Nurburgring equipped Renaultsport R26.R

Crowd pleaser or motoring teaser?

In pearlescent white and with a black carbon fibre bonnet the Renaultsport R26.R is certain to appeal to show-goers in London. With Ford unveiling its Focus RS here Renault has chosen to steal some of the Blue Oval's hot-hatch thunder by showing its most extreme Renaultsport Mégane at the ExCeL centre. Lighter by an incredible 123kg over the Renaultsport 230 F1 Team R26 the R26.R is a hardcore hatch for those who like their motoring a little bit extreme, the R26.R only available in limited numbers.

Stand out features?

The most amazing thing about the R26.R is the extreme weight loss, now weighing in at 1230kg. To achieve that Renault has binned a lot of equipment: all airbags bar the driver's ending up in the skip alongside the rear seats, climate control, rear wiper wash, fog lamps and the majority of the soundproofing. There's even a carbon-fibre bonnet to help save the kilos. We told you it was extreme. The result is a car that's claimed to be the fastest production front-wheel drive machine around the Nurburgring, the R26.R achieving a blistering 8 minute 17 second lap time.

Showroom soon or never to be seen?

It's unlikely the R26.R will be in showrooms long. Buyers will be keen to try out its 230bhp and revised suspension around a nearby track as soon as it arrives in the UK. Some 230 are destined for our shores, Britain taking the majority of the 450 limited production run.

Kyle Fortune