Lift the driver’s door (there’s no external handle, so you simply reach inside) and it rises with a nicely damped action, slowing to the end of its travel to avoid jarring against its stop.
Access is quite easy, despite having to step over the high sill that forms part of the chassis.
A deeply bucketed seat grips you, its facings trimmed in a waterproof, PVC-coated fabric; a neat aluminium pod behind the simple, three-spoke steering wheel holds dials for water temperature, oil pressure and revs, with a digital speedometer housed in a separate screen above the sweeping centre console.
Other than basic controls, there is little else to look at, save the cross-bracing of the naked aluminium chassis.
The Renault Sport Spider’s seat and pedals are adjustable, so it’s easy to get comfortable, but there is some pedal offset
What Robert Johnson’s Lotus lacks in terms of a bright colour palette, it makes up for in the sheer pared-back drama of its Minimalist bodywork.
You hardly see the black wheelarches from a distance, which almost kids you into thinking it’s an open-wheeled racer.
With rain threatening (a permanent preoccupation for both owners), we avoid unscrewing the eight allen-key fixings for the rear engine cover to view the K-series at first, but almost every other component is laid bare: suspension wishbones and Koni dampers; the double-arch Safety Devices rollcage, into which the world’s tiniest rear ’screen is integrated (a type-approval must-have, apparently); the tail-lights supported on exquisite alloy arms for lack of bodywork; and the twin tailpipes from the Janspeed exhaust either side of their fully exposed silencer box.
Minimal bodywork for the Lotus 340R
Take a big step over the 340R’s bodywork and try to land feet-first on the aluminium floor ahead of the driver’s fabric-trimmed bucket seat.
Instrumentation is even more basic than the Renault’s, with two shrouded Stack dials for revs and speed, the latter incorporating a digital readout for supplementary information.
Buttons for lights are mounted on an upright aluminium strut in front of the gearlever and, like in the Renault, you feel truly ensconced within the chassis of the car.
The Lotus 340R’s driver-focused, truly spartan cabin has nothing that isn’t needed
We’re driving the Sport Spider first. No aural fireworks on start-up, just the flat drone of its 2-litre ‘four’.
The main controls are light, with the gearlever moving through a very narrow gate, but the steering is heavy during parking manoeuvres.
At low speeds, the rose-jointed suspension rattles away as if in a racing car, but it is actually quite compliant.
Pick up the pace and the Sport Spider feels instantly planted.
Both cars are fully open and expose their occupants to the elements, but the Lotus (furthest) better capitalises on the seat-of-the-pants feel
The steering retains a fair bit of heft and feels more alert off-centre than its two and a half turns from lock to lock suggest.
It’s not the most talkative of systems, but it compensates for that in its overall stability and surefootedness.
The engine is hardly musical, either, and starts to sound quite gruff when you extend it above 4000rpm.
But its flatter torque curve provides more flexibility along twisty B-roads than the Lotus.
UK-spec Renault Sport Spiders came with a full windscreen and quarter panels
Grip – in the dry – is tenacious at the front and nicely adjustable via the throttle at the rear, allowing you to trim your cornering line without any rear-biased nastiness.
The unservoed brakes require a lot of effort from higher speeds and lack any depth of feel, even when worked hard.
So it’s with some relief that, while it is certainly rapid, the Renault never feels that fast – at least not as quick as its design and engineering would have you believe.
Alpine A610 brakes provide plenty of stopping power for the Renault Sport Spider
Not so the Lotus. Press the central starter button and the K-series fizzes away behind you, sounding as unremarkable as it does in a cooking Elise.
You’re forced to semi-recline in the fixed-back driver’s seat, but it’s easy to find an ideal position behind the 340R’s small, leather-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel.
No pedal offset here, but the narrow footwell lacks a rest for your left shoe.
Any niggles, though, are swept aside the second you find a national speed limit sign and a ribbon of quiet, well-sighted, sinuous B-road: the 340R is untouchable, and not just in terms of outright velocity.
The Lotus 340R’s exposed chassis only enhances the drama
Its steering is light at all speeds, but packed full of information, and after a few miles you relax your grip and revel in how little effort is needed to drive at speeds that would have you breaking sweat in the Renault.
The car also feels far lighter than a standard Lotus Elise, relative to its modest weight loss.
Every response seems delicate and finely judged, particularly the springing and damping, which allow the chassis to breathe even over ravaged surfaces.
Grip is unimpeachable, too.
‘While more practical than the Lotus 340R, the Renault Sport Spider is also longer, wider and a whopping 255kg heavier, at 930kg’
But this Lotus 340R is extra special.
Like many, Robert’s car has been subjected to the 190bhp conversion that was made available post-production using Lotus-approved accessories.
These tweaks included: remapped engine management; a revised inlet cam pulley for improved output and mid-range torque; removal of the resonator valve and secondary air filter; and a catalyst-replacement pipe.
Consequently, performance is ballistic, and the K-series’ slightly anodyne soundtrack is replaced by something more brutal and deep-throated.
The Lotus 340R has sticky Yokohama A038R tyres
It still retains a good slug of low-rev torque, but its pace once above 4000rpm is in the high-performance Caterham league.
There’s no denying that the 340R is the better car here in almost every respect.
Its dynamics alone make it one of the very best point-to-point cars you will ever drive, if not the best.
But the fact that a huge conglomerate such as Renault could bring a similarly conceived car to market beforehand, and come relatively close to achieving what Lotus did, deserves just as much admiration.
Images: Max Edleston
Factfiles
Renault Sport Spider
- Sold/number built 1996-’99/1640 (plus 80 Trophy racing cars)
- Construction composite glassfibre body, welded extruded-aluminium chassis
- Engine iron-block, alloy-head, dohc 1998cc ‘four’, mapped ignition, multi-point fuel injection
- Max power 150bhp @ 6000rpm
- Max torque 140lb ft @ 4500rpm
- Transmission five-speed manual, RWD
- Suspension independent, by double unequal-length wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar f/r
- Steering rack and pinion
- Brakes ventilated discs
- Length 12ft 5in (3795mm)
- Width 5ft 10in (1780mm)
- Height 4ft 1in (1250mm)
- Wheelbase 7ft 8in (2343mm)
- Weight 2050lb (930kg)
- Mpg 26.5
- 0-60mph 6.9 secs
- Top speed 134mph
- Price new £25,950 (1997)
- Price now £30-40,000*
Lotus 340R
- Sold/number built 2000/340
- Construction composite glassfibre body, bonded extruded-aluminium chassis
- Engine all-alloy, dohc 1796cc ‘four’, Lotus engine management, electronic fuel injection
- Max power 177bhp @ 7800rpm
- Max torque 126lb ft @ 5000rpm
- Transmission five-speed manual, RWD
- Suspension independent, by double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r; front anti-roll bar
- Steering rack and pinion
- Brakes ventilated, cross-drilled discs
- Length 11ft 10in (3620mm)
- Width 5ft 7in (1702mm)
- Height 3ft 8in (1123mm)
- Wheelbase 7ft 6in (2300mm)
- Weight 1488lb (675kg)
- Mpg 25.8
- 0-60mph 4.5 secs
- Top speed 130mph
- Price new £35,000
- Price now £45-55,000*
*Prices correct at date of original publication
Enjoy more of the world’s best classic car content every month when you subscribe to C&SC – get our latest deals here
READ MORE
Caterham Seven: 50 years of lightweight thrills
Unhinged hatches: Volkswagen Beetle RSI vs Renault Clio V6
Buyer’s guide: Lotus Elise S1
Simon Hucknall
Simon Hucknall is a senior contributor to Classic & Sports Car