MOTORSPORT – GOLF A59 Photos: Chris Eyre

Bavaria, has an adjacent prototyping and motorsport business (SMS AG, now SMS Engineering GmbH). SMS had already been involved with the motorsport team, having run the successful V8 DTM cars, and prototyped the road-going Audi Coupe S2. Four sure! Two separate, but connected, cars were Folklore said that only one of just three A59s designed: the road car and the rally car, the latter clearly the real purpose of the had survived. Chris Eyre unearthed the first exercise. had no choice but to raise the technical bar, and putting 2,500 prototype, and went myth busting in Bavaria… specialist cars down a production line would clearly be a very expensive exercise. The AS THE 2014 rear wing, has just emerged – immaculate engine, transmission, transmission tunnel, moves in the direction of the Hannover- after years out of sight… outer panels and interior bore little direct based Volkswagen Motorsport team So, in an exclusive report, we can relation to an ordinary Mk 3 Golf and this, once more, it’s a good time to reflect on reveal that the very first ‘lost’ car has ultimately, was to be its downfall. Volkswagen’s previous stillborn journey always remained in the hands of Schmidt In 1993, as the car edged closer to in search of WRC glory. Motorsport, the company that created it. production, with the second prototype In 1992, the company set out on the WRC ‘It’s the original’ confirmed Harald Peelen, completed and documents almost signed trail, following the unsuccessful 1990 Golf Managing Director of Schmidt Motorsport, for the manufacture of the 2,500 production Rallye campaign, by commissioning a rather with a sense of pride. ‘Car Zero’, as it was vehicles, the project was canned. Conceived extreme homologation special Mk 3 Golf, to originally designated, by those in the prior to then-boss Ferdinand Piech becoming be put into a limited production of just 2,500 development game, has been pulled out of Chairman of the Volkswagen Board of cars, to make it eligible for Group A. storage at a farm to take pride of place in Management, the ’90s recession was its Revered amongst enthusiasts, it was the Autohaus Konrad Schmidt Volkswagen death knell. With Volkswagen reportedly understood that two cars and a spare dealership, for this feature. close to bankruptcy, the last thing the bodyshell were created, and that all that Furthermore, the commonly accepted company needed was a run of potentially survived today was the sole complete A59 story that there were only three A59s was a loss-making homologation specials being that Volkswagen displays in its Wolfsburg simplification based on information given sold – or not – at a price of 80,000 DM museum. The other two had disappeared out at the time. A full investigation shows (£33,500), at a time when a brand-new road- without trace – or so folklore had it. that there were certainly four, plus at least going Mk 3 GTI cost £13,999 But, when searching for any long-lost two mock-ups… So, Volkswagen collected the second items, it pays to start from first principles. The original go-ahead for the project came fully-working ‘Car One’ A59 from SMS, Sometimes they’re to be found where they in January 1992, scheduled to make a debut complete with its unique all-aluminium were last seen, as is the case of the first ever in Monte Carlo at the start of the 1994 season, engine. Now well documented, that car A59 prototype. Not to be and Volkswagen awarded the contract to – with its distinctive silver wheels – was confused with the A59 owned by Volkswagen; turn its Golf ambitions into reality placed in the reception area of Volkswagen the original silver prototype, pictured with to Schmidt Motorsport. Autohaus Konrad Motorsport in Hannover during the mid-’90s five-spoke anthracite wheels and outrageous Schmidt, a Volkswagen dealer in Cadolzburg, and now resides in the Wolfsburg museum.

WWW.VOLKSWAGENDRIVERMAG.CO.UK SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLKSWAGEN DRIVER 51 ‘ The underbonnet is dominated by huge front suspension turrets sitting above the wing line, for increased wheel travel on rough gravel rallies...’

