Motor Show: Peugeot 207 RCup

It's specifically designed to meet the regulations of the new Rally Super 2000 championships, indicating Peugeot's intentions of competing in this category, where it is substantially cheaper to run a team than in the WRC itself. Although Peugeot hasn't said that it will pull out of the WRC next year, it could run a Super 2000 team alongside its all-out WRC cars and also do good business supplying cars to privateer competitors.

In line with the Super 2000 Group A regulations - which require cars to be very close to production models sold in volumes of over 25,000 a year - the 207 RCup has a 2.0-litre 16-valve normally-aspirated engine, with double overhead camshafts and an output of 280bhp, developed high up the rev range at 8,500rpm. Its four-wheel-drive transmission includes a clutchless sequential-shift gearbox.

It meets the size restrictions at 4,047mm long, 1,800mm wide and 1,376mm tall, and has just 10mm of ground clearance, sitting squat on its 18" magnesium alloy wheels and wide 235/40 R18 tyres. It looks the part, too, with a deep front air dam and air intakes and a huge roof-mounted rear spoiler.

The stripped-out cabin is set up around two occupants, driver and co-driver, each with bucket-type seats and four-point racing harnesses and protected by a full rollover cage. The instrument panel is much like that of the production car, however, except for a red central section and central console to focus on the race-specific dials and a lighter-weight steering wheel that incorporates the controls for the four-wheel drive system.

The homologation demands for the Super 2000 Series mean that a very closely related production model must be made: if the mainstream 207 GTi is not quite hot enough a hot hatch, then hang on for the road-going version of this car, a more extreme variant with four-wheel-drive and, hopefully, the full 280bhp.

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