Your Local Track Day Isn’t Ready For This Renault 5 Superproduction

You know what track days can be like: terrible overpriced food from a burger van, a choice of driving rain or agonising sunburn, and lots of not particularly interesting conversations about whether the Pilot Cup or P Zero Trofeo is better. We’ve found an antidote to this, though, and it’s showing up at your next track day not in a Caterham or a GT3, but this 1987 Renault 5 Turbo Superproduction racer.

Granted, it’ll cost a lot more than a ratty NC MX-5 and a half-cage: as we write this, the auction on Collecting Cars is up to £185,000, and there are still two days to go. But look at it this way: you’re paying for exclusivity.

What exactly are we looking at, then? This 5 was built in the ’80s to run in the French Supertouring Championship which, in the late ’80s, was a buffet of madness that saw bonafide sports cars like the Porsche 911 racing against hopped-up silhouette versions of everyday French cars like the Peugeot 505, Renault 21 and even the Citroen AX.

In 1986, Renault wanted a shot at winning the championship, so it took three roadgoing 5 Turbos – the mid-engined hot hatch produced to homologate the rally car – and turned them into these wildly bewinged, box-flared machines.

The 5 Turbo’s 1.4-litre engine was thoroughly overhauled by French motorsport outfit Sodemo, gaining a slight displacement increase and new ignition, ECU, fuel injection, inlet and camshaft. Most importantly, though, the wick was turned up enormously on the turbocharger so that the 5 Superproduction was kicking out around 410bhp at a huge 46psi of boost.

With the 5’s squat, compact proportions, mid-engined layout, and all that power going to the back wheels through a five-speed manual, we imagine this thing is a bit of a handful to drive. That didn’t matter to Renault driver Érik Comas, who’d go on to spend four years in F1, win two JGTC championships and finish second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – one of his early successes was winning the 1987 Supertouring Championship in one of these bonkers 5 Turbos.

In fact, this is that very car, so it’s got some proper pedigree to back up its ludicrous looks and likely terrifying driving experience. It was last given a service in 2020, so might need a bit of work to get it back in fine fettle, but we reckon it’s worth it – imagine the look on everyone’s faces when you turn up in the pits at Bedford Autodrome in this thing.