Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy grabs Nurburgring Record

Renault has taken the Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy to the Nurburgring and set a new record for a front wheel drive production car.

First we get the news that Renault has pushed out a limited edition Megane Renaulsport – the Megane Renaulsport 265 Trophy with a slightly tweaked and titivated version of the Megane Renaultsport 250 – and now we get the follow-up publicity with the claim of a new Nurburgring record for the brisk Megane.

This isn’t a record that’s quite as daft as some of the records that are claimed for the Nurburgring (there almost seems to be a specific category of ‘Record’ time to fit every car maker’s needs), but it does seem a bit obscure. It’s the Nurburgring record for the fastest production front wheel drive car. Which we’re sure is worth claiming.

In fact, Renault are no strangers to the front wheel drive ‘Ring record as they already held it with the Megane R26.R which did the Nurburgring in 8m 17s in 2008. Has no one else tried since?

The Megane 265 has managed to cut an impressive 9 seconds off that time, despite being an almost stock car, albeit with a careful choice of tyres and a careful setup.

Laurent Hurgon, RenaultSport driver who took the Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy round the ‘Ring, apparently said:

The limited slip differential allowed me to accelerate hard out of the countless turns without understeer. 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) tyres allowed me to make the most of the car’s enormous potential, especially into and out of the corners. It is this package which enabled me to post such a quick time round this circuit which you must always approach with a certain degree of humility.

Sounds just like the words of a racing driver.

Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy Photo Gallery

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