I think the biggest thing that kept me from being a preteen girl in the late '90s, other than my age and gender, was an inability to sit through the movie Titanic without retching. Still, there's no denying the impact of the movie, or the pivotal role played by a certain windows-dripping-with-condensation 1912 Renault.

Founded by the Italian racing driver Amédée Gordini, the Gordini company was a Formula One constructor who got their best result, a third place, at the 1950 British Grand Prix, the very first F1 race. Gordini later became what AMG is to Mercedes-Benz, an in-house engine tuner who created hot versions of the company’s…

One of the greatest automotive films is Claude Lelouch's C'etait un Rendezvous, a nine-minute high-speed run through the streets of Paris ending with the hero getting the girl. French rally driver Jean Ragnotti paid tribute with his own drive through Paris, only with a slightly different ending.

There's wild oversteer, brutal crashes, NASCAR-grade drafting, and it all comes from pint-sized European econoboxes. This is the 1981 European Championship of the Renault R5 Turbo Cup. They're tiny, they're adorable, and yet they're also these fire breathing mid-engined monsters. Watch them tear each other to…

After driving the new BMW M5 to death, our friend Nino Karotta, a.k.a. Hungarian Wolverine, is back with something completely different: a pleasant, autumnal ride in a Renault Avantime, the greatest modern GT to emerge from Europe.

"For me, a car is like cooking," says the Italian chef who covered the interior of this one in Penne. "It is a discovery, a movement, a journey to other people." In addition to this pasta car, there's one that's been filled with Louis XIV furniture and one that's been made into a library.

As this commercial demonstrates in a very literal and somewhat silly manner, the 1983 Renault Alliance was the car that closed the gap between European technology and affordability.

The Porsche 911 GT2 RS is the fastest, most powerful road-going Porsche ever to slither out of Weissach on its belly. The Renault Megane RS is 250 horsepowers' worth of Volkswagen GTI bait. Here they are together on the Nürburgring. And, go.

The incredibly confusing mess of the two Team Loti in Formula One has, as expected, apparently been resolved at an FIA meeting. From next year on, the gold-and-black Lotus cars will be called Lotuses, while the yellow-and-green Lotus cars will be called Caterhams.

I'm no Francophile. I like certain French directors and adore certain French women. I can't stand French hip hop but I'll be damned if I don't love a French car. The stranger the better. And most French cars are weird in a way that American cars should be.

We’re back! After a four-week summer break, Formula One has returned to Spa-Francorchamps. And it was overtake city, crazy qualifying and terribly gorgeous drives. Warning: spoilers.

Confirming widespread reprorts, Lotus Renault said today that Bruno Senna, nephew of racing great Ayrton Senna, would run the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend, bumping Nick Heidfeld. This can't be just another marketing ploy by Lotus, right?

There really is nothing like the glory of changing weather conditions for sprinkling fairy dust on a Grand Prix. A shot of rain on a cool day was enough to turn the tedium of the Hungaroring into a sparkling race to remember. It also didn’t hurt to have the sultan of capricious weather on the grid, hungry for a win.…

If you needed another reminder why you really don't want to get rear ended by a commercial truck while sitting in your car, here it is. This German crash test is intended to show what happens when a truck plows into cars parked behind another stopped commercial truck.

The sound of an F1 engine has changed so much over the years. While I like the high pitch whine of the current cars, it sounds more like a missile being fired than a race car. But I shouldn't complain as I'm sure one day they will be electric or something that doesn't make any noise. That'll really suck. Because I…

Renault broke their own 'Ring record this past week when they recorded a very impressive 8:07.79 around the Nordschleife. The time was good enough to make Renault's new Megane RS Trophy the fastest production spec FWD car to ever lap the Nürburgring. While watching the record setting lap we had to keep reminding…

For this month's Pikes Peak climb, the plucky Dacia team will tackle the mountain with a Duster, tweaked with a few modifications including a twin-turbo V6 from the Nissan GT-R boosted to 850 hp. Hello, world's hottest clown shoe.

Looks like Top Gear's planning a show on mini hot hatches like the Abarth Fiat 500, Citröen DS3-R and Renault Clio RS. Bystanders caught them chilling in Lucca, Italy's Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, a space large enough for some serious paving-stoned hoonage. Great news!