Have you ever fantasized about picking up your bag and leaving your current life? Putting both your family SUV and house up for sale and heading out the door into the future of possibilities with a passport, loose change, and some spare clothes to start again. If you have, you are not alone. In any case, this would be a time where you could tick all those boxes off your bucket list, maybe use some of the money from selling the house to buy a Ferrari for example.
Still, if you have a significant other or small people depending on you then it might not make a popular move selling up and leaving on an adventure. What if you could take a small part of the dream and make it real without all the compromise and risk. Luckily, there are some relatively cheap and cheerful alternatives to a Ferrari if what you want is a blast around a track or back roads on a Sunday.
Road-Legal Track Day Weapon
The Caterham 7, Ariel Atom, and Lotus Elise are good bets for your part-time racing indulgence but if you wanted something a little different you could try the Renault Sport Spider. It is not a familiar sight even in its home country of France though as only 1800 were made.
First floated as an idea to bring Renault back into the limelight and ride on the back on the success of the Renault-Williams F1 team the concept was presented to the Geneva Motor Show in 1995 and released almost a year after in 1996. It was to be the first Renault Sport model and was hoped to draw sporting focus back to the company after the success of the Renault 5 Turbo and the somewhat dull response to its Alpine sports cars from the early 1970’s up to the current day. Imagined as a racer you could drive on the road; it was obviously meant for those perfect blue-sky days when conditions were ideal for an exciting drive through the bends. That is why the basic version came without a screen, only a small wind deflector. There were also no cup holders, but perhaps more pressingly no climate control, no heating, and no radio. There was also a normal full-size screen offered if you were not feeling brave when you ordered your car. Apart from seatbelts and the huge roll-over bar that was basically it – there were not any windows either.
Pocket Rocket
Apart from a spartan interior, the Spider was endowed with a 2-liter 16-valve naturally aspirated engine which managed to make 150hp. It was in the middle of the rear behind the driver and was mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. This engine featured in the Williams Clio and Megane, both European compact city cars.
The cars’ chassis, made from aluminum along with the shell made of plastic, helped to give the car a sub-ton weight (around 2100 pounds) so the power-to-weight ratio would have made it feel faster than the 150hp would suggest. However, compared to the Elise it was no flyweight coming down on the scales some 450 pounds heavier. Still, the first-gen K-Series engined Elise only made 118hp so maybe it was even-stevens after all.
One Car To Rule Them All
The Spider, unfortunately, lacked the agility of the Lotus, however, and although the car was quick on its feet it did not seem able to KO its rivals either, on paper or on the track. In the end, the fact that the car was not the sharpest tool in the box or the most desirable was a moot point – it was made in less than 2000 units and was as much a publicity tool as a product made to bring in profits to Renault. It even spawned its own single-model racing series. As a second-hand proposition in a time of electric and turbo-charged automatic transmission cars, it is a refreshing, back to basics machine with all the connectivity to the road and little else to disturb you apart from the roar of the wind and of course the flies in your face if you have the no-screen model.
Shine On, You Crazy Diamond
This car was one of a line of interesting vehicles from Renault, even if really it was the design of off-shoot company Renault Sports. The French automaker has a long heritage to draw on in racing as well as innovative products and its model history makes for an interesting flick-through.
The Alpine car line merged with Renault Sport in the era of the Alpine A310 and to date, Renault Sport has come up with some excellent sports derivatives of everyday Renault cars. The Renault 5 Turbo was a high watermark in their history, of course, but also there was of course both a large minivan-cum-coupe with two huge doors and windows which could all be lowered at the touch of a button. Plus, the other minivan with an F1 engine, the Renault Espace F1, although was not a production model. It’s surprising that there are not more manufacturers that have occasionally released a brutally cut-down version of an everyday workhorse. Massively lightened and lowered SUV with a manual gearbox and naturally aspirated engine, anyone?
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