Car Porn: Renault Debuts R.S. 01 Racer
Want to see what a car would look like if a Nissan GTR and a Audi R8 had a baby? This. This little racer is the R.S 01 that I spoke about a few weeks ago.
It comes to us from Renault, most notably known at least on these shores as one of the engine manufacturing companies that supplies Formula 1 teams.
This car was designed to compete in their spec series under the Nissan World Series Event banner. The series will have a grid of all the same car and feature up and coming talent, as well as a few old hats thrown in to make the racing a bit more dicey.
The car is actually powered by a mid-mounted GTR engine which delivers 500 horsepower to the rear wheels only through a 7 speed sequential gearbox. Sadly the gearbox is just a paddle set, rather than the SMG that you have to yank back like in Rally. It somehow feels better.
Renault says it has a top speed of 186 which is pretty monstrous for something that only weighs 2400 lbs. The chassis way built by Dallara, the same company that builds chassis’ for IndyCar, Formula 3 and a whole host of other racing series.
One thing I got immediately from the press release was that the R.S. 01 has both front and rear crash boxes that ensure the car complies to the FiA’s LMP1 standards.
That struck me as odd that the company would make it comply with those standards rather than GT3 standards, because essentially the car is a R8. I wonder if Renault, like a whole host of other manufacturers, are eyeing a comeback in the realm of sportscar racing? It would definitely make things much more interesting.
The car isn’t quite ready to race yet, and that being said won’t make its racing debut until 2016. In the meantime, let’s all just stare at it and hope they bring it to La Sarthe.