Rapid Renaults
Founded in 1899, Renault is one of the oldest car manufacturers still active today, and has produced a very wide range of automobiles including economy cars, luxury cars, taxis and commercial vehicles.
It also has a proud history of high-performance models and those are the ones we’re going to look at here.
We’ll be listing only those which were on sale before 2000, while acknowledging that many fast Renaults have been available since then, and we are presenting them in chronological order.
1. Renault Type CH (1910)
Like many of the early automobile manufacturers, Renault saw the publicity advantage of doing well in motorsport and built many competition cars, one of which famously won the 1906 French Grand Prix.
In those days, there was little demand for sporting cars (ownership of any type of car being a big deal), and therefore no need to design and build them.
By 1910, that demand had increased to the point where Renault felt it necessary to create the Type CH, which was simply a shorter and lighter version of the existing, rather grand Type CE.
The 5-litre, four-cylinder engine produced just 20bhp in both models, so the Type CH’s claim to being a high-performance car by the standards of the period is really based on the fact that it weighed less than the Type CE.
2. Renault 40CV (1911)
In this period, high performance was an important element of luxury, allowing owners to travel relatively quickly without a sense that their cars were working too hard.
Renault, for whom luxury cars had become an important part of its output, excelled with the mighty 40CV, whose straight-six engine started out at 7.5 litres and was later enlarged to 9.1.
A 40CV was driven, no doubt in considerable comfort, to victory in the 1925 Rallye Monte-Carlo, and a specially built, aerodynamic, single-seater version set many speed records the following year, notably averaging 108mph for 24 hours.
3. Renault Reinastella (1928)
Initially known as the Reinahuit on account of its new, 7.1-litre, straight-eight engine, which produced more than 100bhp, the Reinastella took over from the 40CV as the ultimate Renault.
Though conventional in some ways, it also marked a new beginning for the marque, which mounted the radiator in front of the engine rather than, as it had usually done before, behind it.
Bodies were produced both by Renault itself and by independent coachbuilders, and customers included French presidents.
Comparable to Rolls-Royces and Cadillacs of the same period, the Reinastella was killed off by the Great Depression, with only 405 examples being produced before Renault gave up on it in 1932.
4. Renault Viva Grand Sport (1934)
Originally known as the Vivastella Grand Sport, this was a sporty model based on the regular Vivastella, which could be described in today’s terms as an executive car.
The body, available in both saloon and convertible (pictured) forms, was designed by Marcel Riffard of the Renault-owned Caudron aeroplane company, and the car was briefly promoted, until her death at the age of 26, by the record-breaking aviator Hélène Boucher.
At 4.1 litres, and with an output of just under 100bhp, the Renault Viva Grand Sport’s engine was both smaller and less powerful than that of the Reinastella, but because the car itself was lighter its performance was still impressive.
Unlike the far more expensive Reinastella, it wasn’t seriously affected by the Depression, and Renault built approximately 11,000 examples up to 1939.
5. Renault 4CV 1063 (1951)
After the Second World War, Renault became a nationalised company in a socialist country, and therefore one no longer likely to build luxury cars.
Its first model of the new era, the little 4CV, was never intended to be a sporty car, but several owners (notably Jean Rédélé, who would go on to create the Alpine marque) used it very successfully in competition.
Renault responded by developing its own high-performance version, the 1063, a car it probably never even considered when the 4CV was being quietly developed during the Second World War.
Only a few 1063s, with considerably enhanced versions of the 747cc Billancourt engine, were built from 1951, but a works-entered example driven by François Landon and André Briat won the up-to-750cc class in that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans by three laps.
6. Renault Dauphine Gordini (1961)
The Renault Dauphine went into production in late 1955 and had a larger, 845cc version of the Billancourt engine used in the 4CV.
At Renault’s suggestion, though initially at his own expense, tuning expert and racing-car constructor Amédée Gordini modified the Billancourt (which became known in this form as the Ventoux) and converted the Dauphine’s three-speed gearbox into a four-speed.
Pleased with the result, Renault put the Dauphine Gordini into production in 1961, and built nearly 180,000 units (out of 2.1 million Dauphines in total) over the next seven years.
7. Renault 8 Gordini (1964)
The standard Renault 8, launched in 1962, was the first car designed from the start to be powered by the new Cléon-Fonte engine, which was also applied retrospectively to the Caravelle sports car and the Estafette van.
