First Drive - Clio V6
12:00AM BST 24 Oct 2000
THE last time I sat in one of these, I had a view of a man in an advanced state of animation, waving arms and flags and standing in the road ahead. Seemed he wanted me out of the car as soon as possible. The Renault PR man was busily assuring his colleagues that this bearded Brit knew what he was about, but clearly they weren't convinced. Maybe, because a couple of cars had already landed on their roofs, and there were none to spare with several launch days left, they were simply being careful.
Me, I was just enjoying the way the car would leave black lines down the road while you held the wheel to one side and travelled at an angle of 30 degrees to the straight ahead. That said, I suppose I could see their point.
That was the launch of Renault's latest purpose-built race car, the Clio V6 (a rear-engined special based on a mixture of pepped-up Laguna three-litre engine, special transmission and Clio bodyshell) which continued Renault's unique special building tradition. It was a clever and apparently profitable use of mechanicals that were already on the shelves, and because all the weight was in the rear like some old Skoda, it was fabulously awkward. Accelerate in the corner and the tail swung. Back off in the corner and the tail swung. Brake into the corner and the tail swung.
The trick of course was not to provoke it in the first place but if you did, then you had to keep your foot planted and ride it out - a notion that takes a little grasping when it looks as if you're about to crash. But I also thought at the time that this was exactly what one-make racing needed. An exciting-looking car that wasn't easy to drive and would occasionally bite even the good guys, looked like the best antidote to processions of front-drive hatchbacks droning round in single file.
This was all two years ago, and while the possibility of a road version was discussed, you could see that most people thought this might not be such a good PR exercise for Renault. Leaving the road on a regular basis tends to tarnish the image.
Related Articles
But then Renault has been about changing that. On the way out is all that yachts, mansions and beautiful people lifestyle stuff and in is the Y2K Creator of Cars.
If it succeeds then it's an image Renault deserves, because it is an innovator. The 1980s Maxi Turbo, the Alpines and the Spider, the current single-seater Formula Renault and the Clio V6 are ample proof of that.
The decision made to produce a road version, the deal was put out to tender and it was TWR - better known as engineers to the OrangeArrows Formula One team, whose cars are on display at The Daily Telegraph's Motor Show stand in Hall 6 - that got the job of developing Renault's concept and then building the final product at the rate of 12 a day. On paper, that concept differs little from the racers - the 24-valve Laguna V6 is in 230 rather than 285bhp trim (the executive version pushes out 210bhp) and the gearbox still has six speeds, although the purpose-built sequential race 'box has been replaced with a compact new synchromesh transmission intended for use elsewhere in the Renault range.
TWR added some extra crash protection to the shell, but the suspension is still essentially derived from existing models - a modified Laguna front end does service at the Clio's rear, and there are some neat additional aluminium-alloy castings for subframes and wishbones. Brakes and wheels are still big, and the extra wide glass-fibre wings and deep spoilers that cover them are still aggressive, but perfectly in keeping with the style of the car. Inside, you'll find airbags, bucket seats, air-conditioning, electric windows and a stereo system, so it's no stripped-out racer, even if it does have drilled aluminium pedals
But if the creature comforts have been added, has the wayward nature been exorcised? On relatively brief acquaintance among the mountains north of Nice, the answer is yes. TWR has obviously worked some geometric magic because the engine is still in the same place, but now it seems perfectly amenable. It's comfortable too, even if it has metamorphosed into a snorting GT; where you sit is still Clio, so the driving position and the view out are still small-hatch ubiquitous. The engine fills the rear seat area and the radiator does likewise to the front underbonnet, so you need to travel light, but load-lugging is not what this car is about.
As we headed out of Nice and its environs I was still waiting for a set of teeth in the legs, but gradually the confidence came. The steering, which felt oddly inert at first, became something you could trust even when barrelling into a downhill second gear hairpin. The weighting hardly changed but then the nose didn't push wide and even if you rode the brakes a little too long as you turned, the tail stayed firmly in line. Then, no matter how hard you booted it on the way out it was all but impossible to unstick the rear tyres. It's a driving ambience unique to mid- and rear-engined layouts; you lean ever harder on the working front wheel, then use the weight over the rears to punch you out, safe in the knowledge that the tail won't unstick.
With confidence in TWR's handiwork growing, the faster corners could be tackled; here the front began to nose wide but would return to order if you just backed off the power a little. If you did that too smartly there was the slightest wobble from the back, but never enough to worry about.
And it was comfortable. The ride was vastly better than I was expecting, but more to the point, it felt like a proper GT, made a glorious six-cylinder growl and was easy and enjoyable to drive. Not perhaps as quick as it appeared, and some of its plastic bits were a bit frayed at the edges, but it obviously looked impressive on the road. Rounding a bend in one of the little towns perched on the rocky ledges above Nice, two brightly blue-clad policemen sprang into the road waving their arms. Not again, I thought. This time any excess speed might carry a more serious and distinctly financial implication.
The younger one walked all the way round with a wide-eyed air of bewilderment while I told his colleague - as far as my schoolboy French would allow comprehension - that this was a new Renault and there would be at least a dozen more this way any time now. His face cracked into a wide smile. That's all right, he said, all we wanted was a look. And with that they both took a pace backwards and ushered us on our way.
Such attention could be yours for just £25,995 but you'll have to be patient. Renault UK has already sold the first year's allocation and the current waiting list begins in 2002. Much of it, said the marketing man, was conquest business, which translated, means people who wouldn't normally buy a Renault. I don't think they'll be disappointed.
RenaultSport Clio 3V6
Price/availability: £25,995. On sale now; waiting list for RHD.
Engine/transmission: rear-mounted, 2,946cc, six cylinders in 60-deg vee with four valves per cylinder operated by DOHC per bank. 230bhp at 6,000rpm, 221lb ft of torque at 3,750rpm. Six-speed gearbox, rear-wheel drive.
Performance: top speed 147mph. 0-62mph in 6.4seconds. EC Urban fuel consumption 19mpg.
12:00AM BST 24 Oct 2000
THE last time I sat in one of these, I had a view of a man in an advanced state of animation, waving arms and flags and standing in the road ahead. Seemed he wanted me out of the car as soon as possible. The Renault PR man was busily assuring his colleagues that this bearded Brit knew what he was about, but clearly they weren't convinced. Maybe, because a couple of cars had already landed on their roofs, and there were none to spare with several launch days left, they were simply being careful.
Me, I was just enjoying the way the car would leave black lines down the road while you held the wheel to one side and travelled at an angle of 30 degrees to the straight ahead. That said, I suppose I could see their point.
That was the launch of Renault's latest purpose-built race car, the Clio V6 (a rear-engined special based on a mixture of pepped-up Laguna three-litre engine, special transmission and Clio bodyshell) which continued Renault's unique special building tradition. It was a clever and apparently profitable use of mechanicals that were already on the shelves, and because all the weight was in the rear like some old Skoda, it was fabulously awkward. Accelerate in the corner and the tail swung. Back off in the corner and the tail swung. Brake into the corner and the tail swung.
The trick of course was not to provoke it in the first place but if you did, then you had to keep your foot planted and ride it out - a notion that takes a little grasping when it looks as if you're about to crash. But I also thought at the time that this was exactly what one-make racing needed. An exciting-looking car that wasn't easy to drive and would occasionally bite even the good guys, looked like the best antidote to processions of front-drive hatchbacks droning round in single file.
This was all two years ago, and while the possibility of a road version was discussed, you could see that most people thought this might not be such a good PR exercise for Renault. Leaving the road on a regular basis tends to tarnish the image.
Related Articles
But then Renault has been about changing that. On the way out is all that yachts, mansions and beautiful people lifestyle stuff and in is the Y2K Creator of Cars.
If it succeeds then it's an image Renault deserves, because it is an innovator. The 1980s Maxi Turbo, the Alpines and the Spider, the current single-seater Formula Renault and the Clio V6 are ample proof of that.
