A Brief History:
In 1993 Renault decided to enter the premier touring car championship which was contested in the UK. This was to be an exploratory year using the Renault 19 as a base. However, this was a precursor to the main aim which was to compete the following year with the all-new Renault Laguna to be launched in 1994. MCT was chosen to be the new race team for the Works effort and with the signing of the current reigning champion, Tim Harvey and his exciting teammate Alain Menu, the intention for a serious attempt om the championship was clear. As the season progressed the cars evolved, and the learning was considerable. The most significant development was the introduction mid-season of the Hewland Engineering HP sequential gearbox. Following some of our competitors’ complaints regarding our wheels, we had to fit some covers, these became the cars signature look and were internally known as the “Bodica`s”, until new designs arrived.
There were 4 cars planned: chassis 1 was to be the French based test car, Chassis 2 was the Tim Harvey race car, Chassis 3 was Alain Menus race car, and the final chassis was to be a UK test car.
| Chassis 1 | This chassis was the French based test car. This car was destroyed at Nagarro during a Renault promotional day and was later turned into the Board Room coffee table. |
| Chassis 2 | This was the first UK built race car which was designated to Tim Harvey. This car won possibly the most prestigious race of the season at Donnington Park in the wet. This was Renaults first BTCC victory ever and incidentally was the support race to Ayrton Senna`s European GP legendary race victory. This car eventually finished 11th in the championship. |
| Chassis 3 | This chassis was the second UK race car and was designated to Alain Menu. This car finished second at the Donnington race to Tim Harvey, however claimed victory some months later at the second visit to Donnington Park, finally finishing 10th in the championship. |
| Chassis 4 | This was the UK MCT development car, testing many of the new ideas for the following season. This car at the end of 1993 was rebuilt and resides in the Renault Paris private collection to this day. |
At the end of the 1993 season, the 2 race cars (chassis 2 & 3) were supplied to Harlow Motorsport to run the following year as an independent. Only chassis 3 was raced and chassis 2 became a parts car to keep Nigel Alban`s car running during 1994. Chassis 3 seems to have been racing many years later in local events and is believed destroyed in Wales in the late 2000`s.
The Journey Home:
MCT had previously stumbled across and purchased our last remaining Renault Laguna from the 1994 season, this spurred us on to see if we could find the Renault 19 before it was consigned to history. Over the years, Chassis 2 kept appearing on various websites or forums, moving from one prospective project to another. Eventually, in April 2015 MCT found her in the back of a Nottingham Renault Clio tunning specialists’ garage. As soon as we saw the car, still in the original paint work and sporting some of the parts that we had actually made over 20 years earlier, we persuaded the then owner that she should come home to MCT the original builders of the car. The deal was done, and she was purchased. A period of collecting whatever original parts could be found started. The Renault Sport Sadev gearbox was found, the only set of development rear suspension was also unearthed and finally an original set of wheels were found and purchased from a VW tuner in Belgium. Now the real work started. Leggero Forte and Prism Motorsport joined forces with MCT, and a 5-year restoration began. On the 22nd of August 2022 at Bicester Heritage track, 29 years since she last turned a wheel in anger, Renault 19 Chassis 2 back with MCT hit the track!
