The original pocket rocket. The VW GTI. I remember the car well, having taken part in the build of no fewer than 5. There was the 79, an orange clone of the European model, followed by a couple of 83’s and then an 84. The formula was pretty simple. Add in a Weber big throat throttle body, a high flow air filter, front & rear strut tower bar, Ansa exhaust and you were off to the autocross. I’ll never forget the sight of the first 83 threading it’s way through the pylons, with the inside rear tire hanging in the air at every corner. Those were the days!
Pirelli and VW hope to rekindle some of those memories with the introduction of the Golf GTI Pirelli this coming September. With 230 hp, styling inspired by the requisite Pirelli P Zeros and special 18″ wheels the new car promises to deliver the mystique. This is the most powerful GTI ever produced and has a 0-60 time of just 6.6 seconds. If my fading memory still works, that’s a full 1.4 seconds faster than the 83-84. This thing should be a terror on the autocross course.
Pirelli press release and interior image after the break.
Milan, 17 May 2007. 25 years on, an automotive legend that characterised the early 1980s is back: the exclusive Golf GTI Pirelli with its unique styling and mechanical specification. The car, which will be available few weeks after the Frankfurt Motor Show (September 2007), has been presented in advance today at the Woethersee Volkswagen Rally in Austria.
The new Golf GTI Pirelli, like its forebear from 1983, combines Italian and German styling and technology. The key features of the new car are in fact the dedicated 18” 5P Pirelli light alloy wheels, the interior styling inspired by the tread pattern of the new Pirelli P Zero and the most powerful mechanical specification ever created for a GTI.
The direct injection turbocharged engine is good for 230 hp and a maximum speed of 245 kph and will shoot the car to 100 kph in just 6.8 seconds (6.6 seconds for the version with optional DSG). Fuel consumption is a reasonable 8.2 litres per 100 kilometres (7.9 litre with the DSG).
Naturally, the tyres are the most advanced Pirelli products on the market, the new P Zeros developed for the supercars and already fitted as original equipment on the world’s greatest high performance cars.
The car will be available in four colours, with body-coloured bumpers.
The 1983 Golf Pirelli went down in history as having made a decisive contribution to the success of the high performance compact car segment and for having set something of a record: 10,500 examples produced and sold in just six months.
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I have lots of in-car camera footage from my pro-sedan days where many classes of cars run together at the same time, everything from full blown Nascar style trucks all the way down to the GTI class. The first time you come up behind a well driven GTI and see that rear wheel about 12 inches off the ground all the way around a corner your heart skips a beat as your mind says, “What the hell!!!” To tell the truth I still get as big of a kick out of the site today as I did back then.
Bring on the in car man!
We will have some very good video with our new state of the art in-car equipment that is being set up for the La Carrera Panamericana race in Mexico.
Very nice, looking forward to seeing it!