FOREIGN LEGION

EACH OF THE TRIO SET A NEW NURBURGRING LAP RECORD FOR A FRONT-DRIVEN PRODUCTION CAR

I HAD ALWAYS imagined the 275 Trophy-R was the high point of the really hot Renault Megane model series. I’m not sure why, but I remembered it as the high watermark. With its coupe-ish appearance and rock-rigid body, it seemed as modern as today’s Megane, but with less than 300 horsepower, it retained the delicacy of old hot hatchbacks.

It’s also the only one I drove at the Nurburgring, the track that has made this series of special Renault Sport Meganes famous, because each of the trio set a new lap record for a front-driven production car. That’s not any guarantee of greatness, of course, but it helped here, and I always felt that the 275 Trophy-R was the standout among a series of standout cars.

Today, though, will tell. We have the three cars in the series together in the same place at the same time. It’s a sequence that started in 2008 with a car called the R26R, or