- Cupra has held its first track day in New Zealand, with a recent event at Hampton Downs.
- Formentor, Terramar and Leon Sportstourer were all put through their paces.
- Cupra was launched as a separate brand in 2018, after more than two decades as Seat's sporty brand.
Cupra has come a long way since it first split of from Seat back in 2018, with the young brand now featuring a full line up of cars and SUVs with slick styling and a clear sporty focus, which is appropriate given that Cupra originated from Cupra Racing (previously Seat Sport), the high-performance motorsport subsidiary of Seat.
The moniker was first used in 1996 by the Seat Ibiza GTI 2.0 16V Cupra Sport, a special, street-legal version of the Ibiza Mk2 kit car used in competition that was released to Seat's victory in the 1996 FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup.
Over the next two decades, Seat used the Cupra badge for a succession of hot hatchbacks, including versions of the Seat Leon, before officially separating from the Seat Group to become a standalone brand in January 2018.
Indeed, the name "Cupra" is a compression of "Cup Racing", something that the brand touts proudly as a part of its heritage. Which is why Cupra New Zealand recently hosted its first track day at the Hampton Downs motorsport park, giving customers and friends of the brand a chance to try the results of that racing heritage on the track for themselves.
This included the Formentor, Leon Sportstourer and the Terramar SUV, with both V and hot VZ models present.
The events included your standard lineup of activities, including a slalom, drag racing, some skid pan drifting and track laps, with the added bonus of hot laps from the driving instructors, including Kiwi motorsport legend and actual Cupra customer (he drives a Formentor VZ) Greg Murphy.
The Formentor V was used for the slalom, with the 110kW FWD model perfect for beginners to get to grips with the tight coned run, while more experienced drivers could push harder thanks to the 1.5-litre mild hybrid powertrain's eager and willing nature.
Things stepped up a bit at the drag racing with Formentor VZs and Leon Sportstourer VZs going head to head. While both the Leon wagon and Formentor share a 245kW/420Nm AWD powertrain, the Formentor weighs a tad more, clocking in at 1679kg against the Leon's 1651kg, but this really didn't matter given that while drag racing is ostensibly a competition of straight line speed, it is really a competition of reaction times...
Things got a bit more aggressive at the skid pan, where a Leon Sportstourer VZ was used to give guests a fully sideways ride around Hampton Downs' slippery water-soaked skid pan. With the 247kW Leon VZ hammering off the rev limiter, it was an experience few will forget.
The track laps saw a range of models available, with guests cycling through Formentors, Leon Sportstourers and Terramars in V and VZ guises. It was here that Cupra's racing heritage came to the fore, with poised, agile handling being displayed by all models, while the hot VZ models added serious performance to the mix.
While events like this are nothing that a cynical motoring journalist hasn't seen and done many times before, the sheer joy they bring out in people who have never had the chance to really try out their cars in a safe and controlled environment is always a genuine pleasure to see, and it was no different here.
While Cupra may well still be a young brand in terms of road cars, its 30 year racing heritage shines strongly in its current products, and events like this only prove that to an ever widening audience.
