Megane Trophy - the fastest road going Renault

Renault offers two paint finishes - a metallic yellow or a metallic black. Photo / Supplied

Renault has gone off the hot hatch deep end again, one-upping itself with the limited-edition 2012 Renault Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy, the fastest road-going Renault.

Now with a stiffer chassis and 197kW on tap, it outdoes the Megane Renaultsport 250, the next-biggest dog in the stable, by 11kW. Torque has increased 20Nm for a total of 260Nm

The extra power cuts the fleet-footed hatch's zero to 100km/h time from 6.1 seconds to 6 seconds flat, on the way to a 255km/h top speed, up from just over 250km/h.

To mark out the special Megane, Renault offers two paint finishes - a metallic yellow or a metallic black - and "Trophy" red decals on the air-intakes and doors.

A set of 19-inch alloys in gloss black and red also feature. Inside, the Megane Trophy gets Recaro seats with yellow seatbelts and stitching.

Enthusiasts hoping for a successor to the previous generation Megane R26.R - a trackday machine which featured a stripped out cabin complete with roll-cage and harnesses - will be left waiting but a Renault spokesman refused to rule out an even more hardcore model further down the line.

The R26.R holds the front-wheel drive record at the Nurburgring and Renault has released a teaser video of engineers testing the Trophy at the famous track, suggesting they are trying to beat the 8min 16.9sec lap-time set by the stripped out hatch.

The Megane Trophy will be available in Europe from next week, but buyers must be quick - Renault plans to produce only 500 units, with between 50 and 100 in right-hand drive.