Renault Mégane R26.R, Round the Nürburgring in 8m 17s

[TheSpurion]

Honestly, I am not a big fan of Renault, neither their cars.

BUT, I am still mesmerized about the performance of this thing!

[danielmk1]

the best cars will always show here and this is the proof you can say man tings but facts are better then blablabla

[Cliostreekiller]

8:16:90 yeaaa

[Sheptunofff]

the only one i want after Coupe 20VT

[muchookoo]

PLEASE, WHO KNOWS THE SONG?

[steffojan]

How much does this bastard cost ?

[melon662]

unbelievable car and driver skills indeed :) Love the sound of the car - the exhaust and the 5 point seat belt :)

[ExplodingDohNUTS]

great little car but comon its fwd UNDERSTEER there was some in some of the turns killing the time!

[chenzo717]

fantastic little car! shows front wheel drive really can work well if managed properly! im very upset this car isnt coming to australia! BRING IT TO AUS PLEASE RENAULT!!!

[badboy4u007]

sick car and driver 5 stars

[PoochaLondon]

This is much more focused than the RS

[pegassuss22]

diabolical car.. i want one.. :)

i sooo like the sound of it..

[dilawer321]

thats f##ing awesome!

[DragonInfraXtremeRGT]

is it available in north America i want one .

[000yves000]

Funny noone noticed the time isn't taken on the whole lap !! They start at the end of the T13 straight, and stop at its beginning .....Not important really, I'll get mine in three weeks....

[rupe30]

Good point!! I make it about 4-5secs longer including that bit. Bit cheeky!

[chenzo717]

you might be thinking of the Gran Tursimo style Nurburgring, the real nurburging does stop and start on the main strait. i could be wrong but thats what i've heard so if im wrong i dont mind!

[000yves000]

The T13 is the old start/finish, stopping on the main straight is for the tourists' driving.

[chenzo717]

sorry buddy! i realised i was wrong just after i'd pressed 'post comment' i apologise deeply. did you end up buying the car by the way?

[000yves000]

I paid it yesterday, the dealer is still waiting for the license plates, so I hope it 'll be this week...

[chenzo717]

i am jealous to the core!!! you HAVE to post videos when the car arrives! and dont worry i live in australia so i wont come to your house and nick it.....maybe.....

[rodro5]

very very fast!!

[lordy91]

Bet it eats front tyres like mad

[norriedee]

Me Wants 1 o these.

[numba1drummab01]

this isnt even a standard car so how is this even justifiable

[donriko666]

it's still a factory car though, modified by the factory and bought from the factory, so it would still stand - you don't see people complaining about the times set by a 911 GT3 RS, but I don't see how that car differs in ethos at all, from the R26.R, so as I see it, it is still legitimate

[ether819]

i agree i think it needs at least a trunk for it to be justifiable

[youmager]

fastest FWD car in Nürburgring

[RafaLisbon1986]

Renault!

[HollandaGuy]

Ugly car, but fast so its good!!

[wallaboks]

Je peux vous dire que j'allais prendre une Lotus SC et que j'ai commandé ça...16 000 euors et moins, Renault ou pas...ça marche fort. C'est une équipe de passionnés de Ranault qui l'a faite, ça mérite récompense + reconaissance..cocorico..!

[Shark00n1337]

What a lovely* noise!

*Shitty

[BarneyWobba]

I've done 8m 12.74s in my tweaked Williams Clio. I've got close to beating it several times but that day was quite cold and I think gave the engine a bit of an edge. I was on slicks, whereas here I think the R26R is on R888's, not quite as good for track but still bloody good tyres considering they are road legal.

[monniearnes]

does it sound funny or is it just the audio...

[Heelandtoeit]

Lovely video but he waits until after the carousel to get on it. Is that tyre temp I wonder?

[utkuokcu]

8.17 is faster than bmw m5...

[LAtexStretch]

WTF is with the engine sound??!!

Sounds like a fucked up hoover and an enginge under the effects of a waa waa pedal!!

I Love Renaults, but I doubt I'll buy a third after the quality issues I had with the first two.

[nascube]

che cazzata di video.. ora c'è proprio la moda del tempo piu' basso e sparano i tempi e fanno video falsi.. certe riprese come l'hanno fatte se sulla fiancata nn ci sono videocamere?? mah

[sonobabbonatale]

renault did a great job with the new "Megane" and "Clio" sport models. I own a clio RS and, trust me, even if i`m not a pro racing driver, into the ring SHE was absolutely great. really really funny :) so, renault rulez

[simarkbotak]

crazy good time for a fwd..

[fabryca]

Great car but the design is not so good!!

