Why did Renault make the limited run Spider with no windscreen?
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- Опубликовано: 14 дек 2021
- To be truly successful, an object needs just enough material to serve its purpose. In the case of a car, and particularly a sports car, removing material not only makes it lighter and therefore faster, but can also save on cost. A light yet robust structure was done to great effect in the 1880s by Gustave Eiffel, it was Colin Chapman’s watchword, and Renault strove to do the same on four wheels with the Renault Sport Spider. When a car with a shorter wheelbase and less weight than a VW Up! is married with a 148hp engine from the Clio Williams, you know it’s going to be fun! No wonder then that Road & Track described it as a “croissant designed for hand-to-hand combat”! Just why did Renault, a company who was focused on trying to reclaim a decent share of the family car market, make a limited-run out-and-out sports car?
Link to Patrick's book "Luckyman": lignesautoeditions.fr/?p=905
Patrick's previous book "Design Between The Lines": www.merrellpublishers.com/9781...
Link to the full interview with Patrick: • Renault Sport Spider -...
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Sources:
Patrick le Quément interview.
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20 years ago while I was visiting Paris, I heard a screaming engine echoing through the alleys. A few seconds later a Spider came rushing by! Good stuff!
Nice!
How is your comment 6 days old?
@@vauxhallfan676 benefit of being a Patreon subscriber.
@@jaspal666 oooooooooh thanks
Yup..Those lawnmower engines are really high pitched aren’t they?
The "look ahead, not backwards" approach to design is really refreshing, I think more automakers today should follow this.
Too much reminiscence is to be blamed.
Absolutely. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
@@stuartvasepuru1423 Nice quotable comment!
Agreed. Say what you will about Tesla, but at least their design language is unique and bold. Although, I do feel that the future of EVs, especially autonomous EVs, should be of the minivan style. If the car will drive itself, then I want plenty of room to move about.
@@warrenny Fully autonomous vehicles could eventually lose the driver's seat entirely and become spaces to enjoy the scenery with family/friends, or do some work.
Great film, enjoyed the interview with Patrick. Brave move of a volume OEM to undertake such a project for such limited production, absolutely a real brand building car for generating showroom traffic.
Good video. I bought my Spider new in 1997 and still have it despite moving it to New Zealand and back !
When I was a kid my grandfather used to work with importing Volvos to my country and at some point in the late 90's they also handled Renault imports. He used to own a lot of cool new cars either as a company car or ones he bought himself. One day while visiting them he brought home a bright yellow Spider and took me for a drive. It was the coolest looking car I'd ever seen. I mean it had doors that opened upwards! I'd only heard of Lamborghinis doing that, and those cars were FAST! It sounded fast with that angry exhaust note, and with no roof over our heads it certainly felt fast. That day and that drive we went on cemented my already burgeoning interest in cars that lasts to this day and I've always had a soft spot for Renaultsport models since that day.
That must have been a great memory from your childhood…
What a nice childhood, so do you still keep that spider?
@@ramadhanisme7 sorry, I worded my comment a bit wrong. He didn't own the Spider. They had gotten one for marketing or something and he got to take it home for the day to show it off.
Until the mid 2000s, Renault was a true petrolhead brand, sadly not recognized in North America or Asia. They always had boring mass production vehicles in their lineup, but especially cars developed in the 90s and early 00s were amazing and unique - the mid-engine V6 Clio Renault Sport, the „Coupéspace“ Avantime, the Sport Spider, the 1st Gen Twingo (rly like your video about it, btw), the Vel Satis which has absolutely no segment to fit into and even the standard Megane got that unique rear design.
Nowadays Renaults are boring cars, but at least they have a good design.
You're wrong about both geographic locations, Renault build cars in India and South Korea and they sell them there, also in China, Australia and Japan. They used to sell in North America but stopped in late 80s early 90s. The range of models available in a particular country is selected by how the marketing thinks they'll sell. Also most models are designed LHD as that's the home market and to be redesigned to RHD is costly which is another reason you don't see the full product range of not so boring designs in your country.
