After last month’s VW shenanigans on Döttinger Höhe, it was plainly obvious that Wolfsburg were gunning for the top spot in the Nürburgring laptime race. And the proof of that dropped on to the internet last night, over at the VW Media site. Along with these awesome photos…
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UPDATE! NEW STORY HERE: VIDEO: DID VW CHEAT TO MAKE THIS 7M49S LAP?
As first reported on BridgeToGantry, VW have gone all-guns-blazing on the FWD production car Nordschleife laptime. The Golf variant they created is the Clubsport S – a 2-seater, stripped-out track slag with no air-con and a healthy 310hp from the de rigeur EA888 motor.
I think this shows a certain determination within the Wolfsburg HQ, as the internal political friction must have caused at least a little dissent amongst the different brands and models…
The Golf Clubsport S is:
- More powerful than the premium Golf R model
- Faster around the ‘ring than the Seat Leon Cupra
- Lightweight, missing 30kg of junk and sound insulation, and wholly un-Volkswagen (though a cage is still not an option like the fastest Meganes)
- A MANUAL GEARBOX! OMG what were they thinking? Don’t make it too fun guys, or RenaultSport and Honda really will be worried….
As for that laptime… it’s a claimed 7m49.21s
Despite there being no onboard videos yet released (#showmethevideoorGTFO), let’s take a look at some facts:
- Key members of the press were there and could see the cars, they even rode alongside for demo laps
- The cars running the attempts were ‘au natural’, without extra cages.
- But without a dyno right next to the track, I’d take every single manufacturer claim with a pinch of salt! That motor is ridiculously easy to tune…
Rest assured, as soon as the video is released, I’ll post it to these pages ASAP. In the meantime, the VW media-machine will be steam-rollering the world’s mainstream press outlets with none-stop coverage and ‘behind the scenes’ material in order to quash those pesky French, Spanish and Japanese, who dared to play in the German’s back garden.
P.S. I found these totally irrelevant, but totally awesome, photos of the new TCR Golf and an old Mk1 GTi. They’re about as far apart in driving terms as two FWD sportscars can be, but what the hell, they look great!
