| wahyinghung | 04-19-2009 05:21 PM |
Natural Born Winner: VW returns to the 'Ring with Scirocco GT24-CNG
Phase 1: Dominate your class in endurance racing. Phase 2: Continue to dominate your class in endurance racing, only this time do it without gasoline. That seems to be the game plan with the Volkswagen Group's racing programs, so after winning at Le Mans five times with the gasoline-powered Audi R8 racer (punctuated only by the victory of sister-company Bentley's Ingolstadt-supported Speed 8), Audi continued its dominance with the diesel-powered R10 TDI. (It's worth noting that SEAT managed to clinch the 2008 World Touring Car Championship with a diesel-burning Leon TDI, too.) Meanwhile, over at the Nürburgring, Volkswagen itself took a devastating one-two class victory at last year's 24-hour race with the Scirocco GT24. So what's the next step? Compressed Natural Gas. That's what Volkswagen will be pumping into its latest race-prepped Scirocco as the team attempts to prove once again that it can win - even dominate - while burning alternative fuels.
The new Scirocco GT24-CNG uses the same basic architecture as the last year's car, but with the aid of Compressed Natural Gas, delivers 300 horsepower while returning a 25% improvement in emissions. VW will be campaigning a pair of them at the race in late May in the 2-liter turbocharged category, where they'll be facing off against the new Subaru Impreza STI, among others. Will Wolfsburg be able to follow up on last year's victory using alternative fuels? Only time will tell, but the team will also be campaigning three additional gasoline-powered Sciroccos...you know, just in case. Details in the press release after the jump and photos in the gallery below. http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/19/n...scirocco-gt24/ | 