China-based Techrules has adopted the Geneva auto show as its home stage. It showed its GT96 and AT96 concepts here in 2016, launched the Ren supercar last year, and has another new vehicle for the 2018 show. This time, it’s a variant of the Ren called the Ren RS, a stripped-down, track-focused model that uses Techrules’ turbine-hybrid powertrain and has a single-seat cockpit.
The Giugiaro-designed Ren had a three-seat configuration, with a center-mounted driver’s seat up front flanked by two set-back passenger seats. Each had an individual bubble as part of a large glass canopy that raised up and shifted to the rear in one motion. For this RS track model, the Ren underwent a fairly major reskin, with the help of L.M. Gianetti. It now has a narrow cockpit and a racing-spec roll cage, but it again uses a single-piece roof that opens as a canopy. Techrules also made the front air intakes larger for better cooling, added aero gills above the front and rear wheels, redesigned the rear diffuser, and replaced the dorsal fin with an enormous rear wing. The exposed woven carbon-fiber body is left unpainted, with only a few white-lettered decals. In addition to the carbon body, the Ren RS uses a carbon-fiber monocoque and claims a 4087-pound dry weight.
The suspension is via control arms in both the front and rear, with horizontally mounted KW three-way-adjustable coil-overs. Fifteen-inch carbon-ceramic discs with six-piston calipers do the stopping up fr...