The Clio replaced the supermini sized Renault 5 range in Europe during late 1990 and was introduced to the UK mid-1991. Of course, were interested in the hot model...Renaults 5 GT Turbo had enjoyed a reputation for giant-slaying and so its successor - the Clio 16V - had a lot to live up to. Some saw the Clio 16V as a maiden mistress to the GT Turbos place in the "oldest profession"; it was a very different car, using what was then a very advanced engine design rather than a turbo. The Clio 16V was substantially developed over the base car. Just as with the latter-day Clio 172/Cup, responsibility for creating the original Clio hot hatch was handed over to Renault Sport. They began in earnest by shoehorning the 1764cc twin-cam 16 valve unit (F7P) from the Renault 19 16V into the Clios rather modestly sized engine bay. It was a bit of a squeeze, so the throttle body housing was shortened and the Clio 16Vs distinctive bonnet bulge was added to allow clearence for the inlet manifold. With all that heat under the bonnet an air vent was added at the top of the bonnet (just above the exhaust manifold) and the standard Clio cooling system was uprated. The suspension set up was the familiar French strut at front and torsion bar at rear arrangement. The Clio 16V got the hot treatmeant with a new four-bar torsion set up at the back, a healthy 35mm drop and significantly wider tracks (hence the wider arches, front and rear). Other modifications included sports seats, oil temperature/pressure/level gauges, larger disc brakes all round and appropriately uprated transmission and auxillary systems. What the buying public got was a hot hatch capable of 0-60 in 7.3 secs, 30-70 in 7.1 secs, a 50-70 in 5th of 8.9 secs and a top speed of 130mph (Autocar, November 11th 1991).
The 16V was the car from which the Clio Williams was developed. A common myth is that the Williams was developed by Williams F1 Engineering - it was not. The name was actually used to celebrate the Williams-Renault F1 victories of the time. The car was actually developed as the most successful and advanced FWD rally car of its day - something that the 16V had already got a hand in. Renault had been successfully using the 1764cc F7P engine from the Clio 16V in the FIA World Rally Championship Group A Clio rally car. In the hands of their top man Jean Ragnotti, the 16V-powered Clio works car was estimated to be about 1.5 seconds per mile faster than the legendary Group B 5 Maxi Turbo - even despite a massive power disadvantage, such was the pace of progress. Not resting on their laurels, Renault spotted that rally regulations would allow another few ccs of engine capacity on top of the 16Vs capacity - and the homologated Clio 16V was only 1764cc (200cc from the class 2000cc limit). In 1993, Renault decided to homologate a 2.0-powered (F7R) Clio so they could utilise the crucial extra ccs in their rally expolits. The resulting homologation car was the Williams - an initial batch of 400 individually numbered RHD cars made in all. Modifications over the 16V base car were mainly to the suspension, engine, transmission and minor cosmetics . The first batch eventually extended to some 2500 cars in all (mostly LHD) to comply with homologation regulations, of which some 500 were called "Swiss Champion" for the Swiss market. Of course, there were also later Williams 2 and 3 models (which were not homologated AFAIK), about which you can find further details elsewhere.