Sabine Schmitz, a born and bred Nürburgring driver, the daughter of the innkeeper/hotel owner at the famous Eifel circuit, who started driving/racing around the “Green Hell” as a teenager, went behind the wheel of the brand new RS version of Skoda’s big seven seater, and put her unique racing driver talents and Ring experience to work.

There is of course a magnificent You tube film about her 9:29.84 minute drive, of which we give you a link in this column. We decided to put this performance in an historical perspective, and more specifically how does this compare to the performances of the Grand Prix and sports drivers and cars of the fifties?

Read more and be surprised…

Hans Knol ten Bensel

First we had to find out whether the present day Nürburgring track can be compared to the “Green Hell” as it was in those pre-war years and the fifties and sixties.

Well, since the 1931 German Grand Prix,  the races took  only place on the Nordschleife, with a track length of 22.810 km , and this remained unchanged until 1966. In the meantime, additional chicanes and narrow curves have been introduced, and the track distance is now shortened to 20.832 km. So to compare performances, the only practical solution is to base oneself on the average speeds. The average speed of Sabine behind the wheel of the fast Kodiaq for her lap is 131.60 km/h.

The Skoda Kodiaq proved just as fast around the Ring as this V6 3,2 litre Lancia D24… 

If you think this isn’t fast, just take a deep breath and compare. Racing driver Robert Manzon drove in 1953 in the 1000 km of the Nürburgring to pole position of the race with a fastest lap of 131,75 km. In a Lancia D24 two seater sports racer, which was derived from the then Lancia Grand Prix car. I show you here my drawings of this beautiful thoroughbred sports car, which had the famous V6 engine, enlarged to 3,284 cc. The V6 produced 265 hp (198 kW), giving the 750 kg car a top speed of 260 km/h (162 mph)…

The Lancia D24 was a true beauty, only two examples still exist… 

Another thoroughbred sports car which was also a camouflaged Grand Prix car was the Mercedes 300 SLR. Just look at our report about the Mercedes participation of the latest Mille Miglia 2018. Stirling Moss won the Mille Miglia with this car in 1955, which had actually the straight 8 cylinder grand prix racing engine in the front, but this time enlarged from 2,5 to 3 litres.

Well, Stirling Moss drove on 29 of May 1955 the fastest lap on the famous Eifelrennen on the Nürburgring with this 300 SLR, at an average speed of… 134,8 km/h! The seven seater Skoda Kodiaq was only 3 kilometers slower!

This just puts here in perspective how fast standard production cars with standard tires, suspension and engines have become, albeit the RS version here of course.

Sabine Schmitz here proudly poses in front of the big Kodiaq seven seater. The RS version will make its debut at the 2018 Paris Motor Show… 

It almost matches a Formula 1 car of the fifties… You think Juan Manuel Fangio was much faster? The Argentinian champion drove at the wheel of his Ferrari D50 Grand Prix car (a further development of the Lancia V8 D50 Formula 1 car) on the fifth of August 1956, a fastest Ring lap with an average of 141 km/h on the German Grand Prix, only 10 km faster than the Skoda…

The Kodiaq RS comes with the new 2.0 BiTDI engine, producing 176 kW (239 PS). You notice, it’s almost in the league of the Lancia D24, with however undoubtedly much better torque and therefore pulling power throughout the rev range than the V6 Lancia. In the KODIAQ model range, the 2.0-litre BiTDI diesel engine is exclusively reserved for the RS, and thanks to Dynamic Sound Boost, the high-torque diesel engine’s power is immediately apparent. With adaptive Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) including Driving Mode Select and progressive steering, the all-wheel-drive vehicle – which was still in its camouflage wrap during its appearance in the Eifel region – was of course perfectly equipped for its record-breaking lap at the Nordschleife.

Sabine Schmitz, the star woman on the Ring…

Sporting, utterly charming and sympathetic, Sabine wins your (car loving) heart instantly. If you don’t know her yet, just type her name on the search button on You Tube, and you will have some delightful moments behind your screen.

We give you here the You Tube link of her record run with the Skoda Kodiaq: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t-ESjQ5Uo4

Sabine now regularly participates in the long-distance championship (VLN) and the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring and in 1996, she became the first woman to win the 24-hour race and won again the following year. Having long been a ‘Ring Taxi’ driver and as a presenter on various car shows, she now is very famous indeed. She was indeed the right choice for Skoda: Schmitz estimates she has driven more than 30,000 laps on the Nordschleife to date…

Hans Knol ten Bensel