Photo: Prodrive
So far, the new Renault Megane hasn't managed to look as obscenely cool as its predecessor. However, Prodrive has fixed that with a carbon-clad rallycross monster of a car.
Those of you who don't know who Prodrive are should be ashamed. In short, they know how to make a perfect Subaru road racer, and their motorsports activities have resulted in six World Rally titles, five World Sportscar titles, four BTCC titles and four class wins at Le Mans.
The bad news is that it will take about another year for the car to be ready to race. It's not like a touring car with a stripped out interior and bucket seats. No, this is a bespoke machine being developed from scratch at Prodrive's headquarters in Banbury. You'll get to see it in action this September, but racing is reversed for the 2018 season.
The famous Subaru tuners are also going to make a “bespoke 2.0-litre turbocharged engine," but that's not necessarily based on any roadgoing Megane RS engine. Heck, it could even be the boxer that set the Isle of Man TT record under there.
Knowing that the Megane RX will compete in the Supercar WRX class of the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship, we can at least speculate about the specs. The 1.3-ton vehicle should have 600 horsepower, 660 lb-ft of torque and reach 100 km/h in 2 seconds. Unlike your road-going Megane, this one won't have traction control or other aids.
Former Free Skiing World Champion Guerlain Chicherit will be behind the wheel. You might remember him as the first to ever complete an unassisted backflip in a car, which was a prepped MINI Countryman. Driving an X-Raid BMW, he also scored fifth in the 2010 Dakar rally.
“It is the fastest growing motorsport series in the world and gives us the opportunity to use all our engineering experience to create a car capable of winning the World title. Guerlain is obviously a very talented driver and we look forward to working with him and developing a race car that both he and Renault will be proud of," said Prodrive chairman, David Richards.
The bad news is that it will take about another year for the car to be ready to race. It's not like a touring car with a stripped out interior and bucket seats. No, this is a bespoke machine being developed from scratch at Prodrive's headquarters in Banbury. You'll get to see it in action this September, but racing is reversed for the 2018 season.
The famous Subaru tuners are also going to make a “bespoke 2.0-litre turbocharged engine," but that's not necessarily based on any roadgoing Megane RS engine. Heck, it could even be the boxer that set the Isle of Man TT record under there.
Knowing that the Megane RX will compete in the Supercar WRX class of the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship, we can at least speculate about the specs. The 1.3-ton vehicle should have 600 horsepower, 660 lb-ft of torque and reach 100 km/h in 2 seconds. Unlike your road-going Megane, this one won't have traction control or other aids.
Former Free Skiing World Champion Guerlain Chicherit will be behind the wheel. You might remember him as the first to ever complete an unassisted backflip in a car, which was a prepped MINI Countryman. Driving an X-Raid BMW, he also scored fifth in the 2010 Dakar rally.
“It is the fastest growing motorsport series in the world and gives us the opportunity to use all our engineering experience to create a car capable of winning the World title. Guerlain is obviously a very talented driver and we look forward to working with him and developing a race car that both he and Renault will be proud of," said Prodrive chairman, David Richards.
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