<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Oh no, has it had some form of accident? Are the occupants OK? How come it's still running? Round a corner is coming half a car, the front half, and it looks every bit as surreal as James Bond's abbreviated Renault 11 in A View to a Kill. But now it's passing and yes, now we can see another wheel which is preventing the truncated tail from scraping on the ground.
Could this be a new take on a Morgan three-wheeler, then? Or is it just a mutant that escaped from Peugeot's R&D department before it got finished? Because its nose is clearly that of a Peugeot: in fact it's the nose, more or less, of the forthcoming Peugeot 207. Meet the 20Cup concept car.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
It's great when concept cars actually work. Making a static model to show how a car could be is one thing, but making a concept car do what it looks like it should do is something else again. Peugeot is good at this. The RC coups spawned a one-model race series. The 907 - with its V12 engine and Ferrari-like styling - drove like the beast it looked. And now the three-wheeled 20Cup proves that when you have front-wheel drive and all the weight in the nose, the rear wheel doesn't really matter that much.
The 207 itself goes on sale next spring, initially adding to, rather than replacing, the 206, with its top models using a new engine range co-developed between PSA (the Peugeot-Citron holding company) and BMW. These engines will also find their way into the next-generation Mini and are direct-injection units of 1.6 litres (a 1.4 will follow). There's a non-turbo with 115bhp and a BMW Valvetronic-like system that replaces a throttle with variable valve lift, plus a brace of turbo motors delivering either 141 or 168bhp. And this last engine is lurking under the carbonfibre snout of the 20Cup, to be sampled for the first time.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The V12 was the last Peugeot concept to emerge from the company's old design centre at La Garenne, Paris, and the 20Cup is the first fruit of the new studio at Vlizy. The studio building is shared with Citroen, but there's a Berlin Wall between the two companies' areas. They even create their styling models differently; Peugeot with high-density expanded polystyrene, Citroen with clay.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The 20Cup has progressed well beyond the polystyrene stage, though. Like the 907, it's built around a carbonfibre tub and features racecar-like fabricated double-wishbone front suspension and coil-over dampers. At the back, however, is a giant wheel braked by a dinky little disc and shod with a wide, wide tyre intended for the Le Mans prototype class, and a motorbike-like double swinging arm controlled by a single Ohlins coil-over. The carapace-like bonnet/front wings/bodyside assembly is designed to generate downforce over the front wheels, with air ducted out either side of the cockpit below the stylised lions' heads.
And now I'm going to drive this mad mutant, this tricycle-car whose genetic code terminated so abruptly just behind the driver. It's raining and there are neither windscreen wipers nor, unless you count an inch-high tab of polycarbonate, a windscreen. Helmet on, then.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
And climb in? Vault in? Fall in? Engage the services of a small crane? There are, of course, no doors and the seat - a slab of polystyrene upholstered with gaffer tape - is a long way down. There's also a central cockpit spine at what will shortly be neck level, so at least there's something to lower myself against.
Descend into seat, pull down the layers of clothing that somehow got left behind, buckle up the four-point harness and take stock. Ahead is TV-screen-shaped steering wheel with, yes, a small screen in its centre. The image on this screen is supposed to stay upright however the wheel is turned: sometimes it really does just that. It can display all sorts of things, and right now it's ready to show lateral and longitudinal g-force, speed and the gear I've selected. Rev-counter? There's one in the system, but not on this particular menu.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The engine may be exactly to production spec, right down to the electronic programming, but the transmission certainly isn't. It's a six-speed sequential race unit as used in France's 206 RCC Cup championship, controlled by buttons on the steering wheel - one for up, one for down. You have to use the clutch to start off, though, and as the dog-clutch transmission engages its gears quite violently it's best to use the clutch for every gearshift too.
OK. Push start button, clutch down, select first. It's a race clutch so it's going to be quite fierce, but a good dollop of throttle at the crucial moment gets us going. The 20Cup weighs less than 500kg, so its power-to-weight ratio is quite spectacular. So is its torque-to-weight, made all the better by the fact that the 177lb ft peak value is on tap all the way from 1,400 to 4,000rpm.
The engine may be exactly to production spec, right down to the electronic programming, but the transmission certainly isn't. It's a six-speed sequential race unit as used in France's 206 RCC Cup championship, controlled by buttons on the steering wheel - one for up, one for down. You have to use the clutch to start off, though, and as the dog-clutch transmission engages its gears quite violently it's best to use the clutch for every gearshift too.
OK. Push start button, clutch down, select first. It's a race clutch so it's going to be quite fierce, but a good dollop of throttle at the crucial moment gets us going. The 20Cup weighs less than 500kg, so its power-to-weight ratio is quite spectacular. So is its torque-to-weight, made all the better by the fact that the 177lb ft peak value is on tap all the way from 1,400 to 4,000rpm.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
We're in second. The test track at Mortefontaine, outside Paris, is damp, so let's squeeze the throttle Well, the exhaust system certainly isn't standard, because the tailpipe emits a hearty bellow and we're launched with ballistic instantaneity towards the red-and-white bollards that mark the end of the straight. The turbo is a twin-scroll unit, so exhaust pulses from cylinders one and three enter the turbine via one duct, from two and four via the other. That minimises pulse interference and response lag, to the extent that in this featherweight machine the engine feels like a very gutsy 2.0-litre.
Amazingly, the 20Cup is getting its power down even on the wet surface, and there's no torque-steer at all. There's a lot of surge and snatch in the transmission, though: transverse-engine racing cars are often like that, the 20Cup's low mass making it all the more obvious. The upside is a fantastically quick gearchange, helped by a clutch with an ultra-short travel.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Now those cones are approaching, I throttle-blip down through the gears and aim for the turnaround loop. And ouch! I've got my right hand jammed between the steering wheel and the centre spine and my turn has turned out very untidy indeed. Come to think of it, the steering isn't the 20Cup's best feature, because it's a road car's power-assisted rack and such a light car needs neither power assistance nor such big armfuls for tight turns.
"But it's not a problem most of the time," says Bolle-Reddat, "because you don't normally need more than a quarter turn of the wheel."
Fair enough. And I must say the 20Cup does have remarkable front end grip and traction on these wet-weather racing tyres ("Enough to take 200bhp," says M Bolle-Reddat) - even if it's a shame that powerslides are clearly off the agenda, it being front-wheel drive and all. Slow in, fast out seems to be the key.
Now I'm watching the 20Cup circulate as the rain continues, a giant rooster-tail of spray spurting up from the back wheel as it does its jet-ski impression.
Could the 20Cup ever be used out on the road? Jean-Christophe Bolle-Reddat has clearly thought along these lines - the 907 ventured out into the real world, after all - and he's also thought it might be fun to run a 20Cup race series.
What an excellent idea that would be.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>source:http://www.channel4.com/4car/feature/features-2005/peugeot-20cup/peugeot-20cup-index.html
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Oh no, has it had some form of accident? Are the occupants OK? How come it's still running? Round a corner is coming half a car, the front half, and it looks every bit as surreal as James Bond's abbreviated Renault 11 in A View to a Kill. But now it's passing and yes, now we can see another wheel which is preventing the truncated tail from scraping on the ground.
Could this be a new take on a Morgan three-wheeler, then? Or is it just a mutant that escaped from Peugeot's R&D department before it got finished? Because its nose is clearly that of a Peugeot: in fact it's the nose, more or less, of the forthcoming Peugeot 207. Meet the 20Cup concept car.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
It's great when concept cars actually work. Making a static model to show how a car could be is one thing, but making a concept car do what it looks like it should do is something else again. Peugeot is good at this. The RC coups spawned a one-model race series. The 907 - with its V12 engine and Ferrari-like styling - drove like the beast it looked. And now the three-wheeled 20Cup proves that when you have front-wheel drive and all the weight in the nose, the rear wheel doesn't really matter that much.
The 207 itself goes on sale next spring, initially adding to, rather than replacing, the 206, with its top models using a new engine range co-developed between PSA (the Peugeot-Citron holding company) and BMW. These engines will also find their way into the next-generation Mini and are direct-injection units of 1.6 litres (a 1.4 will follow). There's a non-turbo with 115bhp and a BMW Valvetronic-like system that replaces a throttle with variable valve lift, plus a brace of turbo motors delivering either 141 or 168bhp. And this last engine is lurking under the carbonfibre snout of the 20Cup, to be sampled for the first time.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The V12 was the last Peugeot concept to emerge from the company's old design centre at La Garenne, Paris, and the 20Cup is the first fruit of the new studio at Vlizy. The studio building is shared with Citroen, but there's a Berlin Wall between the two companies' areas. They even create their styling models differently; Peugeot with high-density expanded polystyrene, Citroen with clay.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The 20Cup has progressed well beyond the polystyrene stage, though. Like the 907, it's built around a carbonfibre tub and features racecar-like fabricated double-wishbone front suspension and coil-over dampers. At the back, however, is a giant wheel braked by a dinky little disc and shod with a wide, wide tyre intended for the Le Mans prototype class, and a motorbike-like double swinging arm controlled by a single Ohlins coil-over. The carapace-like bonnet/front wings/bodyside assembly is designed to generate downforce over the front wheels, with air ducted out either side of the cockpit below the stylised lions' heads.
And now I'm going to drive this mad mutant, this tricycle-car whose genetic code terminated so abruptly just behind the driver. It's raining and there are neither windscreen wipers nor, unless you count an inch-high tab of polycarbonate, a windscreen. Helmet on, then.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
And climb in? Vault in? Fall in? Engage the services of a small crane? There are, of course, no doors and the seat - a slab of polystyrene upholstered with gaffer tape - is a long way down. There's also a central cockpit spine at what will shortly be neck level, so at least there's something to lower myself against.
Descend into seat, pull down the layers of clothing that somehow got left behind, buckle up the four-point harness and take stock. Ahead is TV-screen-shaped steering wheel with, yes, a small screen in its centre. The image on this screen is supposed to stay upright however the wheel is turned: sometimes it really does just that. It can display all sorts of things, and right now it's ready to show lateral and longitudinal g-force, speed and the gear I've selected. Rev-counter? There's one in the system, but not on this particular menu.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The engine may be exactly to production spec, right down to the electronic programming, but the transmission certainly isn't. It's a six-speed sequential race unit as used in France's 206 RCC Cup championship, controlled by buttons on the steering wheel - one for up, one for down. You have to use the clutch to start off, though, and as the dog-clutch transmission engages its gears quite violently it's best to use the clutch for every gearshift too.
OK. Push start button, clutch down, select first. It's a race clutch so it's going to be quite fierce, but a good dollop of throttle at the crucial moment gets us going. The 20Cup weighs less than 500kg, so its power-to-weight ratio is quite spectacular. So is its torque-to-weight, made all the better by the fact that the 177lb ft peak value is on tap all the way from 1,400 to 4,000rpm.
The engine may be exactly to production spec, right down to the electronic programming, but the transmission certainly isn't. It's a six-speed sequential race unit as used in France's 206 RCC Cup championship, controlled by buttons on the steering wheel - one for up, one for down. You have to use the clutch to start off, though, and as the dog-clutch transmission engages its gears quite violently it's best to use the clutch for every gearshift too.
OK. Push start button, clutch down, select first. It's a race clutch so it's going to be quite fierce, but a good dollop of throttle at the crucial moment gets us going. The 20Cup weighs less than 500kg, so its power-to-weight ratio is quite spectacular. So is its torque-to-weight, made all the better by the fact that the 177lb ft peak value is on tap all the way from 1,400 to 4,000rpm.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
We're in second. The test track at Mortefontaine, outside Paris, is damp, so let's squeeze the throttle Well, the exhaust system certainly isn't standard, because the tailpipe emits a hearty bellow and we're launched with ballistic instantaneity towards the red-and-white bollards that mark the end of the straight. The turbo is a twin-scroll unit, so exhaust pulses from cylinders one and three enter the turbine via one duct, from two and four via the other. That minimises pulse interference and response lag, to the extent that in this featherweight machine the engine feels like a very gutsy 2.0-litre.
Amazingly, the 20Cup is getting its power down even on the wet surface, and there's no torque-steer at all. There's a lot of surge and snatch in the transmission, though: transverse-engine racing cars are often like that, the 20Cup's low mass making it all the more obvious. The upside is a fantastically quick gearchange, helped by a clutch with an ultra-short travel.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Now those cones are approaching, I throttle-blip down through the gears and aim for the turnaround loop. And ouch! I've got my right hand jammed between the steering wheel and the centre spine and my turn has turned out very untidy indeed. Come to think of it, the steering isn't the 20Cup's best feature, because it's a road car's power-assisted rack and such a light car needs neither power assistance nor such big armfuls for tight turns.
"But it's not a problem most of the time," says Bolle-Reddat, "because you don't normally need more than a quarter turn of the wheel."
Fair enough. And I must say the 20Cup does have remarkable front end grip and traction on these wet-weather racing tyres ("Enough to take 200bhp," says M Bolle-Reddat) - even if it's a shame that powerslides are clearly off the agenda, it being front-wheel drive and all. Slow in, fast out seems to be the key.
Now I'm watching the 20Cup circulate as the rain continues, a giant rooster-tail of spray spurting up from the back wheel as it does its jet-ski impression.
Could the 20Cup ever be used out on the road? Jean-Christophe Bolle-Reddat has clearly thought along these lines - the 907 ventured out into the real world, after all - and he's also thought it might be fun to run a 20Cup race series.
What an excellent idea that would be.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>source:http://www.channel4.com/4car/feature/features-2005/peugeot-20cup/peugeot-20cup-index.html