[Darkrain38]

Bonne idée qu'a eu Renault de sortir une Mégane R26 allégée avant qu'elle ne prenne une retraite

Par ailleur, il faut préciser que le temps officiel de 8'17" effectué sur le Nürburgring a été fait par un journaliste lors d'essais presses. Les responssable de Renault Sport précisent que la R26.R à déjà tournée en 8'12", temps non officiel.

The time of 8'17" was conducted by a journalist at the press tests. But the R26.R already did a not officially registered time of 8'12".

[fdjbcn]

It was the same test driver who make 8.12 in development & 8.17s the day of presentation

the difference was the weather who was not optimum for turbo engine ( 25° on air ) & tire ( 50° on track explaining the understeering &0.2s per kilometre )

the day of presentation, only one lap for video !!

[wallaboks]

non non, c'est Vincent Bayle , le pilote d'essai renault sport qui a fait 8,16,9 , ils auraient fait 8.12, ça ok. les teutons de sport un auto n'ont fait que 8,20...

[JohnMcClaneMOFO]

R26R fastest production front wheel drive car around the ring...FACT

This is a road car not a track only car

[vitiosusorbis]

So I'm overjoyed that I found this video only to find out that the camera shots and editing are crap.

Listen up you nurburgring camera folks. We come here to see a lap around the ring, that's exciting enough, no need to put on fancy effects or 12 different camera angles or music. One good steady shot and the sound of the car is more than enough.

[SamLittlechief]

I totally agree. was happy to finally see the R26.R lap the Nordschleife - yet the different cameraangles make me sick. WHo was so stupid to kill the footage by that sick cutting and editing???? Too bad - its a great car - and a great record for FWD cars. Good job renault!

[spinesnapper]

I just want to correct some of the mistakes made in some of the posts. Firstly weight of the car: its 1230kg , the weight reduction was 123kg. A rollcage such as that one will weight around 30kg. the optional titanium exhaust will save at least 5kg, so this car must weigh around 1250-1260or so kg, its hard to estimate how much fluids are in the car, and also of course the weight of the driver.

Toyo proxes 88 are the optional tires. The car does infact have air conditioning. climate is an option.

[remasy]

Vu comme le pilote est obligé de surbraquer à mort pour faire tourner la voiture, j'ai du mal à croire qu'il s'agit d'une préparation compète comme les incrédules veulent nous faire croire...

D'accord pour les barres et les fauteuils à l'arrière... Mais ça fait pas une prépa course ça... Sinon le nombre de 205GTI et Super5GT avec une prépa course qui il y avait sur les routes de France... Je vous raconte pas...

[alamos8]

it is quite easy to set a good time with a race prepped up car, I mean, lightened, roll-caged, semi-slick tyres, no fogs, no rear seat, no airbags, no air-con... do the same to the 'slower' Porsche cayman, VW R32, etc... and you will see that other cars can also be sooo fast. this is not comparable to a stock GTI. ST or whatever

[tonicroatia]

well this car comes out of factory like this, it's not made specially for beating the record

if you decide to buy one better hurry up cuz they'll make only 450 of them

[jediV6]

I work for Renault, and i can say that this lap is 100% Genuine!! I was there!! This car beats the lot! Even the Astra VXR Nurburgring Edition, which was designed for this track!! This is the car from factory, no race tyres an no race fuel!! If anyone thinks this lap time is fake, then think again..........

[stevennorfield]

Erm, Ali360, this is the R26.R, a stripped out version of the R26 Team car, the roll cage is standard. The cars lost 150kg in weight and has the Bridgestone RE040 trackday tyres. It's no wonder it chews up the rest of the hot hatch brigade and spits them out.

It sounds so noisy because there's no sound deadening either and the rear windows are polycarbonate instead of glass.

[fluence51]

It was once proved by Mexican test magazine 'Automóvil' that the Mégane 225 actually had 247hp. So, could this one reach easily 250hp?

Perfect. One detail... is not mine :'(

[Roseman03]

sounds like a truck on steroids. but great performance, i think on the road it's going to be awesome.

[Ali360]

Are they still trying to kid on that this was done on a completely standard car? It still weighs around 1300kg (the test car had the roll cage which negates most of the weight saving) and only has 230bhp. Or did it only have 230bhp? It smacks of cheating, but Ford probably lied through their teeth as well when they did an 8' 35" in the Focus ST as well so expect another fabricated time for the RS...

[y1y188]

dommage ke c une renault

[remasy]

Donc c'est un belle et bonne voiture, mais c'est une merde parce que c'est une Renault... C'est ça que tu veux dire?

On appelle ça une idée préconçue garçon...

