First ever front-wheel drive GT??

[Les]

Press release

The British GT Championship is set to receive its first ever front-wheel-drive contender in the shape of a specially built Golf GTi.

More usually the preserve of fire-breathing sports cars with 8-litre engines, the championship this year adopted a Cup class for less powerful racers - and it is into this division that hardened Volkswagen campaigners Steven Wood and Stuart Scott plan to enter their 1.8 turbo Golf Mk IV.

Backed by Gulf Air, ART and Cambridge Business Travel, the canary yellow Golf, which a 280bhp punch, has been specifically developed for endurance racing, and former British Touring Car Championship driver Wood believes it will be competitive among the GTs.

“We paln to enter the Golf for the 11 May round of the championship at Knockhill in Scotland, and we think it will suit the circuit's twisty nature perfectly,” said Steve. The Volkswagen's Cup class rivals will include sports machinery such as the Lotus Elise, Marcos Mantis, Morgan Aero 8 and Porsche 911.

The endurance Golf, which features extra-large fuel cells and equipment to facilitate pit lane refuelling, will also be campaigning the European Endurance Racing Club's 'Britcar' events this season; the first round is a two hour event at Brands Hatch on Easter Monday (21 April).

In June Scott and Wood plan to contest the nine hour Dunlop Willhire race at Snetterton, and both men will be taking turns at the wheel in selected Volkswagen Racing Cup rounds.

“Our chief focus this year will be on the EERC events,” said Stuart Scott,“but we both want to do occasional sprint events also. The Golf is a development stage further on from the car which Steve drove to victory on two occasions in last year's Volkswagen Racing Cup, so we think it should be a very strong contender.”

“We are delighted to have Gulf Air on board for what will be their first venture into motorsport.”

Steven Wood, 34 and from Ruislip, Middlesex, is the son of 1970s special saloons racer Alan Wood. He started his track career in karts before progressing to saloon racing.

His first victory at the wheel of a Volkswagen came in 2001 in the Volkswagen racing Cup, and he followed this up with a double win at Brands Hatch last year driving a 1.8 turbo Golf. Steve's BTCC career saw him campaign a Proton Satria GT1 in 2001 and a Mitsubishi Carisma GDI last season.

Bedfordshire-based Stuart Scott is the 46-year-old managing director of Cambridge Business Travel. He first went racing in 1995 in the original Beetle Cup befre switching to the Pirelli Porsche Cup; he was class championship runner-up in 2000.

The last two seasons have seen Stuart at the wheel of a 2.8 litre Beetle RSI in the Volkswagen Racing Cup.

[Magical Trevor]

Almost seems like I read their minds...
(See "Here's an Idea")

[Lee Janotta]

Uhm... Isn't this what BTCC Production is for?

[pirenzo]

it'll never work, but we'll see.

[danhx]

I'm all for it. I think it'll add a sort of everyday flavor to the championship...like ketchup for racing. (yes i know it's an odd analogy, but i think it works)

[gttouring]

danhx-your right it'll add flavor, and why not if a 4 wheel drive car(skyline) can do the 24 hrs at spa, then a front drive can challenge as well. I wish it would've been a Ford mondeo though.

[Fogelhund]

A real shame to see the British GT championship drop this far, but whatever it takes to keep it alive and interesting I suppose.

[woodyracing]

something has gone wrong if a 1.8 litre Golf can race in a GT championship.

how can it be competitive against the other GT-cup cars too?

oh well at least it can be a backmarker

[KA]

Originally posted by gttouring
I wish it would've been a Ford mondeo though.

Personally I just wish it was some kind of GT car- the Clio V6 I can cope with- it's mid-engined and bears very little resemblance to a 'normal' Clio, but a Golf.....?

