I can't help but wonder why Renault scrimped on fitting an aluminium bonnet to the 275R. Given the attention paid to weight saving elsewhere on the car it seems odd to omit the obvious kilos to be saved by ditching the steel bonnet. Even my RS200 came with an aluminium bonnet as did my STI & EVO for that matter. Disappointing omission by Renault imo.
The bonnet is pretty light as it is. IIRC a carbon one only saves around 5kgs or something daft certainly nothing noticeable. Better places to save weight on them
I've always thought the bonnet on my R26 was heavy, its easily 3 times the weight of the bonnet on my previous 197 clio - Maybe that was alu too.
I've seen people mention that the mk3 bonnet is aluminium in the past. I can confirm it's not aluminium. Still feels lighter than the Mk2 bonnet. Much more tinny feeling. The Mk2 feels solid and heavy. I can't see that a cf bonnet would be much lighter. Trophy r's had the light weight battery r26r's didn't
Mk2 bonnet is heavy compared to my carbon one. Something silly like 8kg heavier. Even the ph1 172 had an ally bonnet tbf.
So does anyone have a link to the aftermarket carbon fibre bonnet that is supposedly available for MK3 Meg ? Much prefer aluminium but c/f will suffice. It may only save 5-10kg but as ive learnt time & again building competition vehicles for a living the past 20 years it's all the little improvements that add up to make a winning combination.
It was only the early ph1's that had that. Quite sought after in the day. As said earlier, it's better to spend the cost of a lightweight bonnet elsewhere for the manufacturer. As a side note, I had the windscreen replaced on my mk3 and I offered to help the guy fit it. I was really surprised at how light it was. One person would have no problems lifting them in and out of the frame at all. I expected it to be back-brakingly heavy.
The bare CF bonnet will match the big aftermarket wheels for the perfect Halfords look. And think of the lap time gain on track. ;-)
Those guys in France seem to make one but not sure about the logistics. Happy to contact them for any questions if you like. The full carbon version is €1,300. They claim a 10kg saving. http://www.megane-rs-online.com/chassis/38-capot-carbone-megane-3-rs.html
