Renault has announced Toro Rosso will use their engine and recovery systems when Formula 1 moves to a new 1.6 litre V6 turbo era in 2014.
The move will end Toro Rosso’s seven-year association with Ferrari engines and will bring it into line with its senior Red Bull Racing team.
As well as signing Toro Rosso to a new long-term deal, Renault has extended its contract with Red Bull Racing.
Quotes from the relevant bigwigs can be read after the break.
You can have your fancy pants limited-edition Lambo, or your stonking new LaFerrari, even the McLaren P1; we’re not really interested. The car of Geneva, for us, is the Porsche 911 GT3. That’s the one we’d like to take home and get intimate with. And so begins the second and final part of our Geneva Motor Show image gallery. There’s over 120 new images to see and enjoy.
The new MINI John Cooper Works GP has arrived in Australia and it might be about to kick a few goals down under. That’s certainly the case if this video from Evo magazine is anything to go by. Perhaps for local relevance the cars they tested the GP2 against are not very worthy, but as an outright measure of capability this surely has to stack up.
Against the MINI we see two former greats tackle two new hot hatches. From Ford we have the awesome looking Focus RS 500, while Renault provides the track-day special Megane R26.R. Two excellent cars that serve to provide a handy benchmark. To see if they can beat the old timers the MINI was joined by the limited-edition Audi A1 quattro.
Okay, we’ve probably already given away the result but it won’t make the clip any less enjoyable. And you can have the GP2 in your garage for around $60K. Not bad, huh?
[Thanks to Wayne for the tip]
This is Renault’s 2014 F1 engine, sorry, “power-unit”. We’re not allowed to call the new 1.6 litre V6 turbocharged thingamajig an engine, apparently. Mostly it’s because they want us to think of the internal combustion bit and the sparky KERS bits as one unit. But screw you Renault, we’ll call it an engine if we like!
Renault Sport F1’s new engine has been created to comply with the FIA’s new regulations, which will come into force next year. Renault, not exactly known for road going V8 engines, is keen to usher in the V6 era so they can use words like “relevance” and “everyday”.
The ability to produce another 272 “limited edition” F1-inspred models of the Clio and Megane is just an accidental side benefit, of course.
Carlos Ghosn, Renault supremo, is also ready to cash in saying: “Renault’s continued involvement in Formula 1 serves to showcase our technological expertise on the racetrack and also contributes to the progress of our road vehicles. In each of these areas that entails delivering the ideal balance between performance, fuel consumption and reliability.
“With the new regulations, the use of electrical power stands to take on an increasingly important role in the development of powertrains, and that fits perfectly with Renault’s strategic commitment to electric vehicles.â€
There’s more photos and the like from the Renault Sport F1 labcoats after the break and, for the true F1 nerds among you, feel free to download the full press kit for the 2014 “power-unit”.
Fans of French hot hatches will welcome the arrival of full specifications for the new Renault Clio RS 200 EDC. The car was first shown in Paris last year and was accompanied by some good detail then, but this time there’s a lot more info to sink your teeth into.
To refresh you of the basic specs, the Clio RS 200 EDC is now powered by a 147kW/240Nm 1.6 litre turbocharged four cylinder engine and coupled to a 6-speed Efficient Dual Clutch. It weighs 1204kg and can reach 100km/h in 6.7 seconds.
While some may bemoan the lack of a manual gearbox and the lack of a free revving normally aspirated engine, as found in previous hot Clios, they may gain some comfort in the fact the Renaultsport engineers are still in control of the Clio RS 200’s suspension. Indeed, Renault proudly claims their latest hot hatch is the first production car to be fitted with hydraulic compression stops in its shocks.
We applaud the functionality of the RS Monitor 2.0 that allows data logging to be downloaded to a USB stick, among other very cool things, but cannot criticise Renault enough for adding the R-Sound Effect. This system allows you to tap into the car’s throttle position and so on to electronically pipe the sound of other cars through the stereo system. Really, have we descended that far into the realm of electronic trickery? Does anyone really want their Clio RS to sound like a Nissan GT-R?
After the break you’ll find another 30 or so images (the screen graphics are not available in larger sizing) and access to all the press guff you could hope to read.
If people keep telling you how good something is, when you eventually get to sample it for yourself, you naturally start hunting for flaws. In this case, we’re talking about the Renault Megane RS 265; specifically the Trophy 808 edition.
Motoring press the world over cannot seem to heap enough praise on the pugnaciously styled Megane hot hatch. The look is very much a love or hate proposition. But after driving the RS 265 for myself, I could only come to one conclusion; I loved it! I tried really hard to disprove the general consensus and, aside from a few minor gripes, I ended up falling in line with the crowd.
So, what makes the Megane RS 265 so damn good? It all starts when you sit behind the wheel. The seating position is close to perfect. Helped, of course, by the Recaro seats that are standard in the Trophy 808. The pedal placement is actually perfect; anyone should be able to heel and toe in this car.
There are some faults inside the cabin. Namely some of the controls and stalks are hard to see and difficult to use. Although, I’m sure such gripes would be overcome with long term ownership.
Around town… you know what, let’s forget about city commuting for the moment. You’re probably not interested in that anyway, and who can blame you.
With the race for the Formula One world drivers’ championship going the full distance this year focus has turned to the troublesome alternator issues for the Renault-powered teams. Specifically, which specification will be used by championship leader Sebastian Vettel after his Red Bull teammate, Mark Webber, retired from last weekend’s US GP due to a failed alternator.
