Reverts quickly to type
Shopping? School runs?
I know, last month I said I’m going to run the Megane RS like a normal car, with a humdrum life of shopping bags and school runs. I lasted about three weeks before a chance to go on a trackday presented itself and, well – it would have been rude not to.
Driveatrack.co.uk organises what it calls grassroots trackdays, making a day at a circuit with a hot hatch more affordable. One of the ways it does that is by using less glamorous circuits like Blyton Park, an old Lincolnshire airfield.
The drive up to Blyton was a textbook example of the Megane’s weaknesses – a choppy ride and narrow, pinched seats. Of course, all that goes out the window as soon as you get on track. Pressing a small RS Drive button behind the gearshift, I scroll through the Multi Sense driving modes to Race, for the louder engine sound, the sharper throttle response, traction control fully off.
Joining the track along with a few hot hatches and a gaggle of Abarth 595s, it’s soon clear the 296bhp Megane is one of the quickest cars here. The throttle response is incredibly eager for a turbo car, and the Megane absolutely blitzes the straights with a gorgeous raspy exhaust note. The Brembo brakes are also stunning for a car in this class, and then the real fun begins in the corners. With its tightly controlled chassis and four-wheel steering, the nose of the RS will dart into a 90º bend without a hint of understeer; but if you’re happy to accompany that with a hard lift, the back end will also sway out gracefully to drift its way past the apex. It is so much fun, the only thing that stopped me was when I discovered I was absolutely eating through the soft (grippy) Bridgestones at the front. You think I was just attacking too hard? I promise you, being crossed-up and sideways in the RS is more more-ish than a packet of salt and vinegar Hula Hoops.