Hear the glorious history and present of ŠKODA Motorsport

Each of ŠKODA’s famous racing models is unique and unrepeatable. Including the way it sounds. Listen to the sound of historic legends and modern racing cars.

11. 11. 2021 Lifestyle MOTORSPORT

It started with the Paris–Berlin race in 1901. In the ten-strong starting field of the motorcycle and motor tricycle class, mechanic Narcis Podsedníček put in an impressive performance on his Slavia B. From then on, the world started to take note of the racing machines from Mladá Boleslav.

Now, just in time for this year’s 120^th anniversary of ŠKODA’s motorsport achievements, ŠKODA Storyboard invites you to experience an unconventional aural history: the chance to hear what various icons of Czech motorsport sound like. There’s also a glimpse of the future in the form of an electric rally car.

ŠKODA 1100 OHC

This beauty was produced between 1957 and 1960, but only two spider and two coupé units were ever built. The spider had a fibreglass body, while the coupé’s was aluminium. The engine was derived from the ŠKODA 440, with the addition of two Jikov or Weber carburettors, an aluminium cylinder head and a DOHC valvetrain. The 1089cc four-cylinder engine produced 70 kilowatts of power, and the 3.9-metre-long car could reach speeds of up to 190 kilometres an hour.

ŠKODA 200 RS

The famous and still-used RS designation – RS meaning rally sport – for ŠKODA sports cars first appeared on the 180/200 RS competition prototypes. The cars with “large capacity” engines (1.8 and 2.0 litres), which could reach speeds of up to 240 kilometres, followed in the footsteps of the Czechoslovak “RZ” models in 1974-75 before being replaced by the cult 130 RS model.

ŠKODA FAVORIT 136 L

1.3-litre OHV four-cylinder engine with 105 hp and 117 Nm of maximum torque. These were the parameters of the new car that replaced the famous rear-engined, rear-wheel drive specials from the 1989 season onwards. It was a time of plenty, with the FAVORIT regularly triumphing in the under 1.3 litre category, and solid finishes in the overall world championship standings were no exception. The competition model’s greatest achievement was an overall victory in the Formula 2 World Cup for vehicles with one driven axle a maximum engine size of two litres in 1994.

ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo

In 2015, the success of the FABIA S2000 was superseded by the new FABIA R5, which became very popular with private teams. April 2019 marked the arrival of the newly homologated ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, which was officially received by its first customer in July 2019. The lucky man was Toni Gardemeister, former ŠKODA Motorsport factory driver. To date, more than one hundred and fifty racing teams from all over the world have taken delivery of over 430 of these cars. It is therefore no wonder that the ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo has already surpassed the ten thousand customer team starts mark.

ŠKODA RE-X1 Kreisel

An experimental prototype built in collaboration with battery technology specialist Kreisel Electric hints at a possible electric motor racing future. Based on the successful ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, the rally car delivers a maximum power output of 260 kilowatts, with a maximum torque of 600 Nm. Two electric motors take care of propulsion, while a 52.6 kWh battery takes care of the electricity supply. The RE-X1 Kreisel, including the 330-kilogram battery, weighs 1,330 kilograms, which is just one kilogram more than the standard FABIA Rally2 evo.