Skoda is shooting for 200mph with a unique Octavia vRS to celebrate 10 years of its vRS hot hatch range.
The much-modified Octavia still uses a 2.0-litre TSI engine, the same as the standard road car, but it now comes with a much enlarged turbocharger. Running on high octane methanol fuel, the Bonneville car produces up to 592bhp, which is some 395bhp more than a standard vRS hatch.
A new gearbox is also used to lengthen the car's gearing to help achieve 200mph, but Skoda has not forgotten its green credentials here. The transmission is a six-speed Greenline gearbox and also uses a GripperDiff limited slip differential to help get the car off the line cleanly and quickly without wheel spin.
Other changes wrought to create this fastest ever Skoda include lowering the body 80mm on the suspension and adding a new sub-frame to support a race-prepared intercooler to feed cold air to the turbo.
The rear brakes have been completely removed to save weight and are unnecessary as this Octavia vRS comes with a parachute to slow it from 200mph.
Bonneville Speed Week takes place on 13-20 August and the Octavia vRS will run in the 2.0-litre production car class over the nine-mile course.
Alisdair Suttie - 10 Jun 2011