Horuga, the Sheppy

As in most communist countries, the car manufacturing in Soviet Russia was far behind the technology offered in western nations. So it came that up to the 80s, the Zaporozhets was Russia’s people’s car. But by that time it already was extremely outdated, featuring a rear-mounted air-cooled V4 engine with 30 to 40hp and the 60s styling. So it was time for a new “car for everyone”.

The FIAT Coupé 20V Turbo was the Coupé’s top spec and was equipped with a turbocharged 2litre Inline-5 engine, coupled to a six speed transmission and powering the front wheels. With 217hp and a weight of 1310kg the car was able to accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in only 6.5 seconds (6.3s for the Turbo Plus) and was capable of a top speed of 250 km/h (240km/h in the case of the earlier five-speed gearbox). At the time it was released it was the fastest FWD car in the world and even more than 20 years later it’s still the fastest car FIAT ever built.

While browsing the classifieds looking for a cheap trackday car I stumbled across a few of these here. That’s the Mitsubishi Colt CA0 GTi, a little hot hatch that most people barely notice. The car was built between 1992 and 1996 and was equipped with a naturally aspirated 4G93 1.8l 4 cylinder, delivering a respectable 138hp. With a curb weight of just 950kg, the car makes for a perfect entry-level trackday car or a wonderful backroad car.

One of my favourite hot hatches of all times has to be the Seat Leon Cupra 4 Mk I. The car was equipped with VW’s 2.8l VR6 engine delivering 201hp and coupled to a six-speed manual gearbox. Power was sent to all four wheels (yeah, it’s a Haldex system, so the rear wheels aren’t always driven). The Cupra 4 was a bit down on power and heavier, compared to the Cupra R with its 1.8l turbocharged I4, but I wouldn’t want to miss that engine sound :D And it’s a really beautiful engine bay too.

The late 50s In the 50s and 60s, Europe was in love with everything that came from the other side of the big pond. And of course that didn’t stop at their cars. In the movies, Hollywood showed us those giant landyachts, wobbling their way through cities filled with skyscrapers. And the European public wanted a piece of that. Surely those cars weren’t appropriate for our winding country roads, let alone the city centres.

After the end of Audi’s engagement in rallying in 1988 Walter Röhrl had to find a new cockpit to race in. With Audi’s entry into the Trans-AM Series in the same year to promote their cars on the American market, Röhrl became one of the company’s drivers alongside Hurley Haywood and Hans-Joachim Stuck. Before the beginning of the season, the other teams didn’t believe Audi would be competitive with their rather clumsy looking 200 quattro Trans-Am.

WARNING: The shown video footage is not for the faint-hearted. Don’t watch them, if you’re uncertain about it. For a start, a brief explanation of Group B, although most people might already know all about it. The era of Group B rallying began in 1982 with RWD cars such as the Lancia 037.

Some people might now think “A hot hatch guy writing about muscle cars? That can’t end well” and you’d be partly right. I’m far from being a muscle car expert. Actually, I can barely tell apart the different model years of the most famous muscle cars. But that doesn’t keep me from talking about my favorite muscle car today. But first things first. When someone says “muscle car”, most people start thinking of heavy, giant cars with engines big enough to tear the asphalt off the ground. However, AMC had a different opinion on that.

1. Choosing the car I was looking for a small, light and cheap car to use for this build. After browsing the classifieds for some time I came to the conclusion, that the Fiat Cinquecento Sporting might be the perfect option. With a weight of roughly 700kg and a wheelbase of just 2.2m, it’s a wonderful basis for a nimble track project. Another advantage of the Cinquecento Sporting is the fact, that, here in Germany, a more or less rustfree car goes for around 500€ with valid TÜV (German MOT), making it one of the cheapest cars you could buy.

By Ewan’s blog post about 90s BTCC yesterday, I got reminded of one of my favourite games of all times, TOCA Touring Cars. Sadly I don’t find my old Playstation anymore, so that I couldn’t simply play the game one more time. But thanks to some mods for Assetto Corsa, I can now drive a BTCC car around Donington Park again (although I always prefered the Laguna over the others) and let me tell you, I really missed that.

Car spotting in Puerto Banús is a bit too easy, but this one was worth posting

Because race kei truck :D