PoloDriver

The exciting penultimate round of the 2012 Engen Volkswagen Cup has left the championship title fight wide open, with all to play for next month. Going into last weekend’s meeting at Killarney, Kelvin van der Linde and Devin Robertson were separated by 35 points, the four-point lead going to Van der Linde by the end of the two-race round. This was despite Van der Linde suffering from a broken sideshaft which left him stranded on the grid of race one just after the warm-up lap, and out of the competition. Jordan Pepper qualified fastest and took pole position, with Kosie Weyers and Shaun La Reserveé fighting for the lead in lap two. Pepper retook the lead, though, leaving Weyers and La Reserveé battling for the second spot, Weyers claiming it when the chequered flag waved the racers home.

Van der Linde was pole-sitter for race two, with Pepper in second followed by Weyers in third. By the end of the first lap, Weyers had moved into the lead, with Pepper in third behind Van der Linde, and Robertson in fourth. Pepper pushed Weyers hard, but failed to make him slip up, and the pair crossed the line just 0.17 seconds apart. Van der Linde had dropped to 25th, when contact between him and Kyle Barnes saw them both slip down the 30-car field, meaning Van der Linde has it all to do at the season finale in late October. After posting the fastest qualifying time, winning race one, finishing second in race two, setting a new lap record (1:26.464) for the Engen Volkswagen Cup at Killarney and claiming first overall for the day, Jordan Pepper was awarded the title of Driver of the Day in the series.

The 2012 Engen Volkswagen Cup series is similar to the other racing Volkswagen Polo Cup single-series championships run in China, Europe and India. Just as in those official Volkswagen series, the South African one-make format highlights new driving talent. In the Engen series, as many as 35 drivers regularly race in technically identical, 2.0-litre 234bhp Volkswagen Polo Vivo racing cars.

RACE RESULTS
Race 1
1 Jordan Pepper (31: PG Glass)
2 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)
3 Shaun la Réservée (14: Alpine Motors/Compendium Insurance)

Race 2
1 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)
2 Jordan Pepper (31: PG Glass)
3 Devin Robertson (1: Big Boss Auto/Sparco)

Overall standings
1 Jordan Pepper (31: PG Glass)
2 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)
3 Shaun la Réservée (14: Alpine Motors/Compendium Insurance)

For the first time, Volkswagen Middle East has launched a Polo Sedan, joining the Jetta, Passat and completing its saloon portfolio. The Polo is made in Volkswagen India’s Pune factory, and comes with a 104bhp 1.6-litre engine with a six-speed automatic gearbox. Other equipment includes 15-inch alloy wheels, twin airbags, ABs, and central locking with keyless entry. The notchback-styled Polo Sedan is 4384mm long, 1466mm tall and 1699mm wide, and is based on the same model which is sold in Russia, South Africa, and India as the Vento. The Polo Sedan offers 455 litres of boot space and has an extended wheelbase which is 82mm longer than the European Polo hatchback.

Volkswagen Middle East describes the Polo Sedan as ‘sleek, spacious and comfortable delivering luxury and innovation while being affordable.’ ‘The new Polo Sedan is the perfect combination of German engineering with optimum comfort and driving characteristics,’ says Marcus Butros, Sales Director, Volkswagen Middle East. ‘The Polo Sedan completes our sedan segment within the market following the Jetta and Passat and offers high safety standards, driving comfort, sleek styling and affordable innovation.’ The Polo Sedan is available in S and SE trims and should appear in Saudi Arabia, UAE and GCC showrooms this month. Prices will be announced shortly.

The annual Goodwood Revival celebrates motorsport and racing glories in a pre-1970 world. On 16 September, Rich Gooding donned his tank top and flat cap, headed to Chichester and stepped back into a bygone era…

We don’t just like Polos here at PoloDriver.com. As I’ve advanced in years, the more I appreciate older four-wheeled machinery, so when the chance to reacquaint myself with the time-warp event that is the Goodwood Revival, it was too good an opportunity to turn down. I last attended the historic race meeting around 10 years ago, and always intended to once again mingle with the vintage-costumed folk down in Chichester on Lord March’s country estate. Celebrating pre-1970 motorsport glories makes the Goodwood Revival somewhat special in an enthusiast’s book, especially as event-goers are encouraged to dress up on full-on vintage regalia. I didn’t participate on my last visit, but this time, tank top and flat cap were put on, to take part in the event fully.

As soon as you step through the car park gates, you are immersed into the bygone Goodwood Revival experience. It’s so impressive how many attendees run the complete gamut with their costumes – 1930s fighter pilots rub shoulders with ‘60s Pan Am pilots and crew (complete with authentic bags!), while fur-coated ladies hang onto the arms of their trilby-toting partners. Should you forget your costume, there are numerous stalls inside the event from which to find a replacement, in addition to vintage nick-nack outlets, car brochure and press photo shops, and even a recreation of a 1950s/1960s Tesco store, complete with repro groceries! With other buildings styled to represent a 1950s Earls Court and 1960s BMW and Mini dealerships, the attention to detail really is superb.

Of course, a major draw for the 146,000 people that attended this year was the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ gathering of Silver Arrows racing cars from Mercedes-Benz and Audi. Housed in a specially-built recreation paddock, the 1930s racers were certainly an impressive sight. But it’s the racing which also plays a major part in the Goodwood Revival meeting. We caught the 1950s touring car race, the St Mary’s Trophy, which pitted small Austin A40s against mighty Jaguar saloons, not to mention a fearsome elongated Saab 99-alike Tatra T603 from the Czech Republic with the largest exhausts I have ever seen!

