Yahoo Autos Renault Built an All-Electric R5 Turbo Drift Car
Renault is taking 50th anniversary celebrations for its iconic Renault 5 seriously. The French automaker has just revealed a one-off drift and show car dedicated the wildest Renault 5, the mid-engine R5 Turbo built for Group B rallying. Dubbed the R5 Turbo 3E, it's a rear-drive tire-melter with 380 all-electric horses.
Though it might look somewhat like an original R5 Turbo or Turbo II, the 3E is an entirely different beast. Underneath sits a custom tube-frame chassis with a 42-kWh battery sitting in the floor. It sends energy to two rear-mounted electric motors that make a total of 380 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque at zero rpm. Renault estimates it can sprint 100 meters from a standstill in 3.5 seconds—a strange metric, if you ask us, but alright. Top speed is a claimed 124 mph, and curb weight is 3306 pounds.
The Turbo 3E's body is made from carbon fiber to keep weight down. There are air intakes up front to cool the car's powertrain and add downforce. The side intakes have been reworked for a more modern look, while the rear end features a gigantic wing. There's a smattering of patterns along the body highlighted by a bright green-yellow hue for the inlets, rear slats, and parts of the wing.
Renault intends for the Turbo E3 to be a show car meant to wow audiences not only in real life, but across the internet. As such it's fitted with around 10 mounting brackets specifically to place cameras to record the action inside and out.
"R5 Turbo 3E combines ultra-tech design and willfully exuberance with numerous references to the world of car racing and video games," design director Gilles Vidal said in a statement. "This combination propels the show car into modernity and technology, and it is at the frontier between the real and virtual realms. This pure electric "drifter" demonstrates that electric cars can also be fun with incredible performance."
The R5 Turbo 3E is set to make its debut at Chantilly Arts & Elegance 2022 contest happening just north of Paris on September 25.
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