The best looking racing car in years? Perhaps. The Renaultsport R.S. 01 is a rather bonkers looking thing that's had us feverishly wondering if our long-forgotten motorsport licences are still valid (happily for the rest of you, they're not). It's going to be the centrepiece of a new one-make racing series, the Renaultsport Trophy, which will kick off in 2015.
After the first taster in July, this is our first proper look at it. And the spec sheet is tantalising. At the R.S. 01's core is a carbonfibre monocoque chassis, made by Dallara - the clever people behind the KTM X-Bow's carbon tub, the car that drenched Jeremy back in series 20.
Bolted to that is the mighty 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 from the Nissan GT-R, dry sumped and tuned by Nismo. Renault tells us it will develop in excess of 500bhp and 443lb ft, a claim which suggests the R.S. 01 will actually fall a little shy of the GT-R's 542bhp and 466lb ft.
But weighing just 1100kg, it's a stonking 640kg lighter than the big Nissan - the equivalent of a Caterham Seven complete with fuel and driver - so its on-track performance is going to be eye-meltingly rapid. A 0-60mph time comfortably below three seconds seems a pretty safe bet. Ditto to amusing facial contortions without a helmet.
Assisting lunges to and from apices is a seven-speed sequential gearbox, made by Sadev and coming complete with an anti-stall function and obligatory steering wheel paddles. And to calm your nerves there's a nice friendly hydraulic power steering system, ABS and traction control. Michelin has developed a bespoke tyre, so it should produce race-rippling levels of grip, too.
Top spec, and just look at it. And the wild strakes, air scoops and that ginormous rear wing all serve a purpose, directing cool air where it's needed most and generating appropriately high levels of downforce.
While the R.S. 01 is intended to compete solely in the Renaultsport Trophy - a headline act in Renault's World Series event - it's a race series that's designed as a feeder into more glamorous GT and endurance events, most notably the Le Mans 24 Hours. This is reflected in the fact it's been designed around LMP1 safety standards - that's the premier Le Mans class that Audi has an uncanny knack of steamrollering every year.
The prizes on offer for series winners are seriously cool, too: the winner of the professional ‘Pro' class will get an opportunity to drive for Nismo's factory team in the Japanese Super GT championship, while the amateur ‘Am' class victor could be driving an LMP2 car at Le Mans 2016. How much do you want a shot at racing the R.S. 01?
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