Skoda's forgotten Le Mans racer - Skoda 1100 OHC Type 968

[Mike E]

Some lovely pics here of a piece of Skoda's motorsport history.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/mo...-le-mans-racer

[courageous]

I am sorry comrade, we were not able to make the wheels square

[KA]

I think there were a couple of articles in the various UK classic car mags on this a few years back. It's always intrigued me for some reason- it's certainly a pretty little thing

From vague memory, those articles suggested it possibly came to the UK in the late 60's/early 70's, having been sold off by the factory to an owner who either got out of Czechoslovakia after the 'Prague Spring' in '68, or came over to the UK to study in the 70's, bringing the car with him- supposedly, it was actually used as a road car in London for a while!
I think it then found it's way into Duncan Rabagliati's collection, before being sold on a few years back- Do Skoda UK own it now, or is it still in private hands?

Has it ever been raced in historics over here? I don't think I've ever seen it on track, although I'm pretty sure I've seen it on display a couple of times back in the 90's

Incidentally, the Autocar piece says there's another in Skoda's factory collection which is a non-runner- this link, suggests that in fact, it is up and running again- if so it would be nice to see the pair reunited at something like the Goodwood Festival or Revival
https://media.skoda-auto.com/en/_lay...se.aspx?ID=336

Autocar also mention there having been a couple of coupes, all believed lost-this looks like the coupe version...
http://img.auto.cz/blog/blogs.dir/17...67coup17ck.jpg

[Aysedasi]

Very pretty indeed!

[stuart thompson]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Very pretty indeed!

If Skoda were able to produce such pretty cars. How do they end up with the Rapide.

[Aysedasi]

There are some questions you just can't answer - no matter how hard you try!

[Lloyd.L]

Sorry guys, have to disagree, I wish I still had my late model 130 Rapid. despite all the jokes, the people who owned them knew just how good they were, and their rally record backs that up!

Regards, Lloyd

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Lloyd.L

Sorry guys, have to disagree, I wish I still had my late model 130 Rapid. despite all the jokes, the people who owned them knew just how good they were, and their rally record backs that up!

Regards, Lloyd

And the 130RS Gp2 race car wasn't shabby either! Missed out on a real one of those....

Skoda, along with other domestic specialist builders Melkus and MTX were still building sports prototypes into the 70s for the domestic championship. (As well as single seaters for Formula Easter.) As part of the Soviet Union at that time we didn't hear much of what was going on, but from my small knowledge gained over there a healthy motor sport scene existed. In a small private museum in Nova Paka I found a fascinating array of domestic built road and race cars, and from old photos shown learned the town itself once boasted a street circuit.

I am not surprised the Skoda 1100 racer was so well engineered- engineering is something the Czech people were and still are good at.

[terence]

Quite right Mike,I had a spell at Skoda back in the early seventies,helping sort some production issues they had. Was fortunate to have seen this car in the metal,it was in the UK with a mind for it to be on one of the stands at a Motorshow. It was really nicely built,some very innovative design ideas were beautifully incorporated in the whole build,its a very desirable little car,not just for its value!

[John Turner]

If anyone knows the owner, and if that owner intends to race this lovely little car, perhaps I could could point him/her at this thread below, where we are trying to put together some races for these cars without them having to run in a field of bigger cars.


http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133074

[dabeca]

I quite like my skoda 110, OK the only part from Skoda is the windscreen but just ignore the porsche/march/mazuin bits and squint a little and it still kind of looks like a Skoda

[rbm]

Originally Posted by KA

From vague memory, those articles suggested it possibly came to the UK in the late 60's/early 70's, having been sold off by the factory to an owner who either got out of Czechoslovakia after the 'Prague Spring' in '68, or came over to the UK to study in the 70's, bringing the car with him- supposedly, it was actually used as a road car in London for a while!
I think it then found it's way into Duncan Rabagliati's collection, before being sold on a few years back- Do Skoda UK own it now, or is it still in private hands?

Sat round having a beer or three at Cadwell or Oulton or actually maybe it was Croix a few years back Duncan related me the story of this car, fairly sure he bought the car as a student and drove it back from behind the iron curtain.

[D-Type]

As I understood it, Duncan R. bought the car from a student who had driven it to England following the Prague Spring rather than having bought it and driven it home himself. But this is based on something I read quite a few years ago - and we all know that the centres ofmemory and imagination are next to each other in the brain.

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by dabeca

I quite like my skoda 110, OK the only part from Skoda is the windscreen but just ignore the porsche/march/mazuin bits and squint a little and it still kind of looks like a Skoda

It doesn't have a windscreen!