[TVRfan]

this be a close one, ive heard three people say they are gonna have the first front wheeled drive GT Car, theres the mini, the Alfa, cant remember which number, 147? the two seater one? i agree that they are not true gt cars, but let them gight it out with each other, it can only raise the awareness of the championship which can only be a good thing right? more cars means more spectators which means more money which means bigger cars! hopefully these teams will graduate up aswell

[KA]

Originally posted by TVRfan
the Alfa, cant remember which number, 147? the two seater one?

The Alfa's a GTV Coupe- I've got no problem about that being a GT, even though it's fwd

i agree that they are not true gt cars, but let them gight it out with each other, it can only raise the awareness of the championship which can only be a good thing right? more cars means more spectators which means more money which means bigger cars! hopefully these teams will graduate up aswell

Sure- the only worry I have is that at the same time as raising the awareness of the championship, there's a risk of losing sight of what kind of championship it is- too many touring cars/saloons moving into the series, and we could end up with a series that almost duplicates what the EERC/Britcar series is already trying to do, but with a higher profile and therefore higher costs- and I don't think that will do either series any good in the long run

[BSchneiderFan]

This is very depressing. I think back to the Lister Storm GTL battling it out with Steve O'Rourke's McLaren F1 and the Blue Coral Porsche 911 GT1, and think, was that only a few years ago?

[Muppet]

A Golf GTi is not a GT, it's a hot hatch.

Will the next announcement we'll hear be a modified Tesco shopping trolley with go-faster strips and fluffy dice entering the Croft round?

Subject to my impending lottery win I shall personally enter a fleet of Astons, Jags and Nissan Skylines with some of my ex-F3 driver buddies! ;-)

[golem]

I think it's valid for the cup class, though one has to ask why not the V6 AWD variant... Regardless, if a car has the pace under the rules, so be it.

[woodyracing]

its almost like adding Formula Ford to Formula 1 just to keep up the numbers

nothing wrong with FF, but they shouldn't be mixed with F1.

[RacingManiac]

BTW, weren't there a GT car in the old IMSA(a Dodge Daytona I think) back in the 80s with FWD setup?

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cvetters3/test1.htm

[429CJ]

This most certainly is not one of the first, but it has Ralf Firman on the drivers seat.


Mitsubishi FTO GT300

[Speck]

There was a toyota celica FWD in the JGTC too, BTW.

[Lee Janotta]

Yeah, there was a Dodge Daytona that ran in IMSA GTU with Shelby's team. It finished 4th in class at Sebring in '87.

http://www.auto-enthusiast.com/shelb...at_WPCM_FQ.jpg

JGTC isn't a real GT series. Different rules for each car, instead of a uniform set of preparation rules for each class.

This is pretty pitiful move, IMO. I could understand a Mitsubishi FTO, properly prepared to N-GT rules... But a hot hatch like the Golf just doesn't belong in a GT series.

[Spaced Invader]

British GT is turning into Belcar with all these different cars, but it if fills up grids and makes good racing im all for it.

[SL]

I'm not that sure. History does lead to quite a few 'road cars' being in GT racing and 'hot hatches' is the modern way. It could be an MX-5 racing, about the same as an old MG. Alfa used to race almost everything. Frog eye sprites, MG's, Mini Marcos, Elans, Capri's, Jowett's and many more

There has been loads of weird and wonderful cars at Le Mans with 998cc and smaller engines in the past.

The VW has a turbo 1.8 which should give it some grunt, did the 911 not start out as a 2.0 ?

Give them a chance anyway.

Simon

[Les]

[Osella]

I think this is cool, let's see how it runs.
btw, ifa Golf GTi is acceptable, why not WRC cars? or Radical and Westfield XTR(?) type cars?

[Tim Northcutt]

I think we need a few Japanese "Electric Blenders on Steroids" to take the track as well...

Is it me, or should we all be going to Confession???

I think the Apocalypse is upon us....

[Osella]

how about unlimited modifications for cars under 1000cc? I fancy the idea of 600+hp Suzuki Cappucino, Daihatsu Copen etc!