I've never seen the early 2000s Twingo in real life. I saw a sport version of the later one though and it looked really nice.
You could tell they were trying to be modern with the Vel Satis but it has aged horrifically in my opinion.
@@sukhdevr3489
The Avantime on the other hand still looks utterly amazing and fresh
@@gavc6442 Yep. Like the 350z it's a really old car but still looks nice.
Nice story as usual from Big Car, the halo effect indeed lasted long; I remember Renault bringing one to Turkey, around 2000, and that yellow Spider visited all Renault dealerships across the country to change their image; where locally assembled obsolete but familiar Renault 9 and 12, faced fierce competition from imports in mid ‘90s. Seeing this kind of a futuristic car in a small town was Anatolia was nothing to be sniffed at. Good memories!
Muhtemelen bu yüzden megane coupenin hala fazla seveni var.
"A croissant designed for hand- to- hand combat!"
Loved that! A massive thanks for putting that together. Will definitely get a copy of the book too. About to take delivery of one of Australia’s last Alpine A110’s which are no longer imported here (at least 110 cars were imported before stumps up ). I guess we now know someone else behind the scenes to thank for the rise of Alpine and the joy of driving cars.
Dear Andy!
Your film about the Renault Spot Spider fits seamlessly into the series of your remarkable videos.
I was born in 1965 and have driven - or at least seen on the road - just about every car whose history you present.
To learn about the background of these cars today is extremely exciting and makes the fates and aberrations of some model series in automobile history understandable afterwards!
The reasons why some models did not achieve the desired success on the market during their lifetime, the strategic management decisions behind them...
All this would remain hidden without you!
Please continue for a long time - and if possible - increase the number of publications...😉
Thank you!
Thanks!
Our rather large Renault dealer had one on display (indoors) for years, even when my brother bought his Clio way back in 2002.
Checking used car prices, these seem to hold up their value pretty well.
I remember Renault Leeds having one on a platform in the centre of their showroom. Incident the same place o fell in love with the R5 GTT a decade earlier.
WOW. As I am in the automotive backwater of Canada I had never seen (nor heard) the Laguna or the Sport Spyder. What an awesome looking unit. Looks like something that should be offered as a DIY kit
Canadian here and mee too until I saw to for sell this summer on autotrader a blue and a yellow one, they where around 57k cad$
Oh dear, I remember this car from Project Gotham Racing 2 back in 2003. It was under the Roadster category and it was actually quite a good little machine for drifting, although against the Vauxhall VX220 in straight line racing it really didn't have the legs for it! :S
Another superb and informative video, glad to be reminded of this very obscure machine which, in a roundabout way, was a part of many a winter's morning sat in front of the Xbox during my younger years! :D
Ah I thought I'd driven this in project Gotham 2 👍🤔
Ah, always a pleasure to hear what my #1 design hero, Patrick le Quement has to say! I did not know that the Spider was intended to be an Alpine, but I have had a strong suspicion it was, since there are many hints all over the car to earlier Alpine racers. I always loved the design, especially the pure one, without a windscreen. Clearly, the 90s and early 2000s were the absolute peak in Renault design history. More of that, please - and with Patrick's comments of course!
He's offered to do another interview, so sometime in 2022 we might cover another of his cars!
@@BigCar2 That would be magnificent. He's such an interesting guy to listen to. It would be great to hear generally about whatever he wants to talk about and not necessarily about a specific model.
@@BigCar2 Excellent news! Very much looking forward to that :)
@@BigCar2 I presume he would have been involved with X64 Mégane? I'd love to do more on it on my channel but .not established enough. If I can't do it then I'd really like to see you cover this with Patrick. Your videos stand out through both presentation and the detailed research.
I drove one years ago when I worked in a Renault dealer. A bizarre experience. Almost as mad as a Clio V6 which I also drove. With everyone building generic bland boxes now - that are restrained by platform Sharing and economies of scale - we'll hardly see their like again from a mainstream manufacturer.
