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Geneva Motor Show: Renaultsport Clio F1 Team R27
Click on the image above to jump to our gallery of 16 high-resolution images
Enthusiasts and consumers may contend that F1 racing provides only negligible benefit to road cars, but automakers evidently think otherwise, as more and more buy into the top-tier motorsport each year. Each has its own way of bringing its racing success to the road: Ferrari makes nearly-unobtainable supercars; McLaren's even more so. Renault, on the other hand, translates their immense success on the F1 circuit into some of the hottest hatchbacks on the market (even if they're not currently offered stateside).
Renaultsport launched the Clio F1 Team R27 edition to coincide with the racing team's launch of the R27, the Formula One single-seater they'll be fielding in the 2007 season that kicks off in a week. The new hot hatch made its public debut at the Geneva motor show last week. Along with special decals and a "Sirius yellow" finish, Recaro racing buckets, lightweight 17" anthracite rims and a few other special touches, the Clio R27 gets an upgraded "Cup" suspension. The limited series goes on sale this month, and once it's been sold out, the Cup suspension will be made available on the "ordinary" Clio Renaultsport.
The Clio R27 follows on the same formula as last year's Megane Renaulsport F1 Team R26, featuring the same livery and treatment, which was displayed alongside the new Clio R27 and the new F1 car on the Geneva show floor. Check out all the action in our high-resolution image gallery below.
Gallery: Renault R27 F1 at Geneva 07
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
KJC 6:53PM (3/11/2007)
F1 has contributed greatly to public motoring; traction control, anti-lock brakes, SMG, etc...
Every new road Ferrari has F1 technology.
Manufactures have not marketed the link to regular production cars effectively. BMW has done a admirable job with the F1 based V-10 in their M5 & M6.
Sure, it is tougher for Renault that does not have a super car in their line up but they can add other technologies besides engines.
Good Luck to Renault F1 for 2007.
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Nick 8:54PM (3/11/2007)
Euro poser crap- This would be toasted by a neanderthal Mustang GT, which is cheaper.
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tiago do vale 9:41PM (3/11/2007)
The citröen Saxo Cup was faster than the Viper in every corner, and that was years ago, so I can't take your Clio/Mustang consideration very seriously...
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lgm 10:00PM (3/11/2007)
But you've forgot to say that Saxo is a piece of crap, toooooo ugly and small, like any Citroën or Renault, without a soul. Compare a Saxo or a Clio F1 with a Mustang is the same to compare a Beetle with an Eldorado or an Imperial.
I think a Mustang GT or a Viper is more funny than a vacuum cleaner-shape euro hatchback with some extra HP.
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Nick 10:10PM (3/11/2007)
Too bad they have to race on the straights as well- It's great some poofy hatchback can outhandle a viper when it's half the size- certainly won't beat it on a track or in a race on any normal track that doesn't involve switchbacks wswitching back to more switchbacks. Just like for $25K I'd take a Mustang GT any day versus a VW GTI. The Ford's likely to be more reliable than a VW or Renault, anyway.
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Jeff Banks 10:18PM (3/11/2007)
My family owned a Renault sedan a while ago. Its safe to say that we will never buy one again.
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Proud Japanese 10:45PM (3/11/2007)
@Nick: From top gear laptimes:
1:30.4 – Volkswagen Golf R32 2005
1:30.0 – Ford Shelby GT500
Oh man, for such an expensive top of the range car the Shelby Mustang barely manages to beat the R32.
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Tagg 11:10PM (3/11/2007)
Ah Top Gear, the authority on automotive testing. That show is merely entertainment with no comprehensive testing. Depending how the course is set up and small car like a Clio or R32 can beat a Mustang which is much bigger. The Top Gear test track is nothing more than a old airfield and I'm sure if you took a R32 and Shelby out to the Nurburgring or Laguna Seca tracks it wouldn't be close.
As for F1 technology finding its way into street cars I think that has slowed greatly. It is alot more likely for a Ferrari or Mercedes to have F1 technology compared to a Toyota or Renault. Some of it has been good like ABS but the paddle shifter craze can stop. Those allow the Paris Hiltons and "Dieters" of the world to drive cars way beyond their personal limits. I also just find something more entertaining about a true stickshift manual opposed to the Playstation paddles.
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Bruiser 11:10PM (3/11/2007)
All I can say is "Le Car"!!!!!!! Hey proud japanese, I bet you either one of those cars can beat ANY Toyota and Honda.
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Proud Japanese 11:23PM (3/11/2007)
@Tagg: Talk about being in denial. Yes, the TG track is on a airfield, but it is
NOT a slow track. There are a lot of straights where the Shelby should have been able to make time. If it is that bad on the TG track it will be much much worse on the ring or laguna seca. BTW here the TG track on google maps.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=71551&t=k&om=1
Only an idiot would choose a mustang over a similarly priced VW.
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Nick 12:26AM (3/12/2007)
I'm not impressed by that Golf R32. Lots of things leave it on the track. It would get spanked by that Shelby at the Ring, just like the Corvette spanks it, never mind the Z putting up a strong show. The Viper does crappy at the ring, looks lik 8:10 or so.
