There are very few cars in almost 30 years of motoring journalism that I've genuinely counted down the days to experience. The Renault 5 Turbo 3E is one of them.

I first saw it at Renault's Douai factory on the outskirts of Lille almost two years ago and instantly fell in love – even though the concept they showed us then looked like it was being held together in places with sticky backed plastic and gaffer tape.

But that was part of its charm. The Renault design team seemed so delighted they'd been given the go-ahead to build this spiritual successor to the poster car of the 1980s, the Renault 5 Turbo, that they'd simply turned it around as quickly as they could before somebody on the board changed their mind.

Then it made its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where crowds surrounded the air-conditioned glass box it was displayed in from the moment the gates opened. The aircon was apparently needed to stop the glue replacing the gaffer tape from melting in the summer heat.

Last week I finally got to experience the finished production car from the passenger seat, as Renault's chassis development driver took me for a couple of utterly bonkers laps of the Goodwood Motor Circuit.

And yes... it really is as joyful as it looks.

What I love the most is that the Renault 5 Turbo 3E isn't simply a standard Renault 5 wearing a wild body kit (check them out next to each other below). It shares little more than its windscreen, mirrors, door handles and rear lights with the regular Renault 5 E-Tech. Everything else has been engineered specifically for this car.

The proportions alone tell you this is something special. Measuring less than four metres long but more than two metres wide, Renault describes it as a "mini-supercar" – and it's difficult to argue with that description when you see it in the flesh. Given that my nickname is literally ‘mini-Ginny’ it feels like a car that has been designed with me in mind.

I’m happy to report that performance certainly lives up to the looks. Twin in-wheel electric motors driving the rear wheels produce 540bhp, enough to propel the Turbo 3E from 0–62mph in under 3.5 seconds. 

Yet after my laps around Goodwood with Arthur Ferriere who has developed the chassis, the power isn't actually what impressed me most.

We've reached a point where there are plenty of electric cars capable of astonishing straight-line acceleration. If I’m being honest, I’m a little bored of spec sheet battles. What's much harder is making an electric sports car genuinely entertaining.

And that's where I think the Renault becomes really interesting.

Instead of mounting its motors conventionally, Renault has integrated them directly into the rear wheels. The setup allows each wheel to be controlled independently, giving the engineers extraordinary control over how the car delivers its power. 

Combined with torque vectoring, a suspension developed by Alpine, a rally-inspired electro-hydraulic handbrake and a dedicated drift mode, the emphasis is clearly on creating something playful rather than simply fast.

Even from the passenger seat, the Turbo 3E feels fizzing and alive. Off the line speed is remarkable and it corners with an eagerness that's unusual in a modern electric performance car. I know the term that it corners ‘like it’s on rails’ is much overused in the world of motoring journalism but as Arthur hurtled down the Lavant straight and chucked it into Woodcote corner at 110mph it was hard not to think it.

The in-wheel motors deliver up to 4,800Nm of torque, but the clever bit is how that power is deployed. Because each rear wheel has its own motor, the Turbo 3E can deploy the torque at either wheel as conditions demand, firing itself out of corners with composure, and there seemed to be plenty of stopping power when it was needed.

What sets the Turbo 3E apart from other performance EVs – and gives it the fun factor – is how light it is. Carbon composite construction helps keep the weight to around 1,400kg, remarkably low for a car with a 70kWh battery. 

An 800V electrical architecture also enables charging speeds of up to 350kW, allowing a 15–80% recharge in around 15 minutes – handy if your day consists of repeated laps rather than motorway miles. 

But Arthur explained that just as much thought has been given to how this car feels off the track and on the road, as they expect many of the customers – 100 of whom will be in the UK – to want to use this as more than a car in a collection. Personally, I can’t wait for the opportunity to rock up at my local Aldi in one and throw the shopping in the back between the roll cage.

Then of course, there's the rarity. Production is limited to just 1,980 examples, a nod to the launch year of the original Renault 5 Turbo, with prices starting at around £140,000. That’s before buyers begin exploring Renault's extensive personalisation programme, which will include more than 10 liveries and an endless customisation programme. 

When I visited Renault earlier this year, design boss Laurens van den Acker told me the team genuinely believes the Turbo 3E could become one of the world's first truly collectible electric cars.

At the time, it sounded like an ambitious claim. But after finally experiencing it at Goodwood, I'm not so sure. The Turbo 3E isn't sensible. It isn't practical. And it certainly isn't cheap.

But in an era when so many electric cars have focused on efficiency, range and family friendly practicality, Renault has done something refreshingly different. It has built something that's wildly expensive, gloriously irrational and designed with one purpose in mind: to make you smile.

Judging by the grin on my face climbing out of the passenger seat, I'd say mission accomplished.