Opel Corsa OPC: I take it personally!

Of course you can pimp a small car properly. That can be quite useful. For example, with fat wheels, a loud exhaust system, bucket seats and a little paint for the caliper. Sounds like a craft shack and a Saturday night in front of the McDrive.

Or you look at what Opel has made of the brave Corsa. With the help of Koni dampers, Brembo brake system, Remus exhaust system and Recaro seats. But the most important thing in the list is a name that was missing: Strycek. Volker Strycek.

Opel Corsa OPC - Personal Exam!

Opel's social media team has come up with a very special event for the guild of “apparently” “non-professionals” in journalism, the bloggers. While we were driving reports from the presentation of the Rüsselsheimer racing ball already for weeks in the blog (First test: Opel Corsa OPC) - was now able to experience a lively and quite funny gathering of “online multipliers” in Dudenhofen a meeting with the racing gnome, which was quite tough.

First test: braking with Brembo.

So that you can fully enjoy and evaluate the effect of the Brembo brake system, the team had around the Ex-racing driver Sascha Bert come up with a special “test”: brake the target. At 80 km / h, the aim was to stop as close as possible to a cone line. The first attempt (training 1) was 2 meters missing, the last attempt (training 2) was 25 centimeters. During the race, no longer from 80 km / h, but from 100 km / h and with “watchdogs” on board - I completely screwed up the test. An incredible two meters beyond the goal - a tragedy of personal failure. The “colleagues” who were able to observe the whole misery were then also “helpful” and “understanding”. As these photos show well:

At this point, the driver does not blame the car. The little Corsa OPC does indeed have an exemplary feel on the brakes. A well-defined pressure point and a braking system that gives you amazingly mature. No, it was a matter of mercilessly overshooting the target, it was up to the driver. 🙁

Brembo, Koni and Volker:

The fact that the components are so prominently placed in the foreground at Opel is rather unusual for a German car manufacturer, but is also due to the target group of the Opel Corsa OPC. A chassis from KONI, a brake system from Brembo and an exhaust system from Remus. That actually sounds like the accessories catalog from D&W or a very sensible and neat selection. However, the most important brand for the result, the overall product of the Opel Corsa OPC is: Strycek - Volker Strycek.

The man has won the DTM (1984), he has won the 24h race at the Nürburgring (2003) and, since 1998, he has been the head of sports at Haus Opel. And he is still racing on the Nordschleife today. Volker Strycek is considered by Opel fans as an idol, as a maker and as the head behind the Opel Astra OPC Cup (Nordschleife). The man is a driving legend and an expert when it comes to developing a car for the Nordschleife challenge. And if the man says we need the Koni dampers in the Opel Corsa OPC, we want the Drexler front axle lock, we want the Remus sound and the Recaro seats, then he gets that. And the result?

A 207 hp racing ball on chic 18-inch rims, that's how the new OPC Corsa stands before us. When it comes to the slalom test, my mistake in the first discipline has not been forgotten, but the focus is now on the “cone game”.

Little hat player in performance mode

What was missing in the list of “performance modules” up to now was the sports tire that Opel treats the Corsa OPC to ex works. French rubber in the sports mix. The Koni damper with "FSD technology”Should make an adaptive damper adjustment unnecessary and still be able to use everyday as well as sports. Can they do that? No idea. On the test site in Dudenhofen, the little Corsa OPC with its distinctive bumper always had to sniff hard at the cones. Can the OPC Corsa also be used in everyday life? Probably. The performance package also includes a mechanical lock from Drexsler. This means that the smallest OPC candidate can be lifted hard around the curve despite front-wheel drive. 207 HP is one thing, the 245 Nm torque the other. In overboost, the engine can be briefly persuaded to 280 Nm. Crisp is probably the best description for the topic of “cone game” in the OPC Corsa. Steering? Crisp! Damping? Crisp. Front axle? Can be moved close to the maximum performance and gives enough feedback. The result? Best time in slalom. Not only for the OPC Corsa, also for my-auto-blog.

The Opel Corsa OPC puts you in a good mood - until Opel unpacks the VLN Cup Astra!

You can admit it as a man and an autoblogger: The smallest OPC candidate is definitely good fun. Its easily controllable brake, the crisp steering and the convincing chassis are on point. With 207 hp, the 1.6 liter turbo engine in the Rüsselsheimer dress easily overtakes the competitors from VW, Ford and Renault. The whole package seems coherent, which is not surprising, because Remus, Recaro, Brembo and Drexler should not be in the foreground, but the “daddy” of the OPC vehicles from Opel: Volker Strycek.

But the fun stops suddenly when the Opel Astra Cup enters the stage. A hatch course of not even 1 km is supposed to be the playground. Clattering, the original VLN-Cup Astra rocks into the foreground of the assembled media pack.

Kurzweil from Rüsselsheim: OPEL ASTRA Cup

Now words can hardly describe what happens in one, if one uses the Original Cup Astra is allowed to drive. 320 hp from the 2-liter turbo four-cylinder in the bow. The 400 Nm then fall purely on the front axle, as in the series vehicle. Wacky racing rain tires from Hankook provide traction and grip, and the racing vehicle also relies on a differential lock from Drexler. Instead of Koni, a Bilstein system dampens in the racing Astra and the front axle was given the “HiperStrut layout” to decouple drive influences on the steering. Correspondingly, the racing Astra goes to work.

The biggest challenge in dealing with the 320 PS car? The beginning.

1.280 vs. 128 kg

The racing Astra weighs 1.280 kg, despite the massive use of carbon. On the other hand, a roll cage and an elaborate side crash box are used. The Recaro Competition seats feel immoderately close. An interference fit between the hip and the chairs is the order of the day. The five-point belt is guilty of annoying the crown jewels - in the end, however, only one thing counts: go in and off you go!

Starting in the Cup-Astra is no more difficult than in the OPC Corsa and for the fact that the Cup-Astra is more powerful with a whole shovel, the traction of the scrubbed Hankook tires is fascinatingly good!

Sure, you don't really see much. Sitting low, the compact car with its hood is built up in front of you. Orbiting cones? In order to? And yet - if you get used to the noise, then you let the two-liter turbo roar to the shift light - the Cup-Astra rewards the use with surprising peacefulness. Sure, the berserk roars the neighborhood awake and the hats bounce out of the way, but the Cup-Astra rewards with honest reaction and sporty toughness! Both are incredibly good!

OPC - three letters, one goal

The Rüsselsheimer sports badge with the three letters determined an entertaining day. Since it was a “non-journalist day”, the reporting on my-auto-blog is again in the “blog style”. Emotions instead of sober facts. Entertainment instead of objectivity. 

There are said to be journalists who accuse the Opel Corsa OPC in the latest version of lacking emotion. This is nonsense. The fact that the day was shaped as a challenge with the Corsa OPC brought unusual entertainment value. And enabled a completely new, relaxed view of the Corsa OPC. Price? Furnishing? Should the journalists take care of that - I'm dreaming of the 90 seconds in the Opel Astra VLN Cup… and slimming down a few pounds so that I can move the thing on the Nordschleife soon ...

Pictures of the day (all from the Opel photographer)