R

Letter designation for tires to indicate that they are radial play construction, as in "P185R13 tire", or they are for 106 mph. speed rating, as in " P245/50RR16 tire" (first R letter).

Acronym for the Royal Automobile Club (England), founded in 1897.

The rear wheels receive all the engine power. RWD is preferred over front-wheel drive (FWD) for its superior handling and acceleration capabilities. RWD provides less traction than FWD in poor road conditions because less weight is available over the drive wheels.

Known French industrialist, promoter of the Renault Company. Louis Renault was born in Paris in 1877, the youngest of the five children of Alfred and Louise Renault. In 1896 Renault won a position as a designer for Delaunay-Belleville, an engineering firm that later entered the motor industry. In that year he applied for his first patent, for a steam generator, and sold it to his employer. Together with his brothers he built a series of small cars and formed the Société Renault Frères (1898). He began racing, but turned to manufacturing and produced the Renault tank (1918). During the German occupation of France in World War 2 the factory continued to produce military equipment, leading to his imprisonment on collaboration charges. He died in prison in Paris, while awaiting trial. His automobile company became the largest in France, and was, later, nationalized.