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The Alpine A110 is one of the greatest sports car of a generation, but French firm Ravage thought it could be better still. In this exclusive evo Diaries documentary, Editor at Large Richard Meaden takes you behind the scenes with Ravage Automobile founder and CEO Benoit Tallec before getting behind the wheel of the sensational Group 4 Ravage A110. 00:00 Intro 00:17 What is Ravage? 05:43 Getting to know the Ravage Group 4 12:18 Driving the Ravage Group 4 Subscribe for evo’s latest performance car reviews, head-to-heads and track tests: https://bit.ly/3Ommfyv Follow us: https://twitter.com/evomagazine https://www.facebook.com/evomagazine https://www.instagram.com/officialevomagazine/ https://www.tiktok.com/@evomagazine? Order your copy of evo from https://evo-shop.co.uk/
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Ravage Automobile A110
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Ravage Automobile A110 Ravage Automobile Ravage Automobile Ravage Automobile
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Ravage Automobile's take on the brilliant A110 has rapidly achieved cult status
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yet the company and its backstory remains something of a mystery. In an exclusive behind-the-scenes visit
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we join Ravage Automobile scenes visit, we joined Ravage co-founder and CEO Benoit Telleck for a deep dive into the company's
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origins and how the cars are built before testing a Ravage Group 4 A110 on some classic French N-roads
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My dad had a garage. He was a Ford dealer, so he had a workshop and a showroom at the same time
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And as a kid, I just spent my life in the workshop and in the showroom
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So I had this like double experience. On one hand, like to see how a car is below the skin
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And the rest of the experience, which is the commercial side, the marketing side and so on
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So I was fascinated immediately by this entire world. For many years a car was just a machine for me
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I realized that my attraction was also coming from the shape, the form and more and more
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I understood that I would be someone working on the body walk more than the engine
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When I was like 19 years old, 20 years old, my brother told me, you know what, you could
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combine those two passions into one thing called design and car design which was extremely abstract
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for me and I like I really like to sketch so for me it became super fun to combine those two skills
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you know into one when you're a car designer and a car engineer and you start to see and imagine
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how the car will be in five seven years right they will become extremely complex they will become
2:17
heavy, they will be over assisted. And our dream car was a lightweight car, super pure
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still with the modern technology, still super sharp on the road, nothing vintage, but pure at the same time
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We thought about the company, we thought about the brand, we thought about the long-term vision
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way before the Alpine. The combination of our strong wish and vision
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and the launch of Alpine A110 was really perfect. And they come with that brilliant car, brilliant design
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And we are Ravage and we are touching that, you know. So instead of like trying to prove the world
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that we could do something better, we observe the car. And if you step back, look at the car
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look at the wheel, where they are, where do you have to extract air, you want the car as small as possible right, so you
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want the rear super short, you want the ducktail here, you want this point there and then you
3:27
have to make a nice transition between all those elements, a kind of harmony
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A former head of design at McLaren and Mercedes, Talec's CV is as impressive as they come
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The discipline and precision of his design for the Group 4 A110 is a reflection of his
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OEM background. But its authenticity comes from a deep respect for the original design and a desire to amplify
3:51
the looks to match the car's increased performance. Some designers are more, as you say, obsessed by the sculpture and sometimes they forget
4:03
that there is also an engine below. So I like when it's beautiful in both ways
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I like to see that air intake or the chassis is well integrated
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I like when it's a nice balance. When we imagine the next evolution of the Alpine, we had the dynamic in mind, of course
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and we also had the design in mind. We love the 70s, the 80s, the golden age of Group B, Group 4, when you had to transform
4:43
a factory car into monster and beast you know So yeah we had a lot of fun um thinking about how you can transform this cute and and polite alpine in something slightly less shy when you have a ravage the
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ravages white track right and uh and it's it's based on a lightweight and super compact car
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That car had a lot of nice reviews in the past, right
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So our job was to not damage that capacity. As you can see here, our design, despite its wider, is extremely close to the chassis and
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the package. There is no wasted space. But with the Ravage chassis, the idea was to add stability and to give a different experience
