Volkswagen marks four
decades of Golf GTI with a special uprated version of the hot hatch-and blows
the production FWD Nurburgring lap record wide open in the process.
The lightweight new 2016 VW
Golf GTI Clubsport S has surpassed the Nordshleife lap time set by the Honda
Civic Type R last year, with a blistering 7min 49.21sec flier. VW claims that,
as a result, the Clubsport S is the quickest production FWD car yet to lap the
Nordscleife.
Driving the 265 kph Golf
was 28-year-old German racing driver benny Leuchter, who was on hand at the
announcement at the 2016 Worthersee VW festival in Austria.
This is a track-ready
two-seater Golf and just 400 will be made worldwide, all individually numbered.
It’s on a significant diet
to strip out unnecessary weight: there are no rear seats at all, the battery is
smaller, there’s less sound deadening and fripperies such as parcel shelf,
floor mats and even bonnet clampers are junked. The front subframe is
aluminium, too.
End result? It’s 30kg
lighter than the Golf Clubsport. There’s Nordschleife setting which arms the
Dynamic Chassis Control, steering, exhaust and throttle to maximum attack,
while the brakes are upgraded to cope with the extra thrust on offer.
Only three colours are
available, all referencing the original launch palette back in 1976: Tornado
Red, Pure White and Deep Black Pearl Effect. Anoraks take note-the roof of
production versions will always be painted black.
It’s said to sound great,
too; with a 10mm wider exhaust, VW claims a significant improvement in aural
treats including some pop-bang wizardry when downshifting.
The Clubsport S means the
evergreen Golf range continues to grow apace. It is faster than the
all-wheel-drive Golf Rand and looks set to be the pinnacle of the range-at
least until the long-awaited R420 arrives, assuming it survives the Dieselgate
scandal cuts…
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