Renault’s Megane R.S. Trophy is now the venerable French marque’s fastest car ever produced, establishing a blistering lap time at Nurburgring of 8 minutes 7.97 seconds — the record for a front-wheel drive car (eclipsing the record established by its predecessor, the Megane R.S., which clocked in at 8 minutes 17 secs). Unfortunately for all those in the US, we’ll just have to admire from afar as it’s been decades that Renault has imported cars to our shores — with no signs of them pulling a FIAT and re-establishing a foothold here. Too bad, it would be a thrill to take the very limited edition 265 hp Megane R.S. Trophy out on the tracks —its handling is said to be superlative, clocking a 0-to-60 mph time in under 6 seconds, with a top speed of 158 mph. For a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, that is a furious top end. The Renault Megane R.S. Trophy also features (fabric or leather) Recaro seats with yellow seat belts and detailing, new rear lip spoiler, 19″ Speedline gloss black alloy wheels with red rim and LED daytime running lights. Even with all that performance, the 265 lbs-ft torque R.S. Trophy still boasts an impressive 28 mpg efficiency — all for about $52,000 (€35,500). Even if you do live in Europe don’t sleep — only 500 of the Megane R.S. Trophies will be produced by Renault.