| Tell you what, being young was brilliant. Yes, I know | | | | seven year old and long for something socially |
| I'm only 24 now, but I'm talking about when I was | | | | acceptable to feel like this all the time. Seventeen |
| six or seven and could play with my toy cars, build | | | | years later and it appears the local Renault dealer is |
| vehicles that defied the laws of physics out of Lego | | | | on hand to make this story come full circle. |
| and race my dad on Scalextric. Sitting in the cinema | | | | Due to the success of Renault in Formula One in |
| recently I watched Speed Racer (I believe I make up | | | | recent years and that their production cars are selling |
| exactly 100% of the world's population that has | | | | like hot cakes thanks to creative styling, competitive |
| viewed said film) and I really rather enjoyed it. Set in | | | | pricing and good reliability some bright spark in |
| the future, the crux of the film revolved around a lad | | | | marketing thought up a way of combining the lovable |
| handily called Speed Racer who raced around a full | | | | Clio with Fernando Alonso and co as they tear up the |
| size Scalextric track in a futuristic car. Many gravity | | | | track around the globe. Welcome to the RenaultSport |
| defining minutes later, with bright neon lights whizzing | | | | Clio 197 F1 R27 - catchily named it's not. Aimed |
| past my eyes I was hooked - the drive home never | | | | squarely at men wanting to regress to childhood and |
| seemed so slow and boring. | | | | competing against the likes of the Honda Civic Type |
| This got me thinking, is it socially acceptable for a 24 | | | | R, Mini Cooper S and Golf GTi, the hot Clio has a lot |
| year-old man to push toy cars around the floor? Or | | | | to contend with to be successful. |
| how about digging out some Lego again? After much | | | | I like to remain impartial when reviewing a car, but |
| deliberation I decided against this as I hope to hold | | | | put simply the R27 looks so jaw-droppingly awesome |
| on to my latest girlfriend and crying to her over | | | | that even if the rest of the car was rubbish it |
| swallowing a Lego brick isn't attractive. Finally then I | | | | wouldn't matter. Finished in the brightest yellow, |
| opened the dust covered box to my Scalextric and | | | | fitted with a wide-arch body kit, more air vents than |
| I'm not ashamed to say I spent all weekend | | | | a skyscraper, Recaro racing seats, unique graphite |
| assembling, tweaking and then racing around and | | | | alloy wheels and the most gorgeous F1 inspired rear |
| around until my trigger finger went numb. The | | | | diffuser, the R27 instantly sent me back to 1991. The |
| collection of cars I'd amassed surprised me too, I | | | | fun however doesn't stop on the outside as the R27 |
| have everything from NASCAR, Formula One, super | | | | sits on Renault's latest racing chassis which is 27 |
| cars, British Touring Cars and Le Mans racers. Despite | | | | percent stiffer at the front and 30 percent at the |
| this clearly showing I was spoilt rotten when I was a | | | | back than previous sport versions and makes the car |
| lad, it also drove home the point that the only car I | | | | feel like it's on rails, turning every road into a giant |
| can remember was not the shiny Ferrari or limited to | | | | Scalextric track. |
| 100 edition of the Jordan Formula One car, but the | | | | The driving experience gets better when you |
| 1991 Renault powered Benetton Formula One car | | | | consider why it's got 197 in its name - that'll be the |
| with the front wing missing due to a high speed | | | | amount of horses crammed under the bonnet. A six |
| collision with my dad. | | | | speed gearbox helps get the power to the road as |
| I think it's the circumstances surrounding me acquiring | | | | quickly as possible although you'll want to drive as |
| the car that made it my favourite. Having been | | | | slowly as you can, not only to show off your racing |
| dragged from car dealership to car dealership with | | | | decals but to conserve petrol as it's probably |
| my parents I finally found a nice seat to be bored on | | | | rocketed another ten pence a litre as I write this. |
| at a Renault dealer. In front of me stood a glass | | | | Only 500 will be made available in the UK through |
| cabinet towering upwards and halfway up I could see | | | | your Renault dealer, with equally limited availability |
| this brilliant toy. The Renault dealer knew the score | | | | worldwide meaning a £1,500 ($3,000) topping |
| and struck up a deal that involved me getting the car | | | | up of the price. Put simply this car made me feel |
| and my dad parting with lots of pictures of the | | | | seven again and that - to quote a well known |
| Queen for a turbo-charged Renault 25. Even now | | | | television commercial - is priceless. |
| when I think of that story I regress back to being a | | | | |