FOR years the Porsche Cayman has gone relatively unchallenged in the two-door mid-engined sports car battle.

Dropping two cylinders and wedging a flat-four behind the driver for the 718 Cayman did little to change that, but now there could be a serious challenger – from France of all places.

The Alpine brand has been reborn, with a retro-modern revival of the A110 being its first offering. Its recipe is simple – lightweight chassis, small four-cylinder engine, and focused dynamics. But is it enough to dethrone the Porsche?

Both have mid-mounted turbo four-cylinder engines: 2.0-litres in the Porsche, 1.8-litres in the Alpine. While the German sports car will pump 220kW and 380Nm to the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch, the French two-seater transfers just 180kW and 320Nm, also through a seven-cog DCT.

Where the Alpine has an advantage over the Porsche is weight, tipping the scales at a scant 1103kg for a 204kW per-tonne power-to-weight ratio. The kerbweight can be further shaved to 1080kg (with fluids) for the entry-level Pure spec which has 17-inch rims, smaller brakes, no nav, and no sports exhaust. That’s over 200kg lighter than a Cayman, which is a comparatively portly 1365kg.

But these cars aren’t about traffic-light drag races, they are about backroad bliss – carving through twisting bends and turns like a bat out of hell.

So, how do they fare in those conditions? For that, I’ll defer to Nathan Ponchard and Ben Barry:

Driving the Alpine A110 for Wheels in Europe, Ben Barry reported: “It’s a tactile, thrilling thing to drive, a 1100kg bundle of energy that takes the best principles of Lotus and Porsche and remixes them with the RenaultSport knowhow that makes the Megane RS such a weapon.”

“When you pin your foot to the floor, but there’s a frisky energy to the 1.8-litre turbo four’s delivery, with an eager whoosh of torque low-down, punchy throttle response and very little turbo lag,” he added. “It’s certainly enough to have fun – and beat that Cayman to 100km/h.”