Opel Speedster by aRi F. Huber

About "Opel Speedster"

by aRi F. Huber

About the artwork

One engine, four wheels,
the rest is for the eye.
2001, Opel sales brochure, page 11

One could also say that the Opel was a Lotus, or more succinctly: "Performance Lotus, Outfit Opel". But this is not quite the case, because the engine comes from Opel and is an old acquaintance from the Astra G, Zafira A and Vectra B, and it lies transversely in front of the rear axle with a total weight of 63%. The 2.2-litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine with 147 hp for the Speedster thus manages 0-100 km/h in 5.9 s due to its low weight of only 870 kg.

Ostensibly because of its weak performance for use in motorsport, the Speedster 2.0 Turbo was launched in 2003. This time with 147 kW (200 hp) and 250 Nm maximum torque, a bit more weight due to the heavy engine, now 930 kg, nevertheless faster and now from 0-100 km/h in 4.9 s and already the maximum 243 km/h. That was quite an announcement and has remained so to this day!
From now on, the Speedster was competitive on the circuit and especially in hill climbs, where it was used with or without turbo, sometimes modified with up to 400 hp of propulsion, mainly in France and still today.

The Opel Speedster rolled off the production line at the Lotus factory in Hethel at the same time as its English right-hand drive version, which differed only very slightly under the name Vauxhall VX 220/ VX 220 Turbo or VXR 220. Due to declining demand, the production of the Opel Speedster came to an end in 2005 after 7207 units; exactly 10,000 units had been planned.

And if you now also want to get the feeling of driving a hard-as-nails go-kart with only the bare essentials for shopping or going on holiday, the price starts at 20,000 euros, the turbo-equipped Speedsters usually double in price, a nice picture on the wall only a fraction of that!