Renault announced today that the Megane RS Trophy managed to set a new Nurburgring lap record for front-wheel-drive vehicles. The Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy set a Nordschleife lap time of 8 minutes 08 seconds and managed to beat the best effort of several rear-wheel-drive vehicles that have been around the infamous track. The previous Nurburgring record for FWD vehicles was also set by a Renault, namely the Megane R26.R, which managed to set a lap time of 8 minutes 17 seconds. This means that the Renault Megane RS Trophy is a full 9 seconds faster. Renault did not mention whether or not the Megane RS Trophy used for setting the record was completely standard or not.
The Renault Megane RS Trophy is powered by a
2-liter turbo engine that develops 15 hp more than before, for a total of 265 hp and 360 Nm of torque. Renaultsport says that the Megane RS Trophy has a 0-62 mph (100 km/h) sprint time of 6.0 seconds and a maximum speed of 254 km/h.
Laurent Hurgon, the driver that set the Renault Megane RS Trophy Nurburgring record, said "The carefully-tuned Cup chassis, the dampers, the fade-resistant brakes, the Recaro seats, the power of the 265hp engine, the ready availability of torque between 2,500 and 5,000rpm and the car’s Bridgestone RE 050A (235/35 R19) tires allowed me to make the most of the car’s enormous potential, especially into and out of the corners."
UPDATE: Renault Megane RS Trophy Nurburgring record video posted below
Renault Megane RS Trophy Nurburgring record video:
