Lener renault biography of williams

However it would be Menu who was right, engine troubles meant Renault had a poor season, winning just one race, at Silverstone. This led to Renault pulling. Not to mention this was in an incredibly competitive era where Audi, Volvo, Nissan, Vauxhall, Honda, and to an extent Ford were all capable of winning races. Plato also made a name of himself after pushing through the door to get his drive.

Both have won two world titles each, and the season is still seen as one of the most dominant and successful for any BTCC team. Your email address will not be published. After chasing him down the car park, Plato was eventually given the second seat at Williams-Renault for what would prove to be a hugely successful season for the team.

Aaron Irwin. Tony Stewart: Retirement and Racing. The Top 5 Daytona s. However, they did 1, better and churned out 3, limited edition vehicles bearing a unique numbered plaque on their dashboard into the market. The plan worked! Such was the popularity of this limited edition vehicle that it sold out rapidly, leading the manufacturers to build 1, more.

Seeing as their launch was a smash hit, Renault continued the Williams Clio with Williams 2 and 3 post the first series of vehicles was launched. Overall, Renault ended up making more than 12, vehicles bearing the Williams marquee due to its sustained demand among automobile enthusiasts. Even though the Williams Renault Clio was anointed after the Formula One team, the inspiration was limited to the moniker.

The design and engineering were majorly carried out by Renault Sport, the motorsport division of Renault automobiles. Although, it was not a complete outlier to motorsport and fulfilled its Formula One destiny by lener renault biography of williams featured as the Safety Car during the season. It featured four lener renault biographies of williams per cylinder fed by a multipoint fuel injection inline-four engine.

The engine could generate bhp of power at kW and rpm and Nm lb-ft at a torque of rpm. With performance-tuned ride and handling, the engine could power the vehicle to a speed of kmph or mph. There were slight specification differences based on the version. The Gr. N, or the basic racing version, sported bucket seats made by Sabelt and a roll cage made by Matter France.

It also featured a significantly more free-flowing exhaust, different engine management, and racing suspensions that combined to churn out a power output of around kW or PS. The next upgrade was a Gr. A model that featured updated front brakes with four-pot Alcon brake calipers and mm discs. The engine was tuned further to generate up to kW or PS of power.

Even though the Williams Renault Clio was modeled after the Clio 16S, the engine was quite different. Contrary to popular belief, the 2. It also added 15bhp of extra power due to the newer pistons, con rods, camshaft, and increased capacity. There were other significant structural differences as well. They included a firmer suspension, a bespoke four-to-one manifold, an uprated JC5 gearbox, wider Speedline alloys, and a broader front track like in a Renault 19, although not the same.

On top of these, some cosmetic changes inside as well as outside made it a distinctive offering. When it comes to the different series of the Williams Renault Clio, most of their differences came down to the natural evolution that the Clio lineage experienced. These included cosmetic variations and, more importantly, enhancement of safety features.

For example, even though Sports Blue was used to paint Williams 1 and 2, the final edition featured the slightly brighter edition of the blue called the Monaco Blue. Moreover, the first two editions did not have a sunroof, but the final version sported a sunroof, something that was a staple of the Clio line so far. And finally, the very first edition of the Williams had its build number displayed on a metal plaque despite being much lighter than the other two owing to the lack of mirrors and sunroof electricals.

The Williams Renault Clio unlocked good driving performance with a combination of increased engine output, the manual five-speed transmission, and lower body weight. The 2. It took just 7. The Williams was also advertised to top out at mph. Williams logos on the sides and tailgate contributed to making it a true cult object for generations.

The Renault Clio Williams was initially produced in a limited run of 3, units 1, more than required for rally homologationeach with a numbered plaque on the dashboard. The first Williams units sold out quickly, but growing demand led Renault to continue production with the Clio Williams 2 and Williams 3totaling about 12, units. Impressive numbers for an earlys compact sports car.

So I said to Patrick that it would do Williams a lot of good to be involved in the championship, due to the size and the international nature of Super Touring cars. Of course, we are always looking to increase our links with Renault too. Whilst being formed in the September ofthe company only became operational in Novembermeaning there was very little time for the designers and mechanics settle in to their new team and go about designing and building BTCC Supertouring Renault Lagunas for the season, which began on April 2nd in The drivers were signed up and ready to go for The rumours never materialised and Menu and Hoy started the season for the team.

However, all was not plain sailing, the media day car was just a hybrid of the one remaining car from — the new spec Renault Laguna would not be ready until the Friday before the opening race of the season at Donington Park. Prior to this I had to share the sole remaining car with my new team-mate, Will Hoy. At each test session there would be a different set of mechanics present as they had to learn about the car just as much as the drivers.

In fact, until the Donington Park race, Will and I had played a small role in the creation of the team. At Donington, the Vauxhalls and the Volvos would have it their way, unsurprisingly as they had compelted the biggest testing schedules. The boys were knackered from all the hard work, so it was important that Will and I brought both cars home safely and in the points.

To be third in the championship after the first meeting was as good as I dared hope.

Lener renault biography of williams

In the third meeting of the season at Thruxton, Alain Menu took pole, the win and the fastest lap. It boded well for the future. Development of the Laguna continued and towards the end of the season, thanks in part to a new engine build from Sodemo, Renault ended up with the strongest package, winning all 5 of the last races, but it was too late as Cleland had already clinched the championship.

During the mid season, those Alain Prost rumours had re-surfaced, with talks of him driving a third Laguna to make a few guest appearances. Things were about to get a lot tougher for Williams in Audi, led by multiple touring car champion, Frank Biela, dominated from the off. Williams, meanwhile, had a fast car, but suffered from reliability woes at the start of the season.

It take upto the half way point before Menu took his first win of the season, taking 2 wins at Brands Hatch. Team mate Will Hoy endured a tough season — despite starting strongly, finishing 2nd to Biela in the opening two rounds. He would visit the podium just once more that season on his way to 9th overall in the championship. There was a clear advantage, the Audi A4 won seven Touring Car titles throughout the world in alone, but was it a fair palying field?

No equivalency formula really works.