850bhp Dacia Duster revealed

27 May, 2011 6:39pm Jack Rix Comments

Wild rally-car with tuned Nissan GT-R engine will tackle the Pikes Peak hillclimb next month.

Dacia is supposedly Renault's value for money sub-brand, but this monstrous new model suggests it has big ambitions of its own. Based on the Duster, the No Limit rally car is the most extreme interpretation of the crossover the firm's engineers could conjure up.

Lying underneath the tubular chassis, lightweight composite bodywork and the cartoonish aerodynamic add-ons is a turbocharged 3.8-litre V6 engine based on the Nissan GT-R's unit. It's been tuned to produce an enormous 850bhp, channelled through a six speed sequatial gearbox.

Developed by Tork Engineering with help from Renaultsport, the rally car will be raced at the famous Pikes Peak hillclimb in Colorado on June 26.

The car will be piloted by Frech driver Jean-Philippe Dayraut who said: "The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is the only event where you get to keep a monster like this in check while drifting at speeds of 200 km/h (124 mph) on a course which features a mix of asphalt and dirt. I can't think of any other form of motorsport where such cars are authorized."

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