The decision made to produce a road version, the deal was put out to tender and it was TWR - better known as engineers to the OrangeArrows Formula One team, whose cars are on display at The Daily Telegraph's Motor Show stand in Hall 6 - that got the job of developing Renault's concept and then building the final product at the rate of 12 a day. On paper, that concept differs little from the racers - the 24-valve Laguna V6 is in 230 rather than 285bhp trim (the executive version pushes out 210bhp) and the gearbox still has six speeds, although the purpose-built sequential race 'box has been replaced with a compact new synchromesh transmission intended for use elsewhere in the Renault range.
TWR added some extra crash protection to the shell, but the suspension is still essentially derived from existing models - a modified Laguna front end does service at the Clio's rear, and there are some neat additional aluminium-alloy castings for subframes and wishbones. Brakes and wheels are still big, and the extra wide glass-fibre wings and deep spoilers that cover them are still aggressive, but perfectly in keeping with the style of the car. Inside, you'll find airbags, bucket seats, air-conditioning, electric windows and a stereo system, so it's no stripped-out racer, even if it does have drilled aluminium pedals
But if the creature comforts have been added, has the wayward nature been exorcised? On relatively brief acquaintance among the mountains north of Nice, the answer is yes. TWR has obviously worked some geometric magic because the engine is still in the same place, but now it seems perfectly amenable. It's comfortable too, even if it has metamorphosed into a snorting GT; where you sit is still Clio, so the driving position and the view out are still small-hatch ubiquitous. The engine fills the rear seat area and the radiator does likewise to the front underbonnet, so you need to travel light, but load-lugging is not what this car is about.
As we headed out of Nice and its environs I was still waiting for a set of teeth in the legs, but gradually the confidence came. The steering, which felt oddly inert at first, became something you could trust even when barrelling into a downhill second gear hairpin. The weighting hardly changed but then the nose didn't push wide and even if you rode the brakes a little too long as you turned, the tail stayed firmly in line. Then, no matter how hard you booted it on the way out it was all but impossible to unstick the rear tyres. It's a driving ambience unique to mid- and rear-engined layouts; you lean ever harder on the working front wheel, then use the weight over the rears to punch you out, safe in the knowledge that the tail won't unstick.
With confidence in TWR's handiwork growing, the faster corners could be tackled; here the front began to nose wide but would return to order if you just backed off the power a little. If you did that too smartly there was the slightest wobble from the back, but never enough to worry about.
And it was comfortable. The ride was vastly better than I was expecting, but more to the point, it felt like a proper GT, made a glorious six-cylinder growl and was easy and enjoyable to drive. Not perhaps as quick as it appeared, and some of its plastic bits were a bit frayed at the edges, but it obviously looked impressive on the road. Rounding a bend in one of the little towns perched on the rocky ledges above Nice, two brightly blue-clad policemen sprang into the road waving their arms. Not again, I thought. This time any excess speed might carry a more serious and distinctly financial implication.
The younger one walked all the way round with a wide-eyed air of bewilderment while I told his colleague - as far as my schoolboy French would allow comprehension - that this was a new Renault and there would be at least a dozen more this way any time now. His face cracked into a wide smile. That's all right, he said, all we wanted was a look. And with that they both took a pace backwards and ushered us on our way.
Such attention could be yours for just £25,995 but you'll have to be patient. Renault UK has already sold the first year's allocation and the current waiting list begins in 2002. Much of it, said the marketing man, was conquest business, which translated, means people who wouldn't normally buy a Renault. I don't think they'll be disappointed.
RenaultSport Clio 3V6
Price/availability: £25,995. On sale now; waiting list for RHD.
Engine/transmission: rear-mounted, 2,946cc, six cylinders in 60-deg vee with four valves per cylinder operated by DOHC per bank. 230bhp at 6,000rpm, 221lb ft of torque at 3,750rpm. Six-speed gearbox, rear-wheel drive.
Performance: top speed 147mph. 0-62mph in 6.4seconds. EC Urban fuel consumption 19mpg.
