renault r5 turbo tour de corse

Renault 5 Turbo 2 'Tour de Corse': The hatchback that thinks it's a supercar

Price: £72,995 | year: 1983 | engine: 1,565 cc turbo-charged inline four cylinder, 236 bhp.

The outlandish bodykit is no disguise. When Renault wanted to take its classic 5 hatchback rallying in the 1980s, they didn't just uprate the engine. They moved the highly modified power unit backwards to transform France's favourite supermarket shopper into a rallying two-seater supercar. Open the hatchback on this immaculate Renault 5 Turbo 2 , resplendent in the 'Tour de Corse' colours that twice won one of the most demanding events on the rallying calendar, and there is the potent power unit, initially tuned using Renault's Formula One expertise.

The car you see here was converted from left hand drive and to its current specification by John Price Rallying of Hereford, an outfit with long experience of preparing rally cars, including the monstrous Metro 6R4. The Renault began life as a production Turbo 2, a road-legal homologation special built in small numbers to meet Group B rallying regulations. It was delivered direct to John Price Rallying in October 1983. They transformed the car, first to right hand drive, under licence from Renault, and then, over some years, to its current specification, honouring the Tour de Corse wins.

Inside, there is a full competition interior, including a bespoke aluminium roll cage complemented by ultra lightweight Sparco seats and essentials such as a plumbed-in fire extinguisher. Door cards are carbon fibre to save weight. Full Sabelt harnesses are fitted. Bespoke switches are marked by crude, clear labelling. There's little in the way of creature comforts. In stark contrast to the specialist equipment, much of the standard Renault 5 dashboard remains, an analogue reminder of the original hatchback, albeit now punctuated with specialist gauges and switchgear.

The Renault real secret is revealed by opening the hatchback and lifting a blue carpeted panel. There, instead of shopping space and the rear seats, is the highly-tuned turbo-charged engine. The power unit is mounted ahead of the rear wheels, so the little Renault is designated as mid-engined, just like today's supercars which would have their work cut out to match its pace. John Price Rallying have upgraded the engine to so-called "Maxi" specification, as on the car Jean Ragnotti drove on the second of his Tour de Corse victories, in 1985. This 2009 upgrade, for the car's demanding previous owner, includes the correct Tour de Corse manifold, oil cooler and close ratio gearbox, among many other parts.

Every detail of this Tour de Corse recreation is correct, down to the finest points of the exterior livery. The condition is immaculate and the Renault is, remarkably enough, road legal. For your next rally stage or as a very swift supermarket shopper, there really is nothing like it. Just remember there’s no room for the week's groceries in the back.

Meet another '80s wonder car: the BMW E30 M3 Evo 2 .

Get your fill of all things automotive at  The Garage .

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Jean Ragnotti’s Renault 5 Maxi Turbo At The 1985 Tour de Corse Rally

Experience the incredible and wild sound of Jean Ragnotti’s Renault 5 Maxi Turbo “Group B” rally car as it tears through the 1985 Tour de Corse Rally and won the race!

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GALLERY: Go Behind The Scenes On Our Renault 5 Turbo Tour de Corse Film Shoot

For Jean-Francois Cauchi, the first time he locked eyes with this special Renault became a deeply ingrained memory, a driving force that would shape his life from that moment onward. Despite being just a boy many years away from driving any sort of hatchback, let alone one this severely cool, his passion for the Renault 5 Turbo surpassed all of the typical supercar choices that other car-infatuated kids might tack on to their bedroom walls. During school hours, Jean-Francois obsessed over the mid-engine, rear-drive Renault, inhaling every bit of literature he could, while stashing cut-away drawings in his desk between sheafs of homework. He vowed to own one. One day.

His means toward a rally-spec R5 of his own involved a good deal of work to attain a base car—a standard Renault 5 Turbo—which he gradually acquired correct, authentic parts for in order to get it closer to that holy “Cévennes” style of the Group 4 spec factory cars. Of course, it wasn’t an exact one to one replica, but he always stayed within the ethos of the Renault Sport design philosophy of light, purposeful engineering, and ensured that his parts were the real deal.

Jean-Francois bought and sold Renaults among many other marques throughout the early years of his life as a motoring enthusiast—enjoying extended dalliances with a few of them—but he kept returning to the R5 Turbo, until one day he was afforded the opportunity to buy a Tour de Corse R5, #11 of just 20 produced in-period specifically for the factory team and certain so-called “competition-clients” for use in the legendary Group B days of the WRC.

The R5 Turbo had been homologated for use in rallying by 1980, though it was initially conceived in the mid 1970s, and raced in the less-restrictive prototype-oriented Group 5 class before the 400 units required for Group 4 entry were completed. In 1982, the announcement of the new Group B class was made, which would come into effect for the 1983 season. While Lancia was still more than making do with two drive wheels, the writing was on the wall for the predominance of all-wheel machines like the Audi Sport Quattros and the Peugeot 205 that would join the fray in 1984. Cars like the R5 Turbo Tour de Corse were still viable solutions for the tarmac-based events in the season, and before it was replaced by the final “Maxi” version, the R5 Tour de Corse would place a very respectable 3rd in the race it was named after.

Jean-Francois’ Tour de Corse was sold to a customer team rather than raced by the factory, and while it had seen its share of use, it didn’t suffer nearly as much as the Renault-entered cars during the 1980s. It came with all of its original parts for starters, and though he has his fun with it, Jean-Francois is also humbled by the experience of driving such a purpose-built machine as this. It can still bite, after all these years.

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« Hertz » R5 Turbo Tour de Corse

• Auteur de l’article Par Vincent Marique
• Date de l’article 04/08/2024

The Renault 5 Turbo made rallying history, initially being developed as a Group 4 car before evolving into a Group B car in its second generation. This evolution culminated in its ultimate version, the « Maxi ».

Approved in Group B, this Renault 5 Turbo 2 ‘Tour de Corse’ spent a long time on the roads of French rallies in Group F. Its owner since 2004, Vivien Bombré, gave it the traditional yellow and white livery of the 20 ‘Tour de Corse’ customer cars a few years ago.

For the Rally 4 Passion, where it will be driven by Fabrice Rossi, it will sport a new ‘Hertz’ livery, identical to that used by Corsican driver Camille Bartoli in the 1984 Tour of Corsica. Superb!

• Étiquettes group B , R4P , R5 Turbo , renault , Tour de Corse

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Turbo Time: Tarmac Works Renault 5 Maxi Turbo (Ragnotti/Thimonier, winner 1985 Tour De Corse)

(Find the Renault 5 Turbo Tour De Corse on Ebay , and the Renault 5 Turbo road car on Ebay here as well as at the Tarmac Store )

If you read my Lamley Daily from July featuring the Majorette Renault Clio 16S , you’d remember I dedicated a good chunk of column space to French rally legend Jean Ragnotti and made a reference to his 1985 Tour De Corse win. And now thanks to Tarmac it’s possible for me to have a 1:64 version of his winning car in hand.

The 5 Turbo was created to tackle the might of the Group 4 Lancia Stratos in the World Rally Championship. The humdrum front-engined 5 became a mid-engined, fire spitting beast with styling input from the legendary Marcelo Gandini of Bertone. Surprisingly, at the heart of the Turbo was the omnipresent Renault “Cléon-Fonte” engine, a powerplant that in various forms had powered everything from the Alpine A110 to Romanian Dacias to Renault vans. With the help of Bosch fuel injection and a Garrett turbo the 1.4 litre inline-four was able to produce north of 160bhp. The Maxi Turbo was the zenith of the 5 Turbo line, evolving from the the Group 4 ruleset to battle in rallying’s infamous Group B category. In Maxi form the engine was enlarged to 1.5 litres and could push out over 350bhp. By the time the Maxi entered the stages it was clear that it would struggle against 4WD cars such as the Peugeot 205 T16 and Audi Quattro, however it proved an incredibly capable machine on tarmac. The Tour De Corse rally was therefore a perfect stage to show what the car was capable of.

