Bonneville Skoda - more details

We’ve got you some more technical details for the Skoda Octavia vRS that evo is going to be driving at the Bonneville Speed Week. 

To make the Bonneville car a standard Octavia vRS has been comprehensively stripped-out, with nearly 250kg of trim removed from the interior. The car has been fitted with a massively strong Safety Devices roll cage and a Kirkey drag racing seat. 

The standard Octavia’s 2.0-litre TSI engine has been comprehensively reworked and gets a massive Garrett G-05 turbocharger with a twin blade billet cut compressor wheel capable of delivering up to 28PSI of boost. The motor also has a gas-flowed cylinder head and the ECU tweaked by REVO Technik.

Running on 120RON race fuel and using water methanol injection, that should translate into a power output of between 550bhp and 600bhp, delivered at nearly 8000rpm.

The vRS’s transmission has been swapped for the gearbox from an Octavia Greenline – the high-efficiency diesel version – chosen to provide the gearing necessary to achieve serious speed on the salt. Traction is ensured by a GripperDiff limited-slip diff. 

Rear brakes have been removed to reduce aerodynamic drag – the Octavia will rely on a drag racing parachute to stop. Wheels are standard Skoda 15-inch steel rims wearing high-pressure Goodyear Eagle Land Speed tyres to give a total wheel diameter of 23-inches.

And it’s our very own Richard Meaden who’ll be driving the ultimate vRS when it takes to the salt flats in August. 

“Speed Week is an iconic event, so to take part this year really is a dream come true,” Meaden said.” The Octavia vRS is far from an obvious choice, but I rather like that, as making a car go way faster than it should is in the true spirit of Bonneville. I’ve got no idea what it’ll do, but it’s going to be fun finding out!” 

You can keep up with Dickie’s preparations for Bonneville – and find out how he does at the event itself – by following his blogs here.

And check out more pictures of the Octavia being built in this gallery.