Renault Spider: life in the shadows - Sports cars
THE LOTUS ELISE MK1 committed a terrible crime. She may be light and gentle to drive, but she's a ruthless killer, and her hands are stained with the still-warm oil of another innocent little sports car. His victim is Caterham 21. But he did not treat him much better either. Renault Sports spider...
La Spiders - codenamed "Project W94" - was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 1995 and debuted on the market a year later, when the Williams Renault F1 team was at the top of the circus with their cars designed by Newey. The idea, very sensible, was to use the sporting successes and the car boom of the 10.000s. But while Lotus saw over 1 Series 1996 Elises, only 1999 Sport Spiders were built between 1.685 and 1996. And while the Elise won Performance Car of the Year in XNUMX and won Car magazine's handling test, the Renault Sport Spider didn't even make it to the finals. Perhaps if the Norfolk creature didn't exist, RSS would have been more successful. Or not?
Personally, I have a soft spot for small, light and impractical sports cars. I am the concentrate of fun, the Seven or the Atom can always make me smile, as even a supercar cannot. Being athletic, small and light, therefore Renault Sport Spider has everything you need to please me. But the only time I have ridden it in the past was five minutes during the launch of the Mégane 225 F1 team in 2006 and I remember it took 5 km or so to realize that it was steering very heavy and unaided, requires shoulders and biceps from the footballer (if you're wondering, I'm not a footballer. Several times when I tried, I stood aside and looked at the ball as if it were a hand with a bomb ready to explode). It was a curious experience, like trying to lift a box off the ground and discover that it is made of reinforced concrete, and you risk dislocating your shoulder. I had a desire to ride this rare and charming beast again, this time on normal roads, and try to better understand its nature.
Looking at the pictures, I bet that the first thing you thought of this blue car is “because it has windshield? I thought they all had that unpleasant deflector air that fills your eyes and mouth with flies. " The answer is that all 96 Spiders built for the UK had a standard windshield (and cost € 8.000 more than the Elise). This is the original press car that has only covered 7.000 km. There is a windshield, but there are no windows, as well as heating, awning then it is a piece of tarpaulin in the form of a tent that cannot be used at speeds above 90 km / h. So you will understand if on that cold morning when I had to scrape the ice off the roof to get to the door and stick my hand inside to open it (no outside pens) and I don't really want to drive three hours on the freeway with a Renault Sport Spider.
Before leaving, I had to make a small adjustment: remove the pillow from Recaro so you don't have to drive with the windshield frame between your eyes. Even Richard Meaden, when he drove it in 1996, complained that the Spider seemed designed for a midget. At that time, Richard was also "lucky" to drive a car with a deflector, and he commented on the experience: "My eyelids slammed down the highway like two pink curtains in the middle of a hurricane."
Boarded up like an overseas sailor in a storm, I manage to fly the M1 without freezing even if my legs aren't that good, and when I get to Pickering from Dean Smith in his RS4, they're as hard as marble. After refueling and viewing the map in the warmth of the Audi for a good ten minutes (I know very well where I need to go, but when I got off Spiders my legs were giving way, so I thought my legs wanted to thaw a little) we are heading towards Blakey Ridge in the heart of the North York swamps. This is the road with which I have pleasant memories: seven years ago I went there in the Elise Mk1 and Mk2 on the article.
As we drive the A170, I suddenly realize what the Spider reminds me of: a mini Lamborghini V12. I'm not kidding: imagine a car central engine с receptionist which go up and seat belts so step back that you have to turn to get there. There are two cases: either we are talking about the bull Sant'Agata, or about the spider Dieppe. Thanks to its wide, flat body that looks like it was hit by a press, the Spider looks almost as good as a supercar. It has an alpine look, more than fitting considering that it was built in an alpine plant in Dieppe. It's a pity that barbell such straight and high peaks spoil the aesthetics of the concept car.
