Volkswagen will be celebrating the Golf GTI's 40th birthday with thousands of fans at the 35th GTI Meet at Lake Wörthersee this weekend.
The star of the festival will be the new exclusive Golf GTI Clubsport S - developed to celebrate the GTI’s 40th anniversary. Volkswagen will build 400 units of the Golf GTI Clubsport S which pumps out 228 kW / 310 PS, making it the most powerful production version of the Golf that Volkswagen has ever launched on the market.
The super GTI model borrows the engine genes from the 330 PS Golf GTI TCR, which is the race car version being used by Volkswagen Motorsport in the TCR International Series, and features an extensively modified chassis helping secure a 0-62mph time of just 5.8 seconds. The limited edition hot hatch recently completed the North Loop of the Nürburgring, breaking the record for a front-wheel drive production car, completing a lap in 7:49.21.
The Golf GTI Clubsport S has a new exhaust system featuring tail pipes with an enlarged cross-section which produces a strong backfire when braking, runs on 19-inch Pretoria alloy wheels with semi-slicks and has no rear seats for weight saving - resulting in unladen weight reduced to 1,285 kg for a power-to-weight ratio of 4.15 kg/PS.
Volkswagen apprentices from the Wolfsburg and Zwickau plants will continue their tradition of presenting one-off Golf models on the stage at the GTI festival. This year, the team from Wolfsburg will showcase the Golf GTI Heartbeat, which boasts 400 PS -- or 10 PS for each of the 40 years the GTI has been in existence. The apprentice group from Zwickau will pay tribute to the 35th GTI Meet at Lake Wörthersee with the Golf R Variant Performance 35: this vehicle has an output of 350 PS -- 10 PS for each meeting at Lake Wörthersee.
Also on hand will be the Golf GTI TCR, while Volkswagen will also take fans on a journey through the 40-year history of the GTI by presenting all seven generations of the iconic model in Reifnitz – from the very first Golf GTI to the new GTI and GTI Clubsport.
See video of the GTI Clubsport S breaking the record below: