Whilst the likes of Porsche, McLaren and Ferrari silently fight for overall fastest production car lap time on the hallowed Nurburgring track, there has been an increasing battle for front-wheel drive supremacy.
Renault has been front-wheel drive kings of the ring for the best part of five years since the previous generation Megane R26-R took top spot on the FWD leaderboard. The current Megane held the record with Megane RS Trophy right up until a couple of months ago when the Seat Leon Cupra stole the title.
Now with probably the last special edition model in the Meganes life cycle, the Renault RS 275-R has regained top spot at the Ring, setting a 7m54.36 and chopping four seconds off the Seats time.
In order to set the time, the Renault RS 275-R had to go through some serious race-style changes. The rear seats were removed, a titanium Akrapovic exhaust system was fitted, special adjustable dampers added and custom-made Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres were designed for the car. The overall weight loss to Megane is close to 100kg and resulted in a large portion of the performance gain over the lap.
The special edition Renault RS 275-R also comes with its own exclusive exterior design package so you get add-ons like the two-tone colour scheme, where the roof is black and the rest of the car white. A chequered flag sticker at the bottom of the front door also denotes the Trophy R’s prestige.
Just 250 of the Renault RS 275-R models will go on sale in select countries soon. If you miss out, don’t worry as the standard 275 is coming to South Africa. Check out the road-going Renault Megane 275 here. Now lets see if Seat or any of the other major hot hatch players take up the challenge set by Renault. We think the new Honda Civic Type R may be up for the challenge.
