Megane R26R.PDF

launchedatthisweek'smotor shoq isthehottest

"Gffir

Renault's M6ganeR26R,

to makeit that way.SteveSutcliffeexplains

_*-&

Itchever, andwe've helped

Drive I Renaultspoft Mdgane R26R

It's called the

Renaultsport M6gane R26R,

it costs lessthan €24,000, hasjusttwo seaB

andhas already

hecaryou arelookingatis,

without asinglehint ofa

doubt,themost hardcore

hothatchback theworld

hasewr seen.

the R26Rwith option alToyorrack ryres,

sn:aightoutofthe brochure.Add thise

to themjx andtheR26Rgains a furrher

h allsecondperkilomerre. Which means

overall it is approximately sixseconds

faster

around acircuitsuch a6Silverstone.

What makesthisfeatyet moreamazing,

andalsoimpressi!€ly relevantin 200g.

isthat theRz6Rhas not anouncemore

power - ortorque - than thecaronwhich

it isbased.

lappedthe Niirburgring

fasterthan any otler front--

wheel-drive carin history you'd therefore

conclude

that it is also aboutto takethe

motor show - andasmall but perfectlv

formed sliceoftle Great SritishcarmLket

- Dy storm.

Andwe atA4tocar fe€lespeciallyexcited

bythe launchofthis astonlshingb focusea

newmachine, havingbeen attheheartof

itsdevelopment sincetheproject began

ol'erayear ago.Thistimelastyear we

weremvrtecl

Its r"o-libe turbocharged engine

prccuces exacfly thesame227bhD and

2281b Rastheregular R26's,and atthough

its six-speedgearbox

featuresashorter-

shifting levet,theratios andinternals are

entirely standad.Asis tlle limited-slip

differential. In reality thismeanstlat

theRz6R, aswellbeine monurnentallv

faster $an its little brother, isalsomoie

economica.l Oecause

to asesrttesttack in tlle

soudr oflrance ard spenttwodays driving

tie developmentcar andtaikinewith ils

engineers. At fiat point theR26--R

it islighter) andles$

poluting (diro).

hadyerro

begrlen ahame, let aloneagreen ligbt by

tieRenar t board who,bythen,hal still to

oecloe wnetler such anesrbEme

BACKTOTHE BEGII{NII{G

WhenRenaultsport

invited,4doc4r

(namely me)Io France

careven

warranted a place within their priceliss.

A year andoneverybold boardroom

decision

last year totrv whar

it then described as "qult" an"*t e-"

version ofthe R26" I haveto admit ftat I

wasintrigued. At thetimeI had iusttaken

deliveryof,4atocdy's

later, theR26Rhasbecome a

rcalitlaAnd right nowonlytime will tell

lviretherthe worldvants or needs acaras

oubageousasthis. Onetlag viaaseriesof

weight-saving measues(more detailin

amoment),rips tbescalesatjust 123okg,

p reciselyU3lqg lessthan thestandard nZ6.

Thisaloneis sufrcientto make it halfa

second

own lonetirm R26

andI diclnt qactlythfurk ofit asasoftie.

Youcan readmoreaboutprecisely wh at

wedid during thosetwo dal,sin France

onpg9,bur bytheendit was obviousthal

Renauftsportwas serious aboutmakinE

asedous car.Thebasicgoal for theR-Z6R

wEs,asintimated, thatit shouldbeone full

secondper kilomete fasterarcund anv

circuit dnn dre R26,without any increase

m horsepower.

fasterper kilometre aroundacircuit

than thealreadyveryrapid R26.

And that'sbeforeyou ailor in whar is

arguably theR26R's mostlethalweaDon of

allIits qlres. Forthe first timeeveron ahor

hatchback RenaulBport

Insteadtheengineers would

ditcrh weightand fit cuptyres.

The fitn:enrofcup tltes wasalwaw

goingto workwhenit cameto gaining €xtra

is going to ofer

rel-&i

some23sec

WEARENOTTALKING

ABOUTACARTHAT

WILLBEBOUGHTBYBENAULTS RUN-OF-

THE-MILLCUSTOMERS.JUST45O

WILL BEMAE

5891

1.'lE

# EEln

speedon dry roads, although specifting the

right q?e was not the matter ofa moment.

Dtring the development procedure

Renaultsport's chassis engineers and test

drivers tried all sors ofdifferent makes,

including Michelin's own renowned Pilot

Sport Cup (the standad R26 comeson

Michelin Pilots). But they couldn t get the

Michelin Cup gTes to last well - on road

ortrack- andwearwas a crucial factor

in apFoving a setofqT esona carwith a

Renault badge on it.

In the end tle Toyos worked a [eat;

they gavethe increasein dry grip needed

to make dre stopwatch sing but they didn't

wea r out on tlle rcad. They worked well in

the wet, too. The only issue is that tley dodt

cope brilliandy witi standing water, where

they still have atendency to aquaplane

quite suddenly; customers will be made

acutely aware ofthis ifthey speeifythe

optional Toyo rubber when the car goeson

salein October.

The really big challenge for the R26R's

engineers.however.wasto getweighrour

ofit, and tle original target was to lose

125kg. That's ahuge amount to remove

Iiom a car that's already quite lithe on the

scales, yel Renaultspogt's tearn knew they

had to get closeto the target ifthe car was

going to perform astleywished. Sothey

embarked on the most radical schemeof

measurcsto renovejust about anything

that was removeable,including, even,the

rear window and its wiper mechanism,

Out went tlle entire rear seatassenbly

(32kg on its own), along with both side rear

wir dowsandtherearwindow isel 1,each

ofwhich were replaced by polycarbonate

items that weigh less than a quarter as

much astheir glass equi!€lents. BotI ftont

seatswere replacedby evenhigher-backed,

but much lighter, carbon buckets which

featuJesix-point hamess belts asstandard;

customers will still be ableto specify

normal belts ifthey wish.

Out, too, went the stereo (again you can

re-specify this at no exha cost), and they

evenwondered about losing the air-con

forawhile,seeingashow this would save

another 20kg. In the end Renaultspolt

made the right decision and left the air-con

syste m in. knowing fi,rlJwelJdrat no righ t-

rninded customer would go widlout it.

What they did think long and hard about,

and eventually did deeideto bin, wEsthe )

2008www.aulocaR.co.uK 57

;

23JULY

NUHBURGBING

LAPTIMES

tAPRECORD

porscheg56 racecar6m11sec

(Stefan Bellof)

ROADCARS

Thislsnotanall-time

listbutmerelyacrosssection

intocontext.The

RadicalSRgholdsthe currentroad'car

record.

sR86m55se[

RadicalsR3turbo7m19sec

PaganiZondaF7m28sec

Porsche

carreraGT7rn28sec

ilissanGT-R7m29sec

Porgche911GT2

(997) 7m32sec

MercedesSLR McLaren7m405ec

Porsche911GT3

(997) 7m42sec

FordGT7m42sec

Corvette

2067,07m43sec

caterhaE su pqt!!g!!!!ool!l!!!e!

FerrariF4lO7rn55sec

CadillacCTS.VTm59sec

audiR88m04sec

BMwM3 (current E92)8m05sec

BMWM6(current)

8m0gsec

AudiRS48m09sec

,IFYOU'RE

THINKING

THATTHEF26RWILL BETOC

BMWM5 (current) Bml3sec

BMWM3 (E45) 8m22sec

Porsche CavmanS8m25sec

vauxhal

STIFFAND MANIC

FORUKROADS,THINKAGAIN.

Iastra v{RI!I41!g[ng 8If5!9!

Mazda6MPS 8m39sec

IT'S MOFECOMFORTABLETHAN

THE826'

OUTRIGTIT

you can put intotheR26R'stime

Radical

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