PS. Patrick was brilliant for the brand. He defined Renault for an entire generation. I'm not sure the Renault top brass really knew how good they had it.
Adding interviews with the people who were part of the design and production of the cars featured is the cherry on top of your already awesome narration and research (and humour too of course!!)
Amazing Patrick is keen to do these. I agree, it makes the video so much better.
Fascinating car. I used to detail one in the late 90s . Owner had a matching Alpine and a leather loaded 5 door 2.0 Clio. Shout out if you are watching, you madman!
Would be the Baccara - 1.7 litre/2 litre and automatic only I think.
Great car. It even has the "supercar door mirrors" (from the Citroën CX s2), also seen on Jaguar, McLaren, Aston Martin and Lotus.
The most illustrious career of any door mirrors in history!
Saw one Renault Spider in Gothenburg (Göteborg) out of nowhere last summer. Don't understand how people just walked passed it like nothing. Car looks great
What a delightful little car! And great job on covering its development as well as the other projects associated with it! I knew about the Espace F1 but I had no idea the Renault Sport Spider was part of that marketing push.
Thanks. As you can see the videos keep getting longer! More in-depth, but it takes a lot longer to make. I'll have to work out how to get them down to 20 minutes again.
@@BigCar2 A video (or speech) should be like a good evening dress. Short enough to be interesting but long enough to cover the subject.
Tour videos have my attention from start to finish. Keep doing what your doing. 👍
Brilliant episode! Always loved the Sport Spider! Had a sit in one at the Paris Motorshow in 1998, which was a bucket list goal. Also - cheers to Patrick Le Quement, a ture automotive design hero!
If I remember correctly, the windscreen version also introduced a driver side airbag and ABS, two things not available on the deflector variant. A shame they had to put on weight though, never new why obviously less of a car was heavier than the Elise.
Thanks for getting Patrick le Quément for a talk, always a nice touch to go for the primary sources :-)
Yes, he threw up so many good bits. I found the Renault Fiftie concept late on in research, and after I sent him the script he gave me more info about it that allowed me to make the video so much better.
I have a windscreen, but no airbag. It was an option. As far as I know ABS was never fitted. The only other options I was actually aware of was the “umbrella” clear plastic roof, which is pretty useless and security wheel nuts.
I've only seen one, never on the road. Lovely cars
Great information and interview from Patrick about the Renault Sport Spider 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Funfact: The Renault Sport Spider competed in the GT300 class of the Japanese GT Championship of 1997.
But only twice, both backed by Renault Sport.
The fist time, under the Sport Factory Racing team at Fuji, it couldn't even classify due to an engine break.
And under Ecurie SiFo in Sugo, it classified at 38th place out of 39, and ended in 32th place overall.
It's probably the rarest appearance of a car in JGTC, even the Lancia 037 competed in the race in two occasions. (In different years, teams and chassis but still)
I highly appreciate the interview and you context and commentary, high value stuff my dude!
Mr. Quément can explain things really well
He's so easy to interview. Just give him a prompt and off he goes!
Talking about beautiful cars called Laguna:
You should do an episode on the production Lagunas. First one is a bit boring but second generation saloon saloon looks nice and gen three coupe is the prettiest car Renault ever produced.
Always super interesting car history videos....keep it up!
Wow, what a mad car and a mad story to go with it. Really liking the interview bits, keep up the good work
Well done! Excellent review! Thanks!
You did it again! Great content and great great cars. The French really brought the world some nice machines.
Keep it up!
Great interview and documentary!
Brilliant work as always Andy!
Thanks Jeff!
Thanks for putting this together. The RSS is one of the most fun cars I’ve driven (on track). That was a modified version though by Claude Fior with a sequential transmission. Just hilarious to throw around a track.
So Patrick helped with the Golf 3? Is he the one I have to blame for people always nicking the combination indicator/reflector panel in the lower front of the bumper?
