It lapped the course in 7:40.1
The Renault Mégane R.S. Trophy-R toppled the Honda Civic Type R’s 7:43.8 front-wheel-drive Nürburgring record, and the company released a video showing it covering the Nordschleife in 7:40.1. If you want one of these boiling hot hatchbacks, then prepare to act quickly because Renault only plans to offer “a few hundred units.” They hit the streets and circuits of Europe before the end of 2019 but make a public debut at the Formula One Grand Prix of Monaco on May 24.
Renault finally released some specs for the Megane RS Trophy-R. It retains a turbocharged 1.8-liter gasoline engine with the same output as the Trophy with 296 horsepower (221 kilowatts) and 295 pound-feet (400 Newton-meters) of torque.
To achieve the quicker time, the Megane RS Trophy-R goes on quite a diet to shed 287 pounds (130 kilograms). Renault doesn’t yet explain how this weight loss happens, though. The model allegedly has no rear seats and comes standard with a rollcage both for safety on the track and for added stiffness. Plexiglas windows would save a few pounds, too. The company also promises “reworked aerodynamics and a more radical development of its drive axles.”
Now, Honda will be under pressure for the Civic Type R to regain its record at the Green Hell by going at least 3.7 seconds quicker around the circuit. Spy shots (see above) indicate that the Japanese automaker’s engineers are already preparing for the challenge by developing an upgraded CTR, including reportedly fitting a carbon fiber roof to shed weight. There’s no info yet about when the revised model might debut.
Source: Renault Sport via YouTube, Renault
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Renault presents MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R, a new version of a saga begun 15 years ago, that has set like its iconic forerunners anew record on the Nordschleife in front-wheel-drive production car category. It perpetuates Renault Sport’s passion for challenge and performance.
Compared to the Megane R.S. Trophy, the Renault MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R, equipped with the same 300 hp engine, owes its increased speed to the weight reduction (up to 130 kg), the work on aerodynamics and the more radical development of its chassis for road holding.
The Renault MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R will be launched on the market before the end of 2019, as an exclusive limited edition of a few hundred units only.
Renault Sport has built on a partnership with some of the most recognised specialists in their disciplines: Akrapovič, Brembo, Bridgestone, Öhlins and Sabelt
MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R sets a 07’40’’100 new record on the Nordschleife 20.600 km lap, and a 07’45’’389 reference time on the official whole lap of 20.832 km.
With drivers from the Renault F1@ Team Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenberg behind the wheel, on 24 May in Monaco, on the fringes of the Formula One Grand Prix, the MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R will make its first physical appearance.
In the tradition of Renault Sport, this new generation of MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R does not only owe its performance to its pure power, since its 300 hp engine is that of Megane R.S. Trophy, launched in early 2019. The MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R was developed as a racing car in a very short time, by a small dedicated team that operated in agile mode by focusing on three aspects: maximum weight reduction (up to 130 kg compared to the Megane R.S. Trophy excluding options), reworked aerodynamics and a more radical development of its drive axles.
The result is truly breath-taking: on 5 April, 2019, the MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R set a new officially approved record and reference time for the compact car segment of production cars on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring, now a world-renowned race track and proving ground for cars and sports performance. It covered the 20.600 km in 07’40’’100, and the official whole lap length of the Nordschleife 20.832 km in 07’45’’389.
The story of the Megane R.S. and the “Ring” has been going on for more than 10 years. It started in 2008 with the very first record in the front-wheel-drive production car category: Megane R.S. R26.R completed the lap in 8’17’’. A time that was shattered 3 years later, in 2011, by the second generation Megane R.S. Trophy version, in the hands of the car’s driver-builder, Laurent Hurgon (8’07”97). In 2014, it passed under the 8-minute mark (7’54”36) for the first time with the Trophy-R version of the Megane III R.S. He was also the one who drove the latest generation of MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R to set this new reference time, in a chase for records in which gaining every second has become that much harder.
The MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R will be marketed before the end of 2019 as an exclusive limited edition of a few hundred units.
Renault F1@ Team drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenberg will be behind the wheel when the MEGANE R.S. TROPHY-R makes its first public appearance on 24 May, 2019, the Friday before the FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO.