![]() We’d love to see a present-day successor to the 110 R, with proper coupe styling (not a crossover, please) and vRS performance. The result was weight loss to just 720kg, giving the 130hp racer swift acceleration and a 136mph top speed.Īmong the silverware accrued by the 130 RS was a manufacturers’ championship win for Skoda in the 1981 European Touring Car Championship, plus a class victory at the 1977 Monte Carlo Rally. Skoda crafted that car’s door skins and roof from aluminium, while its bonnet and wings were glassfibre-reinforced plastic. Perhaps the 110R’s greatest achievements were in motorsport, though, where it evolved into the legendary 130 RS – known as the ‘ Porsche of the East’. Today, the 110 R really does resemble a curio from largely forgotten past. That all changed in the 1990s when the Volkswagen Group became the majority shareholder in Skoda – and the cars became more conventional (yet also more contemporary). It was replaced by the Garde (1981-1984) and subsequently the Rapid (1984-1990), both of which maintained the rear-engined coupe template. The 110 R lived on until December 1980, by which point 57,085 had been built. Octavia WRC (Safari Rally spec – 2001) and the 600hp, 227mph Bonneville record-breaker (2011). More Skoda Octavias at the 60th anniversary event. By 1975, 36 per cent of production was right-hand-drive cars for the UK. However, matters soon improved and by 1973 Skoda was building 6,000 examples of the 110 R, a whopping 93 percent for export. Either way, just 121 cars left the Kvasiny factory by the end of 1970. The car was also expensive: 78,000 crowns equated to 40 months’ wages in the former Czechoslovakia. The 110 R turned plenty of heads, but Kodym cites “political conditions at the time” for slow initial sales. ![]() It has a 250-litre boot beneath the front bonnet, plus 120 litres of luggage space behind the (child-sized) rear seats. The 110 R is also more practical than you might expect. The two-spoke steering wheel has drilled spokes for a period motorsport vibe. A large rev counter – redlined at 5,750rpm – shares equal billing with the speedo, while oil pressure, water temperature and fuel gauges sit alongside. ![]() Inside, the coupe looks markedly more special than the saloon. The 52 horses reached the rear wheels via a four-speed manual gearbox. Skoda upgraded the 110 R’s brakes with a dual-circuit system manufactured under licence from Dunlop. Vítězslav Kodym of Skoda Classic describes a “thrilling driving experience”. Having its engine mounted above the back axle gave the car excellent traction – and lively handling. On-paper performance didn’t tell the whole story, though. Even with a kerb weight of just 880kg (roughly the same as a Lotus Elise), performance was modest: 0-62mph took 19 seconds.Ī plucky Skoda test driver apparently recorded a top speed of 90mph on an East German autobahn. Powered by a 1.1-litre four-cylinder engine, the 110 R mustered 52hp at 4,650rpm. Its longer doors featured frameless windows, too. The 110 R was based on the popular 100/110 L series saloon, but its more laid-back windscreen and gently tapering tail created a much sleeker silhouette. From humble beginnings, the Skoda 110 R became the basis for giant-killing race and rally machines – and would influence Skoda road cars for two decades to come. ![]() Fifty years ago, an elegant but unassuming coupe was revealed at an engineering fair in Brno, Czechoslovakia. ![]()
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