Hello and welcome in another episode of our vlog. It’s Sunday morning, we’ve travelled through half of the country to TMT Moto Group in Swidnica. I’d like to show you some really incredible car – Skoda Felicia Kit Car. My story with Skoda cars began in 2018. But this car made its debut on special stages in the year I was born – 1995. It was Skoda’s answer to new regulations – powerful, front wheel drive cars named Kit Car. Felicia made its debut in 1995 and one year later it had its biggest successes. The car had a naturally aspirated engine with a capacity of 1.3 to 1.6 liters.
It’s front wheel drive, so it’s not that impressive in rallying nowadays. But in the past these Kit Cars were so quick, that drivers could fight for the win in WRC rounds using them. Why? Because the technology in them was top flight. They were also really light. This Skoda weighs just over 900 kilograms. In the first phase, in 1995, the car had 1.3 liters engine and 136 horse power. Right now we would say it’s not really impressive. But then it was really competitive machinery. In the same time they’ve released stronger 1.5 liters engine. The biggest problem was, that engine wasn’t so dynamic, as – for example – the Peugeot’s one. Skoda reacted really quickly. In 1996 they’ve prepared new, stronger and lighter engine together with Volkswagen. The engine we have here – in this Skoda.
1.6 liters, 174 horse power, better torque. In 1996 it had its prime and was most successful. 174 horse power, 950 kilograms of weight. Acceleration to 100 km/h took about 5 seconds. Back then it was really impressive. It has Proflex suspension and AP Racing brakes. You might think it was fast only on tarmac – it’s light, powerful, front wheel drive car. But the truth is it was also going full slides on gravel. Legendary footage when it goes full slide of the Rally New Zealand podium ceremony. It shows that this car ran very well also on the loose surface, winning in New Zealand and Australia. It also had a podium in Great Britain in general standings. This car was maybe even better on gravel stages. Back then this 1.6 liters engine was absolutely top flight. They’ve made it together with Volkswagen – really strong and light engine. They took few different parts from different cars. That’s how it looked back then.
They’ve made around 40 cars like this one. To be fair it’s made from parts from different models. We have Felicia here. The car needed to be wider to have this big 17 inches wheels. Automatically it change all the geometry. We automatically need different suspension parts. Engine is connected with 6-speed claw gearbox. This means you don’t need the clutch to put another gear. The gear ratios were short, so it was accelerating all the time. The engine is naturally aspirated, powerful, so it spins very high. This car was produced in different times. These cars were homologated, were really close to normal cars. I think that’s why we like the cars from that era that much. That means they were different in terms of their design. Our Fabia Rally2 evo from the beginning is set to be the fastest rally car. Here it’s different. Many parts here come from the normal, series Skoda Felicia. Obviously we have a lot of kevlar here, this elements are made exactly for this car. I’ve never seen such kevlar covers for the suspension tanks.
Fuel tank and battery are also all in kevlar. I love the doors in this car. Here, with a space for the roll cage. Every element is light… Completely different position behind the wheel. That’s what distinguishes these old rally cars from the new ones. In the older cars it’s the same as in normal, series cars. In our Fabia I sit completely different, like in the back. In modern rally cars also the steering wheel is more to the rear. Here we sit just like in normal Skoda Felicia. Placing of the steering wheel is odd. For them it was normal, for me – as I’m driving the modern rally cars – it’s weird. We sit in bucket seats, the roll cage is well developed. I thought they weren’t so safe back there. Once again we can say about top technology here as for the late 90s. Gearbox is bit down. I wonder how precise it is. We’ll see today. We have a special display here instead of a classic gauge.
These two lights tell us when to change gear. In this car we change them at more than 8000 rpm. Here we have the start procedure. Interesting button here – it’s extra gearbox oil cooler. About the fuel gauge… only co-driver can see it, right here. Handbrake is hidden down here, like it would be in modern track day car, used once on track, once in normal life. In modern rally car we have handbrake somewhere here. Also gearbox is here. It’s about you don’t move your hand that often and that far from steering wheel. Here we feel adrenaline, passion, risk of 90s. In many ways it’s really close to the normal, series car. See and tell about it is one. But to drive it… it’s something else. Right now I’m getting into Skoda Felicia Kit Car.
I want to tell you how this historic, legendary, almost 30 years old car drives. Let’s go! We’re in Walim, behind us there is Janusz Kulig and Marian Bublewicz monument. It’s hard to imagine better bit of road to test this car. We have just 8 degrees Celsius, this part of road is slippery even if dry… and today it’s wet. But OK – let’s go! Look at the gauge – you can’t see from 1000 to 4000 rpm. The fun starts after that. We could start in a rally with it. But this position behind the wheel. Like in big truck. Guys, I’m driving Skoda Felicia Kit Car. It’s amazing. I’ve never driven the car from that era. And that’s original one, not replica. It’s real rally car. It’s really stiff. Gearbox works really well – I’m impressed.
Brakes are sharp. I love it. I’d like to compete in some rally with it. Wow, this car lives. It’s accelerating from 6000 rpm on… I’m afraid, I don’t want to destroy it. Look, there was only around 40 cars like this one in the world. You need to wait for this power. 1.6 liters 174 horse power, but only ‘at the top’. My Fabia is turbocharged, it works perfect in every engine speed range. Here you can’t go under 5500-6000 rpm. It’s incredible. I can’t believe how good this car is. Now I know why 30 years ago they were driving the car using whole body… You need to react all the time.
Nowadays I sit like that and just move my hands a bit. Here you need to work all the time. I thought this day is going to be normal – like a normal test drive. It wasn’t. I’ve made few kilometers in Skoda Felicia Kit Car in Walim… I feel that car – it’s real rally car. Completely different emotions from driving that car. Different to modern rally cars. In modern cars driving is easy, suspension takes it all. Here it’s completely different – all is coming from muscles. The best drivers from 90s were driving these cars with their whole bodies. I know why. I’m so happy. Big thank you to TMT Moto Group for letting me drive that car. It was like dream come true.
See you in the next episodes of our vlog – we’ll show you some great cars and events.
