First ever front-wheel drive GT??

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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.