At last - a Skoda Enyaq we can get onboard with
Skoda says the new RS Race is a motorsport concept. Let's hope it's a sign of things to come...
Skoda has given it to us from both ends this month. Last week the Superb Sleeper had us all giddy with its Q-car excellence; this week, we get this: the Enyaq RS Race, an all-electric concept car which is mostly about taking the car’s styling knob and effectively ripping it off. It’s based on the Enyaq Coupe vRS, a car which, though it is fast and well made, has about as much to do with fun as an electric bin lorry. But as the Sleeper proved, Skoda would like to do more with our funny bones given half a chance, hence the idea that the RS Race might serve ‘as a pilot project for future production plans.’ Here’s hoping, eh?
Developed entirely in-house by Skoda Motorsport, and using the current Fabia RS Rally2 as a thematic baseline, the concept gets the same powertrain as the vRS, but is 70mm lower, 72mm wider at the front and fully 116mm wider at the rear, and obviously gets the sort of air-guiding elements that a) improve ‘drivability at higher speeds', and b) make the car look like it’s going 100mph when standing still. The team achieved many of the changes by taking body parts from the production line and effectively throwing them away. Much of what you see is carbon fibre - or else ‘biocomposite’ because it’s made of natural fibres - which contributes to a weight saving of more than 300kg.
As you might imagine, the chassis has also been extensively modified. Skoda says the standard DCC setup has been replaced with a ‘special sports suspension’, which, given it allows for for individual adjustments to the spring stiffness, compression and rebound settings, we’ll assume means the full rally-spec treatment. Certainly the brakes are upgraded with that level of seriousness: the RS Race gets high-performance carbon-ceramic discs with ten-piston calipers on the front and a completely new cooling system. Oh, and there’s hydraulic handbrake for good measure - which is never not cool.
Its lever ought to give the driver something to hang onto in an interior which inevitably leans toward the spartan. All the seats have gone bar the two Atech race buckets in the front, and there’s a chrome-molybdenum steel roll cage to complement the automatic fire extinguisher. Skoda Motorsport has apparently gone to the trouble of modifying the infotainment system, although we’d bet all the functions (and buttons) you really need are now located on the steering wheel - which is now connected to a linear rack instead of the Enyaq’s progressive one (because it’s better). The whole car is better really, and reportedly now capable of 0-62mph in less than 5 seconds while emitting a 'characteristic, exhilarating motorsport sound' courtesy of a new amplifier. And it'll go sideways, of course. Only time will tell if some of this enthusiasm makes it onto Skoda's list of 'future innovations'. But it's nice to be reminded what the firm's best intentions look like.
An SUV, that's lowered by 70mm, so that its now got the same ground clearance as the hot hatches that it replaced.
It feels like its from the same head-space that bought us the BMW 'Gran coupe' range.
The four door version, of the two door version of the original four door car.
An SUV, that's lowered by 70mm, so that its now got the same ground clearance as the hot hatches that it replaced.
It feels like its from the same head-space that bought us the BMW 'Gran coupe' range.
The four door version, of the two door version of the original four door car.
k from every angle. Rarely can a car make a Subaru WRX look classy, / understated - this has somehow managed that feat 
The choice of brown carbon for the foot boxes is certainly interesting, looks like a butchered picnic basket.
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