1997 Renault Spider

The Renault Sport Spider is powered by the 150bhp, 16v four cylinder, engine, which was first seen in the Renault Clio Williams and also used in the original Megane Coupe 16v. Given the relatively light weight of this car, that's enough to make it very fast indeed. Rest to 60mph takes just 6.9 seconds on the way to a maximum speed of 134mph. Take a seat behind the wheel and you instantly know that this car means business. Quite simply it's more race car than road car. With a single aluminium bar dominating the dashboard, there are only three dials set into a central pod on the dash. They don't include a speedometer, instead a rev counter, with oil and water pressure gauges. To complete the sports car feel, there are body-hugging Recaro bucket seats, a leather-trimmed steering wheel and adjustable pedals so the driver can achieve the absolute optimum driving position. The windows meanwhile, pivot up to open, arguably practical, certainly distinctive. The Renault Spider championships ran for several years as a support series to larger championships such as the British Touring Car Championship and groomed many fine racing drivers, such as Jason Plato.

The Spider model was unfortunately discontinued after only a year and a half of production, with a total of 1,635 examples manufactured. In the UK only 60 right-hand drive examples were sold and the remainder of the cars went to the German and French markets.

Presented here is a superb Spider finished in Pearl Yellow over Metallic Grey sporting Recaro buckets seats and a black alcantara Sparco steering wheel. This car is fitted with Bilstein Dampers, 18" alloys wheels clad in Toyo tyres and the engine has an uprated Piper Camshaft.

The car has covered a mere 14,000 miles over the course of its 3 owners and the service book is stamped as follows:

Specialist Date Mileage

Renault Birmingham 17.7.97 1,764Radbourne Racing 8.7.98 5,460P.J. Autos 27.6.00 6,408Renault (Tates, Brighton) 13.11.06 7,860

At some stage in its life, we believe that this car has also been through the workshop of respected Renault tuning specialists K-Tec Racing, for fast road / race preparation, although we have no paperwork to corroborate this story. Included in the sale of this car is a set of its original road wheels, its original steering wheel, a tonneau cover and a hood. The service book & drivers manuals are also present.

Supplied with a fresh MoT and road registered, bearing the registration "P503 MOA', this nimble Spider is ready to be enjoyed on the road, or alternatively on a track day, where we feel it wouldn't embarrass or disappoint.