It has a Nissan GT-R engine and a Dallara-built carbon-fiber tub, and—if you have $400,000 sitting around—you can buy one and enter what’s likely to be a spectacular bangs-and-bumps pro-am championship racing series. Meet the Renault R.S. 01.
Yes, that’s right, Renault. Despite the brand’s complete irrelevance in North America, France’s biggest carmaker still gets plenty of promotional bang out of racing activities elsewhere on the planet, with its World Series by Renault encompassing multiple racing series in Europe. The R.S. 01, which was unveiled at last month’s Moscow auto show and is named in honor of Renault’s turbocharged Formula 1 car from 1977, will be the star of a new WSR single-make race series next year called the Renault Sport Trophy.
The stunning looks are the result of a collaboration between Renault’s design and engineering teams. The preliminary model was produced by a young Japanese designer named Akio Shumizu, and bears more than a passing similarity to both the Renault DeZir concept from 2010 and the GT3-spec Audi R8. The first design was then passed to the engineering boys and adapted to package engine and driver, and also to maximize aero performance. Renault claims the finished car will be somewhere between GT3 and German DTM sedans in terms of overall performance.
Power comes from the GT-R’s twin-turbocharged V-6 with “more than 500 hp” according to the official release. (Producing a GT-R engine with less than this might actually be more of a challenge). The motor is bolted directly to the carbon tub and gets dry-sump lubrication, but is otherwise pretty much the same (and therefore cheap by motorsports standards). Drive heads rearward through a seven-speed Sadev sequential transmission and bespoke traction control. There’s ABS too, giving those gentlemen amateurs a sporting chance of not overcooking the occasional corner. The car is designed to deliver the same level of safety as an LMP1 endurance racer, with deformable crash structures front and rear.
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In 2015, the inaugural season will run with up to 20 teams, each with both professional and amateur drivers and competing across Europe. The winning ‘pro’ driver will get a test with Nismo’s Super GT works team in Japan, while the winning amateur will get a seat in an LMP2 car at Le Mans in 2016. Renault hasn’t ruled out building a version capable of racing outside its championship, either, although we’re told that a roadgoing version is “vanishingly unlikely.”
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