➔But there were three more: Car Zero, the 2.0 16V unit. Notionally apeing the aluminium The gearbox in the Car Zero prototype is third bodyshell and an unreported fourth. version, it has a mock-up of the aluminium a dummy five-speed Syncro unit. Designed Firstly, though, to the rediscovered Car engine’s dual-tract inlet manifold design, by Karl Heinz Goldstein, the FF Developments Zero, the main focus of this feature and the dummy turbo manifold and cosmetic ‘A59’ 6-speed gearbox for the production car was first prototype built to present the concept to badging. intentionally heavy-duty, to resist breakage Volkswagen and explore the modifications Intense debate surrounded the all- in showroom-specification ‘’ rally required at the start of the project. aluminium engine for the A59 production cars. It transmitted torque to a computer- Its significantly styling was created car proper. Volkswagen wanted to use twin controlled Steyr Daimler Puch centre diff- by Volkswagen’s Design Studio in Dusseldorf, G-Lader superchargers to demonstrate the erential, with hydraulic plates to vary the including preparation of a wind tunnel model. technology, while SMS and engine designer front-rear split between 25 and 100 per cent The distinctive widened wheelarch panels Norbert Kreyer of MIS Motorsporttechnik to the rear, using engine power signals, which define the car were then fixed to Car (ex-Toyota and Zakspeed, then responsible wheel speed and cornering force. This system Zero. Giving it an aggressive stance to permit for subsequent VW Motorsport engine was, clearly, vastly superior to the part-time a 76 mm increase in track and wheel width, development), wanted a single turbocharged on-demand viscous coupling four-wheel they merged with the widened bumpers, bespoke unit to improve on the inherent drive used in the Mk 2 Golf Syncro and Rallye. notably deeper at the front which features valve-area constraints of the short standard The rear suspension has a clean-sheet a unique additional air intake just below Volkswagen in-line four-cylinder engine. fully independent multi-link design, using the grille. The bonnet has three big cooling The engineers prevailed, with a bespoke tension struts, notably casting aside apertures, while the front wings have short-stroke (86 mm x 86 mm) engine, and the Syncro/Rallye trailing arms, while meshed vents at the trailing edge. gas flow-optimising large valves. The first retaining the same basic attachment points, The car has non-identical sides, one with engine ran on the dynamometer in April 1993. supplemented with others. Car Zero actually side rubbing protection strips, the other having Rated at 275 bhp and 270 lb.ft. for the road, has no propshaft fitted, and the differential the same feature blended as a swage line into in rally guise it would produce around is a dummy made of plastic, though rear the lower door and side panel, being simply 400 bhp on the FIA 38 mm turbo restrictor driveshafts are fitted. design options presented to Volkswagen. One of the era. Reportedly, only two engines were In the boot, similar to the underbonnet, of the A59 signature features is the tailgate made. One is in the road car that Volkswagen the suspension turrets are visibly raised for without the registration plate, but with a has in Wolfsburg, the other is currently increased wheel travel, and to accommodate prominent central VW roundel. unaccounted for. larger rear damper units. A water injection The A59’s mechanical specification was determined by Eduard Weidl, who now works at Volkswagen Motorsport. A Syncro all-wheel-drive bodyshell was used as a base – scarcely reported – to minimise any floorpan changes needed, before carrying out the structural work to turn it into an ‘A59’ chassis. Despite the Syncro boot floor already being raised for the differential, the transmission tunnel wasn’t deemed high enough for rallying, considered insufficient to tuck both propshaft and a large exhaust system up out of the way. So, Car Zero’s tunnel was cut open and a translucent composite raised structure added to demonstrate the alterations required. The underbonnet is dominated by huge front suspension turrets sitting above the wing line, for increased wheel travel on rough gravel rallies, sufficient to require bonnet bulges. Car Zero’s engine isn’t the bespoke all-aluminium unit intended for production, instead simply a Mk 3 Golf GTI

