Wallpapers: hitting the track in the Renault R.S 01

Meet the Renault R.S 01. The French firm's very va-va-voom race car for rich types.

In fact, it’s so quick it currently can’t race against anything else. How quick? Renault claims the £250,000 track-only, GT-R-engined 542bhp slicks ‘n’ wings special is a full second quicker per racing kilometre than a GT3-spec Ferrari 458, McLaren 650S or Porsche 911. Right now, Renault is working on a restricted GT3-compatible setup to broaden its appeal to customers.

At the R.S. 01’s core is a Dallara-developed carbon-fibre monocoque chassis, so the whole thing weighs 1,150kg – roughly the same as a Ford Fiesta. Mounted just in front of the rear axle is a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 lifted from the Nissan GT-R, but dry-sumped and producing 550bhp at 6,800rpm and 465lb ft of torque at 5,000rpm.

It’s a fully bespoke racecar designed to compete in the Renault Sport Trophy one-make series. But before you get too excited, it has nothing to do with any of Renault’s current range, Alpine project included. Its job is to look ridiculously cool (big tick there) and be blindingly fast around a track.

As you can see here, we recently strapped our esteemed colleague behind the wheel until the R.S 01. He may have cried a bit.

Done watching the video? Well now you can read what it’s like behind the wheel here. And then treat yourself to some snaps from the gallery above to freshen up your desktop.

All you have to do is click the full screen/make-it-big icon in the bottom-right of the gallery above, scroll through the picture that takes your fancy and then save the super hi-res image.