Yahoo Autos This Is VW's Bonkers Twin-Engined Pikes Peak Golf
Following the disaster that was the North American Mk1 Golf in the late seventies, Volkswagen got rid of the Rabbit name in its quest to correct the mistake with the Mk2 Golf. And what better way to promote a change for the better in America than to race the new technology up Pikes Peak's 14,110 feet?
VW's twin-engined Pikes Peak effort started in 1985, when the Golf prototype featured a pair of 1.3s out of the smaller Polo. With that much on tap, Volkswagen Motorsports rally driver Jochi Kleint grabbed third place, while Michele Mouton became the first female division champion in her Audi Sport Quattro S1. Audi won again in 1986, despite VW upgrading to its brand new 16-valve 1.8s out of the GTI. Needless to say, neither of these Pikes Peak specials could feature an aero package as they needed to look stock for people to make the connection with what you can buy in the local showroom. That forced the engineering team to find more mechanical grip.
For 1987, the twin-engined Golf got tweaked slightly once again and was built by open-wheel specialists Kaimann Racing in Wien. The Austrian recipe included: a riveted monocoque with a Kevlar shell that's 20 cm wider than the factory body. Two turbocharged engines with no mechanical connection between them, packing 652 horsepower for the 12-mile, 156-curve route. A Hewland F2 gearbox, a 34 liter (9 gallon) fuel tank for the roughly 11 minute ride, a Formula-3 style suspension and a 50:50 weight balance.
According to Jochi Kleint, the car drove fairly straight as long as you kept your foot down, but got twitchy once the chip responsible for keeping the two engines at equal revs went off by 100-200rpm. According to the guy who just took this car out of the museum, they had to detune the rear engine by ten horsepower to give the 325 hp front unit a fighting chance at pulling straight.
In period, Volkswagen only built three twin-engined racing cars: two Golfs, and a stillborn Seat Ibiza Group B prototype that never raced. Of the two Golfs, the 1986 car is in a private collection in Ingolstadt. The other, the 1987 16V car was retained by Volkswagen. Back in the day in Colorado, it had to retire just three turns and a quarter-mile from the finish line due to a suspension ball joint failure. Now, she's been resurrected by the Motorsport team in just six months for this year's Wörthersee Meet and the Pikes Peak-themed Eifel Rally Festival, where Jochi Kleint will do demo laps driving both Golfs.
I was told that adjusting the car to sea level was no walk in the park, yet the only thing VW couldn't fix was the water spraying system, because there's no picture of it in their archives. Otherwise, the 1987 twin-engined Golf is as original as it can be.
Pikes Peak, 1985: Audi Quattro. 1986: Audi Quattro. 1987: Audi Quattro. "No aero. Because of the Rabbit, VW wanted to keep the shape, you know..."
Unlike Audi. Who went to win, apparently.
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