22 Nov 06
Here's the most remarkable 207 mutant of all.
The 207 Spider's production-car-shaped face flows back into a proper racing car body and terminates in a high, chopped-off tail reminiscent of a Porsche 908/3 race car's from the early 70s. The carbon fibre bodywork clothes a tubular chassis and double-wishbone suspension, using hub carriers, brakes and power steering components from the Peugeot 407.
And the engine? It's that 175bhp, direct-injection, turbocharged unit from the 207 LW/GTI and the Mini Cooper S, but in the Spider it's mounted behind the cabin, still transversely. Drive is via a six-speed, sequential-shift Sadev transmission and limited-slip differential.
The Spider is designed to LMP1 and LMP2 regulations and will race in the 207 Spider Cup, a seven-round series, five of which will be curtain-raisers for the five rounds of the Le Mans Series.
At just 720kg this is a very light car. Its cabin is sparse in the extreme, the driving seat simply a shaped block of hard foam covered in gaffer tape. It's not attached to the floor but acts simply as a spacer between me and the Spider's structure. Tight belts should stop things from moving around.
Press the starter button, hold down the clutch and the detent button while pulling the right-hand paddle to engage first gear with a clunk. The detent is there to stop inadvertent selection of first gear once moving. Enough revs to prevent stalling as I engage the sudden-acting, metallic-composite, short-travel clutch, and we're off. There'll be no need for the clutch now, just a light lift of the throttle each time I change up. In fact I don't even need to lift, but mechanical sympathy makes me do it because I can't bear the thought of those gnashing gear-dog teeth.