52 VOLKSWAGEN DRIVER SEPTEMBER 2014 WWW.VOLKSWAGENDRIVERMAG.CO.UK tank occupies the majority of the Syncro chassis, and painted yellow, as pictured. Instead of Volkswagen disposing of spare wheel well, on both this car and It remained with Boulekos for a few years the A59 Group A project when it all stopped, Wolfsburg’s Car One, while the remaining until it was sold it to a customer in Greece. Rolf Volland of Volland Racing took it on portion is reserved for the battery, relocated This car, plus Car Zero and Volkswagen’s for , along with the Xtrac Group A from the bonnet. Car One appear to account for the three cars transmission parts, the last chance for the The extra front track width is achieved always historically referred to. A59 to show its potential in motorsport. using one-off machined hubs, rather than The fourth Group A car is a curveball, The blue car pictured here proves its parts bin components. They mimic the never mentioned – until now. Unseen at the existence and brings colour to the whole original design of the 5-stud Mk 3 Golf GTI time, because the rally car wasn’t assembled, competition purpose. and VR6 ‘Plus axle’ hub, with an extended an A59 bodyshell was prepared at Winfried Campaigned by Volland in the German strut and ball-joint connection. The hub Matter GmbH, where it was seam-welded Rallycross Championship, and on selected is attached to original wishbones and from end to end and a multipoint roll cage European Championship rounds from 1997 ball-joints, which is suggestive of early installed. This Group A bodyshell is the only to 2003, he won the German Championship stage prototyping or road car geometry one of its type ever created. on five consecutive occasions from 1999 to compromises. The A59 engine was never created in 2003. The car was entered as a ‘VW Golf Braking-wise, the car has large cross- tuned rally guise. The competition gearbox Turbo 4x4’, with no sign of the ‘A59’ tag. Using drilled discs all round, with Brembo 4-pot with straight-cut gears and sophisticated a Hohenester Sport-prepared Volkswagen callipers at the front. For the Group A rally four-wheel drive system was to be supplied diesel-block 16-valve engine in turbocharged car, these would have been replaced by by Xtrac, employing a hydraulic centre petrol format, it produced over 500 bhp and competition versions. Imposing 7.5J x 16-inch differential inspired by Toyota Motorsport, 685 Nm of torque. magnesium Speedline alloy wheels and where notable rally expertise came from Amazingly, this proven combination 225/50 ZR-16 tyres complete the appearance. for the A59 project. The rest of the unseen was used until recently in the contemporary With these wheels, there’s a very purposeful Group A programme’s components included, rallycross Polos, although new 16V head look to the Zero Car, perhaps lacking in the amongst others, Pankl propshafts, and supplies are running dry. Ironically, one of silver-wheeled Car One. competition hubs derived from the legendary the last unused 16V heads in existence will The roof-mounted rear spoiler features short-wheelbase Audi Sport quattros. be that sitting under the bonnet of Car Zero. two designs, one a more discreet fixed Suddenly, it’s clear just how serious this rally The rallycross car’s story is another version intended for production cars, as seen machine would have been. chapter in itself, later going to Russia before on Car One, and the other a huge adjustable item fitted to Car Zero with C-pillar vent accessories, intended to be supplied in the boot, simply a homologation variation permitted at that time. Its function, as well as adding aerodynamic downforce, was to supply cooling air down to the rear brakes and differential. Car Zero’s interior is unfinished. Only Car One has the Recaro A8 half-leather , Momo steering wheel and Bosch digital dashboard. Car Zero merely has a pair of standard front seats, lacks rear seats, MHW 260 kph white dash clocks, standard steering wheel, drilled pedals, A59 kick plates and, oddly, blue seatbelts. A59 history refers to a third unassembled bodyshell. In 1996, Boulekos Dynamic, a tuning company based in Greece, bought a spare A59 bodyshell from SMS. Used as a promotional project and with all the A59 structural modifications, but without any mechanical parts, it was built up as a rolling

