Ask any young, up and coming racer what their biggest challenge is and they will likely mention the cost of getting into a series that has a high enough profile to move them forward. Ask any experienced fan what the most exciting racing to watch is and they’ll tell you it’s a single make production car series.

The problem here is that it can cost close to six figures to run even the cheapest of showroom stock racers and often those series don’t exactly offer a potential sponsor much in the way of exposure.

Enter Volkswagen and the Jetta TDI Cup: A single marque series that is aimed at promoting new talent, not to mention a healthy dose of Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday.

The deal here is that all driver’s will be between 16 & 26, with a solid karting or regional racing background. Oh yes and the regs keep mentioning the financial backing to qualify. Fortunately, friend of The Garage, Russ Bond from Painkillerz.ca has the goods. It is such a great deal that VW should push the expense a little bit harder. For a paltry 35 grand, a driver shows up with his/her helmet to be instructed by top racers and then go racing. The best part is that drivers are allow to bring in two personal sponsors! Let me tell you that $35,000 to race a professionally prepared car is dirt cheap.

I’ll let Russ tell you a little more about the cars:

For starters, you’ll be racing a fully prepared Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup car. The heart of the Jetta TDI Cup racing vehicle will be the all-new, high-tech 2.0-litre fourcylinder TDI clean diesel engine rated at 170 horsepower and nearly 300 lb-ft of torque in racing trim.

It’s arguably the best racing sportscar on the planet, and it’s a diesel. Diesel technology is the next big thing in racing, and now you’re about to get in on the ground floor.

Did I mention there is prize money? Yep. This isn’t like racing Formula Fords where most North American drivers spend a fortune to win a 6 dollar trophy. A win pays 15 hundred bucks. Win the series, well, then things get serious. The series winner gets $100,000. If the winner turns that win & the cash into a pro series ride within 6 months, VW will kick in an additonal $150,000.

Back to that bit about exposure. The Jetta TDI Cup is all about VW showing the consumer that modern diesel technology is a better choice than gas. That means they need to expose these new hot shoes, so you’ll be racing in front of the packed grandstands on ALMS & Champ Car weekends!

If you think this might be a logical step forward for your driving career, be sure to visit Painkillerz.ca and follow the VW link at the top of the front page. You could be on your way to greatness!