TROPHY HUNTING

A powerful new Clio RS 220 Trophy derivative is headed to local shores. But we find ourselves distracted by the unhinged Clio RS 16...

Arather special Clio greets us on arrival at the Mortefontaine proving grounds about an hour outside Paris. It’s the Clio RS 16 – Renault Sport’s extravagant 40th birthday gift to itself – and unfortunately it’s only on display, the keys kept securely locked away from the likes of us.

Technically, the Clio RS 16 is still a concept with its 201 kw/ 360 N.m, 2,0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder unit lifted directly from the manic Mégane RS 275 Trophy-r (along with the related transmission and cooling system) but, finished in the brand’s trademark Sirius Yellow hue, it looks like it’s just rolled off the production line in Dieppe.

We first laid eyes on it the previous day at the Paris Motor Show but here, beneath threatening skies in the centre of a private road circuit – with rival manufacturers roaring round the 43-degree banked high-speed oval just within earshot – it seems more, well, real. More likely to actually be put into production.

Regrettably, this lightweight monster-clio is not the machine we’re here to drive. And neither is the bewinged Renault Sport RS 01 – a track-only, Gt-r-engined racecar conceived to compete in a recently axed one-make series – parked alongside it. No, we’re here to sample something a little more attainable: the Clio RS 220 Trophy.

Still, the latest production version of the hot five-door Clio – which has just undergone a light facelift – will do nicely, thanks. Set to slot in at the very summit of the range when it arrives in local dealerships in the first quarter of 2017, the 1,6-litre turbo-four in the RS 220 Trophy offers more grunt than the version South Africans are accustomed to, providing the front wheels with 162 kw (as opposed to 147 kw) and cutting the claimed 0-100 km/h sprint time by one-10th to 6,6 seconds.

Peak torque, too, climbs appreciably, with 260 N.m on tap (and an extra 20 N.m available on overboost for short periods) thanks to the addition of a heftier turbocharger and a revised airintake system, as well as obligatory tweaks to the engine mapping. Interestingly, a pre-facelift, limited-edition model offered in certain European markets shares