Volkswagen will unveil the most potent version of its Golf GTI yet this month, having already set new records with the car.
The Golf GTI Clubsport S will make its debut at the GTI enthusiasts? event at Lake Wörthersee in Austria between 4th and 7th May, having proved its potential with a new lap record for front-wheel-drive cars on the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit.
The Clubsport?s time of 07m 49:21 around the 14-mile ?Green Hell?, as the Nürburgring is known, eclipsed the previous record, set by a Honda Civic Type-R, by 1.4 seconds.
Greatly eclipsing even the Clubsport Edition 40 unveiled in April, the S model is based on that car, with the engine significantly uprated from 285 to 305bhp, with a torque figure of 280lbft of torque, producing a 0-62mph time of just 5.8 seconds. The extra power has been achieved mainly through remapping the engine?s ECU and adding a new exhaust system with its tailpipes increased from 55 to 65mm diameter, along with a new fuel pump.
According to Volkswagen the experience gained by the brand?s motorsport department in developing the new 325bhp/302lbft Golf for the growing TCR International touring car race series has proved greatly beneficial to the creation of the Clubsport S.
The road car is very much track focused, and even includes a ?Nurburgring? setting on its driving profile selector. This setting, more extreme than the already included ?Race? mode, fine tunes the adaptive chassis control Dynamic Chassis Control, the engine,...