RENAULT ESPACE F1, 1995
Poor Renault hasn’t had a very good time of it in F1 over the past decade or so, but the French carmaker would surely remind us all that it used to be very successful indeed, powering teams to 14 constructors’ titles in the past 32 years. Exactly the sort of success that leads to hubristic celebrations like the Espace F1, a doom-laden marriage of MPV and cutting edge formula racer worthy of Frankenstein.
The mid-mounted V10 F1 engine was yoinked straight out of Alain Prost’s FW15C from 1993, a double title winning car, and the engineers managed to extract 100bhp more power out of the engine than it had while racing in actual F1. It did require some minor modifications to the front engine, front drive layout – passengers would have to be careful not to lose their colouring pencils or glasses in those intake trumpets nestled neatly between the second row bucket seats. It would add a distinct frisson of excitement to the school run.
The Espace F1 concept was as terrifyingly brisk as you would imagine, especially in the hands of the likes of Alain Prost and David Coulthard on circuit demonstration runs. It weighed in at 1,300kg, could manage the 0–62mph dash in 2.8secs and had a top speed of 193mph thanks to the 3.5-litre V10 producing 789bhp and 520lb ft. It could rev up to 13,800rpm and was mated to a six-speed semi-automatic sequential gearbox. All this despite having the aerodynamics of a bouncy castle and the ride quality of an actual castle.
In many ways the Espace F1 concept was well ahead of its time. The carbon fibrereinforced bodywork was an early hint at the need to cut down on unruly weight gains in modern cars, and the four-seat layout clearly another nod to the fact that lifestyle-oriented buyers would end up seeking out less practical but more ostentatious cars. And you can’t get any more in-yer-face than an Espace with a V10 F1 engine.
The rear part of the Espace F1’s chassis was also taken straight out of the Williams racing car, again pointing to increased use in the future of shared architectures between models to cut down on production and engineering costs. Very clever stuff.
It was a sad day when Renault announced that the fifth generation Espace wouldn’t be sold in the UK due to waning interest. The F1 version would almost certainly have turned the car’s fortunes around, immediately knocking all supercar rivals firmly off their perches with its incredible performance combined with inherent practicality. Not only that, it might have saved the MPV as a breed and halted the relentless onward march of the SUV before it had even started. A tragic missed opportunity.