Rally good: Skoda makes rally version of Fabia wagon
Czech car maker shows it really does have a sense of humour - builds rally car to terrify whole familySkoda is set to stun enthusiasts at next week’s GTI meet at Worthersee, Austria, by unveiling a full-blown rally version of its Fabia estate.
The Volkswagen-owned manufacturer could have simply slapped a body kit on the standard Fabia Combi, added some 18-inch wheels and created a rally replica, but instead the wagon concept is based on the actual works Fabia R5 rally car.
Behind the wider wheel arches lurks the same advanced four-wheel drive, five-speed sequential gearbox, while under the bonnet is the rally car’s FIA-approved near-200kW 1.6-litre petrol turbo (that comes with anti-lag as standard).
Performance is dependent on gearing but a 0-100km/h time of less than 4.0 seconds is easily achievable – even for the wagon – since the R5 category demands all vehicles weigh 1230kg.
With an FIA price cap of $250,000 for the R5 category the regular Fabia uses many standard parts from the regular hatch.
Despite this, last year the R5’s were only a second slower per kilometre compared to the million dollar state-of-the-art WRC cars.
Sadly, Skoda’s not expected to go the whole hog and homologate the flame-spitting, gravel-loving R5 wagon since it would involve costly re-engineering to pass mandatory crash tests.
Skoda isn’t the only car-maker expected to roll out a surprise for the annual GTI meet in Austria. Volkswagen is also expected to be readying something special for the 200,000 tuning and motorsport enthusiasts.
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