1980 Renault 5 Turbo

Built to go rallying in the Group 4 competition, the Renault 5 Turbo was based off the Renault 5 supermini. The engine was fitted with a turbocharger and was turned around 180 degrees and placed in the back where the rear seats would normally go. 400 examples had to be built for homologation purposes, so to keep costs down, Renault were able to use many off the shelf parts in the effort to provide supercar-like performance at an affordable price. In the end nearly 5,000 examples were built, far exceeding initial plans for the car.

One of the most striking aspects of the car was the wide body kit used to accept bigger wider wheels and tyres. The rear fender flares were over scaled for the size of the small Renault 5, and provided an over the top look whilst feeding airflow to the engine. In competition, the Renault 5 Turbo was best suited to tarmac rallies with the all-wheel drive competitors proving too much on loose surfaces. The best result was a third in the Group B rally class at the 1984 Tour de Corse. In the late 90’s, Renault returned to the same formula with the mid engined hatchback Clio V6.