Lap Times at Nurburgring:
8:32 --- 144.844 km/h -- Volkswagen Golf R32 Mk. IV, 250 PS- the best I could find in the list
8:26 --- 146.561 km/h -- Nissan 350Z, 280 PS/1526 kg (sport auto 10/03)
8:24 --- 147.143 km/h -- Subaru Impreza WRX STi (sport auto 05/04)
7:59* -- 154.822 km/h -- Chevrolet C6 Z51, company test driver Dave Hill (*mfr.)
http://www.supercars.net/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=3&fID=0&tID=10073
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favcar 12:34AM (3/12/2007)
Japanese cars are not to be left out, I guess for asian car lovers Honda and Toyota are something they have in mind.
Cheap car insurance.
http://www.favcars.com/auto-cheap-insurance/?i=1
And for car buyers.
http://www.favcars.com/auto-purchase/?i=4
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chris 1:11AM (3/12/2007)
Why are you talking about Mustangs and Golf R32s here? The Renaultsport Clios are in a totally different market, it's the Renaultsport Meganes that are sort of competitors with the Golf R32. The Mustang is a completely different car and someone considering the Clio R27 wouldn't even think about a Mustang for a second because Renaultsport cars are about handling, Mustangs are about cheap power and nothing else.
But where do you get the whole "Mustang is cheaper" thing from anyone Nick? Renault don't sell cars in America, and there is no price announced for this thing yet so I guess you can find car specs from RedneckFanboys.com or something like that 'naggs' character.
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Autoreader 2:29AM (3/12/2007)
Its too much to ask from Renault Clio, come on, leave the sport design, to those who can do it properly.
Cheers
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Nick 2:55AM (3/12/2007)
The GTI and Mustang are very similarly priced here and, I found a price of 17K pounds= $32,874 for the Clio Renaultsport 197 in the UK.
I will convert it for the welfare state tax they have over there in Europe (because they like free health care).
I configured a base GTI on Volkwagen's site and it came out to 21,580 pounds (yee gods,how do people get by?) which comes out to: $41,738.46. A GTI here is $22,220, giving an adjustment betwen the UK and here as 41.7/22.2= 1.87 times more expensive.
So the Clio is 32,874/1.87= $17,579- so it would be cheaper here using my back of the envelope Economist Big Mac index equivalent. It'd be a great value, in fact.
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Nick 2:56AM (3/12/2007)
Thought of course, you'd be stuck with French reliability.
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Andrew 5:37AM (3/12/2007)
#16 Please check out this reliability rating from the UK. Your hateful remarks about French cars are misleading and untrue. But perhaps you only know the old French cars once sold in the US? In Europe French cars are known to be quite good.
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nagmashot 5:56AM (3/12/2007)
only BULLSHIT talking is going on here...
1. The Nürburgring is in Germany!!!!!!!
2. In Germany is a VW R32
*10,000Euro ($ 13,100) cheaper as a Ford Mustang GT,
*7000Euro ($9,200) cheaper as a WRX STI or a Mitsubishi Evo,
*47,000Euro ($61,570!!!!!!!!!!) cheaper as a Corvette C6 Z06.
To see the true perfromance of "normal" US cars... take the Corvette C5 V8 automatic 8:40min *ops*...
now rednecks me tell again that the VW R32 Ring time is bad!
Honda S2000 8:39min
(^^^^5,000Euro or $6550 more expansive as the R32)
Honda Civic Type R 8:49min
^^^^ and they are called handling mashines
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Nick 6:28AM (3/12/2007)
Again, we don't care about countries relatively overpricing their imports- I'm talking about the USA.
The VW R32 was $29,100, a few thousand less than an STI or EVO, and about $20,000 less than the Corvette.
I also enjoyed your cherry picking of Corvette lap times, I like this one:
8:18 --- 149.916 km/h -- Chevrolet Corvette Z05 Commemorative Edition, 344 PS (sport auto 09/2003).
Also, this car is actually 4k cheaper than the r32 in the USA:
8:28.93 145.690 km/h -- Subaru Impreza WRX sedan (1992)
I also seem to remember a Top Gear where the whole bottom list of their reliability rating was French.
I also hesitate to trust a whole continent's thoughts on reliability when VW is the epitome of quality and reliability for the common man when they have been a bloody disaster in the US- and it's not even close. Europeans must be much more forgiving of quality problems, or they're selling different VWs here.
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Billy 7:12AM (3/12/2007)
Man, reading these responses to a post is like entering some special circle of hell. Always with the same arguments about American v. imports. This is supposed to be about F1 technology in street cars, not mustangs and vipers. anyways, when are you muscle car nuts going to realize that muscle cars are just like some steroided up weight-lifter, really stupid, having a chip on his shoulder, and pretty much useless, except for being a bouncer, maybe. A good-handling car, on the other hand, is like an athlete. I understand that the muscle car nuts may never understand that, but do you have to pollute every post with your attitude?
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