My love affair with the Renault Clio dates back to 2011 ... were gone (sorry kids), replaced by a 3.0-litre V6 sending all 227bhp to the rear wheels. Some 1,631 were built between 2001 and ...

A manual six-speed transmission was fitted as standard, and sent power to the rear wheels. Just two years later, Renault ...

Apart from the race car, this was the first time the world at large had had the chance to sample a Clio with a 3-litre V6 engine in the space traditionally used for rear seats and a boot.

However humble your starting point – and they don’t come much more humble than a front-drive shopper – sacrificing the rear seats for ... for a mid-engined V6 Clio racer that would spawn ...