Peugeot’s always been a bit unpredictable when it comes to speed. One decade it’s throwing 205 T16s through forests and winning the Dakar with hatchbacks; the next it’s fitting chrome whiskers to crossovers and pretending that’s progress.
But every so often, the old fire stirs. The new 208 Racing TC6 could be one of those times.
A race car for the paddock, not the paddock club
It’s Peugeot Sport’s latest customer racer, aimed at the people who turn up to circuits in vans full of tools rather than trailers full of sponsors.
It joins the rally-bred 208 Rally4 and Rally6, only this one’s for tarmac - a stripped, caged, noisy little thing built for club grids and national championships.
The spec sheet’s modest, with a 1.2-litre turbo triple, 145 horsepower, 240 Nm of torque. But it only weighs a tonne, sits 50mm lower than stock, and has an FIA-grade welded roll cage.
Peugeot says it’s racked up more than 5,000 kilometres of testing with professional drivers, which sounds about right for a car that’s meant to be pushed, abused and still drive onto the trailer at the end of the day.
Racing, without remortgaging
The whole thing’s been designed to make racing - real racing, not track-day dabbling - possible again without selling your house.
It runs on normal 205/45 R17 road tyres, not slicks, and most of its uprated parts are still derived from production bits. You can buy replacements without raiding a motorsport catalogue.
As François Wales, Peugeot Sport’s customer racing boss, put it: “By building on the best of our developments in both competition and production, we’re creating synergies that meet expectations without compromise between budget, reliability, safety, and driving pleasure.”
In other words, it’s fast enough to scare you but not enough to bankrupt you.
One seat, one extinguisher, one grin
Inside, it’s pure function - one seat, one extinguisher, no infotainment to distract you from the smell of hot pads.
Development driver Teddy Clairet says it’s “ideal for learning” and that every time you get out of it, “it’s with a big smile.” You believe him. The best Peugeots have always been like that — simple, mechanical, and slightly cheeky, as if the car knows something you don’t.
Peugeot, behaving like Peugeot again
It’ll be eligible for everything from club racing to SRO and TTE endurance events, with a one-make series set to start in Uruguay next year. But the geography doesn’t matter much.
What matters is that Peugeot, in a quiet corner of Stellantis, still remembers what it used to be good at: building small cars that make you grin and sweat in equal measure.
And if the 208 Racing TC6 really does that, well - could be one of those times.
