The Octavia RS is certainly not the most exciting performance car out there, but it does lure in buyers looking for a lot more practicality than the Volkswagen Golf GTI upon which it's based can offer. In 2011, Skoda UK's technical centre went to town with a second-gen model in an attempt to set a new record for a production car with a turbocharged 2.0-litre engine at the Bonneville Salt Flats. All the work was done in less than two months.
This is how the 600-bhp Octavia RS was born, packing nearly two and a half times more power than today's petrol-fuelled model. The 2.0 TSI engine received a large Garrett turbocharger and a water-injection system, not to mention a beefier intercooler, race oil, and a remapped ECU. The turbo four-pot was fitted with a larger radiator, new engine mountings, and upgraded injectors.
Compared to the stock engine, it pushed out approximately three times more power. The petrol mill was hooked up to a gearbox borrowed from the Superb GreenLine and equipped with a limited-slip differential. The car was lowered by 80 millimetres (3.1 inches) and sat on 15-inch steel wheels with aero-optimised covers and wrapped in Goodyear Eagle Dragway Special tyres.
It managed to hit 227.080 mph (366 km/h) on 19 August 2011, and now the record-breaking car has been fully restored to celebrate the record's tenth anniversary. It goes without saying turning a sensible front-wheel-drive family hatchback into a car that can go faster than a Porsche 918 Spyder was no easy feat.
Today's Octavia RS:
In case you're wondering, the world record for a piston-engined car at the Bonneville Salt Flats was established on 14 August last year when George Poteet's Speed Demon with 3,156 bhp averaged a whopping 470.015 mph (756.415 km/h). Its absolute top speed was 481.576 mph (775.021 km/h).
Source: Skoda