Carlist.my are reporting that Volkswagen have commissioned a full-restoration of the 1987 Golf 2; its turbocharged twin-engine Pikes Peak racer. This is to pay homage to the company’s earlier attempts at the famous US hillclimb and to serve as an ambassador for its renewed attack on the event this year.
Under its rather docile exterior sat two longitudinally-mounted 1.8-litre 16-valve Golf 2 GTi engines (one at the front, another at the rear), force-fed by two turbochargers (one per engine) – synchronised in metallic harmony to produce 652 PS and propel it from a standstill to 100 km/h in just 3.4 seconds.
Both engines were also equipped with their own Hewland racing transmissions, which meant the Golf could be driven with four-wheel drive, or with solely front-wheel or rear-wheel drive. Despite carrying two engines and two gearboxes, the Pikes Peak Golf 2 weighed just 1,020 kgs.
Pikes Peak, also known as “The Race to the Clouds” is an annual event which takes place in Colorado Springs, in the U.S. Seasoned teams and battle-hardened drivers race immensely powerful cars and bikes up a gruelling 20 km stretch of mountain road to the peak of the mountain – climbing 1,440 m from the start on Pikes Peak Highway, to the finish, some 4,300 meters above sea level.
