Video: Wheeling Little Hot Hatches Around Tracks In Europe — We’re Jealous

Racers and HPDE/track day enthusiasts are gluttons for punishment for many reasons. We throw a ton of money at our cars, equipment, track time, travel costs, tow vehicles, and more, and don’t always get the best return. Scratch that: we rarely get any kind of good return.

Another thing we’re gluttons for punishment over, and that general, non-tracking car enthusiasts share with us, is being jealous of Europeans for having so many fun cars that never came over to the USA. You know what we’re talking about: R32-34 Skyline GTRs, certain engines that came in their performance models but not ours' (best example: UK EP3 Civic Type R vs. USA EP3 Civic Si), and possibly the biggest, that’s near and dear to FWD, hot-hatch enthusiasts: angry little Peugeots and Renaults.

We love to watch videos and read articles about all these fun little cars, but we’ll never get them here, and would have to invest in pricey European trips if we wanted to give them a go on track (as of this publishing, also wait out quarantines thanks to COVID-19). Gluttons for punishment indeed.

One YouTube channel that fans the flames of this jealousy is Camber And Combustion. They’re a couple of friends in the UK who take their Renault Clio 172, Peugeot 306 GTi, and various other never-sold-in-the-US hatchbacks to tracks all throughout Europe. There, they film the antics that come about when they do everything they can to hold momentum in their small, short-wheelbase FWD chassis. The driving is certainly impressive, too.

Though, seeing them mob through some faster sections, particularly on the Nürburgring, makes us wish they had a bit more safety, like Simpson Hybrid Ss.

Nevertheless, the videos are entertaining – check out this one from the past year: