Skip to main content

33 Years of GTI Development: GTI Pirelli and GTI Clubsport Meet at Portimão

  • Iconic cars united at the circuit in Portimão: Golf GTI Pirelli and Golf GTI Clubsport 

Two legends meet each other for the first time. Both are anniversary models, furnished with the three magical letters GTI – the synonym for sportiness and dynamic handling at Volkswagen – and with “a touch more GTI” on board.
But that’s then it already with things they have in common: for while the first anniversary model, the Golf GTI Pirelli, came onto the market in 1983 with 112 PS, the latest anniversary model, the Golf GTI Clubsport, has a much more powerful engine, delivering 265 PS.

Portimão, a race circuit in southern Portugal is the perfect place in the autumn to compare and contrast the two protagonists. With its 1.8-litre engine the Pirelli Golf represented cutting-edge engineering in 1983 and shortly before production of the Golf Mk1 GTI ended rolled off the line as a limited edition special series. The Golf GTI Clubsport is its counterpart.

Volkswagen is bringing out this treat for GTI fans to coincide with the 40th birthday of the Golf GTI next year. In normal mode the 265 PS 2.0-litre TSI engine develops an impressive 350 Newton metres of torque. However, the special feature of the latest anniversary model is the temporary boost function, which enables 290 PS and 380 Newton metres of torque to be delivered for up to ten seconds. This extra power is accessed by kicking down on the throttle. The result is acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds, which makes it the most powerful full-production GTI of all time.

The version with a dual clutch gearbox (DSG) is additionally equipped with ‘Launch Control’, which – in similar fashion to motorsport – accelerates the car away from a standing start with maximum power in a controlled manner.

Volkswagen has not only made the Clubsport’s turbo engine more powerful, but has also perfectly adapted the car’s design, aerodynamics and trim. Motorsport-style downforce levels are provided by a new front bumper, a striking rear spoiler and a diffuser. Semi-slicks, approved for use on the road, are being offered by Volkswagen as an option. Nor are the ergonomics overlooked: available for the Golf GTI Clubsport are either standard sports bucket seats or classic GTI sports seats. Volkswagen is also selling the new model with two-tone paintwork as standard.

The Golf GTI Clubsport and the Golf GTI Pirelli are not the only GTI special series ever produced. On the car’s 20th, 25th, 30th and 35th birthdays Volkswagen also dedicated an anniversary model to the GTI icon of the time. The Golf GTI Clubsport will set pulses racing – and for some time to come will set new standards as well…

The post 33 Years of GTI Development: GTI Pirelli and GTI Clubsport Meet at Portimão appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/1leZuh0
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...

Volkswagen Group Records Best Ever First-Half-of-Year Sales

With 5.5 million vehicles in customer hands after the first six months of 2018, the Volkswagen Group is seeing the best performance of its history. Group deliveries increased significantly in all core regions,” said Fred Kappler, head of sales for the Group. “Our core brands recorded strong growth in the first half year.” For the year-to-date, all of Volkswagen’s brands had sales bumps. MAN, SEAT, and Skoda led the sales charge with performances 24%, 17% and 11% better than the previous year. The big sellers, too, had strong sales periods, with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Audi, and Volkswagen sales rising 3.5%, 4.5% and 6.3% respectively. That last figure is particularly good new for the board, since Volkswagen alone sold more than 3 million vehicles in the first half of 2018. As Kappler stated, the numbers are equally good when you break sales down by region. Brazil and Russia were the most improved markets (22% and 20%, respectively), while strong sales in Europe and China (u...

Project Golf SportWagen- Intro

I’ve never really been one for SUVs and crossovers.  The current offerings aren’t the body-on-frame, go-anywhere specialty tools I remember from my youth, and what they lack in capability, they also lack in on-road performance. The current crop isn’t terribly good at handling or being efficient, which in my opinion are major components of our ideal driving experience.  So when it comes to space or utility, I usually look for something of the wagon variety- and it seems that I’m not alone. We hit quite a few shows around the east coast each summer, and we see modified Jetta SportWagens at nearly every event. Even amongst common consumers, these cars are highly sought-after. They don’t depreciate much, making even early Mk 5 2.5 versions expensive in comparison to other Jettas or Golfs of the same vintage. This year, Volkswagen launched their latest SportWagen, which is now billed as a Golf.  In many ways, this latest SportWagen is the best yet and it has certai...