With the raining falling hard during the closing hours of our TIMETOATTACK finale for 2012, we caught up with Renault’s Reza Mutalib and Denis Lian who entered the fray along with a few Renault owners in their own stock Megane RS 250 Cup and one Clio RS
Why has Renault decided to enter the TIMETOATTACK?
Reza Mutalib (RM): What we’re doing is to ensure the performance of Megane (RS 250 Club Sport), as well as to showcase their capabilities out on the track, you see there’s only so much that advertising and marketing can do to provide awareness, but it doesn’t give you a reputation and that’s built out on the track. We’ve even brought our owners out here as well and entered them to compete, so we’re here to ensure that they get to ultimately enjoy themselves with what the car is capable of doing.
So what’s the Megane RS 250 Cup got under the hood?
Well, it’s a turbocharged 2.0L 4-cylinder petrol engine that’s capable of 250bhp at 5,500rpm and 340Nm of torque at 3,000rpm and coupled to a 6-speed manual gearbox. The Megane also comes equipped with a set of Brembo brakes; 350mm slotted discs for the front and 290mm slotted for the rears.
Other than some competitive fun, what’s the best part of TTA that you like best?
For me, it’s the best place to see all the unique cars from around the country and hanging around with old friends.
So Dennis (Lian), what’s the fastest time you’ve done so far?
We’ve managed to do a 2mins 38.1s so far, but I’m not too sure what we’ve managed to do just now with the cooler temperatures after the first shower. I think we can go faster, this morning was really hot and it may have over-fed the tyres with heat. I think the green Gti (again Bambee?) seems to be the hot favourite to beat today. But it’s not about outright power of the car, it’s mostly about the handling of the car and the Megane chassis is by far a whole generation ahead of any other FF cars out there.
So how do you like the RS 250 Cup’s handling today?
Honestly, I personally hate FWD (Front-Wheeled Drive) cars, but this is one exception that I make because it doesn’t feel like one, it’s more like a RWD and it’s because of this that I really like the Megane RS 250 Cup. When you’re trailing braking into corners, be it fast or slow, you can actually flick the tail out if you want and you can’t do it that easily with any other FF car, not even the Focus RS nor the VWs. I’ve even won gymkhana events with this, stock, only thing we needed to do was to change out the rear disc brakes to help it bite better.
This is your second TTA, how do you like it so far?
I’m loving it, I won it the last time I was here so it’s great and I’m loving the competition and the whole atmosphere. You know this is really going back to grassroots competition and I’m hoping it’ll go onwards and upwards. There’s always room for improvement and I seriously think that it can only get better.
Before ending the interview, it seems that Denis Lian managed to clinche the top spot of the time sheets, followed by Shedden Ee’s green Bambee Golf GTi, which was trailed by the other four Renault owners who came to compete as well. And might we add, the Renault Megane RS 250 Cup also won the Performance Car of the Year (2012) at the Autocar COTY Awards that was held in Sepang during the TimeToAttack challenge. Something Renault will undoubtedly be boasting about soon.