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without changing the character of the Alpine. Form and function is an overused term in the automotive world
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But as Talek explains, when it comes to the Ravage Group 4, those two essential qualities were always given equal priority
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This is the first chance we've had to see the finished, yeah, finished car
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When you set out to do it, your objective was to presumably keep it OEM clean
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but to make as much impact as you can. So dimensionally, how much wider is the body
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The rear track is 80 mil wider, and the front track 40 mil
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Okay, so that's significant. So you have this Renault 5 turbo effect. You know, the rear has more track than the front
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So I like the fact that it's not square. and because the footprint is you've got the 288 GTO Ferrari haven't you and it's uncannily
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yes the wheelbase is 2004 21 so which is which is 288 GTO and and with the white track we are
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like at the millimeter close to the 288 so is that just a happy coincidence or was that something
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that you were aware of and you i would say first of all the wheelbase is um how do you say is there
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because of the good job that alpine did right yeah with the packaging exactly so the wheelbase
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is is short which is great for an agile car and then when you add the white track then you have
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the magic number you have a short wheelbase white track like the 288 gtu yeah so it's it's the
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difference between three or eight and three or eight gto yeah the wheel position the wheel
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dimensions and so on have been extremely well fought by vincent and as i told you we work with
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michelin and oz racing to develop the perfect size perfect offset yeah according to the weight
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according to the and that was set and that then drove yeah that passed the baton to you so you
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could exactly clothe the mechanical exactly so to be fully honest i didn't ask vincent to put the
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wheel here and there he told me the wheels will be there and then i did the design around so it
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was not a design wish it was a dynamic wish first yeah and then we did the design around
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and and and then you happen to have less track here than there is that an unusual way around
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like in an OEM world? Well, I know it's not as specific as this car
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If you do a sports car, if you do a super car, the chassis is really important, right
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Yeah. So if you do a hardcore sports car, I think the chassis guys
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have a strong world, right? They're the kings. Yeah, kings, yes. We all believe we are the king, right
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But if you do a mainstream mass production car, sometime maybe design could overrule the wheel position
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And for example, when you go for massive wheels, you know it's not good for handling
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I don't know if you know that, but massive wheels are terrible for dynamics
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So these are 18 inch. So we also had, it would have been easy for us
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to go 19 for example, but we kept it as light and as small as possible
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I think it's so important with this. we love this car, anyone that owns them and drives them loves the car
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It's so important to keep that, isn't it? And not just throw that away for the sake of 20% extra drama in the way it looks
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Yes. Hard. Yes. So design-wise, it looks like the OEM car, but it's not because of the white track
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So of course we keep more or less the same design features because this feature on the light still has to follow through doesn it Exactly You have to make sure it as sharp as controlled as the real car
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But because it's much wider, you have to do all the curves new
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So it's a very, I would say, humble approach. When you have to redesign the car entirely, making sure it still looks the same
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and so we don't touch the light position it's same position same construction same cooling
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but you have to accommodate more muscle you see you have much more muscle than before and then
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these these areas here you've just been able to draw the yes yes body out slightly to exactly and
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some features on the on the car are there to reduce the drag for the co2 but this is more
10:28
performance oriented. So that's why we went for something close like the race car
10:32
There's a nice story with the exhaust isn't there with Deville. I think if you
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have any knowledge of certainly as an English car enthusiast that name is such a French tuning
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part isn't it? And when we had the conversation about you using that name, I couldn't believe
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that there was no longer a devil as it now the branch doesn't exist anymore which is which is
