Renaultsport Spider in Japan

Neat little car, and of course, having the Land of the Rising Sun as its backdrop only adds to the charm of these photos, which recall the Lotus 340R photo set that we had spotlighted previously.

These cars had hovered just beneath our radar previously. Well not anymore.

Love it.

 

Scissor doors! Somehow it had escaped us that they have these:

 

And a look at what the diminutive Spider is capable of:

We leave you now with this great quote from our Japan correspondent Skorj:

[Motoring in Japan is] heaven… mid-week jaunts, or off-weekend drives across Japan are extremely pleasurable and relaxing. As well as the spectacular and challenging roads for sports cars, there are innumerable sights, villages, unique roads, special roadside stations, and always an interesting lunch and accommodating rural hotel to bed down for the night.

Many times we set out for a destination, and simply allow ourselves to wander to sights unplanned, unseen, and in some cases unimaginable. Every journey holds something new and interesting.

Awesome.

(Image credit: macco)

~ by velofinds on March 1, 2013.

Posted in Moment of zen, Moving images, Still images, What would you buy
Tags: , , ,

10 Responses to “Renaultsport Spider in Japan”

  1. Nice pictures of a great car and setting. I love the wind deflectors on these cars that substitute for a windscreen. You can see how they air is channeled and trapped by the wide duct then deflected upwards to keep the wind out of the driver’s face.

    bmw325_num99 said this on March 1, 2013 at 8:48 am

  2. you must have had your radar off….because we’ve discussed this car quite a bit in the past, sir!

    Syed said this on March 2, 2013 at 12:07 pm

  3. this is relevant!

    Martin Leonard said this on March 4, 2013 at 2:55 pm

  4. I have been lucky enough to drive one of these (no screen, which is a blast in it’s own way), and I cannot express better my feelings after what Tiff had to say about it’s handling, compared to say a Caterham or a Lotus Elise.

    Even the “Master of fastdrifting” in rallying, Monsieur Ragnotti wasn’t capable of properly throwing the car around or at least in a smooth, “one with the machine” kinda way as he usually does with anything on four wheels and a steering wheel.

    Nonetheless, still a great experience of a car and that has stood the test of time quite well I think. Just put it side by side with a new Renault Megane Sport and it looks as if they were from the same “family” and both could share a showroom even today (bar the rear lights that have not aged so well).

    Still, I wish Renault made more RWD sports cars. The last one, the Clio V6, the mid-engined successor to the R5 Turbo.

    By the way, I used to own a Renault Clio 182 Cup exactly like the blue one in these pics and, besides being a FWD, it was also a blast to drive, more so than any other Wrong Wheel Drive I’ve ever driven.

    Jorge Azcoitia said this on March 4, 2013 at 11:23 pm

    • Well put, Jorge. Although I can’t imagine very many things handling better than a Caterham 7.

      motoringconbrio said this on March 5, 2013 at 12:49 am

      • Indeed, 7s and Elises (and all of its iterations) have a turn-in, steering input response and give you “options” mid-corner like no other car can match. To me those are the benchmarks that all sports cars should aim for.

        PS: I am also the one that translated the 911 and 355 articles. A warm greet from all the 8000vueltas.com Team!

        Jorge Azcoitia said this on March 5, 2013 at 1:09 am

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