[Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the April 2001 issue of Grassroots Motorsports.]
Volkswagen’s New Beetle Cup made its U.S. debut on September 30 as a support race at the Road Atlanta Petit Le Mans, giving fans a first-hand glimpse of this popular European series. With all the bright colors and round shapes, some people noted that the cars looked …
The Cars
Unlike the standard U.S.-spec passenger cars, New Beetle Cup racers are powered by a 204-horsepower VR6 engine. A deep front spoiler, fat fenders, special rear apron and rear wing are added to the standardissue bodywork, while huge OZ wheels cover ATE racing brakes.
Normally this series, which originated in Germany in 1999, is held during the IO rounds of the German Super Touring Car Championship. The Volkswagen New Beetle race cars are prepared and maintained centrally by Volkswagen Racing in Hanover, Germany, thus allowing drivers who can’t establish and maintain their own teams to participate. To be part of the New Beetle Cup, competitors must pay 100,000 Deutschemarks (plus VAT). In return, Volkswagen offers half a million Deutschemarks as prize money.
At Road Atlanta, the New Beetle Cup race was a celebrity event of sorts, with assorted actors, racers of note and members of the automotive press mixing it up on track, raising money for local charities. Those mix-ups (and crashes) resulted in only a handful of green-flag race laps in a scheduled 30-minute contest, but it’s not every day that one gets to see Tim Allen, Hans Stuck, Jack Baldwin, Brian Redman and Danny Sullivan on track at the same time.
Driving Impressions
Among the notable drivers present at the Road Atlanta New Beetle Cup race was Road & Track editor Andy Bornhop. He found the Euro-spec VR6 engine to produce excellent power and torque, although the six-speed gearbox was a little awkward at first. “I buzzed the engine once–without damage–when I accidentally went from fourth to third instead of fourth to fifth,” he admitted.
As expected, the suspension was much more like that of a race car than a street car. “The suspension tuning felt fairly firm, and when we were busy warming the tires on the warm-up lap, I could see that most cars were picking up their inside rears an inch or so off the ground,” Andy explained. “The slicks, which I had never raced upon before, offered excellent grip when warm. When cold, well, they’re slick.”
Andy never had a problem with the oversized ATE brakes, even at the end of the back straight, where the cars had to go from flatout in sixth gear down to third for Turn I OA. “They never got soft, and I never invoked ABS,” he explained. “Had I been a little quicker, maybe I’d have needed it.”
As expected by many, the professional drivers really made the best of the race-prepared New Beetles. “Some people claimed that Stuck had a ‘special’ car, but I think he’s just a special driver who picks the car up by the scruff of the neck and makes it do miraculous things.
“As for me, I’m not pleased with my performance, as I never felt like I found a rhythm,” Andy said. “Every time I went out, I was among the first cars on the track–because of the way the cars were parked in the ga rage–so I felt like I had to drive using my rear-view the whole time and not learning the track. It showed in my times. But boy how I would love to do it again.