Motor Australia – September 2019

28 september 2019 whichcar.com.au/motor

to medium-rare, feels every inch as
good and connected as a Porsche 911
GT3 RS, just front-wheel drive and less
accelerative. There’s equivalent feel,
finesse, grip and loads of traction.
The 390mm carbon-ceramic brakes
used to set the Nurburgring lap
time are fitted to the 30 ‘Trophy-R
Record’ versions being produced, but
Australia will get just one of those, to
be auctioned off. That car will also get
a six-point harness and carbonfibre
wheels – developed in Australia by
Geelong-based Carbon Revolution

• that save 2kg per corner. Renault
  places the carbon wheels in the back
  (where there’s now no seat) and straps
  them down, so they can’t get damaged
  in transit. As a result, Record owners
  also have a spare set of track-day
  wheels and tyres.
  Australia has been allocated 20 of
  the 500 Trophy-Rs being produced,
  and they lob here in early 2020 – all
  painted pearl white with red highlights


• with the Ohlins shocks and 19-inch
  wheels, and 355mm discs clasped by
  four-piston calipers up front.
  Suitably stripped and lightened,
  the Trophy-R is raw and noisy, and
  completely involving. An Alcantara
  steering wheel – I’m a sucker for those


• telegraphs everything the tyres are
  up to, via medium-light weighting. A
  small tug of torque-steer here and a
  shimmy under braking there, and you’ll
  know which tyres are giving up – and
  where, and how.
  Not that they do often. If this car had
  twice its power, I’m sure its grip levels
  would see it return a lap time as fast
  as the purest supercars. Laterally, and
  under deceleration, it is no less capable,
  while it looks after its Bridgestone
  Potenza S007 tyres (same as on the
  Trophy) remarkably well, even after a
  day on the track.
  You can make the Trophy-R
  understeer on power, but turn in
  without throttle or trail the brakes and
  it rotates wonderfully and predictably.
  Most of the time it’s fantastically neutral.
  Body control, in the set-up we tried,
  is superb. Kerbs rattle through it, mind.
  With dampers slackened and the height
  up, I think it would make an engaging
  road car, though Renault’s chief test
  driver, Laurent Hurgon, still reckons the

IT’S THEWAY THETROPHY-R DELIVERS

ITS SPEED RATHER THAN THE SPEED ITSELF

THAT MAKES THIS CAR SO COMPELLING

griplevelsare“completelycrazy”for

theroad.I believehim.

You’llnoteI haven’tmentionedthe

engineandgearbox(six-speedmanual

only,becauseit’slighterthanthedual-

clutchauto).They’refine,responsive

andslickenough,butpoweris the

same220kWastheTrophy,because

it wouldhavebeentooexpensiveto

re-homologateforjust 500 cars.

Besides,Renaultlikestheideaof

finding speed through subtraction

rather than addition, with the exception

of the price – about $70K in Australia.

This, it will not have escaped your

notice, is loads of money for a hot

hatch with a lap time not all that

dissimilar to a Civic Type R, which is

priced at $52K.

This is a quandary. The feeling you

get on a circuit is way more important

to me than the number that comes out

at the end. But this car largely exists

because of the number that comes out

at the end.

Perhaps best not to think about it too

much. Just remember that it’s every

inch as thrilling as plenty of supercars

costing four times as much.

BELOW Deletion of

the active rear-steer

system gave our tester

more confidence to

explore the Trophy-R’s

cornering prowess

In a battle of the ultimate front-drive

hot hatches, the sublime Type R is it,

really. A lot cheaper; certainly if Honda

did its own $70K special, racey Type R,

it’d be very bad news for the Trophy-R.

➜

NEMESIS

CIVICTYPE-R

The 2.0-litre four, FWD,

228kW/400Nm,

0-100k m/h 5.7sec

1393kg, $51,990

M

C