Video: driving Renault's R.S. 01 race car

There are fast road cars and there are purpose-built race cars. Never underestimate the gulf between the two. The Renault R.S. 01 is firmly in the latter camp, even though it looks a bit like a French Audi R8.

Beneath the supercar-ish exterior there's some very serious hardware indeed. A 542bhp dry-dumped version of the Nissan GT-R's twin-turbo V6, a carbon-fibre monocoque, a brutal sequential gearbox and a steering wheel with many buttons – most of which we left well-alone. 

And then there's the part that requires full brain recalibration. Despite weighing a mere 1,120kg, the R.S. 01 produces 1.7 tonnes of downforce at its 186mph top speed. In other words, to go around corners faster, you need to go around corners faster. Try getting your head around that one. 

See how the least-sophisticated, squishy human component got on in our video. Oh, and we didn't miss the pit lane on purpose, honest.