Nowadays, teens are all preoccupied with getting STDs and taking the best selfie on Instagram. But when I was growing up, phones didn't take photos, and we were mostly into fast cars.
The cheapest fun cars you could dream of affording were the Citroen C2 VTS and the Ford SportKa. Back then, the Ka was still a relatively new car and was considered by many to be the sweetest handling machine in its class.
However, the regular Ka was well known for its lack of power, so they gave it a bigger engine in order to make it into a hot hatch. Those were different times, when turbochargers were somewhat exotic, so the SportKa made due with a 1.6-liter with eight valves that sent 95 horsepower 135 Nm (100 lb-ft) of torque.
With a 0 to 100 km/h sprint time of 9.7 seconds, it won't set your pants on fire. But the responsive handling and the cheap price (around €1,500) make this an interesting track car.
Up next, we're going to show you a couple of crashes that occurred during this weekend's tourist track day event. The most interesting shows the Ford SportKa hitting the barrier hard.
The flared body kit and stiff suspension didn't help it avoid an embarrassing crash that will probably cost the owner more than the car. Under nearly identical circumstances and at the same corner of the track, a Renault Clio also found its way plowing into the barrier.
Carrying way too much speed into the corner, the Clio looks like it's pulling the best FWD drift ever. The track is completely drenched, so stopping is completely out of the question.
The Clio model is clearly not an RS model, not even the GT model. Did somebody just borrow the family shopping car to do a lap of the most dangerous circuit in Europe?
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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