[y1y188]

é oui elle est belle é bonne mé javé une renault é ke d emmerde avec. j'ai un copain ki boss chez renault et la plus part du temps il change lé pièces ki sont encor en garanti

[kontosmixalis]

renault always has "something more" from others to show at speed. Lets hope that they will make an also hot version on the new Megane that is very beautiful

[renaultutzigen]

fastest hatchback. even faster than the new focus rs

[Oggy187]

Not only that...It's faster than a M5 (-1sec) and Porsche Cayman S (-8sec)...Audi RS4 & BMW M6 are faster for 3sec...But there is only going to be 450 of these on the road :( but I like Titanium Exhaust :)

[hondacar]

We really don't know that yet.

[sspope]

Faster than Focus RS? How can that be? I read a lot of reviews where Ford claims it contains some uber like alien technology.

[plug007]

The focus st isn't as a fast as this, even on paper. Its heavier and not as powerful. The r26 would destroy it. Maybe your getting mixed up with the new focus rs, its not out yet. next year. it will have 300 bhp to play with.

[sspope]

Yes, that's what I saif, Focus RS. They claim they've revolutionized FWD. I don't it's gonna be better than 4WD, especially not as good as Evo but they have probably created something very interesting and they want to show it.

[saxoryan]

Tomhodgson you clown!

as for the sound, you have to hear it in person :)

[marinhoo25]

megane r26r 36 sec faster than gti

bugatti veyron 37 sec faster than megane..lol

[marinhoo25]

megane r26r 8:17

golf gti dsg 8:53

golf r32 (250) 8:49

focus st 9:05

BMW M3 E46 (343ks) 8:22

civic type r 8:47

[xavLM]

Bravo a Renault sport pour oser sortir une voiture radicale ( 2Places ) et efficace.

Bravo car cette R26R devient la traction la + rapide du ring avec 10s d'avance sur la 1ere rivale.

bravo car elle se hisse devant des porsches ( cayman S, 996 ), M3 E46 ou M5

Bravo a vincent baylé, 1 des pilotes essayeurs RS qui a fait ce chrono.

Bravo pour le petit R26R inversé sur le spoiler avant :)

[NilsHolgerson]

nice vid. 8:17 is really impressive, but FWD still sucks!

[Blitzen11]

sounds like a diesel...

where did they place the mic?

[tomhodgson77]

I've always like Renaults "Performance" cars. This Megane looks quite nice, maybe finally it will be able to keep up with the Civic Type R's & Golf R32's. I'm still waiting for the new Clio V6 though :)

[perty51]

the megane r26 is faster than the civic type r's so the r26.r will destroy them

[freddycorsa]

The car sounds awful, like a vacuum cleaner.

[mauownage]

sounds like a squealing pig, or a demented death metal vocalist.

[Frol3R]

R26 R. ABSOLUTELY amazing performance, it catch whith PORSCHE CAYMAN S, so ...

[yellowbird479]

I'm french and really Renault me make shame... sound like a vespa fuck up !!!

[jaybyme]

sounds like the microphone is picking up the air intake noise more than anything.

[Janaida]

this car sounds like its running high boost

[LaMakine]

Just to let you know, it's faster than a Porsche 996 Turbo on one lap of this legendary race track...Nice car mates...

[2007TypeR]

Yes but it's still a Renault. I've been in the Renault R26 and the cabin and overall built quality is disgusting. Feels like you are in a dirty cheap french car... oh wait, you are. Still both very very quick cars. Depends if you are willing to sacrifice some build quality....

[Jefdenbeir]

Of coursz, every-one knows that Honda is WAY better...NOT!

[borninita]

this is a really fast car, but if you want compare (2 sport version) this 2.0 turbo with civic mugen rr 2.0 NA, you can see that civic had 10hp more..

[Jefdenbeir]

Yow, you're probably right, but then again its a MUGEN Honda, not a Honda, this is just a "standard" Renault, no tuning by any other tuner...

[JENSSCHLAU]

Cool car. Nice song too.

[rufusa048]

La traction de série la plus rapide ?

[AkiranBlade]

Sounded more like a hoover, rofl.

[dhoytw]

I agree, you can make out the noise of the turbo, but very strange sounding exhaust note. I would have to say great lap, but wouldn't say it's one of the better sounding cars I have heard, more like one of the worst.

[2007TypeR]

It sounds absolute turd. I wouldn't have one for that reason alone.

[AkiranBlade]

What's that wierd noise, sounds vaguely like the engine?

[maiamo]

Do you mean the turbo spooling and boosting?

[2007TypeR]

It sounds like fucking shit.

[ugo3245]

Awesome, renault have balls making this legend!!

[fer2lance]

Bon ben ca arrache quand meme hein...