AlexR

Indeed Dave, i would quite like to pop along in my saxo, no track abuse for the trophy. See you there possibly Still waiting for letter back from skoda finance to say it's cleared so not been able to do the swap, my palms and right foot are itching

I agree 220bhp/ton isn't that much, it's close to 230, BUT when i can carry much more speed through corners there's not such a need for power as i'm already going faster come the next straight

Well it's a thread about a saxo annihilating a fabia vRS, and i thought i'd give an example of a saxo that would easily annihilate any vRS, so it has some relevance. I wasn't expecting a plethora of people saying ooo wow that's amazing etc. Know of plenty of people running nigh on 300bhp in saxos and 106s, that however i do think is a bit pointless as there is no traction up to 4th in the dry even with a diff and nice tyres and i can't see it being that easy to control around corners. End of the day a fun weekend/track car is designed to do just that, looks and reputation don't really rank that high in the list of priorities!

Why not? You take what is one of the best handling hatches(or even cars?) ever(according to numerous motoring journalists) 106gti/saxo vtr/s, same chassis, different rear anti roll bar and front springs. Then you make it much stiffer, add a load more power, a quaife diff and some sticky tyres and you have one very fun car that handles nicely. A fabia can only dream of handling as well as a standard saxo/106 no matter how much you mod it, at the end of the day it weighs 400kg more as standard and has a very heavy engine in the front end. This car is designed for track days which are where badge snobbery isn't really existant, unlike say a skoda forum or your local pub, and it's performance speaks for itself really.

I may own this car

I have been driving my vRS very carefully, my trip 1 is around 63mpg usually, and i'd be disappointed if i didn't get over 60 on trip 2 every journey but i realistically am only getting 45-48mpg measuring it. And diesel costs more than petrol. I should be getting 35mpg if not more driving as carefully as i do in the vRS, works out i'll spend £500-700 a year extra on fuel, but that's the price of enjoyment. Why spend £2k a year on fuel and be bored when you can spend a bit more and enjoy the time spent driving. Plus i'm young so i don't look or feel right in a 5 door "german" diesel car... Edit: I've owned 6 or so french cars, so i know what i'm in for. I will take a lot of care of it.

Nah i didn't expect it to be, it's not the straight line performance that disappoints though it's just how it drives, to be fair a fabia does weigh 200+kg more than a clio and it's based on a VAG chassis so it was never going to be the sharpest tool in the box. instead of modifying it to improve, i've bought something that is good straight out of the box!

As some of you may remember i never really got to grips with my fabia, it's a nice car and i love how the power is so useable but it doesn't bring country roads to life though for me, so finally i've decided to change cars. Next weekend i should be collecting my 182 trophy Library images: I'm so excited!

That looks very nice Much better IMO

A standard vts is quite a lot quicker than a standard vRS. I'll bet it wasn't that highly modded. vRSs are slow.

I rented the whole of eddies guesthouse last year for one of our trips, would be awesome to own it Could invite all of your mates to the ring, the garages are great too, having a pit is useful! Shame it's a good 20 min drive from the entrance. The food in the local "pub" is pretty damn good though IMO!

Well we got held up twice on the way in stationary traffic caused by crashes, delaying us by over an hour. And also once on the way back this time. And have been caught up in numerous belgian traffic jams before. Probably just my luck lol And i always encounter bad driving in belgium, they never indicate to change lanes, and if you leave a gap between you and the car in front big enough for a car, someone will pull into it, leaving you with no braking zone as often in traffic they will then slam their anchors on. But then again english driving isn't much better...

Realistically it takes 5-6 hours from calais/dunkerque to a hotel in the area, i have done it in under 4 before but that's with no traffic(unlikely unless travelling at night, always crashes in belgium, their shocking driving never ceases to suprise me). When we get the 8am ferry that arrives in france around 11am(if going to dunkerque, lose an hour with european time too) then aim to get to the ring for 4pm or thereabouts with a short stop for lunch. The food out there is awesome and well priced. Diesel is quite cheap too, equivalent to £1.19/litre. I'll post up the official trip report in a few days when i've finished typing it and received all of the pics for it.

I love brands hatch, for a UK track day it's pretty good. Wouldn't consider the fabia as a track car anyway, far too heavy. My fabia is mechanically standard, only mods are debadging, silver indicators, head unit and speakers.

There is a lot of grip through foxhole, i always brake slightly before turning in just to stabilise the car a bit and make sure i power through the bottom as the car will go wherever the front wheels are pulling it. The turns at the top of the hill are crucial to getting good speed down there as you can go more or less straight on down the hill with the right lines. Over 60 laps under my belt now and a very good memory! Back in sept/oct hopefully in the other car though!