Amusingly, the official Renault Sport F1 preview of the race (available below) doesn’t contain the word alternator or reliability anywhere in its 910 words. But Autosport has come to the party to keep Renault honest.
Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and the two Caterham cars used a new alternator in Austin, while Webber used an older version. Remi Taffin, Renault Sport F1 head of track operations, says he has no concerns with the latest spec alternator and will ensure that all Renault-powered teams use this version in Brazil.
“We have had no issues at all [with the new alternators],” Taffin said.
“We sent the one from Grosjean’s car back to France to strip it and make sure that everything is fine. We wanted to make sure we did everything we could do, and that was all fine.
“There is no reason [to worry]. We have plenty of other reasons to have a problem—but not this one.”
Post-race analysis shows the fault with Webber’s alternator from last weekend is the same as the issue which has affected Vettel twice before this year.
“We sent back the parts [of Webber’s alternator] to our headquarters in France and we actually stripped it and we could clearly see that the problem is the same as we experienced in Monza and Valencia. It was exactly the same failure.
“It is very early in terms of mileage and also early in terms of batch, chronologically speaking, so we have no other choice but to go for the next specification.”
Let’s hope the Vettel–Alonso battle for the world title is settled squarely and fairly on the racetrack and not by the pot luck nature of Renault’s alternators.
[Source: Autosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
Chris Harris has just had a play with three of the hottest hot hatchbacks money can buy: the hideous yet apparently very capable Ford Focus ST, the media’s favourite Renault Megane RS265 and the Vauxhall Astra VXR (coming to Australia as the Opel Astra OPC).
True to form the outcome follows the expected script, but there are some good insights and surprises along the way (note the lap times).
It’s Harris at his best, so just sit back and enjoy the ride.
The on-track partnership between the Caterham F1 Team and engine supplier Renault has provided the genesis for a new road car project that will revive the spirit of the Alpine brand.
The two manufacturers have joined forces, with Caterham buying a 50% stake in Alpine, in a deal that will secure the long term future of the Alpine plant in Dieppe, France. The carefully worded press statement stops short of saying new Alpine cars, such as the A110-50 pictured here, will be the result, rather that “the future vehicles will be distinctive, differentiated, and carry the respective DNA of Alpine and Caterham Cars.”
A new company will emerge from January 2103 and will be called the Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham. It will be headed by current Alpine boss Bernard Ollivier.
Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of Renault, gave his seal of approval by saying, “This innovative partnership with Caterham embodies a longstanding ambition: the creation of a sports car with the Alpine DNA. It carries both opportunities for the Dieppe plant and the development of its historic know-how.â€
While Caterham boss Tony Fernandes shared his enthusiasm stating, “I have not felt as excited about a new venture since I launched AirAsia in 2001 and I want to thank Carlos Ghosn and Carlos Tavares and everyone in our new Renault family for having the belief in Caterham Group to create this partnership.”
You can read the full press statement, issued by Renault, after the break.
As we near the global premiere of the latest James Bond flick, Skyfall, it’s quite timely that clever clogs Evans Halshaw has come up trumps with this infographic capturing the history of Bond’s garage in one easy to see location.
Thanks must go to Evans as well for encouraging the embedding of the graphic, which you can see in long form after the break. We also recommend checking out Halshaw’s website for the interactive version.
As you can see, it’s not all been expensive Aston Martins for 007.
After seeing the Opel Astra OPC in the metal at the motor show in Sydney we’ve become very interested in the car. Frankly, having access to 206kW for a quite reasonable $42,990 will do that.
But all that power, plus a massive 400Nm of torque, going through the front wheels only—that can’t be good, can it? Opel has done its best to ensure the Astra OPC can handle its stonking power by uprating the suspension and fitting a proper limited slip diff. Has it worked?
Well, as you’ll see from the four videos we’ve found for you after the break, it’s a little bit of yes and a little bit of no. The OPC has been benchmarked against the Ford Focus ST by both Autocar and Evo, plus being sent down the strip against the Renault Megane RS 265.
Sounds like a test drive for ourselves will be the only way to find out for sure. If nothing else the Evo track test shows the Astra OPC can be a bit of a laugh.
Following the debut of the Renault Clio RS 200 EDC at the Paris Motor Show, Renault UK brings word of the Renaultsport Clio Cup. It will start racing in Europe next year, but won’t debut in the UK until 2014.
In race trim the 1.6 litre turbocharged engine, supplied as a sealed unit from Oreca Magny-Cours, produces 220hp/270Nm. The dual clutch transmission from the production model gets flicked in favour of a 6-speed sequential gearbox, coupled to an AP racing clutch and limited slip diff. Wheels are lightweight 17″ Speedline Corse racing alloys, wrapped around uprated brakes and suspension. The firxed rear wing provides and extra 40kg of downforce at 200km/h.
The Renault UK Clio Cup has been going for over two decades now and Renault’s UK Communications Director Jeremy Townsend says, “The brand new Clio Cup race car is an incredibly exciting new chapter in the story for everyone.
“We will continue to run the existing car in the British championship through 2013, with the intention to then introduce the new turbo-charged Clio Cup car the following season. Getting the timing right is very important, the car will race in the Clio Eurocup next year so our teams in the UK will have ample opportunity to see it in action ahead of its planned 2014 UK debut.â€
If you do fancy having a bite at the Renault UK Clio Cup you’ll be able to take delivery of your new car from September 2013 and will need to hand over €37,800 (AU$48,000) plus taxes for the privilege.