Amédée Gordini was asked to perform his magic once again, and the 8 Gordini introduced in 1964 produced 94bhp from 1108cc thanks to its revised cylinder head and twin Weber carburettors.
After an update in 1966, the car had a five-speed gearbox and a 1255cc version of the same engine, now producing 108bhp.
In terms of power output, it was therefore slightly superior to the contemporary Lotus Cortina, and, remarkably, in the same ballpark as the Ford Escort RS 1800 introduced nine years later.
8. Renault 12 Gordini (1970)
The third Gordini-branded Renault was the first of the series, and indeed the first high-performance Renault of any kind, with front-wheel drive.
The 12, introduced in late 1969, was mostly fitted with the Cléon-Fonte engine, but the Gordini was given the larger, all-aluminium Cléon-Alu, which had made its debut in 1965 in the Renault 16.
In this application, it produced 111bhp, and with an eye on future motorsport use Renault homologated it with lighter seats (to reduce the overall weight) and ventilated front brake discs.
According to Renault, around four million 12s were built, but only 5188 of them were Gordinis.
9. Renault 17 Gordini (1975)
The 15 and 17 were coupés based on the 12, similar in most respects but with different styling and a non-identical range of engines.
The fastest model, with a 106bhp version of the Cléon-Alu engine, was initially known as the 17 TS, but it was renamed in 1975.
That was the year Renault discontinued the 12 Gordini, and because the Gordini name had a lot of resonance it was transferred to the highest-performance version of the 17.
While it was still the top model in the range, it was also the least-powerful Gordini since the pre-1966 Renault 8.
10. Renault 5 Alpine (1976)
Identifying the world’s first hot hatch is more or less impossible, but some Renault enthusiasts declare it was the 5 Alpine, which went on sale shortly before the first Volkswagen Golf GTI.
It was powered by a 1397cc version of the Cléon-Fonte engine producing 91bhp, and was shown in independent testing to have a top speed of well over 100mph and a 0-62mph time of less than 10 secs.
For the 5 Alpine Turbo of 1982 (pictured), the same engine received a compressor which raised its output to 110bhp, though by the time this happened the car wasn’t even close to being the hottest 5 available.
Both models were sold in the UK as Gordinis rather than Alpines, because Chrysler Europe had exclusive rights to the latter name in that country on account of the company having been created by merging the Rootes Group (owner of the Sunbeam marque, which produced several Alpines) with Simca and Barreiros.
11. Renault 5 Turbo (1980)
The Renault 5 Turbo used the same turbocharged, 1397cc engine as the 5 Alpine Turbo would later, but in this case it produced 158bhp and was mounted ahead of the rear axle, making this the first Renault road car with either forced induction or a mid-engined layout.
Its production line was more than 500 miles long and covered a large area of northern France – the bodyshell was built by Renault at its Flins factory (near Paris) and adapted by Heuliez in Cerizay (near Nantes), and the whole car was assembled by Alpine in Dieppe.
The point of the exercise was to give Renault a competitive car for international motorsport, but while the 5 Turbo won four rounds of the World Rally Championship – including its debut event, the 1981 Rallye Monte-Carlo – its lack of four-wheel drive soon became problematic.
The Turbo 2 introduced in 1983 (pictured) was a slightly toned-down and somewhat cheaper, but mechanically similar, version of the original model.
12. Renault Fuego Turbo (1982)
In the 1980s, Renault became one of Europe’s leading exponents of turbocharging, having already used the technology in sports-car racing and Formula One.
The 18 Turbo introduced in 1980 was the marque’s first mainstream car with forced induction, its 1565cc Cléon-Alu producing what seems today to be a rather modest 108bhp.
The 18-derived Fuego Turbo launched two years later used the same engine, but because this was a coupé of a considerably more sporty nature, an increase in power seemed appropriate, helping it to a top speed of more than 120mph.
13. Renault 9 and 11 Turbo (1984)
The 9 and 11, as they were known in Europe (they were also manufactured and sold in the US as the Alliance and Encore), were the same car except that they had saloon and hatchback bodies respectively.
Renault produced high-performance turbocharged versions of both, using the now very familiar 1397cc Cléon-Fonte engine which, in various forms, had been around for 22 years by this time.
The engine was in the same specification as used for the 5 Alpine Turbo and, like that car, the 11 Turbo in particular (pictured) did well in its class in international rallying.
