Megane Trophy

[FIRE]

The star of the Show!
Continuing the sporting tradition of R5 Turbo, Alpine, Spider and Clio V6, all of which have made their marks on European race tracks over the last 25 years, it is now the turn of Mégane Trophy to take to the grid in 2005 as part of the World Series by Renault. Renault Sport’s highest ever performance saloon is to be unveiled at the forthcoming Paris Motor Show.



Once again, Renault’s designers have worked their magic and hit the jackpot. By taking Mégane Renault Sport Coupé and refining its sleek lines, they have come up with a racing saloon with a silhouette resembling the awesome German touring cars. It’s bodywork lowered by a full 10 centimetres, widened wheel arches and an impressive rear diffuser combine to give Mégane Trophy an incredible look and feeling of power.



Just one look under the bodywork and the feeling is confirmed: developed as part of the ‘Silhouette’ concept, Renault Sport’s latest offering pulls out all the stops to deliver a powerful product with the values of a single-seater. Its tubular chassis, rear-central V6 powerplant, semi automatic gearbox and left foot braking make this a very high level racing machine.

Based on the V6 unit fitted to Vel Satis, the powerplant has been developed in collaboration with Nismo, Nissan’s motorsport department, and adapted for competition to produce over 320bhp, featuring a semi-dry sump. Trackside, all maintenance and technical assistance will be provided by Solution F.



For electronic management, Renault Sport enlisted the services of Magnetti-Marelli. The result is a brand new unit that includes all engine, gearbox and automatic clutch management functions. It also provides a data acquisition function, an essential element that will enable drivers and engineers to unleash every horse under the bonnet.

Ever since the drawing board stage, Renault Sport wanted to incorporate driving pleasure into a very high-performance car. A key factor in this research was aerodynamics. The result is a split front bumper that channels into two tunnels leading out behind the front wheels, creating a Venturi effect that pins the car to the ground. Stability at the back comes from a diffuser and spoiler, both fully integrated in the profile. The overall downforce generated gives Mégane Trophy a level of handling similar to a Le Mans endurance prototype.

Driveability is also enhanced by the specially-designed Michelin tyres, while stopping power comes courtesy of impressive disks, with six-pot callipers at the front and four at the rear.

In all, its power-to-weight ratio of just 2.9kg/bhp, as well as wind-tunnel developed aerodynamics, make Mégane Trophy comparable with some GT racers. And its top speed performance of over 250kph puts it right up with the famous DTM cars.

Next spring, around 30 Mégane Trophy will be lining up on the grid as one of the star attractions of the World Series by Renault, alongside the New Formula Renault V6. For the 2005 season, eight European race meetings and 16 races are on the agenda, with tightly regulated testing and tyre usage in order to limit the costs to teams, always a core concern for Renault Sport.

After its grand unveiling on the Renault Compétition stand of the Paris Motor Show, Mégane Trophy will be given an initial shakedown at the end of October before the first development tests get underway in November.

Photo gallery
Movie
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The car looks very powerfull and agressive.

[Kicking-back]

I like the look of that!

[917Addicted]

Much better than the road-going megane (which IMO is awful).

[touringcarnut]

Nice!

[E46]

A Cup with this car looks incredible.

[917Addicted]

Hope the Xunning brigade doesn't copy the looks of this car for the road

[MikeHoyer]

Urgh, looks like some plastic Max Power reject!

[nsxr]

what a cool car. I wish nissan could bring this to the states. Man i'd drive that in a heart beat. NOw thats what a racing car should look like.

[codename_47]

It's too fat!

It's going to be hard to imagine two of them being able to fit side by side at Europe's racetracks!

Should've stuck with the Clios!

[sjw75]

Awesome !!!!

[E46]

wasn´t new Megane to begin tests in track this month? any new?

[RickP:Clio51]

Think they are going to struggle for drivers. It doesn't take a rocket scientist for you guys to guess that I've been talking to them about driving one of these next year and the running costs are more like a single seater than a touring car...
The problem is the engine/gearbox are virtually straight out of the FRV6 so have serious running costs and the races are at "Renault Dealer SuperRacing Weekends" where you only have Renault races (although the tickets will be given away free at your local dealership). Difficult to get non-Renault sponsors involved...
As a clue, I could race in LMP2 in LMES and Le Mans, or in the FIA GT's or even something interesting in the WTCC for less than Renaults predicted running budget.
That said, there is going to be a street race around Bilbao which sounds REALLY cool.
Cheers
Rick

[Chris Y]

I'd go GTs Rick, you're old enough now

[RickP:Clio51]

Think GT's would feel a bit slow after the Lola!
Then again so would WTCC...
Got a much better chance of raising budgets for LMES/FIA GT/WTCC than raising the same amount for Meganes. Where they're going to find driver/sponsors prepared to stump £150k (projected running costs) for a Renault only series, I really don't know.
The cars will cost the same as a Supercup car, but won't have the same resale value, and to be honest, you could have a pretty good crack at the Supercup for £150k and support all the European GPs + Indy.
Whoucallingold?

