What took you so long Renault? With the
Leon Cupra
going sub-8 at the 'ring, plus the
Civic Type R
Astra Extreme
threatening to go quicker still, hot hatch fans everywhere have been waiting for Renault's response. This 265 may be it.
You'll remember the 265 Trophy took the FWD Nordschleife record
in 2011
R26.R
with an 8:08 lap. That stood for a while until the Leon recently nabbed it. This generation of Megane has been around since 2008 so a new model must surely be in development. Could another valedictory special be in the on the way?
This car seen testing does look fairly standard though, albeit still lapping PDQ. Could it just be a case of more power for that famously tweakable 2.0-litre turbo? Or has it gone down the Leon Cupra Performance Pack route of deleting equipment to save weight? The R26.R became infamous when the UK allocation of 230 cars failed to sell so Renault must be wary of creating such an uncompromising car again. That's before the discussion turns to tyres...
Having taken the Suzuka FWD record last year, it seems clear Renault attaches some significance to lap times (and annoying other manufacturers). That '8:17' sticker on the R26.Rs would suggest it was quite proud of that as well. Let's see how the story develops.