Skoda Octavia RS Bonneville

Skoda tried to break one world record on the salt flat in Bonneville last year. And that, as you yourself will admit, is quite a challenge. How did everything go? Read on!

What's going on?

Last year Skoda celebrated 10 years of RS models (in UK vRS) in Great Britain , and the representative office there decided to celebrate it properly. For several months, they were developing a special for the Bonneville salt lake race , where races are held every year to break various speed records. This Skoda wanted to attack the record among turbocharged production two-liter cars , which was worth 348 km/h and was established in 1998. As a basic goal, the target was set to exceed 200 m/h, which is 322 km/h .

Technique

In order for Skoda to be able to handle this, some of their cars had to be modified accordingly. The choice fell on the Octavia vRS . The Skoda team secretly developed this machine for several months in Milton Keynes (including Red Bull F1 headquarters) in cooperation with the leading English tuning company REVO Technik . And in those few months we could see the result for the first time!

The Octavia vRS has been completely reduced by 80 mm and got a new subframe with a racing radiator. The car is also equipped with an internal roll bar, a brake parachute, fire extinguishers and protective grills in the windows. To make the aerodynamics perfect, this special features 15-inch Octavia Greenline II steel wheels shod with GoodYear Eagle Landspeed tires .

As for the engine, the basis is the same as in the classic vRS – i.e. the four-cylinder 2.0 TSI . But that's where all the similarities end! The standard turbo was replaced by a better Garret turbo with a maximum boost pressure of 1.93 bar. The car no longer runs on Natural 95, but on racing fuel with 120 octane . The gearbox is also different – the classic 6-speed manual has been replaced by a 6-speed manual originally from the Octavia Greenline II. The front disc brakes also come from Greenlin.

The result of these modifications? This crazy Octavia has an output of 441 kW, which is 600 horses ! The torque of 450 Nm peaks at 6,000 to 7,700 rpm. The maximum speed was set at a basic value of 200 m/h + ( 322 km/h +). The curb weight is then lower than the standard version, specifically 1450 kg .

Breaking the record

As this title says, the record that is mentioned at the beginning of the article has been broken! But it was not easy!

Already on Monday, August 15, 2011 , the team tried to break the set 200 m/h with a special Octavia driven by Richard Meaden . On the first attempt, the car started at a speed of 195.69 m/h. Even in the next four attempts, 200 m/h per hour was not exceeded. It wasn't until the sixth attempt that Richard Meaden managed to break 200 m/h, specifically at a speed of 202.15 m/h, which is 325.32 km/h ! But the technicians weren't satisfied with that…

Thanks to breaking 200 m/h so early, the team decided to attack the official record among supercharged two-liter production cars . And on Friday, August 19, 2011 at 7:45 in the morning , it did! Richard Meaden drove on Thursday, August 18, 2011 at a speed of 225.513 m/h ( 362.6 km/h ) and on Friday in the opposite direction even 228.647 m/h ( 367.7 km/h )! The average speed from these two attempts is then taken as the record. The resulting record speed therefore has a value of 227.08 m/h which is 365.45 km/h ! This speed is also recognized by the Southern California Timing Association as a world record among turbocharged production two-liter cars.