Brad on brink of the Moto3 world title
THE FIRST- generation Mégane was the car with which Renault reintroduced itself to South Africa 20 years ago, and now, over 25 000 Mégane hatchback sales later, generation 4 has touched down.
The styling’s gone more mainstream and Mégane 4 has nothing like the design ooh la la of Mégane 2 (the one with the dashing derriere), though it still has some stand-out factor with elongated tail lamps and C-shaped daytime running lights up front.
Renault’s five-door hatch introduces four-wheel steering as a unique selling point in its top-of-the-range Mégane GT model, in a class where it stacks up against strong rivals like the VW Golf and Ford Focus. A feature usually found in more expensive cars, it applies slight steering to the rear wheels to improve both lowspeed agility and high-speed stability. The effectiveness of this 4Control system was demonstrated at the Red Star Raceway near Witbank where Renault SA hosted part of the new Mégane’s launch. The French car New Mégane styling is more mainstream as Renault sets its sights on VW Golf and similar rivals. displayed very keen handling manners on both the track and the skidpan, but it was on the bumpy public roads around Witbank that the Mégane played its true trump card: its comfortable ride.
On roughed-up roads this hatch displayed impressive glideability as its suspension competently absorbed the bumps, along with a very solid Continued on page 3 BRAD Binder’s nickname is Bradical, a moniker he’s lived up to in this year’s Moto3 world championship as he became the first South African to win a GP in any motorcycle class since Jon Ekerold won the 350cc race at Monza in 1981.
With five wins and ten podium positions in 2016 the 21-year old has completely dominated this feeder series into MotoGP. Now, with five races left, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider needs only 20 points to become world champion and a win or a second place in this weekend’s race in Aragon, Spain would clinch the title.
Here’s a South African on the cusp of greatness. The race will be broadcast live on DSTV at 10.45am on Sunday. Mark it in your diary.