An association of Swedish Dacia dealers has unveiled the V6-powered Logan that will compete in the 2013 season of the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship (STCC). This Swedish touring car entry marks Dacia’s third adventure into motorsports since it was purchased by Renault in 1999. A year ago, the Romanian automaker participated in the Andros Trophy with a heavily-modified Duster SUV, and a revised version of that car competed in the 2012 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, but suffered a heavy crash.
The Logan is famous in South Africa for being the first Dacia-derived import by Renault into the country. Renault imported the Logan from India, but has since started building Sandero hatchbacks at Nissan’s local plant in Roslyn, when the cost of importing became too great.
It appears the low-cost brand will now be infused with a bit of racing pedigree. The Logan will use a Renault-sourced 3.5-litre V6, reportedly sending 300 kW to the rear wheels (no longer front-wheel drive) via a 6-speed sequential gearbox, enabling the racing Logan to reach 100 km/h in three seconds and onto a top speed, gear ratio dependent, in excess of 265 km/h. This is possible because the car tips the scales at just 1 100 kg, thanks to its lightweight tubular chassis.
The race-bound Logan will make its track debut during the STCC test days. The eight race STCC season is scheduled to start on May 3rd, 2013, on the Kunts-stop Ring, Sweden. The racing arm of Renault South Africa is said to be watching the racing Logan’s progress very closely.
They will consider a similar Logan-based racing project to replace the RenaultSport Meganes in the Bridgestone Production Car Series. The normally aspirated Logans won’t be eligible to complete in Class T (for Turbo), as the Meganes have done previously, but an insider at Renault has told us this project could be much more cost-effective. “Who needs a fancy car with race-bred engineering like any RenaultSport – when you can take a cheap shell and just throw a massive engine in it”, the insider said.
