Wednesday 27th August 2014

Renaultsport R.S. 01 revealed

Renaultsport launches stunning new one-make racer but does it have ambitions beyond? PH investigates

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In a word, wow. Renault has been dropping teaser shots of its new mid-engined racer for a while, but none that prepared us for just how good the car that's just been revealed at the Moscow Motor Show looks. It's stunning.

Well, if you're trying to attract wealthy privateers...

It's called the R.S. 01 and underneath the swoopy bodywork - which has more than a hint of the R8 LMS about it - is a Dallara-built carbon fibre tub. Power comes from a mid-mounted version of the Nissan GT-R's twin-turbo V6 propelling an all-up weight of under 1,100kg. The car will be competing in a new one-make Renaultsport Trophy championship as part of the World Series by Renault next year. Meaning that, if you're in the market for some senior one-make racing, you can buy one for £282,000.

Although it's a racer, Renault clearly wanted it to look good. The preliminary design was done by Akio Shimizu, a Japanese designer working at the company's Guayancourt studio, with his work then adapted by the engineering and aerodynamic teams. The carbon shell has been built to deliver LMP1 safety standards, and includes both a 150-litre fuel tank with an integral crash box at the front and another mounted to the gearbox at the rear.

Will it break out of its one-make series into GT racing?

The GT-R engine is bolted directly to the carbon tub and 'semi stressed'. We're told it produces 'over 500hp' - as all road-going GT-Rs now do - which should deliver highly reliable power. The engine gets a dry sump system and bespoke traction control, but otherwise it's pretty much standard. Transmission is via a seven-speed Sadev sequential transmission with fixed gearing to limit costs. Renault claims the finished car is somewhere between DTM and GT3 in terms of overall performance.

The 2015 season will be open to up to 20 'Pro-Am' teams and is being explicitly pitched as a gateway to more senior racing. The winning 'pro' driver will get a test with the official NISMO team for Super GT in Japan while the winning amateur will get a chance to compete in Le Mans 2016 driving an LMP2 car.

The high standards the car has been built to mean it could potentially race outside its one-make championship. A Renault spokesman admits the company hasn't ruled out adapting it to compete elsewhere. Let's hope that if that does happen it also spawns a road-going homologation version...

 

[Kookanoodles]

Everything about this car screams Alpine. I wouldn't even be surprised if it's a ruse and they rebrand the car and the championship somewhere down the road.

In any case, I'll eat my hat it this racer isn't a first look at how the new Alpine berlinette will look. Well, I'll have to buy a hat first, but you know what I mean.