Volkswagen is returning to the Pikes Peak
International Hill Climb with the I.D. R Pikes Peak race car and the company is
celebrating the event by showcasing its restoration of the twin-engine Golf
which competed in the event in 1987.
Described as a “freshly restored piece of motorsport
history,” the model was recently presented alongside the new race car.
The Golf was developed over the course of six months
and was driven by Jochi Kleint. He had an impressive showing at Pikes Peak as
the Golf managed to set the fourth best time in practice sessions while only
using one of the car’s two engines. That success was short lived as the car had
to be withdrawn from the race a few corners before the finish line as the Golf
suffered a fatal fracture which started at a grease nipple.
Volkswagen says the car was purpose-built for Pikes
Peak and weighed just 1,020 kg. The most interesting
feature was the two turbocharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder engines sourced from
the Golf II GTI 16 V. They produced a combined output of 652 PS and
each had their own Hewland transmission which meant the Golf could be
front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.
Volkswagen wanted to keep the
car as original as possible. This required “a lot of sensitivity” when it came
to restoring the engines as their propulsion need to be coordinated otherwise
the car would become “unmanageable and unstable.”
In the end, the engines weren’t brought back to
their full potential as the restoration team only targeted an output of 240 to
260 PS per engine. As a result, the car now has a combined
output of around 500 PS.
