Wörthersee 2011

[Kev]

Volkswagen will be bringing 3 special Golf editions to the 2011 Wörthersee show.

The Golf GTI 16S is a racer based on the 1977 Golf GTI developed by KWL Motorsport that comes with a 1.6 liter unit instead of the usual 2.0 liter TFSI. The power plant generates an impressive 215 PS (158 kW / 211 bhp) and is mated to a 5-speed racing gearbox from VW Motorsport.

The 16S also features a Billstein chassis and an 80-liter fuel tank and is a Group 4 competitor at the 24hr race at the Nürburgring.

Speaking of Nürburgring, VW will also be bringing its Golf24 endurance racer to the show.

The real celebratory model to commemorate the Golf GTI's 35th anniversary, though, is the Golf GTI Edition 35 - a model which will actually make it to showrooms and onto the streets.

The Edition 35 comes with more power than the standard GTI via the revised 2.0-liter TFSI petrol engine unit doling out 235 PS (173 kW / 232 hp) instead of the usual 210 PS (155 kW / 207 hp).

The Golf GTI Edition 35 is already available for order in Germany with prices starting at €30,425.

[Kev]

Skoda has unveiled a dramatic open-top roadster version of its Fabia vRS S2000 rally car at Volkswagen Group’s GTI-Treffen tuning event in Worthersee.

The one-off Skoda Fabia vRS S2000 design concept car has been designed and built specifically for the annual show. Skoda CEO Winfried Vahland told Autocar that the hand-built roadster had been created to “show what the company can do with a Fabia”.

Designers were briefed to “create an original roadster pursuing a single goal: dynamism and the joy of sporting driving”.

Power for the all-wheel drive roadster comes from a twin-turbocharged four-cylinder 2.0-litre petrol engine that produces “over 200bhp”. It weighs around 1200kg and the tracks have been widened in excess of 120mm.

The concept gets a shallow-raked windscreen, which Skoda says allows the occupants of the car “to be at one with nature”. Despite losing its roof, there is room for four inside the Fabia vRS S2000.

It is finished in the same green colour as the road-going Fabia vRS. Design modifications include new bonnet scoops for extra cooling, flared wheel arches with cooling ducts, 18-inch white allow wheels, a rear diffuser and side skirts.

Inside, the dashboard is trimmed with carbonfibre and the material is also used for the door inserts. Front passengers sit in green-piped sports bucket seats with four-point harnesses.

[Kev]

Volkswagen has launched this R version of its new Golf Cabriolet at VW Group’s Worthersee tuning festival in Austria.

The VW Golf R Cabriolet concept is powered by the same 266bhp/258lb ft turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine as its three- and five-door hatchback siblings.

An exact 0-62mph time hasn’t been given, but VW says it can cover the sprint in less than six seconds and reach a top speed of 155mph making it the fastest open-top Golf in history.

The car gets a ‘sports chassis’ sits 25mm lower than the standard Cabriolet it is based on and it rides on 19-inch Talladega alloys. The Golf R Cabriolet uses 17-inch internally ventilated brake discs and special blue high-performance brake calipers.

Inside, it gets motorsport seats in dark blue carbon leather combined with Pure Grey Nappa leather. The seat backs are painted in piano black.

Other features include sand-blasted aluminium door sill plates and carbonfibre trim for the interior.