Where have they gone?
07/02/2019
Where have they gone, the small, lightweight and therefore inexpensive sports cars for the road? It doesn't always have to be a hypercar just to have some fun. A sports car doesn't need 600 hp if it weighs less than a ton, which would be very easy to achieve with today's technology.
The Renault Sport Spider weighs in at around 965 kg and is already quite well motorized with the 147 hp Clio four-cylinder engine.
After all, it has been designed from a racing car back to the road, which is particularly evident in its chassis. Of course, you can always say that more would be better, but let's be honest, what's the point with all the speed limits? A Ferrari 488 with its 670 hp, its size and above all its weight of 1475 kg is not a millimeter more fun than a Lotus Elise.
Mazda also moved in the right direction with the MX-5 NC Superlight concept study, which was presented at the IAA in Frankfurt in 2009. The prototype was created at the European Design and Development Center in Oberursel. Like the Renault Sport Spider, the roof and windshield have been dispensed with and, just like the French car, only the roll bar serves as protection in the event of a rollover. Much of the bodywork was lightweight and the interior was stripped back to make the small Japanese car an even more interesting driving machine. With its 126 hp and 995 kg, it came quite a bit closer to its big predecessor, the Lotus Elan.
