Renault Clio S
Quote from Joe Saward's F1 blog:
"Renault has announced that it is relaunching the Gordini name as a range of sporty cars. The first car to be given the Gordini treatment will be the Twingo with plans to follow up with the Megane and Clio. It is not clear what will happen to the current Renaultsport models. These are produced at the old Alpine factory in Dieppe. The plans to revive the Alpine brand for a future sports car, which rumours suggested would be based on Nissan’s 350Z. Those plans were cancelled at the start the year because of the economic downturn and it seems that Renault is using the Gordini brand to revamp its sporty product range, without the same level of cost. It may be that Gordini will figure in the plans for F1 that will be announced by Carlos Ghosn in the next few weeks.
Amedee Gordini was a celebrated engineer who ran France’s only F1 teams in the 1950s. Nicknamed “The Sorcerer” because of his ability to find horsepower Gordini began building single-seaters in 1946 using Fiat engines, but later became better-known with his Simca engines. There were many win at national level but few internationally, although the marque’s most famous victory was in 1952 when Jean Behra beat the Ferraris in the non-championship Reims Grand Prix. In 1956 Gordini began working as a consultant engineer with Renault and disbanded the F1 team. He worked on the design of the Renault Dauphine which enjoyed much success in rallying in the late 1950s. He later developed the Renault 8 for racing and rallying, which resulted in the Coupe Gordini series in 1966 where many of the top French drivers and the 1970s learned their trade. At the end of 1968 the Gordini company was merged into Renault and in February 1969 the staff were moved to Viry-Chatillon where many of his staff became key players in the Renault Sport adventures of the 1970s and 1980s. The factory at Viry-Chatillon is named after him. It is expected that the Gordini brand will be used in much the same way as Mini uses Cooper and Fiat uses Abarth.
The big question is whether the F1 programme may be part of the rebranding".
"Renault has announced that it is relaunching the Gordini name as a range of sporty cars. The first car to be given the Gordini treatment will be the Twingo with plans to follow up with the Megane and Clio. It is not clear what will happen to the current Renaultsport models. These are produced at the old Alpine factory in Dieppe. The plans to revive the Alpine brand for a future sports car, which rumours suggested would be based on Nissan’s 350Z. Those plans were cancelled at the start the year because of the economic downturn and it seems that Renault is using the Gordini brand to revamp its sporty product range, without the same level of cost. It may be that Gordini will figure in the plans for F1 that will be announced by Carlos Ghosn in the next few weeks.
Amedee Gordini was a celebrated engineer who ran France’s only F1 teams in the 1950s. Nicknamed “The Sorcerer” because of his ability to find horsepower Gordini began building single-seaters in 1946 using Fiat engines, but later became better-known with his Simca engines. There were many win at national level but few internationally, although the marque’s most famous victory was in 1952 when Jean Behra beat the Ferraris in the non-championship Reims Grand Prix. In 1956 Gordini began working as a consultant engineer with Renault and disbanded the F1 team. He worked on the design of the Renault Dauphine which enjoyed much success in rallying in the late 1950s. He later developed the Renault 8 for racing and rallying, which resulted in the Coupe Gordini series in 1966 where many of the top French drivers and the 1970s learned their trade. At the end of 1968 the Gordini company was merged into Renault and in February 1969 the staff were moved to Viry-Chatillon where many of his staff became key players in the Renault Sport adventures of the 1970s and 1980s. The factory at Viry-Chatillon is named after him. It is expected that the Gordini brand will be used in much the same way as Mini uses Cooper and Fiat uses Abarth.
The big question is whether the F1 programme may be part of the rebranding".