14. Renault 5 GT Turbo (1985)
The Renault 5 entered a second generation in 1984, and while there was no equivalent of the mid-engined 5 Turbo there was certainly a hot hatch.
Almost inevitably, it was powered by the 1397cc, forced-induction Cléon-Fonte, which was adequate for the purpose and already being manufactured for the 9 and 11 Turbos, as it had been for the earlier 5 Alpine Turbo.
A GT Turbo crewed by Alain Oreille and Gilles Thimonier not only finished the 1989 Rallye Côte d’Ivoire (which 53 of the 60 starters didn’t), but won it by more than three hours despite strong opposition from a Mitsubishi Starion Turbo and several Toyotas.
Long after production had ended, the GT Turbo was still popular among car-tuning enthusiasts, who found it an interesting alternative to the new wave of hot hatches with naturally aspirated, 16-valve engines.
15. Renault 21 Turbo (1987)
At 1995cc, the four-cylinder Douvrin engine, developed in association with Peugeot and Citroën and fitted to the 21 Turbo, had the highest capacity so far of any fitted to a performance Renault since the Second World War.
It was also the most powerful, producing 173bhp.
Unusually, Renault made the car available either with front-wheel drive or with the Quadra four-wheel-drive system.
Jean Ragnotti, better known for his success in rallying but also extremely capable on race tracks, won the 1988 French Supertouring Championship in a 21 Turbo 4x4, while in the same year Jean-Pierre Malcher twice achieved speeds of more than 150mph on snow in a less highly developed version, the exact figure depending on what tyres were used.
16. Renault 19 16v (1990)
After a full decade, Renault began moving away from turbocharging as a source of extra power and started exploring the possibilities of increasing the number of valves per cylinder.
The 19 16v (also known as 16S, the ‘s’ standing for soupapes, the French word for valves) was the first sign of this, being powered by a new version of the existing F-type engine.
Measuring 1764cc, it produced nearly 140bhp, greatly exceeding the maximum output of any other engine in the 19 range.
17. Renault Clio Williams (1993)
The Renault Clio replaced the second-generation 5 in 1990, and the first hot-hatch derivative was powered by the same engine used in the 19 16v.
In 1993, this car was eclipsed by the Clio Williams (named after the Williams F1 team, of which Renault was an engine supplier at the time).
The unit in the Clio Williams was part of the same family as the 1764cc one, but it had a capacity of 1998cc and an output of 148bhp.
Renault initially planned to build 3800 examples, but demand was so great that production was extended to 12,200, not necessarily to the delight of early buyers who thought they were buying a limited-edition car.
18. Renault Mégane Coupé 2.0 16v (1995)
Of the many versions of the first-generation Mégane launched in 1995, the one that combined style and performance most effectively was the Coupé 2.0 16v.
Its attractive body was completely new, but its engine – the same 1998cc unit fitted to the Clio Williams – was already in production.
A competition derivative called the Maxi Mégane was very successful in rallies where four-wheel drive was not permitted, winning the British and European championships and the FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup in 1999.
19. Renault Sport Spider (1996)
With its aluminium chassis, composite body panels, minimal equipment and lack of roof, the intensely purposeful Spider stands apart from all other high-performance Renaults.
It was only the second mid-engined production Renault since the 5 Turbo – and, like that car, assembled in Dieppe – though in this case the engine, the same one found in the Clio Williams and the Mégane 2.0 16v, was mounted on the rear axle line rather than ahead of it.
The 148bhp power output of the Clio and Mégane was retained in most cases, but for the Trophy version, intended for motorsport use, it was raised to 178bhp.
Just 1726 Spiders were built from 1996-’99, of which 90 were in the Trophy specification.
20. Renault Clio 172 (1999)
The Spider introduced the Renault Sport sub-brand (rendered as Renaultsport, too) which was also used for all high-performance Clios after the Williams.
Like that earlier car, and like every other hot Clio for more than a decade until the arrival of a 1.6-litre turbo, the 172 was powered by a 2-litre, 16-valve engine and named after its maximum output in metric horsepower, the equivalent of 170bhp.
The stripped-down 172 Cup introduced in 2002 used the same powertrain but weighed less and had uprated suspension.
The series of naturally aspirated Renault Sport Clios would continue until 2012, by which time the engine’s output had reached just short of 200bhp.