About 35km West of Prague in the Kladno province of the Czech Republic lies the town of Lany. With a population of approximately 1610 people you would think there would be nothing of interest to find in this small country township, that’s exactly what I thought when I drove past there a decade or so ago. How wrong I was, because besides the rolling acres of grass and gorgeous picture-postcard scenery there is something worth stopping over for in Lany. And I’m not talking about the local castle that plays summer-vacation-host to the countries President. It’s a building that houses something even more important.
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
Just off the freeway from Prague to Karlovy Vary, hides a sports car museum that has an interesting collection of European race cars and other original classics. The collection is exquisite and amongst the two halls you will find the likes of; An original Ford Model T (1914), Prost & Jordan F1 cars, Formula Lucie, Delfie and IRL cars, a Le Mans Minor III, DTM M3, Audio Quattro, Zakspeed MK1 Escort, A whole bunch of Skodas (obviously) and even a DeLorean! Obviously you know what car I’m going to mention next!
It never ceases to amaze me where our little AE86s have made their presence known. Next thing we know we’ll hear something about one being found in Enzo Ferrari’s personal garage! It seems to have been successful everywhere you can imagine (and everywhere else you can’t too!)
This fine little example was prepped by Antonin (Tony) Charouz. Never heard of him? Well he formed this team called Charouz Racing Systems in 1985 in the Czech Republic and they compete in these events, perhaps you’ve heard of them: A1GP, DTM and the Le Mans 24hour!
In 2006 Charouz Racing Systems won the F3000 International Masters Title. In A1GP they were in charge of Team Czech Republic and Team Brazil and competed in the aforementioned Le Mans series in a Lola-Judd prototype.
So which car got the ball rolling for Charouz Racing Systems?
A SMALL 1980’s SUCCESS STORY
The car won four races in the European Circuit championship. It was tuned entirely for circuit and hill climb events. By the end of the 80’s it was amongst the dominant cars of its class.
The engine made down right impressive power with 192hp @ 8000rpm. Yet look how subtle that engine bay looks.
The block is bored/stroked to 1930cc! That’s taking the 4A-GE block to it’s limit! (or was it 7A!)
It also has a claimed top speed of 240km/h This was obviously used in conjunction with a final gear for the more open circuits. Apart from this not many more stats are given besides an LSD rear end and manual fuel pressure control (interesting).
Basically this is the car that started it all for a team that now runs in more than one of the worlds great motor sport events! We keep hearing this story again and again. Small motor sport enthusiast takes on locals with an AE86 and then moves on to much bigger things! (Like taking on the world!)
Check out that side pipe!
I guess I’ll have to head back there and get a little bit more info. Until then you can find out a lot from the photos. I love the side button console just behind the gear stick. And look at that foot rest! It’s one clean looking car!
Photos are entirely the property of The Sports Car Museum and not owned by hachiroku.com.au
Head on over to their website: The Sports Car Museum
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