The Spider, or project W94 as it was codenamed, debuted at the Geneva motor show in 1995 and was launched the year after, when the Williams Renault F1 team was at the height of its powers with its Newey-designed cars. The perfectly sound idea was clearly to capitalise on both this motorsport glory and the sports car boom of the ’90s. But where Lotus sold over 10,000 Series 1 Elises, just 1685 Sport Spiders were built, between 1996 and 1999. What’s more, while the Elise garnered the ’96 Performance Car of the Year award and won Car magazine’s handling test, the Spider didn’t even make the shortlist of either. Surely, though, if Norfolk’s finest hadn’t been around, the RSS would have been more popular?

Initially the largish three-spoke steering wheel matches the suspension’s calmness, with no wriggling or tugging over the busy surface. But as soon as you turn it a fraction the system weights up, floods information back and the car responds instantly, darting left or right without hesitation.

Renault Spider

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