rallies
GT races
left, right and centre, it seems Seb Loeb has managed to squeeze in a spot of testing on his other big motorsport endeavour for this year: his Pikes Peak assault. We’ve already shown you the
208 T16
that Seb will be using to take on this challenge later in the year; now it’s been given a voice thanks to
a selection of videos
released by main sponsor Red Bull today. And if they’re a little overly endowed with polished graphics and suspenseful flimflam for your tastes, we’ve also rooted out
the video below
, evidently filmed trackside while hiding behind a tree, which despite its shaky camerawork gives us an even better taste of the T16’s pipes.
This must be a pretty awesome place to be
And what pipes they are, too. We’d expect nothing less from a twin-turbocharged 3.2-litre V6 with 875hp to its name, mind. But even with Loeb evidently taking it easy (as the Red Bull press release puts it, "Like any thoroughbred, the 208 T16 Pikes Peak will need to be broken in"... ahem) the T16’s engine note is still cracking; a chesty growl that, by rights, should break into a manic scream once he pulls his finger out and gives it some beans. Sounds rather better than a
road-going 208
It's not all talk, either, with a 0-62mph time of 1.8 seconds. And Seb seems to like it. “I’ve never driven anything that accelerates so fast!” he apparently said, after his first drive. “In the lower gears, a Formula 1 car doesn’t deliver maximum power. With the Peugeot, though, it’s bang, bang, bang as you move up the box from standstill. Due to its four-wheel drive transmission and turbocharged engine, its pull-away performance is phenomenal! You find yourself in sixth gear at 150mph in no time at all!”
It’ll have to be quick, mind, if Pikes Peak rookie Loeb’s to have a chance of success. With old hands Rod Millen and Monster Tajima both preparing their challenges for this year, plus of course Rod’s son and course record holder Rhys Millen in the fray, Loeb will be a newcomer among some very strong competition. Still, with the T16, it looks as though he’s at least got the right sort of hardware beneath him!