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- The Tri-State Area
Yes, that's a Skoda.
Specifically, it's the Skoda Spider II, the car that the Czech manufacturer built to replace its own Spider B5 in order to better compete in the European 2-Litre Championship sports car racing series.
The original vehicle was built in 1972 to race under Group 5 regulations for small-capacity engines. It would race against similar Eastern Bloc cars in the shape of vehicles like the Wartburg-based Melkus RS 1000, and the MTX 2-01 Spider.
Largely driven by Skoda regular Jaroslav Bobek, the Spider B5 earned the nickname "skokan" - or "jumper" in Czech - for some slightly wayward handling characteristics, and Skoda sought to replace it as the FIA merged the Group 5 and Group 6 regulations.
That resulted in the Spider II, which made its debut in 1975 with a new two-litre engine based on that used in the new 200RS - Skoda's first RS vehicle. Available as either OHC or DOHC, this Skoda 720 unit could deliver 180hp in the Spider II, which weighed just 585kg - almost 50kg lighter than the B5.
A lot of the weight saving came from a new platform, with a custom-made "self-supporting skeleton": essentially a space-frame. With a new Hewland FT200 gearbox (replacing the Skoda-built unit of the B5), the Spider II could hit 60mph in four seconds and up to 150mph depending on configuration.
Bobek raced the Spider II in various European Group 5 championships and hill climb events, including the domestic Ecce Homo Sternberk hill climb. However the car was destroyed in a crash in 1976 at the Hlasna Treban hill climb, through a bizarre collision after the finish line having taken victory.
Skoda has recently undertaken a restoration of the Spider II, with the vehicle destined to sit alongside the B5 at the Skoda Museum in Mlada Boleslav.
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.... anyway i love it !