My Ryder (basically a standard 1.8L but with a GTi body kit) had the smoked panels and they were always going "walkies" since they were better looking than the plain "clear" panels of regular Golfs, and people were not afraid of upgrading their cars with the easily removed panels...
Excellent, as per usual. Thank you. Happy Christmas to you and Mrs Big Car.
And to you also Chris!
great film as usual and I offer my thanks to Patrick for taking part- takes everything to a new level : )
He was so nice.
Thanks, It’s always interesting hearing about these special cars, that I never knew existed.
Thanks BigCar. I have followed you from the first video, through your "Stand-up" phase. Must say, it seems you've hit your stride. Great content and format. Keep it up.
Thanks!
Hi Alan! I love your work on RUclips and watch it every time. Thank you so much! I was wondering if you are considering The Ford Fiesta Story. Would love to see that one! I am 58 yars old and as a school boy and saw the introduction of the mark 1 in 1976. The 1300 Sport was my favorite car. Now I own a very very nice 1.1. Ghia from 1977. Boys will be boys! Keep up the great work, Allan!
One day Earl!
BTW, the name's Andy.
@@BigCar2 🤣Are you sure?
I love how your example of cars using the PRV V6 included no cars from P-R-or V.
😀
Excellent video, it's fascinating what goes on behind the scenes with car companies, especially in the R&D departments. Patrick has had an amazing career and I will be hinting to family of what I want for Christmas, if they don't bite I'll buy Patrick's book myself.👍🏻😊
Man love how much your channel has grown!
Cheers mate
It's amazing! Just a bloke in front of some IKEA bookcases.
@@BigCar2 Doesn't ruin the quality tho
@@BigCar2 Billys?
@@melesmelesfaber3866 Yes
We've never got those in Argentina, but I'm glad I just bought (picking it up today) a 2001 Clio Sport 1.6. Very exited
1.6???
@@ijaen is there something wrong with 1.6?
Really an incredible story especially with so much information from the inside of the project. I was in school when I first saw Renault Spider in a Car magazine. And I fell in love with the look of this unique car. Five years ago I had an opportunity to drive one in France and it was a real fun. Thank you for this story.
P.S. Could you please make a video of Merc w123/124 story. These were car models that changed auto industry dramatically and are still famous for their reliability and engineering level.
That guy is a truly fascinating character.
I love the Sport Spider. Patrick is a legend. So nice of him to share his knowledge with us. Top man.
Great work Big Car.
The argos looks like the car Audi used as inspiration for the TT. ETA: I wrote that before I'd watched further on.
Brilliant video ♥ Thanx
I saw both a Spider and Clio V6 when popping in to a smaller Renault showroom to probably look at a Laguna or something with my dad. I was fascinated by them both, blew my mind Renault made these 2 incredible wild cars. That showroom is a gym these days.
I used to work at the new alpine a110 (dashboard engineer) and always stop and admire the Renault sport we had at the Renault sports HQ réception hall.
Hello Bigcar,I've been looking at your great vids since ye started making them over 3years ago,every one of them absolutely pristine,my younger brother who was more mad into cars than me told me about your videos&i got addicted!he passed away 14months ago after a fall on a staircase,it took a wile but im back looking at ur great vids again
Glad you’re enjoying them James.
Thanks for another great video that was well researched and produced. This little car totally evaded my radar until now as here in the US Renault is next to non-existent. There are always something endearing about the quirky design of most French cars. The only Renault in my processions is the race tuned engine in my Praga R1T race car.
Wow! That's a nice information about Renault's first Spyder! Thanks Big Car, and greetings from Romania!🇷🇴🇷🇴
hello hope your holidays and 2022 are great for you i enjoy all your vlogs many thanks
Happy Holidays to you Gregory!
Stunning car - facinating story - amazing video 👍👍👍
Yes, it's a vaccinating story! Injection! What a cool joke! 👍
Thank you, another excellent video
Great cover, big car! Compelling insight as always.
