The covers have just been lifted on the brand new Volkswagen Golf R Track Spec. The auto has been created in an effort for the German marque to evaluate a potential customer racing programme for the 2016 season onwards. In fact, as part of its competitive development – like AMG is doing with its gorgeous AMG GT3 – the Liqui Moly Team Engstler will run two of these monster Golfs at the Red Bull Ring this weekend. It will compete against a range of homologated hatchbacks, including the SEAT Leon, Honda Civic, Audi TT and Vauxhall Astra. Much like anyone on a public road, the drivers are also severely limited in the electronic alterations they can make to the cars’ chassis dynamics. It will be interesting to see how the auto of the Year measures up in the performance world.
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Modified specifically to endure race conditions is a powerful 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, DSG gearbox, and racing chassis. With a driver onboard, the auto will weigh at least 1260kg. Additionally, a towering rear wing has been installed as have an aerodynamically designed front splitter and a bold rear diffuser.
The interior has been stripped of all non-essential equipment, leaving a racing seat, roll cage and an Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel as the main interior highlights. Everything else about the inside of this Volkswagen Golf Touring auto is unrecognizable, too, from the absence of carpeting and sound-deadening, to the single, sport-design bucket seat, to the utter lack of anything remotely pretty or pleasing to look at. “With exciting races, production-based technology and reasonable costs, it offers a new outlook for private racing teams”, said Jost Capito, Volkswagen Motorsport Director.
Volkswagen is going racing with a auto based on its seventh generation Golf. This reduces both development time and costs.
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Capito says the team will use the rest of the 2015 season to further test and develop the vehicle under competitive conditions.
