Iħjut Noble M600 vs Skoda Fabia super 2000

Fabia rebbieħa ta 'Skodas IRC kif tqum għan-Nobbli M600 qawwi fuq l-asfalt? Meta tħares lejn dawn iż-żewġ karozzi kwadrati sa xulxin, ħdejn xulxin fuq l-istess biċċa triq, kull paragun bejniethom jidher vagament redikolu. Il-karozza tar-rally Skoda Fabia Super 2000 tista 'tiftaħar aktar mis-sehem ġust tagħha ta' dbielet, stikers u spoilers, iżda wkoll id-doppju u nofs biss sakemm in-Nobbli M600 proporzjonat b'mod aktar eżotikament. Jidher, tabilħaqq, daqsxejn bħal trolley tax-xiri go-faster ħdejn il-forma twila, wiesgħa u delizzjuża baxxa, supercar klassika tal-M600.
L-affarijiet ma jmorrux ħafna aħjar għall-Skoda meta taħrab in-noti tekniċi miftuħa u tqabbel dak li jħajjar taħt il-ġlud tagħhom li jvarjaw b'mod selvaġġ. In-Nobbli għandu 450-650bhp offrut, skont kemm tħossok kuraġġuż tiegħek u fejn tpoġġi l-iswiċċ li jilbisha twin-turbo 4. Magna V8 ta' 4 litri. Il-Fabia, min-naħa l-oħra, għandha 2. Mutur ta '0 litri, b'erba' ċilindri li jipproduċi trobbija tax-xagħar deċenti, iżda bilkemm trobbija tax-xagħar, 265bhp.

U meta niġu għat-torque - ġeneralment l-element li jiddefinixxi ta 'aċċelerazzjoni tal-karozzi - l-antik fqir Skoda jiġi lotta mal-art u jagħti daqqa ta' sieq fejn iweġġa 'l-aktar. Għandu biss 180lb ft għan-Nobbli lipping 604lb ft (li ħafna minnhom huma disponibbli u lesti biex jaqtgħu kwalunkwe żigarella tal-bitum minn bilkemm 'il fuq mill-qurdien).
Iżda l-Skoda jiżen inqas min-Nobbli, ovvjament, allura kwalunkwe tip ta 'nuqqas ta' enerġija li jista 'jsofri fuq il-karta huwa immedjatament injorat fir-realtà, hux? Ħażin. Ħażin ħafna. Agħti jew tieħu gallun petrol 'l hawn u 'l hemm, it-tnejn jiżnu madwar 1200kg. Li jfisser li n-Nobbli jiftaħar mhux biss vantaġġi ġiganteski tal-qawwa u tat-torque, iżda vantaġġ ugwalment inġust ta 'poter għall-piż ukoll. U għandu tajers ta 'wara ħafna usa', brejkijiet ħafna akbar u disinn klassiku tax-chassis b'magna medja li jagħmel l-Skoda b'magna ta 'quddiem tidher inkwetanti workaday.
Allura għaliex aħna saħansitra għażilna li npoġġu l-Skoda permezz tal-purgatorju ta 'paragun bħal dan, u fuq il-kors tal-immaniġġjar ta' The Snake f'Chobham li jipprova art li setgħet ġiet iddisinjata speċifikament biex tkun adattata għan-Nobbli? Għax fir-realtà l-Fabia tista 'teħodha, u mbagħad xi wħud. Għandu trick wieħed jew tnejn iqabbdu l-kmiem, wara kollox, li wħud minnhom anke sewwieq M600 jista 'jkun mess imfixkel biex jiskopri.
U l-aktar effettiva minn dawn hija s-sistema tagħha ta 'erba' roti. B'diffs mekkaniċi fuq quddiem, fuq wara u fiċ-ċentru tal-karozza, li kollha huma kkontrollati elettronikament, il-Fabia jistgħu jiġġeneraw trazzjoni u qabda li n-Nobbli, tajers tax-xaħam jew mod ieħor, ma jistgħux jittamaw li jikkompetu magħhom. Huwa wkoll immirat ħafna, ħafna iqsar mill-M600 u fih trasmissjoni sekwenzjali maqtugħa dritta li tista 'torqod bejn proporzjonijiet ferm aktar mgħaġġla mill-manwal konvenzjonali ta' sitt veloċitajiet Nobles.
Lanqas biss għandek bżonn tuża l-klaċċ darba għaddej fl-Skoda. Dak kollu li tagħmel il-Fabia S2000 darba fuq il-mossa ġie ddisinjat biex jiġri malajr kemm jista 'jkun. Saħansitra tinstema 'malajr meta tkeċċiha, il-mutur tal-istartjar jiċċassa għal kwart ta' sekonda qabel ma l-magna mhux imdendla tisplodi fil-ħajja, u tegħreq kompletament il-purr ġentili tan-Nobbli V8.
F'liema punt taħseb, Okay, ġust biżżejjed, ejja nġibuh. Ejja naraw x'jista 'verament jagħmel dan it-tqaxxir, flame-spitting, exhaust-popping, irrabjat ftit runt ta' karozza.
Hekk għamilna, u r-riżultati kienu xi ftit strambi biex nibdew. Kienet triq kompluta u sħiħa f'direzzjoni waħda, bil-pass ikun iddettat mhux mill-aġilità u l-qabda tal-Skoda iżda mill-veloċità kbira u l-aċċelerazzjoni tan-Nobbli. Hmm ...
Wara ftit ġirjiet tat-test back-to-back, miegħi fis-sewwieq Nobbli li jsegwi x-xogħlijiet Robert Barrable fl-Skoda, kien ċar li n-Nobbli kien aktar mgħaġġel. Bil-mili. Jista 'jaċċellera aktar malajr fl-ispots ewlenin kollha, kellu aktar qabda f'nofs il-kantuniera - mhux biss permezz tal-liwjiet veloċi fejn wieħed jista' jistenna li jtir, iżda permezz ta 'dawk aktar bil-mod ukoll - u taħt ibbrejkjar jista' jieħu biċċiet enormi mill-Fabia pjuttost kullimkien, minkejja li m'għandu l-ebda sistema kontra l-imblukkar.
Biss fit-taqsima tal-qabża li hija madwar tliet kwarti tat-triq permezz ta 'The Snake tista' l-Fabia toħroġ kwalunkwe tip ta 'vantaġġ, iżda biss dakinhar għax kont qed nagħmel backing off fl-M600 biex tevita t-tħin tal-qasma ta' quddiem tal-carbonfibre għalja tagħha f'firma terra. Kollha kemm huma kien mess stramb u xejn dak li wed stenna.
Wara ġirja oħra back-to-back, li matulha l-M600 għal darb'oħra poġġa fuq id-denb Fabias (li jippermettili veduta grandstand tal-Skoda tiżżerżaq mat-triq kollha), waqafna u tkellimna. Barrable ħares lejn il-Fabia kien qed jitħabat għall-qabda kullimkien u sostna li ma kellu l-ebda gidma fuq quddiem fil-biċċa l-kbira tal-kantunieri. Huwa ma setax verament juża l-ebda enerġija tal-karozzi bħala riżultat u ssuġġerixxa li nagħtu ħarsa lejn it-tajers.
F'dak il-punt deher ċar daqs il-kristall għaliex il-Skoda kienet qed tissielet biex tlaħħaq. It-tajers ta' wara tagħha kienu qishom kienu lebsin għatu tal-għawm, filwaqt li dawk ta' quddiem kienu jintlibsu fuq it-tila. Allura l-mekkanika ssettjata għal u bidlet l-erba 'Michelins, din id-darba twaħħal gomma aktar komposta minħabba l-wiċċ tat-triq oħxon mhux tas-soltu li jifforma ħafna minn The Snake. U mbagħad bdejna t-test tagħna mill-ġdid.
Din id-darba r-riżultat kien kemmxejn differenti. Tibda mill-imnieħer biex terġa 'denb, in-Nobbli xorta kellu t-tarf, eżatt, meta telaq mil-linja. Iżda l-mument barrable u l-Fabia daru għall-ewwel kantuniera, it-tielet ger lemini, ukoll, dak kien dak, verament. Huwa biss sparixxa, u qatt ma rajtu mill-ġdid sal-aħħar meta dawwarna u tani daħka kbira kbira, flimkien ma 'sinjal V stil Barry Sheene biex immur magħha. Wieħed sabiħ Robert, iferraħ għal dan. U kien hemm naħseb li n-Nobbli kien sultan ta ' Is-Serp.