On the dashboard there are three quadrants with oil pressure, mode engine and water temperature. If you want to know how fast you are moving, you need to move your eyes around the dashboard until you find digital speedometer (taken from the original Twingo), which is a bit slow though to catch up with real speed. Further, the gaze falls on the welded area. frame in aluminum. It's a big build, rougher and more industrial than the corner frame - also aluminum - extruded and glued by Elise. The story goes that when the expert saw the nude footage Renault he was so impressed by its size that he thought it must have been a mistake, most likely it was not the real one, but the shape used to create it.
After the village of Hutton-le-Hole, the road begins to climb. When we reach the top of the hill, we find ourselves in front of the most impressive expanse of heather I have ever seen, traversed by a thin strip of asphalt lost on the horizon. In some places in the distance you can see sections of snow, and from time to time someone picks up and moves: confusing, then you realize that this is not snow, but sheep ... The surface is uneven and all in holes, like on a classic country road, but in suspensions double levers with springs Bilstein of Spiders they look at it as if nothing happened. It's amazing the control and coolness with which Renault rides this Gruyere cheese: it's too hard and docile to be real cheese. sports brought to the bone.
Initially bulk steering wheel three-spoke adjusts to the docility of the suspension, avoiding jerks and sudden jerks. But as soon as you turn it to squeeze into corners, it quickly becomes more substantial, floods you with information and instantly feeds the data to the car, which rushes left and right without hesitation. A millimeter of movement is enough to drive the winding road. Lateral grip is amazing and the Spider handles corners on tarmac as you'd expect from such a low and wide car. Even when I walk into a corner at full throttle and I have a lot of people behind me to raise the inner wheel (so Dean can capture a spectacular photo), Spiders refuses to abandon the chosen trajectory. The only time it leans slightly off track is when braking at the end of a turn, when the rear weight - taking advantage of momentum - can create some difficulty.
Lo steering it's a little lighter than the one I rode years ago, especially at low speeds when you don't need gym biceps to turn the car. This is thanks to buswhich are no longer the original Michelin Pilots, but the less aggressive Michelin Primacy HP. This is a welcome change because the grip has not changed, but the steering is lightweight and agile.
The center pedal is too heavy. The first time you hit us too hard, you will panic because the reaction will be weak, as if there was no brake booster. You must hold on to the clutch firmly and push harder and harder, gradually decreasing the braking force, as if you were wringing out a damp cloth. But when you get used to it, you understand that in reality brakes they are sensitive and pleasant to use. IN Speed with five gears, it's not pleasant at all. Often times the gear is released as soon as you take your foot off the clutch. Then there's the reverse problem. There is an incomprehensible pattern in front of the gear lever that looks like something from an old dance manual. Even when I finally manage to figure out that you need to turn the gear knob a quarter turn counterclockwise and then move the lever first to the left and then to the front, it will take a long time to get it right. Better to avoid rear parking or strange maneuvers.
The transverse 2-liter engine from Clio Williams develops 148 hp. at 6.000 rpm, which is quite a lot considering that the first Elise only had 120 hp. But Spiders it also weighs 930kg (166 more than the Elise), and this, together with its remarkable frame grip, keeps the Spider from reaching its full potential, which is a real shame. The soundtrack is also not up to par: to hear a pretty decent note, you have to pull it by the neck like never before.
And yet the Spider is a delight as it moves along that strip of asphalt between the purple heather and the blue sky, with the cold wind whipping down my face. In addition, it is rare (currently there are two on sale in the UK, and the devaluation is lower than that of the first Elises) and has a sports pedigree with all the trimmings (they made their debut in their mono-brand England championship. Plato e Priaulx). So it’s a pity that this Renault spent his life in the shade of a small lotus.
With her steering и brakes it is no match for the nimble and light Elise, but it is more responsive and direct than most cars on the market today. And in many ways this is truly unique: to strain your muscles during frame it clings to the road in the tightest corners, and steering with imperceptible movements due to heavy steering is a bit like a fight, a precise fight. The Sport Spider gives you that kind of complete driving experience that few rivals have to offer, an experience that I really love.
