VW Motorsport

New Beetle Cup

Volkswagen announced today that it will hold a special race for its New Beetle Cup European series next June in Montreal during the Air Canada Grand Prix. It will be the first time that a series race will be held outside of Europe.

This New Beetle Cup event will feature 16 New Beetle race cars equipped with Volkswagen's 2.8 litre 24 valve V6 engine. Based on Volkswagen's road car engine, this powerplant delivers an unusually high torque of 270 Newton meters and a superb power output of 204 horsepower. Additional equipment includes a 6-speed road version gearbox, 18-inch wheels and special racing brakes. Security features include a driver airbag, roll cage, fire extinguisher and six-point-safety harness. The New Beetle Cup race car is being shown for the first time in Canada at the Montreal International Auto Show, which takes place this week.

The Volkswagen New Beetle Cup is held during the ten rounds of the German Super Touring Can Championship (STW). The Volkswagen New Beetle race cars are prepared and maintained centrally by Volkswagen Motorsport in Hanover, allowing drivers who can't establish and maintain their own teams to participate. To be part of the New Beetle Cup, competitors must pay 100,000 Deutschemarks (plus VAT). In return, Volkswagen offers half a million Deutschemarks as prize money.

Golf Rally

British Rally Champion Tapio Laukkanen will later this month (Feb) get his first chance to go behind the wheel of the Volkswagen Golf GTi with which he will defend his crown.

The 30-year-old Oxford-based star will drive the Sony and Pirelli-backed Golf in Wales and Scotland, where a seven-day gravel-surface test session will be staged by Volkswagen Motorsport UK.
It will be Laukkanen's first opportunity to try the Volkswagen ahead of the opening round of the 2000 British Rally Championship, the Rally of Wales (Mar 18/19). "I can't wait to try the Golf," said Tapio. "I know that a lot of work has been done over the winter months and that we will have a lot of different things to try out. It should be a very productive test."

Laukkanen - winner of three of the championship's six rounds last year - believes the Golf GTi will be the car to beat this season: "We saw at the end of last year that the Volkswagen has the potential to win rallies, and I intend to make sure it fulfils its potential in the British Championship!"
Tapio and driver Kaj Lindstrom are joining a team on the crest of a victory wave. The Volkswagen Motorsport UK team's final outing of 1999 - November's Rally of Great Britain - saw the Golf GTi claim 2-litre World Cup class honours.

Polo Rally Cars for Sale

A ready-to-rally Group N Polo for less than £13,000 - that's the amazing deal on offer with the launch of the Volkswagen Polo Rally Challenge 2000.

Announced at the Autos port International show, the new championship will see Polo crews doing battle on a series of eight national and international events in pursuit of a £10,000 cash first prize.
"We believe this is the best-value rally championship ever launched in the UK," said Steve Bagnall of Volkswagen Motorsport UK. "Competitors will not only be able to pick up a rally-prepared Group N car for just £12,995 but they will also have the chance to win back most of their outlay."

The Polo Group N cars come complete with a factory-prepared competition shell and welded-in roll cage, a 1.4-litre, 112bhp power unit with competition engine management system and sports exhaust, competition seats with harnesses, plumbed-in fire safety system, competition suspension and a set of tarmac-spec wheels and tyres.

The eight events earmarked for the Volkswagen Polo Rally Challenge 2000 span the Mobil 1 British Rally Championship and the Scottish, BTRDA, Mintex and Safety Devices series. Four events are asphalt-based and four are on gravel.

All Challenge contestants will get subsidised entries on the qualifying events, as well as a special deal on tyres from Pirelli. Competitors will count their seven best results from the eight rounds, with the most successful among them in line to win the £10,000 cash prize.

Source: VWVortex

all Volkswagen communications and photos reproduced with permission of Volkswagen UK