The New Renault Clio Cup Racer Is A 217bhp Track Devil

When CT Editor Alex drove the new Clio RS, it's no secret that he wasn't bowled over by it - and that's not excusable, because Renaultsport has been making one hot hatch greatest hit after another for ten years now. The old Clio 200 was a £16k bargain riot. The new one? Too pricey at £21k, and not quite as special thanks to a turbo engine, five-door bodystyle and (horror) no manual gearbox. So is this the point that the seriously controversial 2013 Renault Clio RS200 Turbo finally comes good?

That's what Renault is hoping, because here's the new Clio Cup racing car, which will compete in the, er, 2013 Clio Cup. Which is also the name of the racing series. Confused, anyone?

Anyway, for around £34k, this is quite a serious piece of racing kit for the money. The cabin is completely stripped out, and fitted with a new racing data display and bucket seat. At 1065kg, it's a ridiculous 200kg lighter than the road car. And that's despite a welded-in full roll cage with integrated harnesses. At 120mph, it's 40kg heavier still. How? Thanks to the downforce from that XXL rear-wing.

Doesn't need any more power then, right? Wrong. Renault's tweaked the 1.6-litre turbo motor to give 217bhp and 199lb ft, up from 197bhp and 177lb ft. The Clio Cups wear 18in Speedline all-aluminium rims, Michelin racing rubber, and upgraded AP Racing brakes measuring a massive 320mm across at the front.

So, what about that pesky paddleshift gearbox? Well, race the Clio Cup in Europe and you can spec a sequential manual, with a stick-shift. Hurrah! But the UK series cars get paddleshift only. Boo! Actually, there's more to it than that. Renault has cheekily binned the heavy dual-clutch six-speed transmission for a six-speed, single-clutch sequential paddleshift box. With 100millisecond shifts, it's 70ms faster than the road car. Room for improvement with the street-spec version, boys...