USING its new Megane R.S. Trophy-R, set to make its first official public appearance on 24 May 2019 in Monaco, Renault has set a new mark at the famous Nurburgring, with a 7m40.100sec (on the 20.6km Nordscheife, or 7m45.389sec on the new 20.832km track).
The new benchmark is a front-wheel drive production car record, and continues a long tradition; the love affair between 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, when a Megane R.S. R26.R completed the lap in 8min17sec. That time 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, a time of 8min07.97sec was set. In 2014, he passed under the 8-minute mark (7min54.36sec) 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 (on 5 April 2019), in a chase for records in which gaining every second has become that much harder.
Compared to the standard Megane R.S. Trophy, the Renault Megane R.S. Trophy-R, equipped with the same 300hp engine, owes its increased speed to weight reduction (up to 130kg), new aerodynamics and more radical chassis development.
For those reading this story and thinking, ‘Oh my God, I want one’, the Renault Megane R.S. Trophy-R will be launched onto the market before the end of 2019, as an exclusive limited edition of a few hundred units only.
The new special edition Renault Sport model has built in partnership with some of the most recognised specialists in their disciplines, including Akrapovič, Brembo, Bridgestone, Öhlins and Sabelt.
When it does hit the track for its public debut in Monaco, on the fringes of that province’s Formula One Grand Prix, it will be in the hands of Renault F1 drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenberg.
