Skip to main content

VW Wants to Show off its Canceled 2018 Polo WRC

Although it came as a result of some unfortunate dealings in the head office, VW’s WRC program did what most performers can only dream of doing: quitting while it was on top.

Having won the WRC championship four years straight, VW’s team left the sport before it could be beaten.

So sudden was the departure, though, that VW actually had one of its cars just about ready to go for the 2018 season, reports Autosport. And though it will never be used in competition, the car will eventually be shown in public in full livery for the fans.

“It’s not going anywhere,” Sven Smeets, VW Motorsports’ director, told Autosport, “and one day we will show it in the way we should show it – so people can look at it as the proper car and not the zebra car because of course, everybody knows this car.”

Smeets admits that he doesn’t quite know when or where the car might be shown, but he does at least hope to give it all the pomp and circumstance that it would have received if it had been unveiled, like the rest of the cars, at season’s first rally in Monte Carlo—which was held two weeks ago.

“It’s in all of our best interests to do this,” argues Smeets, but he still has to work everything out with the team’s partners.

The Polo was highly anticipated given VW’s proven excellence in the series, and this season’s new rules. The WRC allowed more downforce and more track width, which means that this season’s cars are even faster than they were in 2017.

And with four-time champion Ogier at the wheel, it would have been a season to remember.

As for who would drive the Polo-that-never-was, Smeets would like to have one of the former team’s drivers take the wheel—Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala, or Andreas Mikkelsen—but since they all have seats with other teams now, that might be difficult.

Whatever the case, Autosport reports that VW may release a teaser for the Polo WRC in the coming months.

[source: Autosport]

The post VW Wants to Show off its Canceled 2018 Polo WRC appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2nLWgnG
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Macau Gets Messy with 16-Car Pileup

The Macau Grand Prix is always good for an accident or two or 16— you may remember Audi’s race ending crash last year —and this year’s event didn’t disappoint. It didn’t take long for things to get messy on the tight road circuit. On the opening lap of the qualifying race a 16-car pileup caused the race to be suspended. Things kicked off when Daniel Juncadella hit a wall on the exit of Police bend, one of the tightest parts of the already tight circuit. The following car of Raffaele Marciello was able to avoid the carnage, but Laurens Vanthoor, who was in the upside-down Audi that ended the race last year, could not avoid Juncadella and together they blocked up the road pretty much completely. “I couldn’t see him [Juncadella] at first. Then I saw the car standing still,” Vanthoor told Motorsport. “I tried to brake but it was just understeering and I couldn’t do anything. There’s room for one car there and you’re blind.” Fourteen more cars would eventually crash into the corner c
Post a Comment
Read more

The First of its Kind: Integrated Engineering Releases Highly-Anticipated IE450T MK6 Golf R Turbo Kit

After two long years of development, the team at Integrated Engineering has finally announced the release of their IE450T kit for the MK6 Golf R. With their turbo kit bolted on right out of the box, the sport AWD hatch is transformed into a 450bhp monster, with hardly any noticeable increase in spool time. In fact, 435 ft-lbs of torque are achieved at all four wheels, at a mere 3300rpm! By now you are probably asking yourself how this is even possible on a 2.0L engine that made nearly half that power from the factory. By employing true twin-scroll technology into the cast turbo manifold and pairing it with a state-of-the-art BorgWarner EFR turbocharger, IE was able to keep spool time at a minimum and bring the fastest-spooling big turbo setup to the market. “We wanted to offer a kit that would dramatically increase the power output without making the car lose its amazing street-friendly drivability,” mentioned one of the IE engineers. We are told the IE450T leaves the car driving jus
Post a Comment
Read more