On April 5 this year, the new Renault Megane RS Trophy-R was let loose around the Green Hell and managed to lap the 14-mile circuit in just seven minutes and 40.1 seconds, beating the Civic Type R by 3.7 seconds. That officially makes it the fastest FWD production car to ever lap the Nurburgring. Behind the wheel was Laurent Hurgon, who set a previous FWD Nurburgring lap record in the last-gen Megane RS 275 Trophy-R.

The hardcore Trophy-R is powered by the same 300-horsepower engine as the regular version of the Megane Trophy but is 286 pounds lighter and features a host of aerodynamic enhancements. Renault engineers have also fine-tuned the chassis to make the new R version better suited to the racetrack.