Goodwood, England - Daniel Ricciardo was clearly in the mood for some drifting when he arrived at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed to play with the new Renault Megane RS Trophy R.
It’s safe to say that the Formula One driver was not chasing any time records during this handbrake-happy stint up the hill, which some have labelled as totally pointless, although it does appear that the Australian was having a great deal of fun in the white Renault.
This was also one of the first public outings for the new Trophy R, which recently stole the Nürburgring Nordschleife record for front-wheel-drive cars - obviously without the aforementioned handbrake antics.
As we reported back in May, the Trophy-R has set a new record of 07’40’’100 on the 20.6km section, beating the Honda Civic Type R’s previous record time of 07’43’’800.
Renault is planning to build just 100 of these special hot hatches, which are powered by the same 220kW, 400Nm 1.8-litre turbopetrol engine as the regular RS Trophy.
But don’t let that fool you - the Trophy R is much faster, thanks to it being 130kg lighter, due to some drastic kilo-shedding measures, including the removal of the rear seat and the fitment of composite monocoque racing seats upfront.
The 1306kg hatchback also gets a carbon composite bonnet, fully carbon rear diffuser, Carbon Revolution 19-inch wheels, Akrapovič titanium exhaust, a lighter rear axle and high performance DESS lead battery, among other weight saving measures.
Renault Sport has also performed extensive work on the car’s suspension and aerodynamic systems, calling in some industry experts such as Akrapovič, Brembo, Bridgestone, Öhlins and Sabelt.