Anyone with the desire and the financial means can get their hands on the new Mégane Renaultsport N4.
It's based on the
Mégane Renaultsport 250 and its lineage includes the Renault 5 GT Turbo, R11 Turbo, R19 16V and Clio Williams. Not a bad family tree, really.
It puts out 261bhp and 347lb.ft from the 2.0-litre turbocharged 'F4RT' engine (ho ho ho), which is a little more power than the production Mégane 250 - but a whopping great chunk of additional torque.
The five-speed manual gearbox is bespoke (casing aside), though Renault has tried to keep costs down as far as possible in order to make the car 'accessible to all drivers.' Thus, much of the hardware is production specification, as per Group N rally rules anyway.
The dampers are new, though (and adjustable three ways), as are the front brake callipers and pistons. The rears are showroom spec, and the performance boost comes only by way of a new ECU and exhaust system.
The interior features an integrated roll cage, is stripped of its carpet and centre console and the seats are super thin bucket items. Renault doesn't say how much lighter it is, however.
Keeping costs down is relative, because the kit will set buyers back Ł48,250 on top of what they've already paid for the car. That's not too bad at all for a rally conversion, but it still takes a serious sort of gentleman racer to stump up 50 grand on his hobby.
Mark Nichol - 9 Dec 2010
