Nova Weltschmerz Evo

The **Nova Weltschmerz Evo** is a fanonical Rally Car created by JustAlex93.

## Details

When there was headscratching going on for how the Moonbeam Model S ought to be adapted for the Group S racing formula after Group B was cancelled, a team within the Nova rallying program wanted to go down a cheaper route.

The idea, is to develop an evolution model of the Weltschmerz, which was successful in the Group B/9 class in national-level rallying competitions (even beating out the heftier Group B/12 AWD monsters at the 1986 Marleau Günaydin Turkish Rally!), for Group S.

Ostensibly designated the Weltschermz Evo, it was kitted out with a wider bodywork package. This allows for the fitment of 210/560 front tires and very wide 265/460 tires in the rear to improve traction and stability, especially on tarmac.

To improve rear brake cooling and engine bay venting, new ducts were added to the enlarged rear quarters. The rear trunk and boot lid were moulded into a single unit with a larger spoiler which allows for the application of an oil cooler beneath.

The bonnet/hood was also modified with an extractor to help vent hot air from the frontal radiator.

The fuel tank was now placed deeper into the nose, requiring the use of the shielded extractor to prevent the petrol from heating up. This positioning also favored the car's weight bias towards a more neutral behavior, which was already quite rear-biased on the original Weltschmerz - Estimated at around 40/60 for the Evo.

Further tweaks were done to the engine. Upstroked to 1,299.5cc in displacement, it now fully maximized the Group B/9 (sub-1,300cc) category while allowing more torque down the rev range. A maximal power output of 140 bhp was said to be available, but for most rallies, it would be kept at between 130 and 135 bhp for reliability reasons.

It was also equipped with the full array of upgraded competition-grade parts made available in 1986 by Nova; more aggressive gearing, choices of different spring ratios (two front, three rear), 22 or 30mm front and rear sway bars, a wheel centre-locking system, and further refinements to the braking and steering systems.

Plenty of attention to detail was applied to making the car lighter with the use of advanced composite panels, said to have lowered the weight to 850 kg (1,875 lbs) when fully equipped for racing. This is about the same as a works Weltschmerz while being wider with a larger-capacity fuel tank.

The Weltschmerz Evo was first used as a practice car in the 1986 Rallye Bohemia, driven by a five-time Safari Rally winner (and African Nova importer), with his wife as his co-driver. Little else was known about the prototype's history, other than the fact that the project was scrapped when Group S was axed.

In 1988, the Weltschmerz Evo was purchased from Nova by rallycross driver Vlastimil Fišer, with much difficulty and arduous negotiations, if stories were to be believed. Fišer would subsequently campaign the car in local and European rallycross circuits, with Nova chipping in replacement parts here and there. Fišer boasted that he outraced more powerful cars with the unassuming Weltschmerz until he retired in 1991.

That was, when the car caught the attention of two brothers, Dušan and Miloš Kratochvíl, who bought it from Vlastimil Fišer, reportedly with a broken drivetrain. Included in the sale were its transport trailer and boxes of parts removed from the car in its rallycross conversion. The whole deal was sealed with a good amount of wine.

Little did the Kratochvíl brothers realize that they had purchased the Weltschmerz Evo prototype. They eventually discovered its true origins and vowed to restore it to its original works specs, a process which took two years of intensive labor back in their Slovakian home.

Afterwards, the Kratochvíl brothers entered the restored Weltschmerz Evo in the 1994 International Rallye Matador Žilina, where they finished fourth overall, first in class. However, the car was administratively sidelined due to lacking proper homologation papers.

The brothers then offered to loan the car to an auto museum based in Mladá Boleslav, but were unable to because of the separation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. So, the car was left idling in their garage until it was brought out of the mothballs with the return of the Rally Tríbeč in 2011.

The car's growing notoriety allowed the brothers to be invited to participate in the Barum and Bohemia historic rallies. Afterwards, they made good on their promise to loan the car to the auto museum in Mladá Boleslav, which was then feasible. It was displayed there for a few years until the Kratochvíl brothers sold it at auction in 2017. At the time, the car was valued at an amazing €500,000 EUR.

With the coming of the MotorStorm Festival, that same company capable of converting standard Moonbeams into Moonbeam Model S replicas also have the means to convert standard Weltkomfort sedans and Weltschmertz rally cars into replicas of the Weltschmerz Evo.

## Gallery

Green with black decalsWhite with green wheel rims
## Trivia

* It is inspired by the Skoda 130 LR Evo, with the headlights of the Lada VFTS, and the taillights of the Volvo 242 Turbo Evolution.