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Still camouflaged: The sixth generation of the Opel Corsa celebrates its world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
“Above all, we wanted to show how much driving pleasure the new Corsa offers.”
Thomas Wanke
Automotive companies are keen to attract as little attention as possible with their prototypes. Especially when the multi-stage test drives, known as validation drives, with pre-series vehicles on public roads pending. Actually. The Opel development engineers, however, have taken the brand value “nahbar” literally and invited not only journalists to the test drives of the sixth Corsa generation, but also released them the driver’s seat. Mind you in the prototypes. “Above all, we wanted to show how much driving pleasure the new Corsa offers,” says Thomas Wanke, chief development engineer of the sixth Corsa generation. And there is nothing about the practical test. The reconnaissance area: winding roads in the Südwestpfalz, left and right of the German-French border.
Leading: Thomas Wanke is responsible for all performance areas of the newcomer and coordinates an interdisciplinary team.
“We test the new Corsa not only in the cold chamber Arjeplog or in the test center in Dudenhofen, but also where the small car should exist in the future – in reality.” And this reality now includes country roads. For ten days, a total of 100 media representatives from all over Europe visited the Vosges.
“Especially for the driving dynamics and the automatic transmission, there was a lot of praise.”
Thomas Wanke
And the positive response of the media representatives is the concept right: With the phrase “in the past was nothing better” summarizes auto-motor-und-sport.de the impressions of the new Opel. “The Corsa prototypes are already very mature, driving entertaining, but also grown-up.” At launch, Corsa buyers could choose between three gasoline engines (75, 100, 130 hp) and a diesel (100 hp), with the 130th for the tester PS engine is the favorite. The engine was “in such a small car absolute luxury, especially in combination with the meticulously tuned eight-speed automatic”. Meanwhile, the editor of the “Auto Bild” comes to the end: “The Corsa is indeed a real joker!” And makes it clear: “The little Opel has not become a Frenchman with flash in the logo, he is through and through a Rüsselsheimer.”
From the archive: Thomas Wanke was already involved in the development of the Corsa C in the 90s.
VITA
Since 1995 Thomas Wanke works at Opel. The new Corsa is already the fourth generation of the bestseller the engineer is involved in. So he worked on the Corsa C and on a facelift of the Corsa D, before he took over the role of Global Lead Development Engineer for the first time in the still current Corsa E. In this function, Wanke is also responsible for all performance areas in the sixth Corsa generation and coordinates an interdisciplinary team that develops, among other things, aerodynamics, acoustics, ride comfort, handling, consumption and air conditioning.
In the tests, two different Corsa variants are at the start: in yellow foiling with a 1.2-liter turbo gasoline engine, 130 hp and eight-speed automatic and in red with a 1.4-liter engine, 90 hp and six-speed gearshift.
Winding and challenging: the approximately 180-kilometer test track leads through the Südwestpfalz on the German side and through Lorraine on French territory.
Not only in view of the positive echo Wanke booked the event as a complete success. “The car has arrived very well, especially for the driving dynamics and the automatic transmission, there was much praise,” said the longtime Opel engineer. The increased driving pleasure go, inter alia, to the seated lower by 28 millimeters H point, as Wanke explains: “So the driver sits closer to the center of gravity of the vehicle, so he feels the longitudinal and lateral acceleration more intense.”
How sporty the five-door really is on the road, jen- and this side of the German-French border should show, where two Corsa convoys daily about 180 kilometers unwinded. At the top, Thomas Wanke and Michael Döring, chief engineer for vehicle dynamics, set the pace and pace with a Corsa GSi. This was followed by two camouflage pre-production models and a vehicle of the current Corsa generation. Thus, the participants had the opportunity to test two variants of the new Corsa: a 1.2-liter turbo gasoline engine with 130 hp and eight-speed automatic and a 1.4-liter engine with 90 hp and six-speed gearshift.
Curvy, sometimes narrow and with rough asphalt: The roads offered ideal conditions to bring the cars in terms of comfort, dynamics and steering to its limits.
All new Corsa models have lower CO2 emissions than the most fuel-efficient variant of their predecessor. This also contributes to coverings underneath the engine, on the underbody and a kind of radiator grille-blind, called Active Aero Shutter.
“Even when we rode a bit more sporty, we could hardly shake off the pre-production vehicles with the GSi. That makes it noticeable by up to 108 kilograms less weight, “explains Wanke.
The small car uses the new CMP architecture of the French company. “This and better simulation technologies were the deciding factors for the lower weight and higher body rigidity,” says Thomas Wanke. The new automatic transmission also contributes to improved driving dynamics, according to Wanke. “The AT-8 is very precise and fast. This has also been reflected in the feedback from the participants. “
Balance of safety, comfort and driving pleasure: The next Corsa generation is based on a completely new lightweight construction – the starting point for a significant increase in efficiency.
Yellow foil: The 1.2-liter turbo gasoline engine with 130 hp and eight-speed automatic transmission has been individually camouflaged for the Validation Drives.
In order to test both Corsa variants extensively and be able to compare with the respective reference vehicle, the participants changed several times the cockpit on the 180 kilometer long route. Wanke: “So the journalists could test two new variants and draw direct comparisons to the current Corsa generation.”
“The track offered perfect conditions to push the car to its limits in terms of comfort, dynamics and steering.”
Thomas Wanke
The country roads in the sparsely populated border region also offered ideal conditions, as Wanke further explains: “The routes there are very winding and narrow, the asphalt sometimes very rough. These were perfect conditions to push the car to its limits in terms of comfort, dynamics and steering. “Sometimes, during the test drives, there was also a lot going on beyond the border – but only between Germany and France.
Three who co-develop the new Corsa: Thomas Wanke (Global Lead Development Engineer), Michael Döring (Lead Engineer Vehicle Dynamics) and José-Luis Perez-Freije (Lead Engineer XXX).
May 2019
Text: Maximilian Köhling, Photos: Opel