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Opel's British customers, who like their cars to carry the Vauxhall badge, now have option on a rather striking version of the company’s Corsa OPC hot hatch.
It’s called the Corsa VXR Nürburgring Edition and the reference to Germany’s greatest stretch of road is no accident.
Opel engineers spent time refining upgrades to the Corsa OPC at Nürburgring’s notorious Nordschleife, or North Loop, and the gains are quite evident: More power and greater chassis finesse.
LOWER AND MEANER
Although visual clues to the Nürburgring Edition’s superior performance are slight (it has two exhausts, instead of the stock OPC’s single exit item, and rides 20mm lower up front, 15mm lower at the rear), the mechanical modifications are substantial.
The OPC’s 1.6 turbocharged engine gains a new exhaust system (reducing back pressure) with appropriately recalibrated engine management software, boosting power in Nürburgring Edition specification to 152kW (up 13kWs), with torque swelling by 14Nm to a new peak of 280Nm.
Balancing the Nürburgring Edition’s increase in power are upgraded Brembo brakes (30% lighter, 10% larger) and impeccably graded Bilstein shock-absorbers – said to guarantee outstanding steering feedback and chassis control at the limit.
Charging 280Nm up via the front-wheels only could only have been a formula for classic torque-steer depreciated handling dynamics. Fortunately, Opel’s engineers have equipped the Nürburgring Edition with a sophisticated multi-plate limited-slip front differential to ensure power-on wheel-scrabble is quelled.
Currently only available for the world’s largest hot hatch market – the United Kingdom – there are no plans to expand the Nürburgring Edition package to traditional Opel, as opposed to Vauxhall, markets.
It’s called the Corsa VXR Nürburgring Edition and the reference to Germany’s greatest stretch of road is no accident.
Opel engineers spent time refining upgrades to the Corsa OPC at Nürburgring’s notorious Nordschleife, or North Loop, and the gains are quite evident: More power and greater chassis finesse.
LOWER AND MEANER
Although visual clues to the Nürburgring Edition’s superior performance are slight (it has two exhausts, instead of the stock OPC’s single exit item, and rides 20mm lower up front, 15mm lower at the rear), the mechanical modifications are substantial.
The OPC’s 1.6 turbocharged engine gains a new exhaust system (reducing back pressure) with appropriately recalibrated engine management software, boosting power in Nürburgring Edition specification to 152kW (up 13kWs), with torque swelling by 14Nm to a new peak of 280Nm.
Balancing the Nürburgring Edition’s increase in power are upgraded Brembo brakes (30% lighter, 10% larger) and impeccably graded Bilstein shock-absorbers – said to guarantee outstanding steering feedback and chassis control at the limit.
Charging 280Nm up via the front-wheels only could only have been a formula for classic torque-steer depreciated handling dynamics. Fortunately, Opel’s engineers have equipped the Nürburgring Edition with a sophisticated multi-plate limited-slip front differential to ensure power-on wheel-scrabble is quelled.
Currently only available for the world’s largest hot hatch market – the United Kingdom – there are no plans to expand the Nürburgring Edition package to traditional Opel, as opposed to Vauxhall, markets.
