Is this the craziest Kamiq you’ll ever see?
Students at the Skoda Academy have revealed their latest creation: a Skoda Kamiq-based, three-door, rally-inspired racer called the Skoda Afriq.
Built on the bones of a regular Skoda Kamiq, the students took inspiration from Dakar Rally racers and the Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo rally car.
It took four months to build the car, with the students spending a total of 2000 hours on the project.
Under the bonnet of the Afriq is a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine from the larger Skoda Octavia which produces 140kW of power and 320Nm. This is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
The students also added the all-wheel drive system from the Octavia 4×4, which isn’t available locally.
They also installed a specially-designed roll cage, welded the rear doors shut, enlarged the wheel arches, stiffened the suspension, increased the ground clearance, and modified the exhaust system and chassis.
Exterior elements taken directly from the Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo rally car include the rear spoiler, roof scoop, driving lights, and special quick-release fasteners on the bonnet and boot.
The Skoda Afriq measures in at 4362mm long, 1793mm wide and 1410m tall with a 2649mm wheelbase. This is roughly 100mm longer than the regular Kamiq.
Despite adding the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine from the Octavia, plus the all-wheel drive system and roll cage, the Afriq is roughly 100kg lighter than the Kamiq too.
For context, the Skoda Kamiq with the 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder and dual-clutch transmission has a tare mass of 1237kg.
The white-and-green livery of the Afriq is inspired by the Fabia rally car, which features colourful blocky elements and decals designed in collaboration with Skoda Design.
To complete the tough, rally-inspired exterior design, the Skoda students chose to shod the Afriq with 15-inch OZ Racing steel wheels wrapped in all-terrain tyres to fill out the larger wheel arches.
Inside the Afriq is a stripped-out interior with the special racing shell seats, six-point seatbelts, steering wheel and dashboard from the Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo rally car.
There’s also a navigation system with a kilometre counter, two cameras with microphones to record driving, and a fire extinguishing system.
There’s also an innovative device that can extract drinking water from the surrounding air.
The device is made by an Israeli company called Watergen and it draws in air from the atmosphere and filters out dust and impurities. It then condenses the air into water, passes it through another filter and exposes it to UV light which breaks down microorganisms and chemicals.
The water is then stored in a tank set at 5°C and is further exposed to UV light, which kills viruses and bacteria.
This means the driver and co-driver always have access to cooled and filtered drinking water.
The system is fully integrated into the Afriq and can produce up to 20L of portable drinking water per day, depending on the external conditions such as temperature and humidity.
This latest creation by the Skoda Academy students joins the likes of the Scala-based Slavia speedster, Kodiaq-based Mountiaq ute, Karoq-based Sunroq convertible, and the Fabia-based Funstar ute.
Like these, the Afriq won’t be offered in showrooms as it’s a one-off.
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