R4 racing car on ebay.fr!!!

[La Poste]

Here’s something for the truly eccentric – a homologated R4 racing car! No photos I’m afraid, but the description (for the benefit of anyone who doesn’t speak French) reads as follows:

Renault 4 built to group F specification with FIA papers, eligible for group FC or FS, new brakes (drilled, ventilated front discs on four-stud hubs), Bilstein front shock absorbers, carbon [fibre?] rear, R5 Alpine / Gordini anti-roll bars, big bore master cylinder, hydraulic handbrake, bucket seat, fully equipped dashboard (water, oil gauges, etc), 14 inch front wheels, R5 Alpine / Gordini Turbo rear wheels, excellent condition. Body panels, R17 Gordini engine, oil cooler, manifold also available separately if needed.

Sounds completely mad to me! Does anyone know what Group F is exactly? Knowing French motorsport tastes it’s probably a rally-raid class (Paris-Dakar type of thing), but I might be wrong. On the subject of which, if my memory serves me well, didn’t an R4 nearly win the 1978 Paris-Dakar rally (only to be beaten on almost the last stage by a Range Rover)? Competition pedigree indeed!!!

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=97149&item=4538300160&rd=1

 

[malcolm]

I did a bit of Googling for Groupe F. Apparently it was formed to cover cars that aren't covered by any other class. Group 2,3,and 4 cars were mentioned, as was Group B (the nutty ones).

I love the idea of a Renault 4 racing car. I'd imagine they would be a lot of fun to rally.

:clementi:

 

[Nylx]

There was a portuguese driver that raced some of the main rallys with a 4 GTL. He was in SanRemo, Sweden, Acropolis and others. Here are some picures. It was a very nice car.

 

[Chris H]

I wonder how prone to rollign the 4's were. The 5's and 11's ended up on their roofs very easily, I have a 5 min video showing various 5's and 11's rallyign and all of them crashing, most common problem was they rolled over if the co-driver farted

 

[angel]

I had seen this R4 on Acropolis Rally 2000. It is a completely normal GTL,even tyres are not rally ones. Surprisingly enough, Pinto dos Santos could keep up with the rest of the cars (mainly Corollas 1600cc gr.A). But he lost some time on an uphill stage and finished last. But the conclusion is, if someone prepared a Gr.A R4, it would have done rather well. Too bad Renault did not extend the homologation papers further than 2000.