Kieku kienu sandbagging kollha, jew it-tajers fuq il-Fabia sempliċement qattgħu qabel ma tlaqna? Jew, tabilħaqq, kieku Barrable kien qed jilgħab logħob biex jibda, iwassal lili u lill-għażiż Nobbli l-antik f'sens kompletament falz ta 'sigurtà?
Jew il-mod, ma kienx importanti, għax meta ġiet imbuttata biex tqaxxar il-Fabia wriet dak li ssuspettajna li se jkun kollu: li huwa instabbli, anke minn wieħed mill-aktar supercars mgħaġġla li l-flus jistgħu jixtru, u li l-ebda ammont ta 'xeħta mill-M600 - mhux 450bhp, 550bhp jew is-650bhp sħiħ - ikun biżżejjed biex jittratta l-qabda tiegħu, l-aġilità u l-veloċità diretta mal-art. Anke fuq korsa tat-triq bħal din.
Għamilna ftit ġirjiet oħra mill-imnieħer għad-denb, din id-darba miegħi jmexxi u Barrable fil-Fabia aktar mgħaġġla wara, sempliċement biex naraw fejn jinsabu d-differenzi ewlenin fil-prestazzjoni tagħhom. Inevitabbilment kienet il-veloċità turn-in tal-Skoda u l-veloċità tal-ħruġ tagħha minn kull liwja li kienu l-ħiliet rebbieħa. Ma jimpurtax kemm ippruvajt nimpenja lin-Nobbli għal kull rokna, il-Fabia kellhom it-tarf. U xifer oħxon ħafna rriżulta li kien.
Għax meta eventwalment ħriġna l-istopwatch u ttajmjajnihom individwalment fuq ġirja, sempliċement biex tara assolutament liema kien l-aktar mgħaġġel, Barrable u l-Fabia waqqgħu lili u n-Nobbli kompletament. Saq l-M600 malajr kemm stajt, nibża 'lili nnifsi stupid fi ftit postijiet, u rnexxieli ħin ta' 33. 2sec. U mbagħad Barrable u l-Fabia S2000 fil-pront marru 2. 1sec aktar malajr. Fuq distanza konsiderevolment inqas minn mil.
Il-punt kien ġie ppruvat lil hinn minn kull dubju. Il-Skoda Fabia S2000 hija aktar mgħaġġla minn Noble M600 - u b'marġini li lanqas in-nies tajbin minn Skoda ma setgħu jemmnu pjuttost. Mort id-dar inħoss daqsxejn qoxra xxukkjata, biex inkun onest, wara li ġejt kompletament minfuħ minn din il-karozza żgħira straordinarja.

How does Skodas IRC-winning Fabia stand up to the mighty Noble M600 on asphalt?When you look at these two cars squared up to each other, side by side on the same piece of road, any comparison between them seems vaguely ridiculous. The Skoda Fabia Super 2000 rally car may well boast more than its fair share of skirts, stickers and spoilers, but its also twice as tall and only half as long as the altogether more exotically proportioned Noble M600. It looks, indeed, a bit like a go-faster shopping trolley beside the long, wide and deliciously low-slung, classic supercar form of the M600.
Things dont get much better for the Skoda when you fling the technical notes open and compare what lurks beneath their wildly differing skins. The Noble has 450-650bhp on offer, depending how brave youre feeling and where you position the switch that leashes its twin-turbo 4. 4-litre V8 engine. The Fabia, on the other hand, has a 2. 0-litre, four-cylinder motor that produces a decent, but hardly hair-raising, 265bhp.

And when it comes to torque – usually the defining element of a cars acceleration – the poor old Skoda gets wrestled to the ground and kicked where it hurts most. It has a mere 180lb ft to the Nobles whopping 604lb ft (most of which is available and ready to shred any ribbon of bitumen from barely above tickover).
But the Skoda weighs less than the Noble, of course, so any kind of energy deficiency it may suffer on paper is instantly negated in reality, right? Wrong. Very wrong. Give or take a gallon of petrol here and there, they both weigh about 1200kg. Which means the Noble boasts not only gigantic power and torque advantages, but an equally unfair power-to-weight advantage, too. And it has much wider rear tyres, much bigger brakes and a classic mid-engined chassis design that makes the front-engined Skoda seem worryingly workaday.
So why did we even choose to put the Skoda through the purgatory of such a comparison, and on The Snake handling course at Chobham proving ground that could have been designed specifically to suit the Noble? Because in reality the Fabia can take it, and then some. It does have one or two tricks up its sleeve, after all, some of which even an M600 driver might be a touch disturbed to discover.