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really sad so that brand is coming from the the French Alp which is also linked to Alpine right
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and we since we since the Ravash project we were very lucky to meet Paul Deville
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So the creator of those exhausts. So Paul became a really, really good friend
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And Paul helped us to develop that exhaust. So again, I'm not an exhaust expert
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And I'm talking with Paul four or five years ago. I explained Paul the story
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Yeah. And we put the first car prototype on the lift. and on the lift with a pen and paper
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We designed that together with Paul. And the real gift from Paul on top of it
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was to give us the possibility to use his brand. That's the perfect endorsement, isn't it
12:02
And he did, that small logo is from him. So he did, instead of échappement de ville
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exhaust de ville, it's written ravage de ville. That's not my proposal
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That was his. That's coming directly from Paul. So you've heard from Benoit the story of Ravage and the backstory of this car
12:25
But this being Evo, the most important part of this story is how a Ravage Group 4 A110 drives
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And I'm very pleased to say the whole car just has this uniformity of look and feel
12:41
nothing jumps out, nothing screams, nothing tries too hard but just as the exterior elevates
12:50
the whole look of the car and gives it more purpose and a little bit more aggression and
12:54
more presence, so the wide track suspension and the different dampers bring a different
13:01
sense of purpose to the car. The steering has a bit more connection and a little bit
13:06
more weight so it feels more appropriate for a car that promises to sit on the road that
13:12
much better and give you more grip. This is the second time I've driven some Ravage cars
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The first time was purely for a magazine feature and we were on the incredible roads, Col de Torrini
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Very tight, twisty, classic Alpine mountain stage for the Monte Carlo Rally
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roads close to 01, half an hour or so from Paris, country roads very different in character
13:40
but the differences in the car are clear wherever you drive it. So I mentioned the steering
13:47
feel and the steering weight. There's added stability. So standard series A110s felt very
13:54
light and delicate, but they were quite playful. This car has that directness, but you feel
14:02
more grip and you feel more stability through the high-speed corners it's not
14:09
as playful but the way it interacts with the road and the way it cuts through
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these curves is really satisfying you feel so connected to the car and it just
14:19
finds a really nice flow the way you can tailor the damping and tailor the setup of the car that this particular customer wanted a car that was calm and easy to drive and maybe more of a GT in
14:36
spirit. There's another car here today which has sharper steering and slightly
14:41
firmer ride and I think that's interesting that this car is so
14:46
responsive to those fine adjustments. The bespoke nature of this car extends to every area of the car really
15:01
There's latitude to tailor the car to your purpose and your taste
15:10
Benoit and his business partner Vincent, Vincent is the engineer, they both have deep OEM
15:18
background so the way they approach this car has that mindset it's meticulous it just gives the car
15:26
such integrity of feel and it's clever because they don't touch the areas of the car that don't
15:33
need meddling with so it just has this cohesion and polish which is is really hard to achieve and
15:41
and very rare in the aftermarket world. And this car sort of sits somewhere between the two
15:49
And that's, I think that's where the magic really sits. It just stays on the side of modesty
16:02
because they want the car to be true dynamically. This isn't a style over substance exercise
16:11
Affecting this level of transformation on any car is clearly not a cheap exercise
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And that's true with this car. But I think in a world of resto mods that seem to start at half a
16:24
million pounds and quickly get to a million, the fact that the base group for Ravage, so the wide
16:31
body, wheels, tyres and suspension fitted is around about 105,000 euros. That obviously
16:42
starts marching on if you have the full repaint of the car. Can the A110 take it? I think it can
16:49
What I love about this car is as a stock factory car, it's a beautiful, delicate sports car
16:56
but when you apply all these changes to the car it becomes a real baby supercar
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in presence and personality and the pleasure and excitement you get from driving it
17:10
The thought of someone coming in and messing with that recipe, it kind of set alarm bells off
17:21
but as soon as I've drove this car the first time around, you just know everything is going to be
17:27
fine. It's done with such finesse and such knowledge and as I've said before such sympathy
17:35
to the original car. It could so easily be the car Alpine made next. Obviously the great tragedy
17:44
is we all know is that isn't going to be possible. They gave us the R which was wonderful and
17:51
they went the whole hog with the whole team and that is a very, very specialised, much
17:57
more aggressive car. But I love this. Every time I drive one now, I just fall in love
18:07
with it, it makes me smile, it feels so good. It's such a shame that people don't build
18:15
cars that are small and light because even in this wide body spec it's still such a perfect
18:22
thing to thread down a good road. I think it deserves every success and I think as Alpine
18:30
settle and their values settle and there are more cars in the used market I can see more
18:35
and more people wanting to keep their cars because there will be nothing that comes to
18:40
replace it. And yeah, it would be such a special thing to have in your garage and just to put a smile
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on your face
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