Renault · 1980–1984

Renault 5 Turbo

The Renault 5 Turbo or R5 Turbo is a sports car which was produced by French manufacturer Renault from 1980 until 1984. It has a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout and was originally designed as a homologation special to compete in rallying. The R5 Turbo is based on the Renault 5, a front-wheel-drive mass-market supermini. Launched at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1980, the car was sold in a street-legal version, to comply with homologation minimum production numbers regulations, certifying that the R5 Turbo was to a sufficient extent indeed a "production car". Despite a hefty price-tag, market demand for the Renault 5 Turbos exceeded the required homologation production minimums, such that a total of 4,987 (1,820 Turbo 1 and 3,167 Turbo 2) R5 Turbos were manufactured during the six-year production run.

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Successor: Renault 5 GT Turbo

All Renault 5 Turbo data: UK builds, safety, recalls, model years →

Design

In response to Lancia's rallying success with the mid-engined Stratos, Renault's Jean Terramorsi, vice-president of production came up with the idea of creating a new sports version of the Renault 5 Alpine supermini. The distinctive new rear bodywork was styled by Marc Deschamps at Bertone, headed by Chief Designer Marcello Gandini. A Renault 5 Alpine was sent to Bertone in October 1977 to be used as a "mannequin." The car's code name was Projet 822. Although the standard Renault 5 has a front-mounted engine, the 5 Turbo featured a mid-mounted 1,397 cc (1.4 L; 85.3 cu in) Cléon-Fonte with fuel fed by Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection and a Garrett AiResearch T3 turbocharger OHV 2 valves per cylinder Inline-four engine placed behind the driver in mid-body in a modified Renault 5 chassis. In standard form, the engine developed 160 PS (158 hp; 118 kW) at 6000 rpm and maximum torque of 221 N⋅m (163 lb⋅ft) at 3250 rpm. Though it used a modified body from a standard Renault 5 and was badged a Renault 5, the mechanicals were radically different. The most obvious difference was the rear-wheel drive and rear-mid engine instead of the normal version's front-wheel drive and front-mounted engine. The engineers creating the Turbo used parts from various other Renault models: the rear suspension was derived from that of the rear-engined Renault Alpine A310 V6 while the five-speed manual transmission was the unit from the Renault 30 TX, rotated through 180 degrees. At the time of its launch, it was the most powerful French production car. In side profile, the R5 Turbo looked largely the same as any other 2-door Renault 5 of the contemporaneous first generation, sharing the same greenhouse, rear hatch and doors shape, as well as a very similar looking nose, featuring only design tweaks t

North America

The original plan called for 1,000 Renault 5 Turbo cars to be built to meet the requirements for Group 3 homologation, with an eye to building an additional 3,000 factory U.S. Models for sale in the United States. This did not actually happen. Instead the vehicle was available to Americans via the burgeoning grey market (1976–1988), in which European street legal cars were converted to U.S. specifications.

Motorsport

The R5 Turbo was conceived with dual intent, promoting the sales of the common R5 and being homologated in the FIA group 3 and 4 categories of the rally championship (today WRC). All the motorsport derivatives were based on the Turbo 1. The factory pushed the engine output up to 180 PS (132 kW; 178 hp) for the Critérium des Cévennes, 210 PS (154 kW; 207 hp) for the Tour de Corse, and by 1984 as much as 350 PS (257 kW; 345 hp) in the R5 Maxi Turbo. The final Renault 5 Maxi Turbo Superproduction reached 385 PS (283 kW; 380 hp) and won the 1987 French Supertouring Championship that year. The Renault 5 Turbo competed in the sub-2000 cc category, thanks to the multiplication factor of 1.4 which was applied to turbocharged engines. FISA restricted tire and wheel sizes based on engine size, so for the Maxi Turbo, Renault enlarged to engine to 1527 cc which brought it up to 2138 cc in the eyes of the regulatory agencies - placing it in the 2000–2500 cc category and allowing for the fitment of wider wheels at the expense of a higher minimum weight. Driven by Jean Ragnotti in 1981, the 5 Turbo won the Monte Carlo Rally on its first outing in the World Rally Championship. The 2WD R5 Turbo soon faced the competition of new Group B four-wheel drive cars that proved faster on dirt.

WRC victories

There are several victories throughout the early 1980s in the national championships in France, Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, and Spain, as well as victories in international rallies throughout Europe, with wins in iconic rallies such as Monte Carlo. After the factory ceased support, it underwent development by many teams and enthusiasts to compete in regional championships and local races in which it was ubiquitous and successful for almost 20 years. Later, the newly created historical categories allowed these celebrated cars to return to international events and competitions.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.