These amazing Renaults will be at Goodwood

This weekend sees the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed take place. Many will attend to see famous F1 drivers, hear raucous rally cars and observe which supercars make it to the top of the hillclimb fastest.

But it’s not all about the Fernandos and Ferraris: most carmakers you care to name will be pulling out the stops to put on a show. Carmakers such as Renault.

It’s not all sensible Scenics; the French manufacturer has a number of exciting cars lying in its history, some of which will be vying for the crowd’s attention at Goodwood this weekend. Cars like this RS01 racecar. So get clicking and see what else Renault will have at FoS…

It looks like a supercar with stickers, but it’s way, way quicker than any mere 911 or 488. It mates a 550bhp 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 (related to the Nissan GT-R’s, no less) with a tiny, Clio-like 1.1-tonne kerb weight.

“At its top speed, it produces 1.7 tonnes of downforce, several multiples more than a McLaren P1 or LaFerrari at the same speed.” So said, um, Top Gear. “The message is clear: this Renault demands commitment to extract its best – big balls, big speeds.”

“The Renault what-now?” Yep, that’s what we thought too. But just look at it: a shape like that is only ever going to come with an excellent back story.

And so it transpires: this is a Land Speed Record car. A spin off from the infinitely more sensible Nervastella saloon car, this 1934 beastie used an aviation-inspired eight-cylinder engine to help it set numerous records.

Its most famous boast dates back to April 1934, when it lapped the scary Montlhery race circuit for 48 hours, racking up 8,037km (4,994 miles) in 48 hours, an average of 104.068mph.

Sounds tame now. But imagine two days straight at that speed, in a car like this? For a taster of what that was like, you’ll be able to watch it tackle the Goodwood hill all weekend.

Head a further eight years back in time and you arrive at this, the 40 CV. Similarly barmy looking (nowadays, at least), this was a 1920s motorsport hero with a 9.1-litre engine at its core. Yikes.

It’s another Renault with strong history from Montlhery. It broke numerous long-distance records, among them a 108mph average over 24 hours. In the twenties that will have seemed lightning quick. There’ll be a replica heading up the hill this weekend.

Now for something bang up to date. The Clio RS16 is a concept that doesn’t officially preview a production car, but we’re almost certain it does. Meet the Clio RS with a 271bhp Megane RS engine.

That’s not all. There’s motorsport-derived suspension, a seriously stripped out interior and some very senior aero. You may be looking at the quickest, hardest cored hot hatch ever. TG’s full inside story is here.

Okay, so this is probably the coolest car in this gallery. We’ve kept it back a few slides because it’s at Goodwood every year.

With good reason, though: seeing veteran rally helmsman Jean Ragnotti pirouette this up the hillclimb with scant regard for manners and decorum is right in the Goodwood must-do top three.

Also, flames. Just look at this pugnacious little mid-engine, rear-drive turbo rally car spitting fire like the mad little dragon it is. The Clio RS16 is a direct descendant of such madness. With its engine and driveshafts at the front, though, it’s not nearly as loopy as the famous 5.

No, we haven’t accidentally pasted the name of a glamorous fifties film star into the title. It’s another Renault record breaker, this one named after a shooting star, no less. Rather than a monster 9.1-litre engine, this one was turbine-powered.

In 1956, its 270bhp turbine engine helped Etoile Filante fire itself across the Bonneville salt flats at 191mph over one kilometre, a world record in its day. Also, it looks damn cool. Would you have every guessed this one was a Renault?

We end on something properly old. This Type AK dates all the way back to 1906, and the first Grand Prix winning car in the world. Quite a claim, eh?

It wasn’t a Grand Prix in the hour-and-a-half-on-a-Sunday-afternoon kind, though. This was a gruelling 769-mile, two-day event based around a course at Le Mans, mostly on roads. Flat caps and moustaches were a essential.

Three of these 13-litre cars were entered, car ‘3A’ and its drive, Ferenc Szisz, winning the race with a 12 hour, 14 minute time that was a scintillating 32 minutes ahead of the next competitor. And you thought the Mercedes F1 cars pulled out a commanding lead.

Wondering what sort of performance you’d get from thirteen litres? Um, 90bhp and 93mph. In 1906, though, we’d imagine that was quite enough to widen the eyes. You can see what it looks like now, as AK 3A, priceless as it doubtless is, will be worming its way merrily up the Goodwood hill this weekend…