HOT NEWS: Wow we never saw this coming! We’re not sure anyone else did for that matter.
Yes, it is off all fours!If you read our coverage (here and here) on the Golf GTI’s that raced last year, the Scirocco should do quite well.
There are a ton of manual purist out there and doubt the ability of the DSG system. Well the GTI’s were running a 300hp TFSI engine, FWD with DSG and it stomped on some huge competition. Only GT sports cars from Porsche, BMW, Aston Martin and Dodge were placed in front of the Golf.
As soon as we have more information ad hopefully images, we will get them posted!
Acid test for a legend: even before its Europe-wide market launch the Volkswagen Scirocco that was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March has to prove its prowess in the competition that puts both technology and driving skills to a tougher test than any other race in the world.
Volkswagen puts the coupé, which is celebrating its comeback as a production model 34 years after its début, as a non-compromising racing version on the grid of the legendary 24-Hour Race on the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife. As for the road-going model, the loop closes for the Scirocco’s racing version in the “Green Hell”: the Scirocco – in 1976 – started Volkswagen’s successful touring car tradition in motorsport. Now – on 24/25 May – it is making its comeback in racing. For the endurance classic, three new Scirocco cars are prepared and fielded by the manufacturer.
“With its production-level design, the new Scirocco provides an outstanding base for use on the race track,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. “Like its original ancestor, which started the touring car tradition of our company at the first Volkswagen one-make cup, the new Scirocco will celebrate its circuit début even before the scheduled market launch. The Nürburgring-Nordschleife and the 24-Hour Race are the ideal platform to showcase the fascination and performance capacity of such an exciting coupé in front of a large audience.”
Last year Volkswagen continued the brand’s long tradition in club sport, causing a sensation at the Nürburgring with the Golf GTI. At the 2007 24-Hour Race René Rast, Jimmy Johansson, Florian Gruber and Dieter Depping celebrated eighth place overall as well as class victory. The powerplant used then as well as this year: a 300-hp 2-litre TFSI engine and front-wheel drive. The racing version of the Scirocco combines these successful attributes with its very own sporting genes.
The 24-Hour Race at the Nürburgring launched in 1970 has established itself as the world’s toughest automobile race. The combination of the Grand Prix circuit and the tradition-rich Nordschleife results in a total lap distance of 25.378 kilometres, which poses a true challenge to man and material. The grid is impressive as well: a maximum of 230 cars are allowed to practice, 220 are permitted to race. More than 700 drivers tackle this racing marathon. With over 200,000 spectators in attendance, the roller-coaster endurance race in Germany’s Eifel region has mammoth proportions as a favourite of fans as well.
- Volkswagen Motorsport
