Nice to have you back then,
SEAT Cupra R
. It's a welcome return for a badge that we weren't sure would ever make a comeback. People will probably moan about the new Leon's looks and power, but remember that previous Cupra Rs only had 15-25hp more than a Cupra anyway. And could you imagine VW allowing SEAT to make a Leon with more power than a Golf R? Let's just be pleased that SEAT is still willing to pursue high performance cars.
SEAT and fast cars really kicked off 21 years ago, with the launch of the Cupra badge on the Ibiza. But the year before that, SEAT had entered motorsport to give its new badge some competition kudos. Novel idea. The Ibiza Kit Car made its debut in the FIA 2-litre World Rally Cup in 1995, then won three consecutive titles between 1996 and 1998. It gave SEAT a presence in the fast car world and some real credibility, particularly when you consider the other teams also competing in the championship: Citroen, Peugeot, Skoda, Hyundai, Nissan and more.
SEAT therefore owes quite a bit to the old Ibiza rally car, and so we're going to celebrate it here. Sadly it's not footage from one of those championship-winning years, instead a more recent - but therefore HD - video of an Ibiza kit car being used at a Greek hillclimb event. Sounds odd, yes, but that doesn't stop it from being a great little vid.
The Ibiza is vividly yellow and seemingly three-wheels around every corner, induction angrily snorting from the front and exhaust blaring behind. Pleasingly it's still being driven with real gusto, and it's great to see just how fast these FWD specials were and remain.
We're not going to propose a return to rallying for SEAT - the world is a very different place to how it was 20 years ago - so instead let's just enjoy this video of a forgotten WRC hero. And cars with more than four cylinders will feature again in video slots soon...
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