Over the course of the rally Ragnotti and his co-driver Pierre Thimonier managed to pull out a lead of over 12 minutes ahead of second place Bruny Saby and Jean-François Fauchille in their Peugeot 205 T16. However the event is sadly remembered for different reasons after Lancia driver Attilio Bettega was killed during stage 4. The safety of Group B was immediately under scrutiny and when fellow Lancia driver Henri Toivonen was killed at the 1986 running of the Tour De Corse, the FIA were compelled to act: 1986 would be the end of Group B.

There is no doubt about it though that the Tour De Corse Maxi is probably the best remembered of all 5 Turbos and the Philips Autoradio livery is superbly cool. Tarmac have managed to do it proud in 1:64 scale.

Though my fellow Lamley writer Guillaume Maillard ( @Willdiecast ) will disagree with me, I think the proportions are pretty damn good and the detail is great.

Motorsport liveries are busy and made up of many small stickers and details that when shrunk down to 1:64 can look awful if done wrong. A decal a millimetre out of place can ruin a model this small. I’m therefore pleased to report no issues on the Tarmac car. The decals are top notch and all in the right places, and there’s a small sheet of waterslide decals included to apply the Rothmans branding to the model, though on mine I have yet to do this.

The only criticism that I have about this model is the wheels. They’re a hair’s width too big, and the tyre to wheel ratio doesn’t look right at all compared to a real R5 Maxi. This becomes apparent when you look at Tarmac’s version of the road going 5 Turbo.

The road going 5 Turbo was built in two tranches, with the first batch of 400 being made to comply with Group 4 homologation rules. Built at the Alpine factory in Dieppe, the first cars featured unique lightweight body panels and Bertone seats as well as other unique parts. The following Turbo 2 model shared more parts with the standard R5 range to keep manufacturing costs down. At the time of launch the Turbo was the fastest French production car with a top speed of 120mph and a 0-100kmh time of 6.9 seconds. 4987 of both variants were sold before production ended in 1986.

Tarmac’s version is a pleasant looking miniature but is really spoiled by the wheels. In road car form they look even more out of proportion than they do on the Ragnotti car. And it’s a damn shame because otherwise it’s rather good.

The colour really pops and there’s a well replicated version of the Turbo’s lairy colored interior visible through the windows. It also comes on an incredibly cool base.

Put both cars together and they make a great pair to photograph.

Before I forget to mention: both of my examples roll; the Ragnotti car smooth and well but the road car barely. Whether this makes a difference to your collecting habits or not they’re definitely a good pair to have. Fans of Group B look no further than the Maxi. But fans of the road car may want to wait until Inno bring out there version…

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Solido > The collection > 1/18 Collection > RENAULT 5 MAXI TURBO – TOUR DE CORSE 1985 – J.RAGNOTTI #3

RENAULT 5 MAXI TURBO – TOUR DE CORSE 1985 – J.RAGNOTTI #3

Tour de Corse, Jean Ragnotti and Renault 5 Maxi Turbo: an iconic trio but also a triple winner! In 1985, Jeannot won his second victory in the World Rally Championship and came second during the legendary Corsican event. All behind the wheel of this “monster” that was the Renault 5 Maxi turbo, one of the powerful Group B cars that many still dream of today!

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Renault R5 - Turbo "Tour de Corse"

Renault r5 - r5 turbo "tour de corse".

Après sa victoire au Tour de Corse 1982, Renault Sport voulut faire profiter de son expérience acquise au plus haut niveau avec les voitures d'usine, comme cela avait été le cas avec la type "Cévennes". La Renault 5 Turbo "Tour de Corse" répond à la nouvelle réglementation de la FISA sur le Groupe B. Dans la logique de sa politique "client", Renault Sport vendait soit la voiture "clé en main", soit le kit d'adaptation sur les voitures de série. La "Tour de Corse" client était aussi destinée à être modifiée, à évoluer vers la définition Maxi Groupe B conforme à la voiture officielle.

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