Renault has always been a wee bit balmy when it comes to making radical road cars. Remember the Avantime, or the tasty little Clio V6, well it could only be Renault that did that and they’ve done it again.
The car is called the Megane Renaultsport R26.R, and it’s a heavily revised version of the 230 F1 Team R26 which they introduced in November 2006.
Whilst mechanically, both of these cars are the same and both have the 230bhp turbo 2-litre engine, limited slip diff and 6 speed box, the 230 F1 Team has been forced onto a diet and lost some 123kg and become R26.R. and in the process, become what’s effectively a road legal racing car.
Ok how have they done this, well effectively, they’ve ripped out everything that makes driving enjoyable. Gone is the Radio & CD player, the soundproofing has been dumped in a waste bin somewhere to be followed quickly by the Megan’s rear seats and all the airbags, just leaving the one left for the driver. The car now gets a carbon fibre bonnet, polycarbonate rear windows and light weight racing seats.
There is no mistaking this car as it’s fitted as standard with sports decals and red alloy wheels. You can however order the car without the decals and pay £100 extra and they will put black wheels on it, but hey, if you’re going over the top, go the whole way.
You’re strapped in using full harness seatbelts (just like a racing driver) and if you don’t like them, you can pay some extra pennies to have normal seatbelts. The gearlever is now a quickshift version and the car has a wider track, stiffer springs, recalibrated shock absorbers and grooved discs. The car comes home on 235/40×18 Michelins, but there is an option to have 225/40×18 Toyo Proxes instead and strangely that option also comes with a roll cage at a cost of £700.
Renault took the R26.R to the Nürburgring race circuit in Germany to see the results of the diet and it delivered a lap of 8 minutes 17 seconds which people seem to think is a record for a front wheel drive production car. To commemorate that, Renault has etched an outline of the circuit and the lap time on the cars rear side windows.
We don’t know how Renault are allocating cars across their UK dealer network yet, but Renault tell me they are only going to make 450 of these crazy cars and because here in the UK, we are RenaultSports biggest customer, well we are going to get the biggest chunk of production with some 230 cars crossing the channel for sale. Strange however that even France is only having 126 cars.
Don’t know if you’re local dealer will have one you can pop along and see, but I suggest (because of the limited numbers) if you want to order one, you do so now by getting your cheque book out and giving Mr Renault £22,990, but if you just want to see one, start looking in Renault showrooms in October.
