VW Golf Bi-moteur
Wolf-Dieter IHLE (D)  

Category	ORIGINAL
Year	1986
Group	Prototype

 

 

Yesterday : Jochi KLEINT - Pikes Peak Hill Climb 1986

After finishing third as “Rookie of the Year” in 1985, Jochi Kleint and Volkswagen Motorsport returned to Colorado in 1986. After a good start and great split times, the now turbo-powered 500 bhp twin-engined Golf suffered from electronic problems in the upper part of the 19.99-kilometre gravel hill-climb track. Thus, it was again not enough to win the title. Fourth place was the final result on the world’s first motorsport event that saw a turbocharged Volkswagen take part.

This twin-engined VW Golf is the original race car used at the Pikes Peak “Race to the Clouds” in 1985 and then in 1986 in a modified form and with different engines. In 1985, it was equipped with two naturally aspirated engines with 195 hp each. On its return in 1986, VW installed two 1.3-litre turbo engines each delivering 250 hp in front and rear. It was Volkswagen’s first competition car with four-wheel drive and a year later also the first one with turbocharging. This did not stop them from selling it in the late 1980s. In 1994 it was purchased by a collector in Bonn who owned it for 23 years but never drove it. In 2017, Wolf-Dieter Ihle was able to acquire it. After an extensive restoration it is now ready to go again.