RE: Golf GTI Clubsport S 'ring record

[emicen]

It's interesting VW's start line was half a second later than the Civic's and their finish line wasn't on the straight after the last corner but rather in the middle of the corner.

[culpz]

Cupramax said:

Does anyone really give a st how fast certain shopping hatch goes round the ring?

Yes, believe it or not. It's very impressive when said shopping hatch does a lap at the ring that would make some proper sports cars feel a bit embarrassed.

[epom]

Love it. Delighted VW have built it, also happy they have done the Ring time in it. It might be pointless but hey it gives us something to compare it to and some way of judging progress of sorts. Its most certainly not boring. Not many of us will buy one, but whatever amount of them they produce will be sold, of that I'm certain. Obviously still wouldn't even see which way the Golf R went but hey :-)

[Matt UK]

thegreenhell said:

That has to be the worst onboard video ever. Great view of the sky and the trees, but not much of the track. Almost unwatchable.

10 seconds was enough for me

[renrut]

IMHO it stops being a hot hatch if you can't carry at least 2 mates in it and drive to the pub/game whatever. The whole point is that its a practical car that's quick and fun. So without the seats they may as well have reported this as an average ring time for a 2 seater sports car, which this is way off the record for. It all seems a bit like they've become offended that a non-VAG has the hot hatch ring record and have rushed something/anything out to take it back by hook or crook.

[Jam12321]

If it was the car they would actually sell then i might care, otherwise this is just another round of marketing rubbish for a car you can't actually buy.

[tankplanker]

They'll sell every one of the 400 they are making, and they'll hold their value better than any other mark 7 released so far as they are a proper limited edition.

I'm expecting a limited edition R model now for the run out of the mark 7 with slightly more than 310 BHP...

[Fetchez la vache]

RumbleOfThunder said:

A 2 seat hot hatch. Congrats VW on missing the point of what makes these cars appealing, their practicality. Oh and yet another lap record with a car not representative of what'll be in showrooms.

To be honest, I don't know why they don't just say "fk it" and take the passenger seat out as well...

[JMF894]

V8RX7 said:

JoeMarano said:

To be fair what is 1.5 seconds or even 5 or 10 seconds on a 7min 49 lap.

It's barely noticeable that's what!

What's 1.5 seconds ?

You don't participate in any kind of racing do you ?

What he means is what is 1.5s in the real world? The one you and I drive in everyday, on real roads. With traffic. And speed cameras. And very few opportunities to grab a car by the scruff of the neck.

What's racing got to do with a road car? Totally different animals.

[EnglishTony]

emicen said:

It's interesting VW's start line was half a second later than the Civic's and their finish line wasn't on the straight after the last corner but rather in the middle of the corner.

VW cheating? Surely not?

Interesting car all the same and I can't see that they will have too much trouble selling the 400 being built.

[Steven_RW]

Cupramax said:

Does anyone really give a st how fast certain shopping hatch goes round the ring?

Marketing departments in most hot hatch manufacturers seem to think so. If you think otherwise, potentially you could write in and tell them where they can save on their annual budgets.

RW

[Guvernator]

While I applaud VW for trying to shirk off the dull image of the current Golf, I'm not quite sure this was the way to do it. As others have stated, I've never really understood the point of a 2 seater hot hatch, all the compromises of a hot hatch but without the practicality which is the whole point of there existence. It puts it into a whole new league of dedicated two seater sports cars where it will be outshined by most.

Personally I'd have been more impressed if they had made a 4wd, wide arch techno fest like the R400 they were showing a while back. I think it's way more representative of the current Golf brand image than this car.

[h5lrw]

JoeMarano said:

How many people that have bought a civic/megane/golf/leon plan on using that car for racing and not using it as their daily driver to tesco?

I have

[Jam12321]

Steven_RW said:

Marketing departments in most hot hatch manufacturers seem to think so. If you think otherwise, potentially you could write in and tell them where they can save on their annual budgets.

RW

Your not buying the ring record car though, if they put the actual car around the track then that would be genuinely interesting. Glad they have done this but pricing it at 40K with 400 units shows they know their punters all too well.

[SidewaysSi]

£40k for a Golf?!!! Will these be available for £150 a month?

[nickfrog]

V8RX7 said:

JoeMarano said:

To be fair what is 1.5 seconds or even 5 or 10 seconds on a 7min 49 lap.

It's barely noticeable that's what!

What's 1.5 seconds ?

You don't participate in any kind of racing do you ?

Do you ? 1.5s around the ring - that's 0.3%. Or in other words less than 2/10ths per minute - quite important in F1 but for most lower ranking racers, it's not exactly an embarrassing delta... Especially for a road car.

[Gandahar]

The 1.5s is not much but the fact that the manufacturers keep going around circuits like this one or the Ford one in Belgium must be having some rub off on general fast road driving. So each is a nibble and all those nibbles add up.

Did the original XR2 or XR3i, Golf GTi Mk2 or Pug / Renault hot hatch have too much track honing? I'm not sure. As long as this track testing does not make them suffer on the road and improves them I am all for it. I have to confess the last Golf GTi I wanted to buy was the Mk5 SE30 edition. The MkVI and MKVII has left me a bit cold. This looks tasty again with it's suspension not too hard etc.

Interesting they made the front very aggressive on turn in and then made the rear very stable to stop it being too wayward, seems a lot different to how Ford have decided to do it with the RS, so will be an interesting head to head.

[anonymous-user]

V8RX7 said:

What's 1.5 seconds ?

You don't participate in any kind of racing do you ?

What's your best and second best lap around the ring out of interest?

As has been said, 1.5s difference around there isn't exactly night and day. Nordschleife 12+ miles, Silverstone 2+ miles.

Anyway, it's nice to see the obsession with the ring back, and another Golf to argue about. I imagine it'll be just the thing for popping to the shops and commuting

[WCZ]

what's not to like about this car other than the price?
I just feel sorry for anyone who ordered the clubsport non-s

[Daston]

WCZ said:

what's not to like about this car other than the price?
I just feel sorry for anyone who ordered the clubsport non-s

Other than it being an overpriced 2 seater golf? I'd rather have a proper 2 seater sports car in the garage than a shopping trolly I wouldn't even take a second glance at.