[FIRE]

Stéphane Ortelli has tested the Megane at Le Castellet.
Photos

[E46]

Test press release, photos and a very good video here

[Russfeld]

Originally Posted by RickP:Clio51

Think they are going to struggle for drivers. It doesn't take a rocket scientist for you guys to guess that I've been talking to them about driving one of these next year and the running costs are more like a single seater than a touring car...

Any rough numbers?

The problem is the engine/gearbox are virtually straight out of the FRV6 so have serious running costs and the races are at "Renault Dealer SuperRacing Weekends" where you only have Renault races (although the tickets will be given away free at your local dealership). Difficult to get non-Renault sponsors involved...

No different than racing Clios, FR2000, V6, World Series; etc. Other than ELF preventing you from having another petrol brand, the Renault one-make format doesnt limit commercial opportunities.

[Gabrio]

Originally Posted by RickP:Clio51

Think GT's would feel a bit slow after the Lola!
Then again so would WTCC...
Got a much better chance of raising budgets for LMES/FIA GT/WTCC than raising the same amount for Meganes. Where they're going to find driver/sponsors prepared to stump £150k (projected running costs) for a Renault only series, I really don't know.
The cars will cost the same as a Supercup car, but won't have the same resale value, and to be honest, you could have a pretty good crack at the Supercup for £150k and support all the European GPs + Indy.
Whoucallingold?

The usual Renault mess...They're pulling out this car which is certainly beautiful but much too expensive to race and to manage for the championship to be fully sold.
The Clio V6 was cheaper but unefficient and with a ridiculous suspension scheme and a weight center much too high and the car had lots of problems. This looks better but it makes no sense to compete in that championship at that price.

[E46]

Originally Posted by Russfeld

Any rough numbers?

Car + season costs= 180.000 euros. I think it isn´t so expensive, thinking it will be faster than some GT´s Cups (Porsche Cup and Ferrari 360 Challenge for example).

[RickP:Clio51]

Have you any idea what you can buy as a half-decent driver for 180,000 Euros?
Season in LMP2 including Le Mans wouldn't be too tough. You'd have no problems getting an FIA GT drive of some sort, you could get close to a privateer WTCC drive. As I said earlier, if you want to do one-make then this sort of money would def. put you on the SuperCup grid with GrandPrix size crowds each weekend...
Plus I'm hearing that the real running costs could be significantly higher (due to the engine/ gearbox), but I'm hoping to test the car at some point and I'll let you know as clearly if it could be done cheaper, then it would be a fantastic series.
Renault need to demonstrate they're going to pull in some decent size crowds and also a decent number of cars. Plus if the teams have to pay £60k for the car they need to show that it's not going to need £5-10k of updates each year like the Clio V6 did. And don't forget, once the V6's lost the Monaco GP support race the field dropped from 55 cars at my first race to just 25 by the end of my second year. Perhaps the Bilbao event will be enough of an occasion to help but it's not going to replace Monaco.
If they want the Championship to be a success, then they need to get the Monaco GP slot back, then the sponsors will be attracted!

[Kicking-back]

I suspect that's not going to be an option.

With F1, GP2, World Series, F3 and Porsche Supercup, Monaco next year will be very busy.

[RickP:Clio51]

Do you not feel that given that Renault are fundamentally a car manufacturer, and they have an F1 team plus a major involvement in GP2 (? correct me if I'm wrong?) then promoting the World Series at Monaco as well seems daft? Surely they should put another set of tin-tops on the menu... perhaps in 2006?

[Kicking-back]

GP2 is not a Renault series in the same way as the others, but I agree it is overkill to have four different classes of single seater at the Grand Prix weekend.

[FIRE]

I would prefer Renault would invest in this S2000 car (driven by Kurt Thiim in Danish Touringcar Championship) instead of the silhouette car.

[E46]

Originally Posted by RickP:Clio51

Have you any idea what you can buy as a half-decent driver for 180,000 Euros?
Season in LMP2 including Le Mans wouldn't be too tough. You'd have no problems getting an FIA GT drive of some sort, you could get close to a privateer WTCC drive. As I said earlier, if you want to do one-make then this sort of money would def. put you on the SuperCup grid with GrandPrix size crowds each weekend...

Yes, I have idea. And real budget for Megane Trophy without car is 100.000 euros, what you can buy as a half-decent driver for 100,000 Euros?

Originally Posted by RickP:Clio51

Renault need to demonstrate they're going to pull in some decent size crowds and also a decent number of cars.

R.P.M, current Renault Weekends organizer, got crowds with 50.000 or more in Spain with Nissan World Series. I guess this won´t be a problem for them.

Originally Posted by RickP:Clio51

Plus if the teams have to pay £60k for the car they need to show that it's not going to need £5-10k of updates each year like the Clio V6 did.

Clio V6 was expensive and not fast exactly. I will wait to see Megane Trophy, but Oreca is a guarantee.