PoloDriver

It was a Volkswagen finish all the way on the Osram Rally, which took place on 21-22 August. The BP Volkswagen Racing Polo S200s of Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson, and Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries finished the sixth round of the Sasol South African Rally Championship in first and second places respectively, while the third factory-backed car of Jan Habig and Douglas Judd came in fourth. A Polo-filled podium was broken by the Ford Fiesta S2000 of Conrad Rautenbach and Peter Marsh. Kuun and Hodgson finished the event 23.7 seconds ahead of Fekken and Arries, while the next Polo to finish was the car of Theuns Joubert and Carl Peskin, which came across the line of the 164km event in ninth place.

Further down the field, the A7 class Polo of Gavin Cronje (the current Le Mans Series Champion) was beaten in the first stage by Leeroy Poulter and Henry Dearlove in their Toyota RunX. The Japanese-driving duo finished 13th overall, a fraction under eight seconds ahead of the 2-litre factory Polo S2000 of Gugu Zulu and Cindi Harding. Other Polo finishers included the Motorite Racing car of Evan Hutchison and Elvéne Coetzee in 12th place, and the privateer Polo of Nicholas Ryan and Armand Du Toit, which was placed a disappointing 17th out of the 25 teams that completed the event after Ryan bent the Jonnesway car’s suspension. The penultimate round of the 2010 Sasol South African Rally Championship is the Swartland Rally in the Western Cape on 17-18 September.

[Images: QuickPic]

We’ve been doing a bit of late summer sprucing here at PoloDriver. There are still some parts of the site that we’ve still got to go through, but today, we’ve added more information about two Series 2 Polo special models; the Polo Mikado and the Polo Peppermint. The Peppermint (pictured above), was, as far as we know, only available in France and was basically a rebadged Fox. Available from September 1991, the Peppermint was available with a 1043cc 45bhp petrol engine and a 1398cc 48bhp diesel unit. Also built around the base-model Fox, the Polo Mikado was on sale year later, and featured special paint finishes (including the unique Violet Blue) and brightly-coloured interior trim. Other embellishments included exterior colour-matched wheel trim rings. Head over to the Series 2 specials page to find out more, and to let us know of any unique models we may have missed.

Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen is a special place for Volkswagen fans. Tucked away from the global headquarters of the German giant in a side street in Wolfsburg, its long been a mecca for Volkswagen enthusiasts. How long? 2010 marks 25 years since the innocent-looking building opened its doors to the public, and laid bare its secrets for all to see. Jam-packed to its industrial rafters are Volkswagen Group models of all shapes and sizes, most of them prototypes which have rarely been on public view. A sizable chunk are Beetles of the air-cooled variety, but there really is something for everyone. There’s now more than a handful of Polos, including a Series 1 of 1975, a pair of record-breaking G40 Polo coupés from 1985, and the very first Series 3 Polo from the production line in 1994.

To celebrate Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen’s quarter of a century, its doors are open for a special ‘25 years AutoMuseum Volkswagen’ exhibition. Running until 19 September 2010, it worships the car’s ever-changing role in the culture, economic, social and technological arenas and celebrates its contribution since 1985. Twenty-five specially-selected exhibits tell the story, and to ensure that visitors can see all the jewels in Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen’s crown, its opening hours have been extended. Now accepting visits from 10am to 6pm, if you find yourself visiting the ‘Volkswagen town’ of Wolfsburg, make sure you take a trip to Dieselstrasse. Although there’s a new, purpose built and brilliant car museum – the ‘Zeithaus’ – at nearby VW theme park AutoStadt, you just might uncover something extra special at Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen…

• Keep visiting PoloDriver for a series of features on the different Polo exhibits in Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen

The fifth-generation Polo and new Polo Vivo are among the jewels in Volkswagen South Africa’s 2010 range of cars, so it’s only right that they are the stars in the latest issue of the company’s customer publication, Volkswagen magazine. From the New Polo’s World Car of the Year and European Car of the Year awards to the technologically innovative Polo Skylab launch event, there’s plenty of coverage of the latest model, and even a behind the scenes story from the ‘Expect Big Things’ snow in Cape Town TV commercial (we covered it first, though, of course). There is a report on the Polo Vivo’s entertainment extravaganza launch party at the Sun City Superbowl – where international music acts performed with South Africa’s finest homegrown musicians – as well as the story behind the new top-selling, unique-to-South-Africa Volkswagen entry-level model. Read all this and more in the latest issue of Volkswagen magazine, available to download here.

Taking a double victory at the Phaksia Raceway, Matthew Hodges impressively underlined his 2010 championship title ambitions during the most recent rounds of the 2010 Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa on 14-15 August. The remaining podium places went to Kosie Weyers and Devin Robertson; Weyers was second in race one and third in race two, while Robertson was third and second respectively. In the overall standings, Hodges holds a comfortable lead over both Robertson and Weyers. The 2010 Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa series is similar to the other racing Polo championships run in Europe and India. Just as in those series, the one-make format highlights new young driving talent. As many as 30 drivers regularly take to the track in technically identical cars, full grids ensure close-fought races.