Skoda is celebrating an important jubilee this year – 40 years of models marked with the RS abbreviation. This acronym stands for Rally Sport . Let's take a closer look at the 180 and 200 RS types that started it all. Only two examples of the type 200 RS and one 180 RS were produced.
Skoda (that is, AZNP Mladá Boleslav) had no real reason to produce a purebred racing special at that time. The automobile company was supposed to deal mainly with the production of ordinary family and commercial vehicles, because the demand in Czechoslovakia at the time still exceeded the supply. But Skodas have proven themselves very well as competition cars. In addition, the first year of a new car competition – Skoda Rallye – was planned for 1974. And when the car company was the main partner of the new motor company, it also wanted to prepare a special car capable of winning for the new competition. Vladimír Hubáček with the Alpine A110 reigned the domestic championship at the time. Even then, this was basically a radically modified sports car derived from Renault with regard to participation in rallies. And in Italy, the legendary Lancia Stratos HF was just born, a special designed from the beginning for racing on unpaved roads. Skoda decided to build its own racing car with a large displacement engine. However, since there was no chance to complete the production of the homologation series, the car never received international homologation and could only compete in domestic competitions. The project was led by Ing. Mirko Cerveny .
At first glance, the bodywork is clearly inspired by the 110 R model. However, it doesn't really have any parts in common with the classic erke. The pontoon is much lower and the whole car is also much wider than a normal bath. Even the roof is 15 cm lower. The length of the car was exactly 4 meters, the width of the coupe was a respectable 1680 mm and the height, on the other hand, only 1190 mm. The proportions look incredibly sporty even by today's standards. In the rear was a four-cylinder from the Skoda 720 prototype with two twin Weber 45 DCOE carburettors . In two cars it had a volume of 1997 cc, in the third it was "only" 1771 cc. The word only really belongs in quotes, even the weaker 180 RS still had more than half a liter more volume than the standard erko. The output of the stronger two-liter was 120 kW at 6000 rpm. and the maximum torque of 210 Nm you have already found by a thousand revolutions. below. The weaker version had to settle for 113 kW. The rest of the car had to be enough for the powerful engine, so given the limited supply, the factory team reached for Koni shock absorbers and a Girling braking system for the front axle. At the rear, there were standard drum brakes under thirteen-inch rims. The five-speed gearbox came from Porsche cars. How apt, when even an ordinary erk was nicknamed the "Czech Porsche". The maximum speed of the weaker version was 210, and the stronger version was said to be up to 250 km/h. However, everything depended on the transmission. This was also helped by the total weight of 805 kg. Although the body was steel, the roof and front hood were made of aluminum and the rear hood was made of laminate.
The crews of Ing. Jiří Šedivý and Jiří Janeček , Josef Srnský and Ing. Jiří Syrovátko (they drove the 180 RS type) and Oldřich Horsák and Ing. Jiří Motal. The first start was the 1974 Ida rally in Náchod, where Šedivý withdrew due to a breakdown, as did Horsák at the Barum rally of the same year. All 3 cars started at the first Skoda Rally in 1974. Although two of them had an accident, the crew of Ing. Jiří Šedivý and Jiří Janeček finished the competition in fourth position . A year later, Horsák was second in the same competition. Srnský then started at the circuit in Schleiz , where he finished second. Already in 1975, the career of the type 130 RS took off, which could also compete abroad, and riders won a number of valuable victories with it. The Type 200 RS will forever remain the first RS in Skoda's history. And let's hope that one of the two surviving examples (one in the Skoda Auto museum collection, the other in a private collection) will continue to be seen at motoring events, such as this year's Rally Bohemia .
Photo: Skoda Auto, Autowp, Autokaleidoscope, Foltyn, Retro-auto-moto, S2000.webnode
