Safety. The word has been a mainstay of the motoring industry for decades, with manufacturers and motorsport associations alike searching for ways to keeping people safe without spoiling their engagement with their car or sport. In F1 we have halo devices, on the road myriad acronyms and in rally there are designated viewing areas. All very good. But cast your mind back to a time when cars were homologated for racing, built to be nothing by extremely quick and generally a bit mental. Think Ferrari 288 GTO, Peugeot 205 T16, Lancia 037 and this, the Renault 5 Turbo.
Taking the Renault 5 GT chassis, engineers shoehorned a 1,397cc turbocharged engine behind the front two seats pushing power to the rear wheels. Designers at Bertone created wide rear arches to feed air into the heavily turbocharged engine and light alloy components were used. Unfortunately, to keep costs down after Group 4 homologation, the Turbo 2 used more stock Renault 5 parts and the light alloy components were also scrapped at the hands of the bean counters. That didn't stop it from being the most powerful French production car of the time with a 0-62mph time of 6.9 seconds and a 120mph top speed and, by the end of Group B, the cars were pushing out in excess of 350hp.
This particular model has been converted to right-hand drive when the first owner moved to the UK in 1985 and recently underwent a re-spray, wheel refurbishment and a service. There is no doubt that these cars are sought after - Dan Prosser wrote about one back in 2012 which was priced at just £32,000 - a far cry from the £65,000 demanded now. Many manufacturers back then only built as many as were needed to compete but, thankfully, Renault carried on - knowing more people would want to enjoy the sheer wackiness of the thing. What is there out there that is just as crazy? Another rally legend, of course, the
Lancia Delta Integrale
Peugeot 205 Turbo
. You'd be in a lucky position to be deciding between any of them, but for that something je ne sais quoi the Renault possesses, it'd be my pick.
SPECIFICATION - RENAULT 5 TURBO 2
Engine: 1,397cc 4-cyl, turbo
Transmission: 5-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 162@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 163@3,250rpm
MPG: 22.0
CO2: N/A
First registered: 1983
Recorded mileage: 31,000
Price new: £17,000
Yours for: £65,900
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