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Renault takes the Clio Cup to the high street
Volkswagen, Honda, Peugeot... they can all try to make hot hatches, and they may even turn out to be smashingly good. But Renault will always be the king of the hot hatches. The latest from Renaultsport, the French automaker's competition division, is the Clio Cup. It's essentially a beefed-up and stripped-down version of the critically-acclaimed Renaultsport Clio 197. (Think Clio Superleggera, or Clio Scuderia.)
Although the Clio Cup has already been available for a while now, it was originally intended for the company's one-make racing series in the UK (pictured above), supporting events for the British Touring Car Championship. Despite the Clio Cup series limiting entries to 38 cars per race, Renault has sold over 60 in the UK as buyers have been snatching them up for track use, evidently prompting Renault to change its strategy.
Now available for public consumption and use on the road, the Clio Cup is virtually identical to its track-bound counterpart: power is boosted to 205 hp from the standard 197, the suspension is tightened up and extra weight has been stripped out. It's being certified for road use in the UK under Single Vehicle Approval (SVA) tests, mandating the fitment of regular seat-belts and bigger side-view mirrors as the only modifications required for its streetability. While prices haven't yet been announced, the track version sells for £22,500, prompting an anticipated MSRP in the neighborhood of £27k.
[Source: What Car?]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GT 1:00PM (12/13/2007)
what about the Clio Sport, the MR version, is it a 911 GT3 to Turbo type thing or is the strip down version a MR? Help plz, thanks
Reply
Mark 10:33AM (12/13/2007)
Dear Santa...
Reply
nagmashot 10:33AM (12/13/2007)
welcome in last month...
The car is not build for the UK.. Renault race the Clio Cup all around in Europe and it is not founded in the UK.. It is tradition since the 1960´s for Renault to race cheap one maker race cups...
The car was already tested by the German car magazine Autobild Motorsport in October this year the article was published in November 2007.
It is NOT a beefed up Clio 197 RS..
The Renault Clio RS III Coupe has
striped out intereur
full race roll cage
sequentiel race tranny
fully adjustable Bielstein suspension
with adjusable springs from H+R
the car basic setup is oversteering (with a FWD!)
front axle from Renault Megane sport
automatic fire supressing system
race bucket seats from Sablet
car comes with HANS system
larger rear spoiler and difusor
car comes on slicks or rain tires
that all for the small prise of 35,000Euro...
http://www.renault-sport.de/typo3temp/pics/1e8e8c6f4c.jpg
http://www.renault-sport.de/typo3temp/pics/c804cb6f21.jpg
http://www.renault-sport.de/uploads/pics/Clio__1_.gif
As you see that all comes with licens plate for legal street use
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