Have you ever came across one of these before? This is the 1999 Renault Sport Spider, and it’s 1 of just around 1800 total examples produced for the world, all of which were built from 1996 through 1999. This unique creation was manufactured by the motorsport, performance and special vehicles division of French multinational automobile manufacturer, Renault, known as Renault Sport. The Spider is a roadster that sprung from an idea formulated in the early 1990’s, and a design created by French car designer, and former chief designer of Renault, Patrick Le Quément. The Spider was originally known as ‘Project W94’, and the very first prototype was developed by the year 1994. The concept version of the Spider was displayed to the world during the 1995 Geneva Motor Show, and sales begun subsequently in 1996, with assembly taking place at the French manufacturer of racing and sports cars, Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS facility located in Dieppe, France. By the year 1997, Renault offered the Spider with a full glass windscreen and wiper as an option, and the model became increasingly more refined as the years went on. The Spider serves as the first ever road car to be fitted with a Renault Sport badge, and is the very beginning of all of the subsequent high performance Renault cars that have been developed by the Renault Sport division. The Spider’s chassis is developed using aluminum, while the bodywork is actually made up of a plastic composite. Considering the Spider was produced with racing in mind, Renault created a special race variant of the Spider known as the Trophy Edition, which was tuned to 180bhp, and was raced in the Spider championships for several years as support series alongside much larger championships such as the British Touring Car Championship.
How many made? Approximately 1800
Engine: 1,998 cc F7R 16-valve I4 - 148hp
Debut: 1995 Geneva Motor Show
Top Speed: around 134mph
0-60mph: around 5.2 seconds
Photo credit: @adamdibacco_photography
Research: @rarecarsonly