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By
ALISTAIR KENNEDY
11 August 2008
Renault Sport is the
motorsport division of the French Renault marque. Perhaps it’s
less well known in Australia than our local HSV and FPV
operations, but that’s likely to change as buyers are frightened
off by the cost of fuelling these big V8s.
Hot
hatches have been popular in Europe for decades and there's an
increasingly strong group of Australian buyers getting into this
specialist performance scene. Renault Sport is one of the major
players worldwide, competing in a big range of motorsport arenas,
including Formula One, the pinnacle of the world car racing scene,
it has various feeder classes as well as providing cars for club
sport by moderately wealthy amateurs.
One
of the all-time favourites is the Clio Renault Sport. A car
that’s now available in Australia in the new third-generation
format. This time around the hot version of the Clio develops 197
horsepower so carries the tag of Clio 197. That’s 145 kilowatts
in Australia terms, a substantial output for a car of this size
and relatively light weight.
That
197 hp brings the Renault Sport hatch very close to the magic
figure of 100 brake horsepower per litre. A number that’s long
been the goal of engine designers in this sporting segment. Torque
is just as important as power in any engine and the French
engineers have managed to extract 215 Nm. Thus beating the 100 Nm
per litre figure that’s extremely difficult to attain.
On
the downside, that torque number requires the engine to be
spinning at a high 5500 rpm. Not something that would be
acceptable in an everyday road car, but perfectly OK if you’re a
performance driver who wants a commuter that can play at race
tracks at the weekend.
Our
road testing on some of the great driving surfaces around Canberra
showed the engine to be more than willing to rev. It’s coupled
to a six-speed manual gearbox that’s slick and precise in its
movements, so the keen driver will revel in the characteristics of
this French hot hatch.
On
the subject of size, the Clio III has expanded and has jumped up a
class to just under four metres long, virtually the size of a
Renault Megane a couple of generations back. So the Clio is no
longer a svelte young thing.
Interestingly,
Renault's stylists have backed off on the slightly challenging
shape of the Clio II and have given the III a softer appearance.
In Renault Sport format, though, it has been toughened up again in
the looks department. Just look at the vents in the rear of the
front wheelarches, and at the rear under-floor diffuser. This car
is no pretender and these vents and diffuser are carefully crafted
items that work to reduce engine bay temperature and pull the Clio
down at the rear at track speeds for greater stability and more
road grip.
There
are also widened guards to make room for the 17-inch alloy wheels
and 215 mm wide tyres.
Inside
the cool Clio there are sports seats with good side support and
plenty of comfort. Sports instrumentation and alloy drilled pedals
complete the package.
The
race engineers have carried out serious modifications to the
suspension and braking systems, resulting in a serious semi-race
car that will certainly be happy at weekend track days. The
suspension it a relatively firm ride and some transmission of tyre
noise on coarse surfaces. There are also times when we felt it
pitching slightly from front to rear and back when undulating
Aussie road surfaces were attacked.
Again,
this is fine for the motorsport enthusiast, but the person simply
looking for a cafe cruiser may find it uncomfortable. Which is OK
by us; as keen drivers we get tired of those who buy cars simply
to create attention, even if the car really isn’t all that good
under the surface. And under the surface is where this Renault
Sport machine excels.
Braking
is superb and the Brembo setup hauled off big speeds rapidly when
we did track testing at the Wakefield Park circuit near Goulburn
north of Canberra.
Clio
Renault Sport 2.0 16V, to give it its somewhat lengthy full title,
has a recommended retail price in Australia of $36,490. It comes
with the standard Renault warranty of three years or 100,000
kilometres, whichever comes first.
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Marque Publishing Company
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