Renault's Trophy spearheads rebirth

The Renault Megane Trophy is a $270,000 automotive diva which travels with its own mechanic. Photo / Supplied

Talk about launching with a bang. As the legendary Jim Richards hurled the Renault Megane Trophy race car towards the first blind bend I wondered if I'd live to file my story.

After all, he knew this tricky motorbike test track, but he'd done just four laps in the car, not enough to learn its foibles.

As my helmet beat a tattoo on the roll cage and my hand closed in a death grip round a nearby strut I realised he seemed perfectly relaxed, the apparently radical pace a walk in the park for the seven-time Bathurst winner.

But it nearly didn't happen. Although Renault wanted this car to headline what is effectively a brand relaunch, it's not that simple. The $270,000 automotive diva travels with its own mechanic, and Renault France had never heard of Richards, or Bathurst.

But Renault Downunder is nothing if not persuasive. And it'll have to be. For in the year to September it sold just 13 cars in New Zealand - the same as Ferrari and Maserati and just two more than Bentley - for a brand that is elsewhere largely mainstream; the Renault-Nissan group sitting third in world terms, behind Toyota and VW.

It needs to assure potential buyers the new Megane hatch, Fluence sedan variant and the RS250 Megane hottie are worthy buys when they arrive early in the new year.

It hopes to communicate the brand's joi de vivre, the cutting-edge R&D that's launching four electric cars to the buying public in Europe, and that these are safe and reliable cars.

Safe, reliable cars basking in the R250's performance glow and benefiting from a truly handsome design - at least for the Megane hatch. The more conservative Fluence, with its spacious cabin and massive 530-litre boot, is aimed firmly at the pipe-and-slippers brigade.

Clio? We're unlikely to see it here as pricing for European-built cars isn't competitive, though the gorgeously appointed Gordini special may be on the cards.

Meanwhile, the Koleos soft-roader will arrive with a petrol two-wheel-drive entry model, says Renault NZ GM Mark Patterson, as well as petrol and diesel 4X4.

But back to the Trophy, with its rear-mounted 3.5-litre V6 engine sending 268kW to the back wheels of this 980kg lightweight racer. It's "a good little car" says Richards, with "lots of grip". It'll rev to 7200rpm, but he's changing at 6500; on this gearbox it'll do 275kph.

Mechanic Nico Rossi is spannerman for the Renault World Series, a European one-make championship, and says he'll change gear-sets to suit the track, a different one for the long straights at Le Mans to the tight corners at England's Silverstone. "You don't want to change gear in a corner, as you don't want the weight transfer," he says.

Here he's using a basic set-up with a special exhaust. "Usually it's just two tubes, big noise. We lose a bit of power, one or two kilowatts but you can run it anywhere [as it's quieter]. You wouldn't do it for a race, but here? The weather makes more difference."

Hopping from the Trophy into the Megane RS250 hot hatches should have come as an anti-climax. They didn't, but that story will have to wait for another weekend.