French classes at school back in Ireland usually began with the teacher addressing the class thus; "Bonjour Tout le monde, ca va ?"

To which we would all reply, "Mais oui madame, ca va."

After five years of learning grammatically perfect French, it came as something of a shock to discover that they never actually spoke like that in France!

A bit like French cars Down Under really.

We’ve been educated in a less than satisfactory manner thanks to the CV, Fuego and other eccentricities. The fact that the French set off those big nuclear firecracker things in our duckpond a few years back didn’t help matters either, but we won’t get into that!

Thankfully, the Australian perspective towards French cars is changing.

There are some gorgeous Peugots now on our roads, the Citroen Xsara is creating plenty of interest – and then there is Renault, whose cars are about to head back to these shores under a new distributor agreement that involves Nissan.

But no matter which Renaults we actually receive in Australia, the fact is that the Renault Sport Spider will not be included in the official line up.

At the moment there are only three of these exotic little French mistresses in the country, brought in by an exclusive low volume import business in Perth called ClubSport Autos.

ClubSport in association with an Asian partner are the HSV importers for Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, plus they deal in limited edition or rare Ferraris, Porsches and the like

A level of excitement…
Yet according to ClubSport’s managing director, Evan Simeon, there’s something of a stereotype as regards sports cars.

"It’s always thought that a sports car has to be a V8 or flat six , but because of its light weight the four-cylinder Renault Spider actually has the power-to-weight ratio of a V8 or a flat six.

"It creates a level of excitement like no other normally aspirated `four’ that I’ve ever driven before."

Evan certainly should know what he’s talking about. In ‘93 he finished 3^rd outright in the Dutton Grand Prix Rally out of 231 finishers and first in class 2000cc-3000cc driving an original and rare 1973 Porsche 911RS 2.7 Carrera. He also used the same car to finish first in category in the ‘93 Targa Tasmania.

As regards driving the Spider, the former lawyer said; "I drove a Spider for the first time a couple of years ago whilst overseas and said to myself that we have to have this car in Australia.

"I was surprised how it handled like an open wheel race car, yet had the ride of a family sedan.These attributes are normally mutually exclusive in motoring and unique to the Spider. It’s typical of the French not wanting to pass up the comforts of their saloons in their sports cars."

Evan also compares to the Spider to an all time classic; "Being a long time admirer of Ferrari’s Dino 246 I really do think of the Renault Spider as a 90’s Dino."

Conceived originally as a concept car as part of Renault’s EUREKA research programme in the early 90s, such was the public reaction to the Spider that Renault simply had to put it into production.

Nonetheless, only 3,000 of the exotic little masterpieces were built by Renault’s separate Sport division (i.e, not assembled on any of the road car production lines) between 1996 and 1999.

Many were produced to race in the Renault Sport race series as support events to European Formula 1 races during those years.

Needless to say few remain in "road going" condition.

Keeping it minimalist for purists
The structure of the car is based on an aluminium space frame chassis, which itself is made up of the main body and a front bolt on section which accommodates the front suspension and steering mechanism.

The 1998cc, four-cylinder, 16-valve, naturally aspirated F7R 710 Renault engine that powers the Spider simply bolts to the rear of the main chassis and drives through a five-speed transaxle gearbox directly to the rear wheels.

The bodywork wrapped around the chassis is made from a ‘plastic composite’, while the floor pan is of carbon-fibre honeycomb construction.

In the cabin (cockpit ?), the floor surface has been treated with a silicon carbide-reinforced PVC floor covering for durability. High tech materials aside, the Spider’s cabin is minimalist to say the least.

Two Cobra bucket seats, a steering wheel and a dash comprising three VDO gauges - a centrally positioned 5" tachometer, with an oil pressure gauge and engine temperature gauge either side - are all that’s provided (and as Evan says are all that’s needed !).

Admittedly, there is an LCD digital speedo at the top of the centre console, but that’s about it.

Curiously, Renault didn’t think it necessary to cover up any of the aluminium chassis in the cabin and it actually looks like the car’s interior is unfinished.

Sorry Evan, we know this is a bare bones sportster in the purist sense of the word, but surely some nice colour coded floor mats with the Spider insignia could be included for the $130,000 asking price?..

"Those sorts of options are only for posers, not purists.- if it doesn’t make the car go faster or handle better, you don’t need it."

Small but serious figures
There’s no denying either that the aluminium chassis and ‘plastic composite’ bodywork give the Spider an incredibly low 965kg wet weight.

That certainly puts the claimed 108kW (150bhp) power output of the F7R 710 engine into some sort of perspective and helps to produce some equally interesting performance figures.

Like 0 - 100 km/h in 6.9 seconds, or 400 metres from a standing start in 14.6 seconds. The Spider’s claimed top speed though seems a little low at ‘just’ 215 kph.

The F7R 710 engine, meanwhile, was Renault’s ultimate motor for the Megane platform until recently.

The 16-valve F4R 124 kW engine is now at the top of the Renault pile, although the Megane floorpan includes at least five different body styles and several engine variations.

The F7R engine is, however, still a modern and capable motor, with a number of ‘tuning’ options still available.

Evan says that the Siemens computer running the motor in the Spider can be replaced with a completely new box that helps to produce closer to 150kW.

There has also been some exhaust system development undertaken here in Australia too.

"The yellow Spider that we have in Melbourne has had its exhaust re-designed and that resulted in an immediate 180bhp," Evan explained.

"We also ran that car at the Geelong speed trials and it managed a best time of 13.8 seconds over the ¼ mile."

Evidence from European tuning sources supports these claims and there have been F7R engines built to produce nearly 220 bhp.

The thought of a sub 1,000kg car with that sort of power is enough to make anyone go weak at the knees.

Trim, taut – and exciting
If there’s one thing Renault have a solid reputation for, it’s transaxle gearboxes.

Renault cog swappers have been used in proprietary fashion by numerous luxury car manufacturers over the years and the Spider carries a manual five-speed unit, supported by a single plate dry clutch.

As you’d expect with a car like this, the suspension is trim, taut and terrific.

Once again the simplistic approach has been taken, with double wishbones on each corner mounted to the chassis by ball joints.

Multi adjustable Bilstein coilovers actually do all the hard work, but what’s interesting about the Bilsteins is the way in which they’ve been mounted.

It’s obvious really that if they’d been attached in the normal vertical position, there is no way the Spider could sit so low to the ground. The rear Bilsteins are almost horizontal, but the front ones actually are and lie underneath the windscreen of all places! Speaking of which, there is a non-windscreen version of the Spider, but that’s a racing only model strictly for off-road use.

When all is said and done, the Renault Spider is not for everyone. That $130,000 asking price mentioned above wasn’t a misprint, but the good news is that ClubSport Autos have gained full ADR approval for the model, so there are no worries on that front.

Still, this is an exclusive car with more than a few hints of Renault’s connections to F1 racing (materials, suspension ...).

According to the Spider brochure, this is a ‘Passion car’ and Evan says that owning a Spider is like wearing a Breguet watch or Cartier jewellery.

If you’ve got the passion, give give Evan Simeon a call at ClubSport Autos in Perth on (08)93214646.

You can also contact ClubSport’s eastern states dealer, Jeffery Dutton at 525 Church Street Richmond Victoria (03)94281372.

And ‘demo’ rides are available! But please; Ne kick pas les tyres s’il vous plait (No Tyre kickers please ..)