As the US automotive market awaits the new Mk8 Volkswagen Golf R with anxious anticipation, the rest of the world has already gotten to enjoy the world's new premier hot hatch. But the American car buying public has long struggled to fully appreciate hot hatches and sport wagons, even if Volkswagen AG has always managed to ship a few offerings to these shores in the form of the Golf GTI, R, and now the new Audi RS6 Avant. But even though most enthusiasts would claim the GTI and Rabbit arguably introduced hot hatches to the US, the form goes back earlier—arguably, to the rally-bred homologation-special Renault 5 Turbo that has now earned itself a full Petrolicious feature video just posted on YouTube.
Converting An Economy Car Into A Rally Racer
As Petrolicious host Sam Hancock explains, the rally version of the Renault 5 Turbo came about after Lancia rendered the Alpine A110 completely obsolete with the iconic Stratos rally car. Hoping to compete with this more potent, Dino-powered, mid-engined model, Renault set about to convert the pedestrian Renault 5, market with its front-engined, front-wheel-drive layout into a mid-engined, rear-wheel drive screamer.
Modifications To Fit A Mid-Mounted Turbo-Four
The Renault 5 was also known as "Le Car" and earned itself a reputation for being one of the cheapest economy hatches ever built after first hitting the streets of Europe way back in 1972—but its monocoque chassis proved perfect for the bit of modification required to shoehorn a turbocharged engine behind the front seats, where it would power the rear wheels. Specifically, the 1.4-liter inline-four received a Garrett T3 turbocharger and produced 162 horsepower in roadgoing form. Now known as the Renault 5 Turbo, the rally variant would earn its first win at Monte Carlo in 1981 while Renault set about building the 400 units required for homologation purposes.
A Full Production Run Of 1,820 Cars
So hot was the R5 Turbo, as it's commonly known, that Renault would eventually build 1,820 examples—600 fit into the "Turbo 1" generation, including the race-spec models, while the remaining 1,220 received some cost-saving measures and the moniker "Turbo 2" that somehow sounds like a bit of a step back. But despite the R5 Turbo's cult status, the car was quickly itself rendered obsolete by Audi's all-wheel-drive Quattro cars, which would herald the beginning of an entirely new era for rallying
Sources: youtube.com and petrolicious.com.