The 10,000rpm 106 GTI: Time For Coffee?
220hp, 800kg, and a whole heap of fun!
When people talk about cars not being how they used to be, it's not just the manual Lamborghinis and spiky rear-engined Porsches they're on about. Until their demise 15 years ago, the Peugeot 106 GTI (and slightly less glamorous Saxo VTS sibling) offered the sort of pared back, raw hot hatch thrills that nobody really thought would last into the 21st century. Certainly there's no chance of anything similar being made again. Think about them this way: both made more power than the new Up GTI, yet weighed less. So were faster. And came out more than 20 years ago.
Anyway, to the point of this video. As the cars were blessed with such agility and dynamism, the 106 and Saxo became great bases for rally and track projects. And this particular 106 GTI, raced by a hillclimber called Martin Zamberger, could be our favourite yet.
Why? Revs, that's why. Check the dyno run at the end of the vid in case the wickedly quick hill run doesn't convince you. The thing just spins and spins, howling its little heart out to a point way beyond your ears suggest it should go - it's incredible. The graph shows its making peak power at 9,470rpm and peak torque at 7,750rpm. Because race car, right?
With somewhere in the region of 220hp, the 106 absolutely flies. There's no understeer, no wheelspin, no waste of power as Zamberger winds his way up another stunning European hillclimb. No doubt many, many hours have been invested in the little Peugeot, but it looks like a labour of love that was well worth the time. See the vid below, and try not to curse the fact that good GTIs are getting more expensive by the day - because who wouldn't want to make a 106 as mad as this?
[Photo: Martin Zamberger, via Facebook]
Impressive revs for a TU5.
Lift off oversteer was very scary first time I experienced it (going too fast on the M4 entry slip west from jct 7) but once used to the chassis’ behaviour it was great fun exploiting it at slower speeds. The ditch finder tyres it was on when I bought it probably didn’t help!
This one sounds epic, more like a bike engine!
SO many eyeballs are drawn to vacuous douchebags showing-off their and their 'friends' new cars on Youtube every day when they COULD be watching this stuff - some of the greatest cars ever made (ex Rally/RallyCross/Touring Cars and Road Cars) actually competing at things - making noises - being amazing.
Cars doing what cars are made to do - actually performing rather than just discussing performance over coffee -actually racing, not taking a hipster in a jumper to the South of France or around London's West End...
Less 'influencers' would be lovely in my YT feed - more of this required...
SO many eyeballs are drawn to vacuous douchebags showing-off their and their 'friends' new cars on Youtube every day when they COULD be watching this stuff - some of the greatest cars ever made (ex Rally/RallyCross/Touring Cars and Road Cars) actually competing at things - making noises - being amazing.
Cars doing what cars are made to do - actually performing rather than just discussing performance over coffee -actually racing, not taking a hipster in a jumper to the South of France or around London's West End...
Less 'influencers' would be lovely in my YT feed - more of this required...
I mean, I don't really know much about these 'Vloggers' (is that how they're referred to?) but courtesy of another thread on PH I actually sat and watched this the other morning - https://youtu.be/44CMdfIQ3xQ - and I somehow feel that it represents a low point of my motoring life, and it's a scene that I just don't get (though I do say bloody well done to those guys who have crafted that sort of lifestyle for themselves. Perhaps that's partly why it was a low point for me, as I go to work and do the same thing every day).
But you're right, for god's sake there is so much more that can be done with cars than treating them as bloody expensive jewelry.
SO many eyeballs are drawn to vacuous douchebags showing-off their and their 'friends' new cars on Youtube every day when they COULD be watching this stuff - some of the greatest cars ever made (ex Rally/RallyCross/Touring Cars and Road Cars) actually competing at things - making noises - being amazing.
Cars doing what cars are made to do - actually performing rather than just discussing performance over coffee -actually racing, not taking a hipster in a jumper to the South of France or around London's West End...
Less 'influencers' would be lovely in my YT feed - more of this required...
I mean, I don't really know much about these 'Vloggers' (is that how they're referred to?) but courtesy of another thread on PH I actually sat and watched this the other morning - https://youtu.be/44CMdfIQ3xQ - and I somehow feel that it represents a low point of my motoring life, and it's a scene that I just don't get (though I do say bloody well done to those guys who have crafted that sort of lifestyle for themselves. Perhaps that's partly why it was a low point for me, as I go to work and do the same thing every day).
But you're right, for god's sake there is so much more that can be done with cars than treating them as bloody expensive jewelry.
https://youtu.be/TElXdhpjJ2Q
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