FRENCH FURY: Ferocious Mid-Engine 1983 Renault R5 Turbo 2 Homologated Rally Champ | EP21

Don't let the cute face fool you. The 1983 Renault R5 Turbo 2 is a ferocious, mid-engine, turbo-charged growling beast of French fury. Powered by a tiny 1.4 liter Cleon-Fonte inline four-cylinder engine, this 185 horsepower homologated Marcello Gandini-designed championship rally car uses a single Garrett turbocharger paired with a 5-speed manual transaxle that roars to life in the upper RPMs and produces 1.1 G of lateral grip. Nicole discovers the unexpected rumblings and nimble handling of Eric Charnholm's dream car and why the rally-transformed LeCar became known as the "Box of French Hate."

MORE ABOUT ERIC CHARNHOLM:
Eric is based in San Diego and owns Trade Up, a nationwide bicycle trade-in program available through many cycling retailers. He is a passionate car collector and builder who tragically lost his collection in a garage fire in December 2017. His 40-year dream of owning an R5 Turbo became a reality out of the ashes of the fire, and he has become the most enthusiastic owner of the quirky car in the world.

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Created and Produced by Michael Badami and Nicole Johnson
Directed by Michael Badami
© Lawndart Limited

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#r5turbo2 #frenchfury #rallycar #renault #turbocharged #nicolejohnsonsdetour

[MightyCoffeeMaker]

French here, love to know that some people across the ocean can appreciate these little cars of ours. I think it ended up into the right hands :)

[CrossroadsReloaded]

As a French, this video kind of made me emotional. The R5 Turbo 2 is a rare sight even in France; not many were produced, and a lot of them were lost over the years. Being born in the 90s, these cars are a testimony to an era I wish I would have known. We once were a country that really, deeply loved automobiles; and our manufacturers once had the audacity to build unreasonable machines for enthusiasts to enjoy. That time is long gone now. It's touching to see a foreigner like Eric be so passionate about what is essentially a blast from the golden years of our automotive industry. Even letting somebody else experience the R5 brings him sheer joy. This goes to show how good we were back then, and how shameful it is that we've been letting our legacy die off for decades.

[Fbiking]

Je suis Français et je vis en France. Cette voiture a bercé mon enfance, c'était un mythe bien réel ! Si vous pouvez l'essayer en version maxi Turbo, vous hallucinerez encore plus !
Bravo à vous et merci pour ce test !
J'ai fait exprès d'écrire en français, cela ne pouvait être autrement avec cette voiture ! 😉

[rhysjones]

Fair play to this guy for letting Nicole drive his pride and joy off road!

[kagemushasama]

I am 45, THE car of my childhood, now an adult, it's still so beautiful to look at 😍. Congrats from France 🇨🇵

[renodaron]

As a french kid, this Renault was my dream car... so weird that american people know about this fantastic beast. A french legend. Your r5 turbo 2 is super beautiful ! Congratulations !!!

[icecube]

As a french guy living now in the west of Canada, this car reminds me a lot of souvenir. I was around 20 year old when it came on the market and let me tell you it was my dream car, sadly I didn't have the money to buy one. You can find on youtube some video of Jean Ragnotti and a Renault 5 turbo. This guy was a magician with this car. Thank Nicole for this good video.

[rosebuddesign]

Seeing an American so emotional about a French classic genuinely makes me happy. Love this car since I am a kid and remember seeing it quiet often on the road back in the days. You sure don't see them anymore. Thank you for the video.

[bryancohn]

I'm blown away that Eric let you take it for a rip on a proper rally stage road! That is a proper car enthusiast, he knows the car can be cleaned, repaired and enjoyed again and again. My hats off to Eric and you Nicole for giving the Renault a solid thrashing!

[hunterhunted]

I used to own one in the late 80's and when driving it felt like you were part of the car. The whistling of the turbo was orgasmic ...

[AndyWoohoo]

That is one iconic car, you just keep digging up gems Nicole!

[masakikusahara]

So cool and funny to see Eric going between "OMG please don't wreck this jewel" and "Yeah finally there's someone who appreciates this beast in the purest and truest way" the whole time. Great driving, appreciation, respect, and passion I see, keep it up!!

[timothy]

I had the chance to meet Eric and his R5 Turbo 2 while riding my bike in Rancho Santa Fe last year. As a European, I was excited to see this car in the US. Eric is a super nice guy, genuinely passionate, and the car is in fantastic condition! Great video!

[javieralonso]

En España somos fanáticos de ese coche.Felicidades por poder probarlo.

[Slingshotgixxer]

Maybe even more than the really really cool Renault, I enjoyed the owner Eric"s enthusiasm and passion, getting over setbacks and moving on to pursue a lifelong dream, a true gearhead, awesome content Nicole, as always.

[paulmakinson]

French here. My mechanic had one prepared for racing. He modified the commercial version to Rally B class specs with many parts sold by Renault. It shed a lot of weight and went from 250 hp to 470 hp. It was like driving a rocket powered go cart.
The other iconic French sports/rally car that came out after that was the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 valve, another tiny little zippy thing. It was actually way more successful in class B rallies than it's Renault counterpart.
Back in the 80's and 90's, there were very few radars and speed traps on French highways, gas was cheap and tolls were reasonable, I would drive my Renault 21 Turbo station wagon from Paris to the Alps for skiing weekends at 180km/h.
I also enjoyed riding my Ducati 851 Super Sport around the curves of Dampierre and scraping the pavement with my footrests.
People loved driving and having fun cars. But the dark side was that a combination of more primitive structural engineering, no airbags, no ABS braking, the French wine making tradition and weakly enforced traffic norms lead to a very high death toll and the government cracked down with radars and speed traps everywhere. Add to this the price of gasoline, extremely expensive tolls (privatized highways) and the pleasure has been taken out of driving. Driving now has been reduced to going from point A to point B.

[stephanehubert]

Merci depuis la France pour avoir rendu cet hommage à cette icône de l'automobile. Et... vive Nicole !

[rickycapanni]

I remember following one of these down an Alpine pass, in the dark. I could hear it all the time but the only way I could tell how far ahead of me it was, was when I saw the flames coming out the exhaust at the downchanges before the hairpins! Stupendous!

[byronmills]

These were built by Alpine in Dieppe. The Turbo 1 an 2 are absolutely awesome - having completely stripped and original Turbo 1 - 5 years ago for restored the actual conversion was quite rudimentary underneath the panels. To watch Jean Ragnotti fling one of these around is amazing. The original wheels had Metric tyres which now cost even more than the wheels fitted to this car - hence many people fit the Gotti option. Turbo 1s also feature Aluminium roof skins. They grip and grip and grip and then your upside down!
Absolutely love these - what a beautiful example - and a lovely feature you've made on it! 👍👍

[dominiquegabet]

Merci d"avoir mis un berret pour conduire cette incroyable petite voiture 😁 . J'ai eu la chance de monter à bord de cet engin diabolique sur les petites routes de Provence... just WAOW ! de retour à la maison, il fallait laisser "redescendre" le turbo pendant 20 à 30 minutes; incroyable souvenir, encore merci à mon "poto" pour ces sensations.