CitiGo-Go - Reincarnated by Darkside - First TDi Citigo?

[DarksideDevelopments]

Some of you may already know and hopefully most people wont, this project was purchased by Darkside From Clive ( missingmyvrs - Briskoda Forum) the week before Christmas 2017. He purchased the car from Richard (BossFox - Briskoda Forum), here is the previous thread -

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/243854-citigo-go-a-citigo-with-more-go/.

We were alerted to the availability of the car by a random Facebook message and within a couple of days the trip ‘darn sarth’ was scheduled, the next few months would not be easy...
 

After a good chinwag with Clive (more like an interrogation regarding the proposed spec, which remained secret until the car was presented in person!) The car was loaded onto our trusty T5 Transporter ready for the 220 mile journey back to HQ in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
 

If you are inpatient and can't wait to see how the car looks now, here is the full spec list - https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/citigo-4-motion-2-0-tdi-16v-common-rail/

So the first job when getting back to Darkside HQ was to unload, have a good look around, get a plan together for the full build and make a list of parts that need to be ordered.

Lots of little parts were missing that you would hope were there (bonnet pull, boot locks, wiper mountings cut etc), and a good chunk of the fabrication and machining that was already done needed to be rectified or adjusted, Engine Mounts, Wishbones, Pedal box, brakes, the list goes on!

The engine choice was already made the day we set eyes on the car. Basically an engine specification similar to the Arosa, mated to an AWD 02M Gearbox with Ibiza Cupra TDI Ratios, linked to the haldex setup at the back, then finished off with Limited Slip Quaife ATB Differentials Front and Rear.
 

 

By the end of January we had the fully built engine installed and running. Mid February the car was fully MOT ready and passed with flying colours. We still had a lot of finishing touches and lots of specification changes (sounds easy typing that now…) to get to where we are now.
 

 

Tuning was always going to be a big job, and finding the time between a jam packed diary has been quite difficult, and there is much more to come. We only have a GTB2260vk on there running moderate boost and 280hp until we have proven the chassis. The engine should be able to kick out a reliable 360bhp that will take punishment for 100’s of miles a day on track with the GTD2872vr turbo we plan to run. We didn’t have time to install the WON REVO Nitrous system either but that will come later!
 

When news got out that we had a new project, we were approached by a few Magazines and asked if we would keep the project under wraps until after the first photoshoot that was planned to happen on the 28th of March. It was a difficult decision, as we would have to limit what we could post on social media and who we could involve in the project.

I’m sure we had a mole somewhere, as quite a few people did know what was going on but thankfully the nice guys kept their mouth shut

We had to hold off transferring the TD1 1 AWD number plate onto the car for obvious reasons.
 

Tuesday 27th mid afternoon the Citigo and our trusty Ibiza track car were loaded onto the truck and trailer ready to head to Snetterton Circuit for the cars first shakedown. We had very few road miles on the car due to the last minute issues we faced so we had to cross our fingers (sorry Paul!) and hope everything was alright. Also, this was my first ever drive since passing my trailer test so the pressure was never off, haha.
 

We arrived at Snetterton just before 9pm to unload and hide the car away in our Garage ready for the day ahead...
 

Wednesday Morning bright and early Adam Walker ( https://www.facebook.com/AJWIMAGES/) was on hand at to shoot the car for the upcoming VWG Magazine feature, be sure to keep your eyes out for that in the next few months!

This would be the first time Clive saw the car, we didn't release any information during the build so he was shocked when he saw how far the car had come since last time he saw it back in December, a passenger ride was scheduled for after lunch. Luckily we fitted a larger passenger seat especially for this day, Sorry Clive!
 

The car was amazing on track, we expected the soft springs and no front ARB to upset the handling slightly but we had a good time and impressed a few people. We had a lot of people saying the short wheel base and narrow track would cause issues but looks can be deceptive. Our Citigo has a 2.45m Wheel Base and 1.65m track width compared to a standard Fabia’s 2.46 & 1.64m, its still short for a car with plenty of shove from the rear end but not as bad as you might first think.

With ‘only’ 280bhp and weighing in at 1160kg without the 2 fat people on board it was never going to be the fastest car on track. The rain helped show the benefit of the the Quattro Haldex system compared to our FWD Ibiza and was the main reason this project was interesting to us in the first place.

A Front Wheel Drive version of this would have been immensely cheaper and much easier to build, and on a dry track likely faster but where is the fun in that...

Maybe in the future we will look to build the car into a replica of the WRC car Skoda, No reply from Skoda Motorsport regarding the panels so if anyone can help us with that, please get in touch!
 

I’ll be making further posts about the car build showing some of the major hurdles we faced along the way, some expected and most of them certainly unexpected!

 

Any questions please ask!

Ryan
 

Oh and here's a photo we took while servicing a stock Citigo a few weeks ago

Edited 11 February, 2019 by DarksideDevelopments

[Hyphons]

Glad to see it's finally been finished

[Wardy]

That's a very comprehensive update post - thanks!

 

I have to say I'm a bit sad that a TDI has ended up in it, but I understand why

[SmoFiesta]

Wow, absolutely love this!!! Great work, guys! 

[ColinD]

Yep, amazing.

 

I love the line, only 280hp. Given mine is only 210ish behind this must be mad out there  Granted I only have a little NA 3pot in mine, the oil burner, diff, tranny, cage must be equal to another body

 

Brilliant though, well done... now to make it disappear into a line up of citigo's.

 

I'm guessing it will be road legal?

 

 

[Jonny118118]

Looks amazing! Well done!! 

[Dark_Hero]

Wow! So glad to see this finally hit the track. 

Well done guys 

[mdk1]

Well done guys for getting it finished.

Remember when Richard started it all those years ago and being asked if he wanted to take out the extended warranty when he bought it new!

 

[Skoda_Saint]

Very well done in completing the project, albeit with a totally different engine than originally planned, but excellent work. Interesting with the AWD I was always curious about completing a 4x4 with a diesel based off the A3 model but a very lightweight car like the citigo will be great handling car that you’ve done

Edited 28 March, 2018 by Skoda_Saint

[RobClubley]

Awesome! Bit of a departure from the original plan but it's great to see someone take this on and finish it.

 

Great job guys, it looks fantastic.

[Mikek3111]

Great to see the car finally finished. Shame it was different from the original plan but still crazy enough to standout. 

 

Good job guys

[superbtte]

Very nice, followed! 

[missingmyvrs]

You guys hit the ball out the park was great to see her finally finished. 

 

Crazy little beast of a car. 

 

We will get some rides out at next track day for sure. 

 

 

Keep up the awesome work guys. 

[DarksideDevelopments]

Cheers guys.

 

Yeah the car is 100% road legal and costs £20 a year to tax still, I'll be daily driving it when I'm 100% happy with the whole package.

 

You certainly need a ride out Clive!

[KenONeill]

You win 280 internets (one for each bhp) for this writeup.

[DarksideDevelopments]

Lol, The FB post went down well too - 

 

 

[BossFox]

Great to see this was finished to a usable spec and now has a life ahead of it.

I'll obviously be keeping up to date on upgrades.

 

Great job guys.

[VIP-UK]

Fantastic, when's the IVA test?

Edited 29 March, 2018 by VIP-UK

[DarksideDevelopments]

Guide me through the process if possible

 

[VIP-UK]

On 3/31/2018 at 09:30, DarksideDevelopments said:

Guide me through the process if possible

 

 

 

Using such a new base vehicle, all the hard work is already done as all of the elements of the stock CItigo 'remainder' will already be up to scratch.

 

Because the monocoque has been cut, the car is essentially now a de-registered new amateur build under the Radically Altered Vehicle Rules. https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/radically-altered-vehicles

 

So the next step would be to have a read through the Category M1 IVA Test Manual, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/iva-manual-for-vehicle-category-m1 and once you are happy you've covered everything, book the Test at your local DVSA Centre.

 

You'll not be able to use your new purchased number plate, unfortunately. All newly registered Radically Altered Vehicles have to go on a Q-plate.

[mac11irl]

Savage job guys, 

All the pain and argument Mr Fox had have finally been brought to bear, if a different beast than what he had been aiming for.

It looks brilliant, and still pretty stock. 

The mk1 octy vrs spiders looks really great on it too

 

[mdk1]

Good to see the Citigo in this weeks Autocar.

[Bogwoppit]

On ‎21‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 17:14, mdk1 said:

Good to see the Citigo in this weeks Autocar.

 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/wacky-one-offs-stories-behind-five-track-day-specials

Edited 29 September, 2018 by Bogwoppit

[octimark]

Finally the project got finished. So good to see it finally come to life.

 

Great job everyone

 

I'll keep my eye out for it

[DarksideDevelopments]

Not posted here for a while, The Autocar day was great.

 

Managed to get a few video's of the car on track - 

 

 

 

Some suspension work still to do, mainly the ARB's needing shorter lever arms to get a better rate from them!

Edited 9 February, 2019 by john999boy
Made hyperlinks screen friendly.