Not Golf as we know it: the new racing Volkswagen

GOLF too sedate for you? Better head off to the race track in Volkswagen’s new 325bhp hatchback.

Volkswagen Motorsport is developing its first racing car based on the seventh-generation Golf to help the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer evaluate a potential customer racing programme from the 2016 season onwards.

And from the early images released this week, there’s sure to be a lot of interest from adrenaline-fuelled petrolheads.

The new Golf will be tested under competitive conditions between now and the end of the season in a bid to accelerate its development, with the Liqui Moly Team Engstler will run two cars at the eighth round of the Touring car Racer International Series at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.

Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito said: “The newly created TCR category provides a promising platform for customer racing – on a national and international level.

“With exciting races, production-based technology and reasonable costs, it offers a new outlook for private racing teams.”

The racing Golf runs on 18-inch racing rims and a chassis roughly 40cm wider than that of the production Golf.

It also boats an aerodynamically-designed front splitter and carbon rear wing, a racing seat with head protectors, a racing safety cell, and a safety tank in accordance with FIA regulations.

Under the bonnet is the turbocharged two-litre engine with direct fuel injection from the current Golf R range-topper, generating 325bhp and 302lb.ft. of torque.