With Seat just announcing that the Leon Cupra 280 has set a new lap record at the Nürburgring for front-wheel-drive cars and Honda promising its upcoming Civic Type R was designed specifically to be the fastest FWD car on the ’Ring, it would be logical for Opel to build the Astra OPC Extreme that debuted at the Geneva Show.

That’s because the car was developed on the Nürburgring Nordschleife and is derived directly from the Astra OPC Cup race car.

These are pretty good prerequisites for the Astra OPC Extreme to set a very good time there, all the more as it’s 100 kg (220lbs) lighter than the standard Astra OPC and more powerful – Opel says the 2.0-liter turbocharged petrol engine has been uprated to more than 300hp.

So what could stop Opel giving the green light to the Astra OPC Extreme? Well, nothing really, except if the car saw a bad public reaction. Since that is very unlikely, we can safely assume the hardcore Astra OPC Extreme will be built in a limited series.

The car features racing components including a roll bar, as well as lightweight carbon fiber parts such as the hood, rear wing, diffuser, front spoiler, hood, suspension cross-bracing, engine cover, complete wheels, rear wheelhouse ventilation and roof.

The carbon wheels alone are 20 kg (44lbs) lighter than their aluminum counterparts, while the carbon fiber roof weighs just 2.6 kg (5.7lbs). The fenders are made of aluminum and weigh only 0.8 kg (1.7lbs) a piece instead of 2.2 kg (4.8lbs) in steel.

Opel didn’t offer performance figures, but said the OPC Extreme is equally quick as its racing brother. That sounds really promising…

By Dan Mihalascu

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