Peugeot 306 S16: You Know You Want To
Live out your Gilles Panizzi fantasies on road with this heavily (and expensively) modified 306
Yes, F2. Or technically, the cars competing in the FIA 2.0-litre World Rally Cup. Of course these FWD machines weren't close to the WRC cars on loose surfaces, but on tarmac they became formidable adversaries. They were also terrifically exciting to watch, legendary drivers like Bugalski, Panizzi and Delecour flinging cars this way and that across the tarmac. See here for proof.
Interestingly, despite the most successful F2 car being the SEAT Ibiza - it won three consecutive titles from 1996-1998 - it's a formula that's largely remembered for the French cars. Clios, Xsaras, Meganes, Saxos, that sort of thing. Watching one of those defeat the 4WD cars (as Philippe Bugalski did on the 1999 Tour de Corse) must have made for some incredibly proud French people.
And, of course, there was the 306 Maxi. Now we should point out from the start that this is not a genuine 306 Maxi; it's an S16 with a very expensive (£8K in 1996!) Dimma body kit fitted. And that fantastic livery. Beyond that though it has plenty more very expensive parts to make what must be one of the most exciting road and track 306s around.
The engine now makes the best part of 200hp thanks to a ported head, new cams, a remap and an exhaust. Oh yes, and it's on throttle bodies for some proper induction racket. The engine, along with the suspension and front Brembo calipers, was done before this owner acquired it. Then he's got rather busy with his own stuff... It's been stripped, lightened and restored, now featuring an OMP cage to match a Maxi car, seats and harnesses to FIA spec, plastic windows (!), custom wiring with an external cut off, bigger brakes, better tyres, a lighter flywheel, a digital dash and, of course, a hydraulic handbrake. Because what's a rally car, replica or not, without a hydraulic handbrake?
It remains road legal too, meaning there's nothing to stop you driving it to a sprint or a track day, thrashing about in it all day long and then driving it home again too. Sounds rather fun, doesn't it?
All this does come at a price though. We'll let you be the final judges of the asking figure here, but it does seem more than you might expect. There's no doubt that an awful lot of time, effort and money has gone in to this project, however that investment is so seldom rewarded when it comes to selling up. The perils of modifying! Still, if a 205 GTI can sell for more than £30,000, where's the harm in chancing your arm when pricing another Peugeot hot hatch?
Whoever ends up with this Maxi-lite will surely have an absolute ball driving it. To some people you might look like a bit of a berk in a widebody 306 with a livery, but not to us. Get your surname and nationality in vinyl on those rear windows and enjoy!
PEUGEOT 306 S16
Price: £17,000
Why you should: 200hp 306 S16 with a hydraulic handbrake!
Why you shouldn't: £17K 306 S16 with over 100,000 miles!
See the original advert here.
[Source: Wikipedia]
Awesome thing. The nearest I got was owning the Tamiya R/C version.
https://www.tamiyausa.com/items/radio-control-part...
Shame as i've ermm got the matching tamiya rc car too....
Will leave this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqhjyws5QpI
https://youtu.be/Y3lycIaNMfc
(Yes yes I know it's a 206 but any excuse to watch Panizzi being a hero)
That said, and as much as I appreciate the effort that has gone into creating this car, I'd struggle to justify paying £17,000 for it.
Awesome thing. The nearest I got was owning the Tamiya R/C version.
https://www.tamiyausa.com/items/radio-control-part...
Brings back memories of an S2 106 that got Dimma-kitted back in my hometown in the early noughties. The lad was a rally driver, though this was his road car, but he drove frustratingly slow on the public highway. I guess he had nothing to prove whereas I was constantly trying to bait him in my 205 and the clapped-out Golf GTI that replaced it!
Not a real one either but it sounded the part.
It broke on SS2.
I'll be there if the weather isn't horrific.
There's also a Nissan Sunny kitcar entered too, similar era to the 306.
https://youtu.be/Y3lycIaNMfc
(Yes yes I know it's a 206 but any excuse to watch Panizzi being a hero)
Hero status deserved for the '95 Rallye Catalunya where the front-wheel-drive 306 topped the tables beating the 'superior' 4wd rivals. The WRC cars would usually have a major advantage anywhere there was a loose surface, but Catalunya was tarmac. I don't know what the power differences were between classes, if any? The 306 Maxi was naturally-aspirated though, which is why it sounds so incredible!
In the WRC, in 1997/98 the 306 Maxi and Xsara Kit car embarrassed the WRCars on Tarmac; and could/ should have won events - much to the chagrin of WRC team bosses. And then the wins in 1999 at Catalunya & Corsica by the late Phillipe
Bugalski.
I'd love to see a modern FWD category and an even mix between gravel and Tarmac events or even a European Tarmac series for proper developed FWD hot hatches. Think of the road relevance.
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