The Renault 5 Turbo: A Legendary Rally Car

In the early days of rallying, private teams would often enter their own cars into the competition, and it was these home-built machines that first caught the attention of enthusiasts. One such car was the Renault 5 Turbo, which made its debut in the rally circuit in a big way. Private teams had come up with a car that got people excited to go racing, and the factory-supported car driven by Jean Regnauty was soon to become a legend.

However, things didn't quite go as planned for the factory team. Their alternative problems led to some difficulties on the track, but privateer Bruno Saby managed to finish in 4th place. This marked the beginning of Renault's involvement in rallying, and their fortunes were about to change. In the 1981 WRC season opener at Rallye Monte-Carlo, the Renault 5 Turbo proved to be perfectly suited to the tight tarmac roads with switchbacks, showing off its agility and speed.

Unfortunately, the Audi Quattro showed up at the same event, wearing all-wheel-drive technology that would soon become a norm in rallying. The wildly loose rules of Group B were followed, but it was too little, too late for the Renault 5 Turbo. Despite this setback, the car continued to rack up wins, including another victory at Pave in 1982. However, its rear-wheel drive layout meant it could never quite match the Audi Quattro's performance on dirt roads.

Despite not being able to compete with the big boys all the time, the Renault 5 Turbo still managed to make a name for itself as one of the cool kids on the block. Its show-off style and big hips made it stand out from the crowd, and it quickly gained popularity among enthusiasts. Meanwhile, racer Patrick Michel attempted to get Renault into road racing in North America in 1981, bringing a highly modified Renault LeCar Turbo to the MC series GT U class.

Michel's efforts didn't quite pay off, as he crashed while testing and sadly passed away. However, his accident directly led to the development of head-neck support devices, which are now practically mandatory safety equipment in every form of professional racing. In response to this tragedy, Renault sold 1,820 R5 Turbos before revising their design to make production cars cheaper in 1982.

Their new model, the number 5 Turbo 2, gave up its colorful interior and swapped out aluminum panels for steel, but retained similar performance. The car came in more paint colors, including a range of legions-inspired hues. Despite having fewer than 5,000 units produced, the Lumpy French Bunny was never short on charm.

In contrast to its predecessor, the original R5 Turbo's lower production numbers and lighter weight made it the most desirable model. Don't confuse this with the flowerless front-engine Renault 5 GT Turbo, which is a whole different beast altogether. Back in WRC in 1983, Renault was forced to revise the suspension on their rally cars to meet Group B regulations.

This change did not go well, and the team soon dropped out of the rest of the WRC season. It didn't make sense to keep going in such a poor state of form, so it was time for some fire to be put back into the team's engines. In 1984, Renault focused more on smaller events and finished third at the Tour de Corsa before dropping out.

As they looked to rebuild their WRC efforts, Renault introduced a new car with even more responsive power - the R5 Maxi Turbo. This challenger boasted an aerodynamic front air dam, a big rear wing, and more suspension travel than ever before. The 1.5-liter engine produced 351 horsepower, making it one of the most powerful engines in rallying.

The R5 Maxi Turbo also featured aluminum roof and wider hips to cover fatter rear tires on 16-inch wheels. This updated design took Renault back into the WRC at its predecessor's favorite stomping grounds - the tarmac roads of Corsica. In the hands of Jean Riccati, who led the whole rally in 1985, the R5 Maxi Turbo proved to be a force to be reckoned with.

Gabe Renault would eventually win his first WRC title in three years, both finishing on the podium without ever taking an all-wheel-drive path. However, despite this success, Renault decided to pull out of WRC efforts at the end of the 1985 season and stopped producing the mid-engine hot hatch.

The loss of their rally program didn't stop others from racing the turbocharged versions of the R5, however. Future WRC champion Carlos Sainz began making a name for himself behind the wheel of the Maxi Turbo, while future F1 driver Érik Comas won the 1987 European Super Production Touring Car Championship in one.

In addition to their on-track success, the Renault 5 Turbo also appeared in some notable pop culture appearances. In the 1983 James Bond film 'Octopussy', a character drives an R5 Turbo, adding to its legendary status.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enyou used to win rallies but it's kind of been awhile you want to build a rad new race car but you don't got a lot of clams in the casino currently you look around and what you already got sitting around the garage and have a couple of drinks with your buddy who's got some crazy ideas and then you say let's do it let's put the engine in the back of this thing put turbo on it this is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Renault 5 turbo I saw one at a Starbucks three years ago it is one of the best days of my life it was Europe it was the early 70s in the most popular car in France was the humble Renault 5 hatchback also known as the r5 and the sank Americans knew it as the Renault lekar which the French thought was just ridiculous because they don't even call cars cars since Sunday voters you're zillion Americans I am a secretary civ skulk but it didn't matter what anyone called it anywhere Americans did not like it and the French loved it like eating snails the Renault 5 popularized a new subcompact class in cars in Europe called superminis they were bigger than a mini but smaller than a compact car like the Ford Escort when the 1973 global oil crisis hit you ever heard of it we mentioned it a lot the super mini sales took off meanwhile also in 1973 but no one the very first official WRC Constructors Championship with their sporty little or no a 110 then Lancia came along the next year with the purpose-built for Rory powered Stratus and trouser body for the next three seasons to learn more about that watch this episode the a 110 was already a pretty old design when it once so it wasn't a big shock that the Stratos stole its thunder but Renault didn't have anything else in the barn that would stand a chance against Lancia in group 4 so they settled for selling regular were no fives to regular folks in fact they sold a million sites in the first tois years with sales going strong 1976 were no launch one of the first hot hatches there were no 5 Alpine the non Alpine r5 models had tiny little inline-four engines they insane horsepower numbers like insanely not a lot like 55 not at all above horses but the new Renault 5 Alpine got a relatively huge by comparison 1.4 liter engine putting down a respectable 93 her Spurs it had obvious rally potential so we're no homologated it for WRC's group to class french drivers jean rag naughty and guy look Glenn grabbed 3 impressive podium finishes with the hotted up alpine in 1978 and against much faster group for cars while the Alpine's were racing Renault was all working on building something a little bit more extra Jean Terre more Cyrano's VP of production asked for a small lightweight group for rally car based on an existing or no production car something that wouldn't need a ton of modifications in order to keep costs down for Tony designer mark the salt produced a pretty radical idea why don't we make a mid-engine rear-wheel drive version of the utilitarian four-wheel drive with no 5 main engine worked out well for lunch so why not it was a little bit more drastic than paramours he originally wanted but the idea was just too good to not sign off on anyway kind of like the ksi vers Logan Paul boxing term or C sadly passed away later that year but his successor Henry hmm LH erm hmm was just as excited about the project and made sure it happened most of her knows racing the vision was busy with f1 and Grand Prix cars so only four engineers were assigned to work on the new rally prototype called project 822 at their Alpine factory a whole space frame chassis would have been ideal but it would have totally blown the budget so they cut a hole in the rear floor pan of a Renault r5 and built a tubular frame around it to cradle the future engine and transmission to install an engine where the backseat used to be an add a 5-speed they had to expand the archives rear track by a hole in inches that's like how big my hands are what do you think I was gonna say I admit I totally thought you're gonna say your dick the stock rear torsion bar springs were also in the way so they were replaced with double wishbones and coil springs that allowed the car to have the same wheelbase on both sides that's a weird little factoid about the regular r5 and its predecessor there were no 4 the wheelbase was more than an inch longer on the right side than the left to accommodate the suspension design for powwow they considered a bunch of different engine options a two point six liter v6 a two litre inline-four a turbo 1.6 but those were either too heavy too long your homegirl Goldilocks knows those fields talk about porridge baby talk my porridge in beds soft ultimately the team settled on putting a garrett t3 turbo on the existing r5 Alpine's 1.4 4-cylinder using the larger 1.6 liter engine would have bumped the car into a higher class but using the 1.4 would put it in a more competitive position it was a simple solution so that gave the car a simple name as well there were no 5 turbo even by late 70 standards the engine was really nothing special bosch k-jetronic mechanical fuel injection which sucks replaced the Alpine models carburetor it only had two valves per cylinder and didn't even have overhead cams the internals were buffed up like a horse in compression was dropped so it could run 13 pounds of boost an air-to-air intercooler was mounted next to the taillights and distinctive new rear fender flares the visual aspect that makes this car so cool marchello gain teeny drew up the r5 s turbos final design that's the same guy from Bertoni who penned the Stratos the Lamborghini Miura and the Ferrari Dino 308 gt4 just to name a few but this car had to be based on the modest Renault 5 Alpine so it looked less the part of an aerodynamic race car and more the part of a lumpy squarish bunny what mattered more was that all that new six stuff added a lot of weight but not to worry the r5 turbo had a turbo the prototype was a hodgepodge of parts from various Alpine and Renault models so it took two years to sort out the r5 turbos kinks for production when it finally went on sale in the summer of 1980 the street versions were pushing a hundred and sixty to her Spurs and about the same Turks making it the most powerful French car in production at the time that was good for a seven-second zero to 60 in a top speed of 125 miles per for twice the price of a regular Renault five you can get a turbocharged back seat driver singing right in your ear instead of a kid screaming I have to use the bathroom Massa please come he stop and buy some cigarettes the gas tank was bigger and the dash was full of gauges paint choices were a patriotic red or blue the interior had a bat-crazy red and blue color scheme and striped upholstery designed by a guy named Yves cool I'm not even making that up the dude's name was cool there was also plush carpeting over the top of the engine cover in a feeble attempt to protect your hearing from the motors 90 decibel full throttle wail just inches from your ears group 4 rally versions of the r5 turbo made more boost and around 250 Hertz per Street and race versions both had peaky power bands which made them a handful to drive they were light and super agile but when the boost kicked in boy you better watch yourself the engine in the middle made their big little badonkadonk step right out like a Porsche 911 and ultra fast hands were needed to keep things from spinning out of control but WRC drivers were pretty good at the whole South thing and that made there were no 5 turbo a huge hit with the fans besides the factory back to rally cars Renault also sold 20 competition prepped r5 turbos per year and a kit that anyone could buy to turn their production model into a rally machine its WRC de but was at the tour de corse in the fall of 1980 enter Brno surprise six other r5 turbos were entered in the rally by private teams they'd come up with a car that got people excited to go racing the factory supported car driven by Jean reg naughty quit with alternative problems but privateer Bruno Saby finished 4th renault got their first win at the 1981 WRC season opener where the r5 turbo was perfectly suited to the tight tarmac switchbacks of Rallye monte-carlo unfortunately the Audi Quattro showed up to the party that same season wearing all-wheel-drive and the wildly loose rules of group being followed soon after that the Renault 5 turbo won again at the pave toward a corset in 1982 but being only rear-wheel drive men it could never go as fast in the dirt it might not have been able to play with the big kids all the time but its show-off style and big hips still made it one of the cool kids meanwhile racer Patrick mocked the head of her no sport in the u.s. spearhead in an attempt to get Renault into road racing in North America in 1981 he brought a highly modified Renault lekar turbo to the MC series GT u class and had some good results the efforts didn't go any further after he crashed while testing and sadly passed away but his accident directly led to the development of head neck support devices the Hans device which are now practically mandatory safety equipment in every form of professional racing renault sold eighteen hundred and twenty r5 turbos before revising a few things to make the production cars cheaper in 1982 their no.5 turbo 2 gave up its colorful interior 4 beige and swapped out aluminium panels for steel but it kept similar performance and came and more paint colors legit school renault sold 3167 turbo twos to the public so fewer than 5,000 total lumpy French bunnies ever hit the streets the original turbos lower production numbers and lighter weight made it the most desirable r5 and don't confuse these guys with the flowerless front engine Renault 5 GT Turbo that is a whole different thing back in WRC in 83 Renault was forced to revise the suspension on the rally cars to meet Group B regulations and that did not go very well by 1984 they were focused more on smaller events and after finishing third at the Tour de Corsa they dropped out of the rest of the WRC season it didn't make sense to keep going the way things were it was time to put some fire back in there were no r5 turbo maxi turbo we're now built their group beat Challenger with a more responsive 1.5 litre engine making 351st purrs an aerodynamic front air dam and a big old honking rear wing more suspension travel and aluminum roof and even wider hips to cover fatter rear tires on 16-inch wheels in 1985 the r5 maxi turbo de budded in the WRC at its predecessor's favourite stomping grounds the tarmac toward the Corsa Jean riccati led the whole rally and Gabe Renault their first WRC win in three years both with no plans to head into all-wheel-drive territory the company decided to pull the plug on WRC efforts at the end of the season and they stopped making the mid-engine hot hatch in 1986 but that didn't stop others from racing the tails off the scrappy little bunny future WRC champion Carlos Sainz started to make a name for himself behind the wheel of a maxi turbo and future f1 driver érik comas won the 1987 European super production Touring Car Championship in one besides racing there were no five turbos big-booty and bizarre backseat engine also scored it some sick pop-culture cameos the female villain slides around a red turbo - in the 1983 James Bond movie never say never again and boma drives an r5 turbo on Dragon Ball but I bet you freaking nerds already knew that didn't you geeks thanks for watching up to speed hit that like button it really really helps us out it really really really helps us out please just take the time to do it follow me on instagram at g's multifold donut on instagram at donut media check out this six shirt I designed it it's available at donut Mediacom check out this episode check out this episode Ohyou used to win rallies but it's kind of been awhile you want to build a rad new race car but you don't got a lot of clams in the casino currently you look around and what you already got sitting around the garage and have a couple of drinks with your buddy who's got some crazy ideas and then you say let's do it let's put the engine in the back of this thing put turbo on it this is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Renault 5 turbo I saw one at a Starbucks three years ago it is one of the best days of my life it was Europe it was the early 70s in the most popular car in France was the humble Renault 5 hatchback also known as the r5 and the sank Americans knew it as the Renault lekar which the French thought was just ridiculous because they don't even call cars cars since Sunday voters you're zillion Americans I am a secretary civ skulk but it didn't matter what anyone called it anywhere Americans did not like it and the French loved it like eating snails the Renault 5 popularized a new subcompact class in cars in Europe called superminis they were bigger than a mini but smaller than a compact car like the Ford Escort when the 1973 global oil crisis hit you ever heard of it we mentioned it a lot the super mini sales took off meanwhile also in 1973 but no one the very first official WRC Constructors Championship with their sporty little or no a 110 then Lancia came along the next year with the purpose-built for Rory powered Stratus and trouser body for the next three seasons to learn more about that watch this episode the a 110 was already a pretty old design when it once so it wasn't a big shock that the Stratos stole its thunder but Renault didn't have anything else in the barn that would stand a chance against Lancia in group 4 so they settled for selling regular were no fives to regular folks in fact they sold a million sites in the first tois years with sales going strong 1976 were no launch one of the first hot hatches there were no 5 Alpine the non Alpine r5 models had tiny little inline-four engines they insane horsepower numbers like insanely not a lot like 55 not at all above horses but the new Renault 5 Alpine got a relatively huge by comparison 1.4 liter engine putting down a respectable 93 her Spurs it had obvious rally potential so we're no homologated it for WRC's group to class french drivers jean rag naughty and guy look Glenn grabbed 3 impressive podium finishes with the hotted up alpine in 1978 and against much faster group for cars while the Alpine's were racing Renault was all working on building something a little bit more extra Jean Terre more Cyrano's VP of production asked for a small lightweight group for rally car based on an existing or no production car something that wouldn't need a ton of modifications in order to keep costs down for Tony designer mark the salt produced a pretty radical idea why don't we make a mid-engine rear-wheel drive version of the utilitarian four-wheel drive with no 5 main engine worked out well for lunch so why not it was a little bit more drastic than paramours he originally wanted but the idea was just too good to not sign off on anyway kind of like the ksi vers Logan Paul boxing term or C sadly passed away later that year but his successor Henry hmm LH erm hmm was just as excited about the project and made sure it happened most of her knows racing the vision was busy with f1 and Grand Prix cars so only four engineers were assigned to work on the new rally prototype called project 822 at their Alpine factory a whole space frame chassis would have been ideal but it would have totally blown the budget so they cut a hole in the rear floor pan of a Renault r5 and built a tubular frame around it to cradle the future engine and transmission to install an engine where the backseat used to be an add a 5-speed they had to expand the archives rear track by a hole in inches that's like how big my hands are what do you think I was gonna say I admit I totally thought you're gonna say your dick the stock rear torsion bar springs were also in the way so they were replaced with double wishbones and coil springs that allowed the car to have the same wheelbase on both sides that's a weird little factoid about the regular r5 and its predecessor there were no 4 the wheelbase was more than an inch longer on the right side than the left to accommodate the suspension design for powwow they considered a bunch of different engine options a two point six liter v6 a two litre inline-four a turbo 1.6 but those were either too heavy too long your homegirl Goldilocks knows those fields talk about porridge baby talk my porridge in beds soft ultimately the team settled on putting a garrett t3 turbo on the existing r5 Alpine's 1.4 4-cylinder using the larger 1.6 liter engine would have bumped the car into a higher class but using the 1.4 would put it in a more competitive position it was a simple solution so that gave the car a simple name as well there were no 5 turbo even by late 70 standards the engine was really nothing special bosch k-jetronic mechanical fuel injection which sucks replaced the Alpine models carburetor it only had two valves per cylinder and didn't even have overhead cams the internals were buffed up like a horse in compression was dropped so it could run 13 pounds of boost an air-to-air intercooler was mounted next to the taillights and distinctive new rear fender flares the visual aspect that makes this car so cool marchello gain teeny drew up the r5 s turbos final design that's the same guy from Bertoni who penned the Stratos the Lamborghini Miura and the Ferrari Dino 308 gt4 just to name a few but this car had to be based on the modest Renault 5 Alpine so it looked less the part of an aerodynamic race car and more the part of a lumpy squarish bunny what mattered more was that all that new six stuff added a lot of weight but not to worry the r5 turbo had a turbo the prototype was a hodgepodge of parts from various Alpine and Renault models so it took two years to sort out the r5 turbos kinks for production when it finally went on sale in the summer of 1980 the street versions were pushing a hundred and sixty to her Spurs and about the same Turks making it the most powerful French car in production at the time that was good for a seven-second zero to 60 in a top speed of 125 miles per for twice the price of a regular Renault five you can get a turbocharged back seat driver singing right in your ear instead of a kid screaming I have to use the bathroom Massa please come he stop and buy some cigarettes the gas tank was bigger and the dash was full of gauges paint choices were a patriotic red or blue the interior had a bat-crazy red and blue color scheme and striped upholstery designed by a guy named Yves cool I'm not even making that up the dude's name was cool there was also plush carpeting over the top of the engine cover in a feeble attempt to protect your hearing from the motors 90 decibel full throttle wail just inches from your ears group 4 rally versions of the r5 turbo made more boost and around 250 Hertz per Street and race versions both had peaky power bands which made them a handful to drive they were light and super agile but when the boost kicked in boy you better watch yourself the engine in the middle made their big little badonkadonk step right out like a Porsche 911 and ultra fast hands were needed to keep things from spinning out of control but WRC drivers were pretty good at the whole South thing and that made there were no 5 turbo a huge hit with the fans besides the factory back to rally cars Renault also sold 20 competition prepped r5 turbos per year and a kit that anyone could buy to turn their production model into a rally machine its WRC de but was at the tour de corse in the fall of 1980 enter Brno surprise six other r5 turbos were entered in the rally by private teams they'd come up with a car that got people excited to go racing the factory supported car driven by Jean reg naughty quit with alternative problems but privateer Bruno Saby finished 4th renault got their first win at the 1981 WRC season opener where the r5 turbo was perfectly suited to the tight tarmac switchbacks of Rallye monte-carlo unfortunately the Audi Quattro showed up to the party that same season wearing all-wheel-drive and the wildly loose rules of group being followed soon after that the Renault 5 turbo won again at the pave toward a corset in 1982 but being only rear-wheel drive men it could never go as fast in the dirt it might not have been able to play with the big kids all the time but its show-off style and big hips still made it one of the cool kids meanwhile racer Patrick mocked the head of her no sport in the u.s. spearhead in an attempt to get Renault into road racing in North America in 1981 he brought a highly modified Renault lekar turbo to the MC series GT u class and had some good results the efforts didn't go any further after he crashed while testing and sadly passed away but his accident directly led to the development of head neck support devices the Hans device which are now practically mandatory safety equipment in every form of professional racing renault sold eighteen hundred and twenty r5 turbos before revising a few things to make the production cars cheaper in 1982 their no.5 turbo 2 gave up its colorful interior 4 beige and swapped out aluminium panels for steel but it kept similar performance and came and more paint colors legit school renault sold 3167 turbo twos to the public so fewer than 5,000 total lumpy French bunnies ever hit the streets the original turbos lower production numbers and lighter weight made it the most desirable r5 and don't confuse these guys with the flowerless front engine Renault 5 GT Turbo that is a whole different thing back in WRC in 83 Renault was forced to revise the suspension on the rally cars to meet Group B regulations and that did not go very well by 1984 they were focused more on smaller events and after finishing third at the Tour de Corsa they dropped out of the rest of the WRC season it didn't make sense to keep going the way things were it was time to put some fire back in there were no r5 turbo maxi turbo we're now built their group beat Challenger with a more responsive 1.5 litre engine making 351st purrs an aerodynamic front air dam and a big old honking rear wing more suspension travel and aluminum roof and even wider hips to cover fatter rear tires on 16-inch wheels in 1985 the r5 maxi turbo de budded in the WRC at its predecessor's favourite stomping grounds the tarmac toward the Corsa Jean riccati led the whole rally and Gabe Renault their first WRC win in three years both with no plans to head into all-wheel-drive territory the company decided to pull the plug on WRC efforts at the end of the season and they stopped making the mid-engine hot hatch in 1986 but that didn't stop others from racing the tails off the scrappy little bunny future WRC champion Carlos Sainz started to make a name for himself behind the wheel of a maxi turbo and future f1 driver érik comas won the 1987 European super production Touring Car Championship in one besides racing there were no five turbos big-booty and bizarre backseat engine also scored it some sick pop-culture cameos the female villain slides around a red turbo - in the 1983 James Bond movie never say never again and boma drives an r5 turbo on Dragon Ball but I bet you freaking nerds already knew that didn't you geeks thanks for watching up to speed hit that like button it really really helps us out it really really really helps us out please just take the time to do it follow me on instagram at g's multifold donut on instagram at donut media check out this six shirt I designed it it's available at donut Mediacom check out this episode check out this episode Oh