Despite a dubious start when it was launched in 1985, the Renault Espace went on to win over the British public and kick off the MPV trend, much in the same way the Nissan Qashqai did 20 years later for SUVs.
But after a decade on sale (the Espace II of 1991 was essentially just a reskin of the original), and in the face of upcoming competition from Chrysler, Citroën, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Peugeot, Vauxhall and Volkswagen, Renault felt it needed to make some noise about its people carrier.
And what better way to do it than by teaming up with the Williams Formula 1 team, which was then at the peak of its powers, having dominated the 1992 and 1993 F1 world championships with a Renault V10 powering its cars?
Thus the one-off Espace F1 was created. Built by Renault's production partner Matra, it was an extreme machine. It was built on a carbonfibre chassis, the aft section of which was sourced directly from the Alain Prost-piloted 1993 Williams FW14, suspension and all. The body was a carbonfibre-reinforced version of the standard Espace's bodywork with appropriate bulges, vents and spoilers affixed.
Power came from the FW14's naturally aspirated 3.5-litre, 40-valve V10, producing around 800bhp and 520lb ft and capable of revving beyond 13,000rpm. This was mounted in the middle of the car, where the kids usually go. It sent drive to the rear wheels through a six-speed, semi-automatic sequential gearbox.
Floor it from a standstill and you'd hit 62mph in 2.8sec, 120mph in 6.9sec, and top out at 194mph.
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Anyone know if it still runs
Anyone know if it still runs/when last ran? Liberty would probably let it run around at a couple of tracks as a demo in F1 now.
Hi Phil,
Hi Phil,
The Espace F1 currently lives in Matra's museum in the Loire region of France. It's displayed at shows, but I have no idea whether it runs. Those engines are old and complex to fire up, though, so I doubt it, to be honest, but I'd love to hear otherwise.
F1
I's much rather watch, and listen to, a grid of these than the current crop of Green Party F1 stuff
Wasn't there talk of it
Wasn't there talk of it becoming the F1 safety car? Suppose it would have been way too tempramental for that, if not hilarious.