Another aspect of the Goodwood Revival is the Freddie March Spirit of Aviation, a prestigious concours d’elegance for historic aircraft. Almost as enjoyable to walk around as the displays of cars (and just as pretty as some of their land-based counterparts), the be-winged behemoths attracted just as much attention. 2012’s Revival also saw the 50th anniversaries of both the AC Cobra and Ferrari 250 GTO sports cars with displays and track time devoted to each. The rather more humble Ford Cortina also celebrated the same historic birthday, and there were examples of the saloon dotted around the main infield. The RAC is a big sponsor of the Goodwood Revival, and so provided older vehicles from its fleet for the public to inspect – a blue Ford Anglia in particular got its fair share of attention.

With displays of bygone aircraft overhead and the sound and smell of historic racing cars, the Goodwood Revival really is a convincing step back in time. Where else can you eat cake and drink tea in the NAAFI tent and watch 1950s Butlins Redcoats dance to Doo-Wop singers, for example? That’s precisely why I like the event – it’s a chance to escape modern life and soak up the atmosphere of a golden age. And it even extends to the roads surrounding the meeting, too. We were in convoy with an MGB, a Jaguar E-Type and a Ferrari 250 leaving the event, and with Dusty Springfield on the CD player, the Ferrari’s exhaust note bouncing off the sunlit village walls and people waving from outside pubs as the cars drove by, it was a drive home to remember, too. See our gallery for what tickled our fancy.

[Images: Rich Gooding, Audi, Ford Motors and Goodwood]

It’s been a long time coming, but the South African BP Volkswagen rally team finally scored a podium place at the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally on 16 September. Luck was with Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson when they crossed the line at Caledon. The Polo S2000 pairing won stage six two days earlier, but a consistent performance never saw them leave the top five positions, and they focused on productin their best result of the season. ‘The pace was quick and we drove hard, but for us it was more about keeping our podium position than challenging for an overall victory,’ said Kuun.

Kuun and Hodgson’s run wasn’t without drama and incident. A collision with a stray sheep damaged the steering of the Polo, and they had to complete a further two stages before the components could be repaired. ‘We really thought it was all over at that point,’ said Kuun. But, the service crew effected the necessary repairs to the duo’s Polo S2000 rally car, allowing them to get back into the thick of the action, and post fast stage times.

‘This is a good result for our new BP Volkswagen Polo S2000,’ says Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport. ‘Work on this new-generation rally car has been ongoing and our result this weekend shows that the effort is starting to pay dividends.’

Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries had a tough event, with Fekken fighting off a dose of flu. A damaging incident on stage one saw them lose 20 seconds, but they finished the event in sixth place overall. ‘We had the problem on the first stage, lost time again with a puncture and I was feeling really ill on Friday,’ said Fekken. ‘I felt much better on Saturday and we just made up as much time as we could.’

Team mates Hans Weijs Jnr and Björn Degandt claimed fourth in stage one and third in stages two and three before they experienced mechanical trouble in stage four which sadly eliminated them from the event. They re-entered for Saturday under Super Rally rules and consistently claimed third-place stage times throughout most of the day.

Polo Vivo S2000 pilots Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin continued their successful season with an S2000 Challenge class victory, cementing their championship lead in the process. The S1600 class was a tough one for Megan Verlaque and Hilton Auffray in their BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600. ‘On stage three I made a mistake which caused some damage so we had to change strategy and concentrate on making the finish line,’ said Verlaque.

Further down the field, Henk Lategan and Barry White finished behind Zulu and Peskin, taking second place in the S2000 Challenge category. The BP Volkswagen rally team will be in action once more at the Polokwane Rally from 5-7 October 2012.

Volkswagen Motorsport added another class victory to its winning tally at the Rally GB on 13-16 September, as Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia took first place in the Super 2000 classification. Continuing the testing programme for next year’s full-on Polo R WRC entry, Ogier’s class win now makes it the ninth in as many rallies. Finishing 12th overall, the French pairing collected much more valuable gravel surface experience for 2013’s WRC programme. Taking top times in 16 of the 19 special stages, Ogier and Ingrassia were already running one minute ahead by the time the cars reached the end of the first leg, which started in Llandudno.

‘On the first day the conditions were sometimes difficult, as the stages were muddy and very slippery. On Saturday, however, it was a different experience because dry tracks on the Rally GB have been in short supply. The fast gravel stages were great fun,’ explained Ogier, for whom this marked his eighth class victory this season. ‘Our goal was to familiarise ourselves with the event and to reach the finish. The fight in our class was decided early, but at the same time we posed no threat to the many stronger WRC cars.’

As tends to be the case, it wasn’t quite such a jubilant finish for Ogier’s and Ingrassia’s teammates Kevin Abbring and Frédéric Miclotte. Finishing 25th overall after sustaining suspension damage in stage nine, the pair hit a huge stone, breaking a wishbone link. The Volkswagen Motorsport team repaired the damage at the Service Park in Cardiff, but Abbring and Miclotte received a 25-minute Rally 2 regulation time penalty, knocking the down the field. Abbring had attained second in class prior to the incident, but still scored to best times on the Sunday’s stages and developed his pace note system.

‘Now the final phase of our preparations begins for next year’s World Rally Championship. On one side we’re working hard on the Polo R WRC, but at the same time we’re preparing the Volkswagen Motorsport team for the new task. Our aim in Wales was to get to know the rally under competition conditions and to gain as much experience as possible. Bringing both Škoda Fabia S2000s to Cardiff was important for the entire team. The ninth class win of the season shows that the crew is already working with a high degree of routine and is competitive,’ explained Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito.