Peugeot 205 GTi Sprint Car

PPC’s dedicated sprint and hillclimb 205 GTi. Mi16 powered and built from tinfoil.

With sprinting being one of the most accessible forms of motorsport these days we at PPC decided it was time to get involved.

Peugeot’s iconic hot hatch, the 205 GTi, was the perfect base to be built into a competitive sprint weapon, so when a cheap non-sunroof example came up for not much cash PPC’s Ben Allen and Kevin Leaper decided it would be rude not to.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and the 205 was added to Kev’s array of automotive exotica on his drive and the build began.

The sprightly Peugeot was put on a diet, with the interior junked, a Safety Devices cage welded in, a carbon fibre bucket seat added, and a set of plastic windows sourced and fitted.

The next job was to decide what powerplant to put in the 205. Fortunately this was an easy job, with the 1.9-litre 16-valve engine from Citroen’s BX and Peugeot’s 405 fitting on the 205s existing engine mounts.

We got an engine from a local scrapyard and Kev started handling the rebuild.

While it was apart we decided that the only sensible option was some fettling in the form of a set of Piper 270 cams, Vernier pulleys, Jenvey throttle bodies, and an Emerald ECU to handle the sparks and fuelling.

The aim was to get the power up from the standard 160bhp to a minimum of 180 – a much more useful figure.

The 205 GTi is renowned for its agility, being able to get the better of a lot of much more exotic machinery on the twisties.

However, it has always had the problem of snap lift-off oversteer, often culminating in the driver perched somewhere in the nearest hedge, backwards.

To get over this problem and keep the Pug on the black stuff we got hold of a 309 GTi – a 205 with a boot, to make use of the running gear.

The 309 has a wider track front and rear, thanks to longer driveshafts, wishbones and rear beam, as well as a few degrees of negative camber at the front to further aid grip.

With the parts bolting straight on to the 205 this proved an easy job, and a coilover suspension setup from Leda was given the duties of absorbing bumps on the tarmac. 195 x 50 Toyo 888 road legal track-day tyres fitted to the original 15” Speedline alloys complete the running gear side of things, with the rear arches being slightly widened behind the 205s plastic wheel arch trim to make extra space to handle the widened track.

Unfortunately on one of the 205s first events the engine took a turn for the worse, losing all its oil on track and lunching the fresh rebuild. Fortunately 205parts were on hand and took the car to fit a replacement Mi16 lump. The 205 should be back at sprinting events soon.

This car is now owned by PPC contributor Graham Flemington.