WWW.VOLKSWAGENDRIVERMAG.CO.UK SEPTEMBER 2014 VOLKSWAGEN DRIVER 53 ‘The second fully- working A59, with its unique all- aluminium engine, was placed in the reception area of Volkswagen Motorsport in Hannover during the mid-’90s and now resides in the Wolfsburg museum’ Photo: Neil Birkitt returning to Europe in 2008 in the hands of it appears that it was one of three reported Many more finer details exist than can René Münnich and Mark Duez. It still exists, A59 Xtrac units made. be crammed into this article. A59 was simply according to Rolf. It was, he said, ‘a special In the early ’90s another Golf was also the latest in a long line of designations used car to me’. seen at Winfried Matter, with cut tubing by SMS for all of their developments, this But the big question for many a from roll cage prototyping, making the final one being the 59th consecutive project. The Volkswagen enthusiast is ‘what happened (known) A59 tally as four cars or chassis, name of the Golf, had it ever been sold, would to the wide-arch bodykits?’ The exact number one wind tunnel dummy plus the roll cage clearly have differed. made isn’t certain – less than 10, according to prototype. It is safe to say that both of the So, was A59 the missing link in the SMS. When Volland bought the Group A body- latter will have long since been disposed of. evolution of the four-wheel-drive Rallye to shell, it was complete with its own panels But this still wasn’t quite the end of all R brand or a second-generation Golf ‘Rallye’ and bumpers but nothing else, so – before things, A59. The aluminium engine design perhaps? It was certainly a unique Mk 3 getting damaged in competition – the first and drawings were sold to works engine Golf, a Syncro on steroids that will stand as job was to take moulds. supplier Lehmann Motorentechnik AG and a near-mythical beacon as to what might It is widely reported that a full set of used in testing, without a turbo, in South have been. With its 0-60 mph performance original panels made its way to Momentum Africa on the front-wheel-drive Audi A4 anticipated to be sub-five seconds, compared Motorsports in British Columbia, Canada Touring Cars, before being turbocharged with esteemed ‘homologation special’ peers during the Noughties. These were then fitted to with a 43 mm restrictor to 485 bhp for from rival manufacturers of the era, and a blue road-going 1997 Mk 3 GTI VR6 Driver’s Le Mans in 2000-2003. with the A59 possibly a little more advanced Edition, a model not sold in Europe. Reported Fitted to a VW-France-commissioned than them all, it would have been one very as the last of only three sets ever made for Reynard sports prototype run by the ROC- special Volkswagen collector’s car indeed. SMS, a degree of artistic licence surrounded Racing team, it won the LMP675 class for Especially if – like the current Polo WRC – it the promotional exercise. In fact, the carbon- three years running from 2001 to 2003, had beaten them all, in front of the World. III kevlar panels, imported via Nathan Bernard with a Volkswagen badge on its nose and in Portland USA, originated from Volland’s a Gemini gearbox at the back, a company My grateful thanks to Harold Peelen from rallycross moulds, not SMS as folklore has it, famed amongst the knowing Volkswagen Autohaus Konrad Schmidt / SMS, Rolf Volland an identifier being the non-meshed trailing cognoscenti for their motorsport trans- of Volland Racing, Hugo Pauwels, Stamatis edge of the front wing. Volland confirms he missions. Exhibited in the reception at Boulekos of Boulekos Dynamic, Takis Cabilis of still has the moulds, and – if there is sufficient Volkswagen Motorsport in Hannover for Cabilis Performance and Nathan Bernard for demand – he can supply A59 panels. As an a time, Lehmann is understood to have all their help in compiling this feature. aside, Nathan Bernard has the ex-UK Vince five engines still in stock, one complete. Wetton/Scott Fuller Golf Rallye in the USA, More recently, Imbach & CIE in Switzerland Previous articles on the A59 can be found in which later ran an Xtrac transmission revealed that they still have the engine Volkswagen Audi Car, February 1994, and installed by John Hook. Though sketchy, conrods tooling. Volkswagen Driver, July 2007.

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