretty sure there are offroad specialists in the UK that could tackle such a project at moderate cost.... I mean surely raising a car from by 50-100mm up should not be that much more difficult that lowering a car?
Or maybe even David Pook with his various life110 projects? Again, so many guys do offroadish vehicles based on vintage 911s, it can't be too difficult?
The only difficulty i think would be if you put tires with bigger sidewalls would be tackling the larger circumference of wheel / tire combo that would throw off speedo, abs etc etc
The super slammed, winged, track car for the road era is somewhat a thing of the past. Arguably more so in the UK where the roads are so incredibly poor.
I looked at the Sport-X pictures in detail and it seems like they used Serac wheels shod with Michelin Primacy 4 season tires. So the only thing they did was to lift the car with specific suspension although i can't quite work out what the items are. Then underbelly pans to protect.
The wider body element, not sure if that is absolutely necessary. In fact, just like Porsche did with the Dakar or even Audi with the All-Road, bolt-on plastic moulded arch extenters would probably be acceptable.
Pretty sure there are offroad specialists in the UK that could tackle such a project at moderate cost.... I mean surely raising a car from by 50-100mm up should not be that much more difficult that lowering a car?
Or maybe even David Pook with his various life110 projects? Again, so many guys do offroadish vehicles based on vintage 911s, it can't be too difficult?
The only difficulty i think would be if you put tires with bigger sidewalls would be tackling the larger circumference of wheel / tire combo that would throw off speedo, abs etc etc
Edited by erics on Tuesday 3rd October 11:11
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