Of our brightly coloured pair it’s the crazy-looking Maxi that steals the limelight – but still, there’s something rather wonderful about the slim-hipped Group 2 Alpine.
It’s a perfect day, blessed with dazzling blue skies, and the cars look sensational as they are unloaded from the transporter and left to bask in the sunny pitlane.
Throughout the 1970s and ’80s the works Renault Sport team dominated national championships and became a force to be reckoned with at world championship level, culminating in the fire-breathing Group B era.įour decades after the 5 first hit the road, our friends at Renault Classic have brought two iconic rally cars – a Group 2 Renault 5 Alpine and a monstrous Group B Renault 5 Maxi Turbo – for us to play with on the twists and turns of France’s Dijon-Prenois circuit. As with the Mini, the 5 also enjoyed a remarkable motor sport career, most notably in rallying at the highest level. Its clean, modernist lines epitomised the 1970s and made a great stylistic leap from the Renault 4, while its innovative packaging, spacious interior and practical hatchback exposed the limitations of the brilliant but flawed Mini.īy the time production ended in 1996, more than five million 5s had been built, making the Renault one of the most successful cars of all time. It was called simply the 5 – but this unimaginative name belied an exciting twist on the typical French small car. In 1972 Renault introduced a chic new supermini that changed the way the world viewed mainstream motoring. Renault’s fire-breathing 5 Alpine and Maxi Turbo rallying superstars couldn’t be further from their shopping car roots.
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