And the most effective of these is its four wheel-drive system. With mechanical diffs at the front, at the back and in the centre of the car, all of which are controlled electronically, the Fabia can generate traction and grip that the Noble, fat tyres or otherwise, cant hope to compete with. Its also geared much, much shorter than the M600 and features a straight-cut sequential transmission that can slice between ratios significantly quicker than the Nobles conventional six-speed manual.
You dont even need to use the clutch once under way in the Skoda. Everything the Fabia S2000 does once on the move has been designed to happen as quickly as possible. It even sounds rapid when you fire it up, the starter motor churning for a quarter of a second before the unsilenced engine explodes into life, completely drowning out the gentle purr of the Nobles V8.
At which point you do think, Okay, fair enough, lets bring it on. Lets see what this snarling, flame-spitting, exhaust-popping, angry little runt of a car can really do.
So we did, and the results were a little bit weird to begin with. It was a complete and utter one-way street, with the pace being dictated not by the agility and grip of the Skoda but by the sheer speed and acceleration of the Noble. Hmm…
After a couple of back-to-back test runs, with me in the Noble chasing works-supported driver Robert Barrable in the Skoda, it was clear the Noble was quicker. By miles. It could accelerate faster in all the key spots, it had more grip mid-corner – not just through the fast bends where one might expect it to fly, but through the slower ones as well – and under braking it could take huge chunks out of the Fabia pretty much everywhere, despite having no anti-lock system.
Only on the jump section thats about three-quarters of the way through The Snake could the Fabia pull out any kind of an advantage, but only then because I was backing off in the M600 to avoid grinding its expensive carbonfibre front splitter into terra firma. All of which was a touch strange and not at all what wed expected.
After one more back-to-back run, during which the M600 once again sat on the Fabias tail (allowing me a grandstand view of the Skoda sliding all over the road), we stopped and chatted. Barrable reckoned the Fabia was struggling for grip everywhere and claimed it had no bite at the front end at all through most corners. He couldnt really use any of the cars power as a result and suggested we take a look at the tyres.
At that point it became crystal clear why the Skoda was struggling to keep up. Its rear tyres looked like they were wearing a swimming cap, while those at the front were worn through to the canvas. So the mechanics set to and changed all four Michelins, this time fitting a harder-compound rubber on account of the unusually coarse road surface that makes up much of The Snake. And then we started our test all over again.
This time the outcome was somewhat different. Starting nose to tail again, the Noble still had the edge, just, when leaving the line. But the moment Barrable and the Fabia turned in to the first corner, a third-gear right-hander, well, that was that, really. He just disappeared, and I never saw him again until the end when we turned around and he gave me a great big grin, along with a Barry Sheene-style V sign to go with it. Nice one Robert, cheers for that. And there was I thinking the Noble was king of The Snake.
Had they been sandbagging all along, or were the tyres on the Fabia merely spent before we set off? Or, indeed, had Barrable been playing games to begin with, leading me and the dear old Noble into a completely false sense of security?
Either way, it didnt matter, because when push came to shove the Fabia proved what we suspected it would all along: that it is unbeatable, even by one of the fastest supercars that money can buy, and that no amount of shove from the M600 – not 450bhp, 550bhp or the full 650bhp – would be sufficient to deal with its grip, agility and outright speed across the ground. Even on a road course such as this one.
We did a few more nose-to-tail runs, this time with me leading and Barrable in the quicker Fabia behind, just to see where the key differences in their performance lay. Inevitably it was the turn-in speed of the Skoda and its exit speed from each bend that were the winning skills. No matter how hard I tried to commit the Noble to each corner, the Fabia had the edge. And a very thick edge it turned out to be.
Because when eventually we got the stopwatch out and timed them individually on a run, just to see absolutely which was quickest, Barrable and the Fabia demolished me and the Noble completely. I drove the M600 as fast as I could, scaring myself stupid in a couple of places, and managed a time of 33. 2sec. And then Barrable and the Fabia S2000 promptly went 2. 1sec quicker. Over a distance of considerably less than one mile.
The point had been proven beyond all doubt. The Skoda Fabia S2000 is faster than a Noble M600 – and by a margin that not even the good people from Skoda could quite believe. I went home feeling a bit shell shocked, to be honest, having been completely blown away by this extraordinary little car.