No, this is not some sort of very late April Fools’ joke. This is the Twizy Renault Sport F1 concept car. The latest car to receive the RS treatment and perhaps the most interesting for a while, the Twizy might be a concept but the numbers stack up. it delivers genuine high performance thanks to its Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) which is identical to the solution used by Renault-powered Formula 1 cars. The system instantly boosts power output six-fold to reach almost 100 horsepower and is capable of catapulting the car from standstill to 62 mph as quickly as Renault’s highest-performing road car, Mégane Renaultsport 265. This technological gem is the fruit of close collaboration between the engineers at Renaultsport and their colleagues at Renault Sport F1.
For those who doubt that the money spent in F1 does not filter down into road cars, then look no further! Twizy Renault Sport F1 will be shown at major events throughout the year, beginning with its first public appearances at the World Series by Renault meeting at Aragon, Spain (April 27-28), followed by the Barcelona Motor Show.
“We always said we wanted to create F1-derived technology that was road relevant! Hopefully, this Twizy will make a few people smile while also making a serious point. The project was led by Renault Sport F1 and Renault Sport Technologies, working in close conjunction with Renault’s electric vehicle development department. KERS is a very complex system and integrating it into another electric vehicle was a very serious endeavour, but they managed to make it work, delivering a huge boost of power safely and efficiently. I’m not sure we’ll be seeing many of these on our roads, but it does show that the same principles we see on the race track can be filtered down to the road legal range – this is just the evil elder brother!” said Jean-Michel Jalinier (President and Managing Director, Renault Sport F1).
So, what do you make of the Twizy? As a technical exercise, it certainly makes Car Articles salivate that it could be carried over to other Renault cars. On a more serious note though, the Twizy has quite a short wheelbase and without those slick tyres the concept is fitted with it might well be ‘fun’ around some tight corners!
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