The beast being born - Škoda Fabia RS N5GT3

Over more than 20 years, Martynas Samsonas and his team have built some truly outstanding, winning and crowd-favourite rally cars. Starting from the BMW E30, through various evolutions of the BMW E36, the Subaru Impreza GC8, and the legendary 4WD BMW M3X. Then the N5 era began, followed by another jaw-dropping BMW M3 E36N5 from the Samsonas Motorsport factory.

Martynas cannot stop dreaming, thinking or staying calm for a moment – there are always some crazy ideas, and one of them has started to materialise. The idea comes from all these years and had never been fully fulfilled – the naturally aspirated 4WD car. Yes, the BMW M3X was a kind of that, but it had many limitations – essentially it was a Group N car with a powerful engine. Now, with all the experience built up over the years, the idea of creating a fast, naturally aspirated 4WD car with good handling is coming close. So what will it be?

Of course, one of the main questions is the engine and the possibility of adapting it to a 4WD transmission without sacrificing handling, and so on. BMW S54? Too long. Nissan VQ37? Not powerful enough. Porsche? Why on earth not Porsche? And here it is – a crazy but good solution. The stock engine produces more than enough power, is very reliable and fits into the N5 chassis engine bay. Yes, it is crazy expensive, but it has its benefits – factory-built, stock, simple, and no turbos with all the nuances that come with them. And of course the sound. There is very limited competition for a Flat-6 screaming in the forest.

So we have the engine – a 911 GT3 engine. Where to put it? Naturally, in the N5 chassis, which has evolved enormously over the years and with which Martynas Samsonas and Ervinas Snitkas became champions of Lithuania back in 2023. The team spent some time at RMC Motorsport in Spain preparing the chassis, the newest Škoda Fabia RS. Why this? Even though this chassis is a very popular car in the Rally2 field and there might have been more unique or beautiful choices, the RS had some huge advantages. Firstly, it is wider than the old chassis; its longer wheelbase suits Baltic stages; and one of the main points was that many safety features could be taken directly from the Rally2 car – such as door dashes, and foam inside the doors and between the seats and doors. Not a single safety element was left behind, as the chassis and roll cage were specifically built like a Rally2 car so all those features would fit. In addition, items such as underbody protection can also be used, which is very reliable and served the older N5 Škoda for two seasons.

This chassis is also unique in that only half of the usual N5 main tunnel was built, just enough to fit the Subaru Impreza sequential gearbox. The latter part of the tunnel was left stock, so the gap between the driver and co-driver seats is minimal, allowing more space between the doors and seats. The GT3 engine will send its power to the Samsonas 6-speed sequential gearbox through a unique and very strong Alcon clutch used in World RX. Power to the wheels will be transferred by mechanical Cusco front, rear and centre differentials. A shorter final drive is required for this gearbox because of the high-revving engine, and it will be provided by the Italian company Brena Corse.

Speaking about safety, it is a must to mention RaceTech seats from New Zealand, which are probably among the safest in the world. They do not have just four usual mounting points to the floor of the car, but two more at the back, which are connected to the roll cage, increasing seat stability even further. The 80-litre Wita fuel tank with bladder is also one of the safest options on the market. The Škoda RS chassis has another advantage – our friends from Latvia, RX Carbon, have an RX-style carbon body for this chassis, which will make the car stand out from other RS Škodas. The brake system is also similar to Rally2 – we will use Alcon brakes equipped with Winmax brake pads. The cooling system will be made by Australian company PWR, providing a complete cooling package ready to install in the car.

Another modification to the chassis was required because of the Flat-6 engine, as there will be two exhaust headers coming from the sides of the engine. These will be custom made by Lithuanian company Twisted Smoke Performance. The N5 steering rack will be used, with a ratio of 1.7. There are more advanced racks made by Italian manufacturers, but the costs are too high and N5 racks have proved their worth. The suspension, of course, will be the latest-spec 3-way Samsonas Motorsport dampers, performance-wise very similar to Rally2. The front dampers will have remote reservoirs to help with wheel caster.