'97 RenaultSport Spider Coupe w/ Sadev - Q's

New to RAOC and hope the group can offer insight into the origins of this 1997 RenaultSport Coupe I recently purchased in Japan.





Vin VMKAF0H05167549XX so not a Trophy Chassis but race prep with Spider style Trophy sequential Sadev gearbox and full cage. But more interior trim and gauges than the Trophy cars.

I've seen reference to a small series of Coupes in mid 90's as well as 1996 Le Mans entrant 'Renault Spyder Coupe' and how it more closely resembles the open Spider than later RJ Racing / TS Helem LM GT2.

Any members able to shed some light on road-variants of the Le Mans design-effort? Or other insight into who may have constructed this 2000cc GT?

Thanks in advance.

Adam C. in Seattle

[BIG_MVS]

Wow that's a Doozy!

Never seen a hard top Spider before.

[phildini]

I like a lot

[simontaylor]

looking very nice

Hi, have seen lots of facebook/twitter Japanese posts about that car. but don't know much of its history or who did the work.
Check the dampers to see if they are Bilstien or Penske with remote reservoirs, that will be a good indication of how much Spider Trophy is in the car.
Get some photos up with the covers open!

defo need a roof in Seattle!

Really like this. Looks cool

Hi, have seen lots of facebook/twitter Japanese posts about that car. but don't know much of its history or who did the work.
Check the dampers to see if they are Bilstien or Penske with remote reservoirs, that will be a good indication of how much Spider Trophy is in the car.
Get some photos up with the covers open!

defo need a roof in Seattle!

Thank you for the pointer. Will share more photos and details later in the month when I'm in front of the car and can dig in.

Until then - if you're able to point me towards the discussions, that would be helpful. Also, for documenting the build I see Application for certificate of authenticity https://fr.renaultclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/demande-certificat-dauthenticite_en.pdf. Any other resources I should be aware of for documenting the build from Dieppe?

Happy to report from Nagoya, that I've been able to spend a bit of time with the Spider. Had seen a few of these up close over the years but definitely interesting piece of work. The hard-top is removable and the air-scoop must be removed to allow the reat hatch to swing upwards.

Driving on the off-side along these narrow roads with the unfamiliar transmission was a little unnerving at first, but car runs well with a healthy bark and transmission seems to shift as it should. Made it back to the Brokers yard without incident.

Here are a few more photos - appreciate any additional observations or questions as I work out next-steps for export to USA...

thanks for the photos. surprisingly standard looking car under the skin. Exhaust/ dampers/airbox (aside from the connection to the airscoop) etc. Wondering about the ECU, The engine should cut briefly when the gearshift is pulled to allow flat shifting, if its a standard ECU I doubt that will work. You do have the later sadev gear display which needs setting up (button push) each time you start the car. But an improvement over the original which usually suffer display segment problems.

If that's a standard spider in there, it seems mad that Renault didn't make a hardtop like that for the standard car, it would have convinced a few more people in northern countries like ours that the car was more than a track day vehicle. Looks great, unlike the soft tops that spoil the lines (IMHO).

That does look good and yes agree the soft top just looks ...I'd rather get wet

Looks awesome - lovely and clean - well done - great purchase. Please provide updates when you get the car home.

The roof is clearly very interesting and must be a production version rather than a custom job so any details from that would be appreciated

I also see from the accessories brochure that a stereo was an option - is there or does anyone know the parts list so I can recreate this - also where did the the speakers fit?

I would like a stereo in mine or even an ipod/iphone link somehow.

selling so soon?

https://racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/80782/1997-renault-sport-spider-coupe---road-track

Maybe it can't be imported to the USA due to documentation issues? They can be very tricky on importation of cars with out USA type approval unless they are very old.
That's why old land rovers are worth so much there (according to my son), once they are in and legal, they are worth a lot as getting additional car imported in is now impossible.