The Renault Fuego, Traverso and Berta: 40 years of an unforgettable car that has had an invincible company

The Renault Fuego coupe was not a popular car. Neither in France nor in Argentina. but here resists like an unforgettable modelwhich marked an era, both in terms of design and car competition.

An Argentine phenomenon that meets 40 years since the beginning of its manufacture national team in Cordoba and which was celebrated by Renault in the best possible way.

In addition to bringing together the owners of the iconic coupe, he was able to bring together two emblems of national motoring, Juan Maria Traverso and Oreste Bertaprotagonists with the Fuego of the most glorious era that a brand has known in national motorsport.

That participation of the Fuego in the race, unbeatable for 8 consecutive years in the TC2000 and with memorable performances by Magro di Ramalloit was an essential part of achieving the place that this model has today in the memory of the Argentine public.

A team and two leaders who did not speak to each other

The meeting of these two great national motorsports had a particular history. On the one hand, they had not seen each other for years and, on the other, since they shared a team the relationship was almost nil. They did not speak.

“The last time we met, our hair was a different color,” Traverso (71) recalled during a lecture in the auditorium of the French brand’s plant in Santa Isabel, Córdoba.

“It fills me with joy to be here” acknowledged Berta (83), the most important developer of racing vehicles who gave national motorsport and the soul of the Argentine Mission that brought Torino to the Nürburgring.

The Renault Fuego debuted in the TC2000 during the 1985 season, but only the following year did it with an official team, with the preparation of Berta and made up of the drivers Traverso and Ernesto Soto.

The skinny has won four competitions and won the category title. The following year the champion was Silvio Oltra, who drove an unofficial Fuego but which also had Berta’s lineup.

Between 1988 and 1993 the dominance of the official Renault Fuego was overwhelming: Traverso won 5 more championships (1988, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993) and Miguel Ángel Guerra (1989) won another.

But that amount of wins the team has achieved doesn’t mean it was all rosy, especially between the two strongest personalities the group had.

“It was a time when the driver and the team manager usually weren’t in a relationship,” said Traverso. “We had a lot of personality differences. But despite our bad relationship, we admired each other“.

Those differences have been seen for as long as the team lasted with Fuego. So much so that Berta didn’t give Traverso to test the evolutions because “the car is great, it is great”, she said The skinny and we did not need that, “complained the Magician with the reason of an engineer.

That hasn’t stopped them from dominating the national motorsports scene at TC2000. In its step into the category, the Renault Fuego won 66 races.

But getting the Fuego on the track was a challenge. Bertha acknowledges that “it was said that front-wheel drive cars couldn’t win a race. I started trying to understand the problem and we made changes that had never been done in the world. “

Such innovations included “a rear wheel steering. We have also modified the suspension to aid in cornering. We were the first in the world to do such a thing. “

The burning fire

In particular, it is worth mentioning that of April 3, 1988, in general Roca, when Traverso won the race with the car on fire. Not even the best publicist could have designed it so well.

“The car suffered an oil leak,” he recalled. The skinny-. From the inside I saw through the holes in the floor that there was fireBut I wasn’t worried. “

Traverso confessed that he was “lucky enough to be in a world of motorsports that I copied. For example, I copied Luis Gradassi. He said As long as the car goes, you go, even if the car broke down or went out. I’ve always done it and it went well for me. “

That day he applied that formula more than ever and, with that fire under the car, he was first at the checkered flag.

Traverso detailed who finished second “(Silvio) Oltra didn’t overtake me because she thought I was going to stop and when she realized I wasn’t going to stop it was too late”.

Berta admitted that she had not been on the circuit that day and that when she saw what Traverso did “I was moved. A normal pilot would have seen smoke and gone down“.

The triumphal path of the Renault team was unstoppable. “After every Sunday I’ve won, On Monday, the units were sold out in dealerships“he stressed The skinny.

He recalled a particular anecdote when his main sponsor, a jeans brand, launched the black pants on the market and asked for the car to be painted that color.

The problem was with the Renault, as the Fuego did not come out of the factory in black and they shouted for it to be white again because people wanted to buy “the black Fuego from Traverso”.

The meeting between that of Ramallo and the Magician of High Grace It ended with smiles and hugs, unthinkable 30 years ago when they shared a team.

For Berta Traverso “he was a great driver. Although our relationship was very tense, I appreciate him very much”. Y The skinny believes that “we should have a Formula 1 team called Berta”.

Fuego, the car that broke the mold

The Renault Fuego coupe was officially presented at Geneva Motor Show 1980 and immediately began to be marketed in France and other European markets.

The designer Michel Jardin, supervised by Robert Opron, took care of the shapes of this model which took the basis of the R 18 and transformed it into an attractive and proportioned coupe whose final touch was the drop tail type fast returnwith dome-shaped tempered bezel.

The ribbed plastic moldings, which ran almost the entire side of the vehicle or the hidden door handles, also gave it a distinctive character. Renault, without having a tradition in coupes, has created a model that has broken the mold.

Although the French brand later began to use the expression big inside to promote the Clio, it could have easily been done with this model that it delivered to improper interior comfort of its measures and proportions.

In place of Turin

A year later, with the reopening of imports, the Renault Fuego began to be imported into our country. And it was the anticipation of his industrial arrival. The production of the Turin was coming to an end, after 15 years, and of the Renault he wanted to maintain that participation in sports models.

The road was paved because the R 18 was produced in Santa Isabel since 1980, a model with which it shared many components. Just remember that when the production of the coupe began, the content of the domestic parts was 50% and only reached 63% a year later. Unthinkable proportions in such a globalized sector.

The configuration chosen for domestic production was the GTX, which came with the 1,995 cm3 M 2000 engine that the R 18 had, but with modifications that allowed it to increase its power to 103 hp. Thus he could reach a top speed of 185 km / h and accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h in 11 seconds.

The subsequent closure of imports after the Malvinas war left it served by a sports car market: the Fuego it stood out widely for its design and interior comfort.

The standard equipment included electric windows, air conditioning, AM / FM radio with cassette holder, electromagnetic lock, digital clock and courtesy light for the passenger. The front seats also made a difference, with a side “petal” design that provided excellent lateral support.

When France decided to stop producing the coupe, in Argentina, progress has been made with its restructuring. In 1985 it incorporated hydraulic steering and, as an option, a three-speed automatic transmission. The board iron has been updated and central locking with infrared remote control has been incorporated.

Starting in 1987, a new 2.2-liter engine was added that produced 116 hp: it reached a top speed of 193 km / h and acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h in 9 seconds.

The equipment introduced an on-board computer with 8 functions and electrically operated exterior mirrors. In addition, it was equipped with Disc brakes on the 4 wheels which transformed the Renault sports car into the first car in the national sector with that equipment.

GTA, the most Argentine fire

A year later it had its most important cosmetic update. A Californian designer made the changes and with them the Fuego GTA (the A for Argentina) was born. It became all body color and new skirting boards and moldings were incorporated.

The last important novelty was the aesthetic aspect of the GTA Max, which stood out for improvements to its engine that brought its power up to 123 hp and for the stop light it integrated the rear deflector with a double exhaust outlet.

In September 1992 the industrial life of the Renault Fuego ended. Total 19,952 units were produceda figure that does not even leave it close to being among the most produced models by the French brand in its Santa Isabel plant.

But undoubtedly it is one of the most emblematic to come off that assembly line, due to the revolution caused by its design and its overwhelming passage in sports competitions.

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Gabriele Silveira

Source: Clarin

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