APR台灣萊羿車工廠正式成為英國Volkswagen Racing (VWR) 產品台灣區總代理

英國Valkswagen Racing (VWR) 歷史

身為Valkswagen Racing的一份子, 代表著身為世界歷史和所有賽車的一部份, 並在2012年繼續發燒發熱.

VWR的歷史可以起原於場地賽: 德國福斯的賽車運動最早可追溯到1966年所創立的Formula Vee盃賽事 – 完全使用福斯Beetle的零件組成的賽車所參加的賽事. 在1971年, 馬力更大的Formula V成立, 並持續到1982年, 同時成為培育賽車選手最好的場地, 類似F1的Nikki Lauda, Jochen Mass, Nelson Piguet, Jochen Rindt 和 Keke Rosbert都參與過Formula V. 福斯在當年也成功的在Formula V和Forumla 3中得冠過.

1973年, 福斯賽車團隊移到Hanover, 並在1981年改名為Volkswagen Motorsport. 當時因為VW Golf的推出, VWM開始開發拉力賽車. 在Eklund 和 Pentti Airikkala車手的駕駛下, 當時全新的VW GTi 馬上就登上小鋼砲之王並在全世界造成轟動.

同一時期, 在英國成立的部門也積極使用MKIII Golf GTi 參與拉力賽事, 並在1997年獲得British Rally Championship (英國拉力賽) 冠軍. 兩年後, 由英國部門所阻立調校的MKIV Golf GTI 和 Polo GTi 在Meanwhile in the UK, the company was also strongly represented in national rallying from 1997 with the Golf GTI MkIII which secured the British Rally Championship crown, and two years later with the Golf GTI MkIV. The Polo GTI ‘Super 1600’ in 2001, along with a second place in the British Rally Championship was Volkswagen Racing UK’s final chapter in it’s successful rallying tradition.

Renamed as Volkswagen Racing in 2001, the team has concentrated all of its efforts on developing its own circuit racing championship, the Volkswagen Racing Cup. This flexible arena has allowed some remarkable firsts over the past couple of years.

Perhaps the most significant motorsport development anywhere in the world in recent years can be attributed to Volkswagen Racing UK – the first ever sprint race victory for a diesel-powered car anywhere in the world. Back in 2002, the achievement of a feat that the pundits dismissed as impossible has changed the thinking of many motorsport bodies, and led to Volkswagen Racing UK advising Touring Car and Le Mans teams around the globe all keen to be the next to follow in our footsteps.

On a lighter note, but still pushing the boundaries of motorsport innovation is the Volkswagen Caddy Van racer. The first generation Caddy was developed in 2002 as a brand awareness builder for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, the 210 bhp diesel-powered van holding the honour of being the first racing van in existence anywhere in the world.

It all got a bit more serious with the generation 2 Caddy. This time it was purpose-built as a racer from a bare shell. With nearly 300bhp available from its 2.0 TDI engine, it has finished on the podium a number of times, and still holds the class lap-record at Rockingham circuit! It has been driven by high-profile drivers such as David Coulthard, Jason Plato and Tiff Needell.

Today, in Germany our colleagues are concentrating on the Dakar project with the race Touareg, the Formula Three engine (powering the reigning British Champions), and the Scirocco Cup one-make championship.  But most exciting for motorsport fans is the prospect of the brand’s return to the World Rally Championship with the Polo R WRC.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen Racing UK is fully involved in running and promoting our own championship, the flourishing Volkswagen Racing Cup.  We race preparare Golf 5, 6 and Sciroccos (but also a brand new Leon Cupra for SEAT UK). We have prepared versions of these cars for motorsport with 2 and 4 wheel drive, manual and DSG gearbox, 1.4 TSI, 2.0 TDI, 2.0 TFSI and 3.2 V6 engines. It is this experience and knowledge that has led to the introduction of the Performance and Motorsport Parts Range that you will find detailed in this website.

To see these cars in action, have a look through our gallery of photos from over the years.