Extensive Renault presence, from the hill to the paddock to First Glance and the brand’s own stand opposite Goodwood House.

Renault featured an impressively extensive display of racing cars, land speed record cars and production models at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed

1934 Renault Nervasport Land Speed Record Car
An exciting offshoot of Renault’s luxurious Nervastella saloon, the Nervasport emphasised performance and notched up a string of endurance records. It was propelled by Renault’s second-generation 8-cylinder in-line engine, whose design was influenced by aviation engineering developments.
With this engine the Nerva series would achieve a distinguished motorsport record across both Europe and Africa. The Nervasport achieved its most spectacular performance at the Montlhéry race circuit in April 1934. A striking Marcel Riffard-designed single-seater version with enclosed bodywork won a clutch of endurance records. The target record was 6,300 kilometres in two days at an average speed of over 132kph (82mph). On 5 April, after 48 hours, 3 minutes and 14 seconds of driving, the Nervasport crossed the finishing line having broken nine international records and three world records, including : 8,037 km in 48 hours, at an average of 167.445kph (104.068mph). It will run throughout the weekend.

1956 Etoile Filante
‘Etoile Filante’ is both a romantic and entirely appropriate name for this record breaking shooting star that will also run throughout the weekend. It was inspired by turbine expert and founder of Turboméca Joseph Szidlowski, who was keen to widen public understanding of the technology, which came from the aviation world. He persuaded Renault’s first post-war chairman Pierre Lefaucheux to trigger the development of an experimental turbine car, the project lead by director of study and research Fernand Picard, engine specialist Albert Lory and Jean Hébert, an engineer who would also drive this record chaser.
Based around a 270hp turbine engine, the Renault featured a tubular, polyester-clad body whose shapely contours were the result of two years of wind-tunnel testing. On September 5 1956 the Etoile Filante whistled across the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States, breaking the world land speed record at 306.9kph over a kilometre, and 308.85kph over five kilometres.

1977 Renault F1 RS 01
At the start of the 1970s, Renault Gordini, with the financial help of oil group Elf, launched a high-performance engine research programme and developed a V6 Turbo. At first it was to be used in the Renault-Alpine prototypes then in Renault Formula 1. After the victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1978 with the Renault-Alpine A442 B, the Renault Sport team dedicated itself entirely to Formula 1. In 1977 it used, with an in-house RS 01 chassis, a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine half the size of the normally aspirated engines. Over the weekend, this remarkable historic F1 car will be demonstrating its performance again.

2016 Renault R.S. 16 Formula 1 Car
In 2016, Renault created a new entity, Renault Sport Racing, consolidating all Renault’s motorsport activities. At the summit of the motorsport activities is the
Renault Sport Formula One Team. The name underlines Renault’s plans to increase awareness of the Renault Sport brand and the links it intends to further explore between track and road. 2016’s Renault F1 car is the R.S.16 chassis developed and manufactured in the former Renault F1 Team base at Enstone, powered by the R.E.16 power unit developed at Renault Sport Racing’s facility in Viry-Châtillon. Briton, Jolyon Palmer competes in the season this year alongside Kevin Magnussen. Jolyon will be driving the R.S.16 up the famous hill.

Renault Sport R.S.01
If you want dramatic confirmation of Renault’s commitment to motorsport, look no further than the Renault Sport R.S.01, a race car of spectacular styling and exceptional performance. The R.S.01 is the star of the Trophy championship, which provides drivers with a springboard for professional GT and Endurance championships. Its design has been driven both by the need to generate plenty of downforce, and the inspiration of concept cars, most notably the 2010 Renault DeZir, and the land speed record-breaking Etoile Filante.
Powered by a 3.8 litre twin turbo V6 producing 550hp, key features of the R.S.01 include a carbon fibre tub that contributes substantially to its low weight of 1150kg, pushrod-actuated suspension, carbon fibre brake discs clamped by six-pot calipers and 18in centre-lock alloy wheels. The result is a racing car that’s not only dramatic and hugely fast, as will be demonstrated during the weekend, but beautiful too, making it the perfect flag-bearer for Renault’s 116-year old motorsport track record.

1985 Renault 5 Maxi Turbo
By the mid 1970s the sun had finally set on the Alpine A110’s glittering rally career, Renault’s rival Lancia dominating the scene with its mid-engined Stratos. Renault’s surprising answer to this Ferrari-powered supercar was an urban supermini, its hugely successful 5 chosen as the unlikely basis for a small, light and ferociously fast new mid-engined weapon. The idea was to move its engine from the front to the middle of the car to improve its traction and handling. The result was a rather strange looking 5, its rear wings distended by swollen wheel arches, its rear seats sacrificed to a box housing a highly tuned, turbocharged 1.4 litre engine of 162bhp. The Rally Championship rules required that this weirdly appealing little car enter production, in the process creating one of Renault’s many legendary performance machines and a highly collectible car today. The Renault 5 Maxi Turbo scored its maiden win on the 1981 Monte Carlo rally, and remained a potent force until the all-wheel drive Group B cars arrived. The Maxi Turbo’s extraordinary proportions, and power, can be seen in action over the Festival weekend.

2016 Renault Clio R.S.16
The Clio R.S.16 concept car is the highest performance Renault Sport road-going model yet. Built to celebrate 40 years of Renault Sport and Renault’s return to Formula One as a constructor, the R.S. 16 was developed in record time.
‘Our aim was to produce a concept car with genuinely outstanding performance credentials,’ explains Patrice Ratti, Managing Director of Renault Sport Cars and project leader. Using new techniques drawn from motorsport and road car design, the R.S.16 project took just five months to realise despite its complexity.
Housing the 275hp engine, six-speed manual transmission, suspension, brakes and cooling system of the bigger Mégane R.S. 275 Trophy-R was a significant challenge, the Clio’s chassis, cooling system and exhaust suitably reworked. No small task was widening the Clio’s body by 60mm to accommodate 19-inch wheels on a wider track. This dramatic Clio is finished in Renault Sport’s trademark Liquid Yellow – combined with gloss black details, it mirrors the Renault Sport Team’s R.S.16 F1 single-seater livery.

Renault Twingo GT
Making its world debut at the 2016 Festival of Speed, the new Twingo GT mixes the inherent agility of Renault’s rear-wheel drive city car with Renault Sport’s development expertise to deliver even more driving pleasure. Its 898cc Energy TCe turbo engine now delivers 110hp and 170Nm torque thanks to a revised air intake system and modified engine mapping, revised gearing also contributing to the GT’s free-revving performance.
Complementing the extra go is a chassis featuring revised suspension, specific ESP calibration and variable-rate steering. The result is sharp handling and responsive steering feedback for precise cornering and outstanding road holding, providing Twingo GT drivers with notably affordable driving pleasure.
Easily identifiable by its lowered ride height, 17-inch wheels, lateral air intakes, twin exhausts and NACA aircraft duct style graphics, the GT’s sporty credentials and heritage are immediately obvious. The Twingo GT’s interior features Renault Sport-badged doorsills, aluminium pedals and an alloy gear lever knob. It will be available in the UK this winter.

Renault Mégane GT 205 Sport Tourer
The Mégane Sport Tourer, which makes its first UK appearance at the Festival is both elegant, dynamic and effortlessly practical. Featuring an easily configured modular interior with a choice of boot arrangements, it also provides the segment’s longest maximum load length.
The Mégane Sport Tourer’s design blends dynamism and an elegance satisfyingly enhanced by the chrome trim outlining the side windows and C-pillar, while its low-set stance and wide track increase the feeling of security on the road.
This is underpinned by Renault’s unique-in-class 4Control four-wheel steering technology, which is specifically tailored to the Sport Tourer to endow it with precise, dynamic handling on twisty roads, and exceptional agility in built-up areas.

All-New Renault Scenic
Renault invented the compact multi-purpose vehicle or MPV, and with this latest Scenic, which makes its UK debut at Goodwood, it has thoroughly revitalised the idea. This latest version is striking for its fresh proportions, svelte silhouette, a two-tone paint option and a number of ingenious features. Among these are the standard fitment of visually appealing 20-inch diameter wheels and underfloor storage compartments, as found on the original Scenic.
A slightly higher ride height, a shorter rear overhand, a rising, subtly muscular waistline and a wider track all contribute to a design that’s considerably more shapely than most vehicles of this kind. A three-piece wraparound windscreen provides a particularly panoramic view ahead, the feeling of airiness further enhanced by an expansive, unobstructed, optional glass roof. This latest Scenic is preceded by three generations going back 20 years with their combined sales closing of five million.

Renault-e.dams
Renault has been directly involved in the new Formula E championship since its launch in 2014. It was appointed Technical Partner to the inaugural championship season going on to win the constructor’s prize in the first 2014/2015 season with Renault-e.dams.
Renault redoubled its commitment in the second season of competition by building its own engine/gearbox assembly and developing cutting-edge technologies that will both directly and indirectly benefit the production vehicles in the Z.E. range. The latest Renault-e.dams Formula E car will be (almost) silently running up the hill over the weekend.