Well, well, well Folks, it’s been a while, but here we are again. We were thinking that one of the main reasons that we all miss the good old years, it’s because at that time, there were no borders.
Everything was possible so every industry tried things that today could never. From fashion with those weird colors, to movies such as The Goonies, Top Gun, Full Metal Jacket and least but not last, our holy automotive industry.
To help you get the picture, we’re talking about the days that Lamborghini came with the Countach, or the Ferrari with the Testarossa – two cars that were born to push any boundaries. And let’s not forget those tiny cars with more horsepower than a starship.
Now, we need you to close your eyes and think about one of these tiny, powerful cars, with a rear engine, straight from the ‘80s…are you done?
Is it by any chance the Renault 5 Turbo? If it’s not, now it is because we are going to talk about it (but let us know which car came to your mind on Instagram you weirdo!)
As usual, we’re now going into a brief excursus on today’s protagonist.
We are between the 1980-1982 and someone at the Renault Sport Division had this amazing and dangerous idea to build a car that could run and win at Rally. The Renault 5 Turbo was produced from the 1980 and two years later, at the Paris Showroom – Renault presented the R5 Turbo 2, and that’s what we found.
We met Max, owner of this beauty and CEO of the Catania Corse Team. His passion for wheels has probably lasted more years than our younger community, and he told us that he worked in a Renault dealership back in the ‘90s, and always loved the company.
But, how did he get one? Well, back in 2001 the Internet was still a newborn in our society, so all the dealerships consulted Autosupermarket (that still exists by the way) to compare cars prices, buy and sell, and so on.
Max saw this ad without any picture of this “Renault Turbo” and from the price it was too high to be just a Renault 5, but to low to be a Renault 5 Turbo – so he called the owner – who happened to be in Sicily near Max, for a competition and turns out he was the 26 times national champion in shot put, Paolo Dal Soglio.
But what the hell did they think when they decided to conceive this beast? We don’t really know but it should be something like: <<Ok guys, let’s take this ugly Renault 5, let’s reverse everything in it and let’s make it more… let’s see... oh yeah! A four-wheeled coffin!>>.
And that’s exactly what came out, the Renault 5 Turbo that has nothing to do with the Renault 5, except for the name! (A wonderful job guys, we all miss you and those days).
They literally took everything that was forward on the Renault 5, and they putted it in the back and added power – a wonderful UNO reverse card, built to compete and homologated for Group 3 and 4, racing and rally competition.
The R5 Turbo 2 came out thanks to the success of the first model, and it was pretty much the same except for the fact that it could go into streets. What really changed from the fist R5 Turbo, was some little esthetic changes, more specifically they retained the standard steel doors and roofs from the original Turbo, to bring down the price.
This rocket goes from 0 a 100 km/h (62mph) in 7.7 seconds, with a maximum speed of 203 km/h (126 mph). The R5 Turbo 2 has a in-line engine with 4-cylinder petrol engine and produces a maximum power of 160 PS (158 bhp – 118Kw) at 6000 rpm with a maximum torque of 220 Nm (162 lb.ft) at 3250 rpm – a pure illegal beast.
And for today, that’s all folks. Stay tuned, there’s a lot more coming, the journey continues.
Peace and Love. (And share this article with a Renault 5 Turbo's lover)
Thanks to Max Lo Verde, the owner of this piece of art.
Wonderful pictures by Sevian Daupi (@sev_d_) ft @supercarsofsicily