Great looking car, I remember that time in the mid to late nineties as there was a lot of excitement and new ideas in the car scene. The Porsche Boxster concept, the Elise, the Caterham 21, the Ultima and many others. Daring design and style.
I had totally fotgotten about this car, although I drooled over one (yellow) at a local dealer as a teenager. So thanks, for the reminder and the great vid!
Saw these things racing at the British Touring Car series as a support race. They really were something to watch.
I hope you will make a Renault Safrane video some day!!! Great work, always interesting videos.
Grate job! I have a Laguna 3, and I'm using Yacco oil I it, I'm happy to see, that I made a rejoin of this two grate brands together. As Yacco is a amazing oil producer, that was present in many, many competitions back in the days.
I remember all of the concept cars shown here throughout the 90s with the exception of a longer wheelbase V6 powered spider. I saw the spider in Renault Leeds in the 90s but hadn't seen another until the Renault world series. I currently own a Mégane coupe similar to the Cabriolet at 25:50 in this video. Sadly not with the legendary F7R engine but I ded get the yellow paint. As a lifetime Renault fan I'm living these videos with the spider and Twingo having an industry insider to give an insight into what was happening inside Renault. Ive had many from the Renault super 5 through to Laguna 2. I'm happy to be back to project X64 though where my passion for the brand hit a high all those years ago.
Very well written. You’re a poet. I just loved it. Keep up the good work.
Thanks. I didn't know it!
I remembered how fun the Renault spider was in project gotham racing on the classic Xbox
Is there no link between the Renault Sport & Open Spider?
I expected to see the latter towards the end of this video
Nice one nonetheless - keep it up, and all the best for 2022, man :)
A very positive video. Usually the Sport Spider is discussed as being overweight, underpowered, and totally overshadowed / outsold by the Lotus Elise.
A very nice video.
Really like the Sport Spider as a car.
Although there is a part of it's official history that you've missed in this video.
The Spider took part in the 1997 season of the All Japan Gran Touring Championship (JGTC).
Renault Sport gave one of 80 Spider Trophy's to a Japanese Renault dealer.
Then they modified the car for the JGTC's GT300 class.
The car had the engine replaced with the engine from the Megane Maxi rally car, which had around 250hp.
Infortunately, the car didn't manage to do well, because of it being rather underpowered compared to it's competitors.
Love to see you do a piece on Matra history. Jet to Murena not forgetting the Rancho.
I've love to do both the Rancho and the Espace. One day...
Such a beautiful design
I like that Patrick has Cuthbert Calculus in the background.
my dad had one of these! with windscreen, i think. i was a bit too young too remember. :)
This car is as simple as it is detailed, awesome design.
The Laguna concept looks like a miniature Bugatti with the lid-on
I still waiting for Renault Safrane story :)
Maybe we'll get an explanation of the suicidal cruise control. I hope they changed the logic on it for the biturbo..
Great video as always! But because I was watching with headphones, I had to skip the parts where Patrick is talking. Sound was almost unbearable. Hope this issue will be fixed in future videos.
Thanks, great review. I would buy one today, if I had the money. The 0-60 times were excellent for their day, but now, so many EVs will go sub 5, yes, I know, they are not considered cars by many petrolheads.
Very nice story as usual 👍
Maybe I just don't have an adventurous eye for style, but I prefer it with a windscreen. Anyway, it was a sports car made from Renault parts in the Alpine factory - that's an Alpine isn't it? now that I think of it, Alpine would make an interesting topic for a future video.
Awesome channel
Excellent move to interview Patrick Le Quement ! I think beside Marcello Gandini the most influential head of car design to date! PS: In my opinion the Argos was more inspired by the work of progressive car and plane maker Voisin, lesser by Bauhaus.This a Starting point for PLQ to lead the way to design icons like Megane, Vel Satis and Avantime. It would be great if a PLQ interview would follow about Voisin and the essence of Renault car design as PLQ sees it.
Excellent upload, I appreciate your research and commitment to each car you decide upon. Is the Fiat Coupé too niche to deserve its own upload? I’d love to see your interpretation!
That Helem V6 is beautiful.
An exhaust from Elia tuning was then the icing on the cake!
@12:15 shows how great car design was back then, a last gasp in the 90s before rules and legislation took the fun out of motoring.....also the death of colour in favour of dish-water grey.
I had the pleasure of seeing one in person. In yellow colour. The car had a unique look. There was nothing like it from any other mass production manufacturer. Only from limited production brand cars like Lotus, Caterham....
There´s a curious detail about the car. The doors didn´t have exterior opening handles. You had to open the doors with the interior handle in the door´s interior panel (wich was a squared door handle from a Renault 11), resulting in the door hitting you in the torso. Funny.
The Renault dealership I worked for when I first left school had one of these as a showroom centre piece, sat there for years and never moved. Wish I knew what happened to it.
I adore this channel, every second of it. More of the awesome better half, she seems lovely!
She's a shy wallflower as I'm sure you can tell! 😉
Another excellent vid. I did not even know about this one. 👍👍. Could I request a vid on the Vauxhall Omega. I have had five of them over the years and a big soft spot for them.
One day! So may cars to get to.
If the collection of concept drawings was not called The Argos Catalogue I will be thoroughly disappointed
Just searched the price of one there now 25 years old still look new and hold a price north of €45000! That’s crazy!
Wonderful car.
Hey Mr. Big Car, I have something interesting to tell you. I'm not sure if you care, but according to RUclips, this is the 100th video on your channel! Well done! :)
Woo hoo! Thanks Nathan.
This car reminds me of the Lotus, very interesting design. Patrick le Quément was a great interview.
Looking back felt they missed out in not developing a coupe version of the Renault Spider, nor sought to replace the 150 hp 2-litre F7R with the 172+ hp 2-litre F4R on the last run of Spider models (a la Clio Williams 2/3) to at least preview the upcoming RenaultSport Clio 172.
Thinking about it further Renault really missed out IMHO by not approving the Alpine W73 (A710/A410) prototype that preceded the Renault Spider. Such a car could have remained in production for many years similar to the Lotus Elise (before being replaced by the 2017 Alpine A110 or another analogue), powered overtime by 150-197 hp 2-litre NA F-Type and maybe even 188-252 hp 3-litre NA ESL V6 engines . The V6 version being in place of the Renault Clio V6.
I still have a bunch of racing brake pads for this car in stock. Will fit the Clio V6 as well. 😆
You'd better grind down some MiG fighter braking pads. A couple of motorbikers (Japan to London) needed Honda pads, near a former airforce base. They never bought better brake pads! Excellent!
@@voornaam3191 As you mention MiGs: maybe those pads were still made of asbestos? We banished asbestos in brakepads in the mid 1980s, but with Russian military grade parts I wouldn't be surprised to find materials Iike that! 😆
BTW, is your name also your firstname or are you from upper class? 😉 (Dutch joke)
I enjoyed the video. Thank you. My only experience with Renault is having owned a 1987 Alliance Convertible. I can’t say that is was a good experience though. Or maybe the Alliance was just a bad example.
Fantastic insight into Renault Sport thank you; my family have never had any luck with Renault starting with my father's "10" with it's cracked engine block, roll forward 30 years to my wife's Kangoo #1 with a corrupt RAID system and #2 with a broken fuel filler neck!! One of sister's boyfriends with his "19" 16V with a busted core plug! It's never stopped me wanting a Clio 16V though, or one of my neighbour's whom has a Wind. I wonder what Patrick's thoughts were about the re-launch of Alpine with the A110 2017 and then in 2020 with the launch of Alpine F1!!?
Great film, always like stuff about Renault
I love the renault modus it's such a wonderful practical chic safe little character it needs a "mention now and then" i wish renault would revive it