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Cars > Volkswagen > Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 Pictures

 By Ketan Patel View Comments

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Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 Pictures

The Scirocco GT24 is the race car version of the standard production Scirocco from Volkswagen. Scirocco GT24 participated in the Nurburgring 24-hour race event and is powered by a VW's 2.0-liter TSI engine which generates 325 HP with a max torque of 340 Nm at just 2,100 rpm. Check out the Scirocco GT24's high-res images after the jump.

World premiere at Wörthersee: New Scirocco as 325 PS strong racing version

GTI Meet 2008Scirocco GT24 is powered by TSI engine and shifted via DSG

Volkswagen starting with three Sciroccos in 24-hour race at the NürburgringS
Wolfsburg, 22 May 2008

It is one of the toughest races in the world: “the 24 hours on the Nürburgring”. This year drivers from 230 teams are waging a contest in the “Green Hell” with their high performance race cars of various classes – a test of man and material that is unsurpassed in this form. Among the cars starting on Saturday, May 24, at exactly 3:00 pm, three of them have never been seen before by most of the approx. 200,000 spectators. Even though this sports car carries the VW emblem and a legendary name: Scirocco. They are the powerful 238 kW (325 PS) racing versions of the latest German sports car, the “GT24”.

Three days before the race, Volkswagen celebrates the world premiere of the Scirocco GT24 on the occasion of the GTI Meet at the Wörthersee. There, however, Volkswagen Motorsport is presenting the 24-hour car as a “race taxi”, that is with a front passenger seat on board.

Sainz, Stuck and the Scirocco

The Volkswagens will be piloted at the 24 hour race by driving legends such as Carlos Sainz, world rally champion, and Hans-Joachim Stuck, three-time victor of the “24 hours on the Nürburgring”. Endurance professionals of the likes of Dieter Depping, Florian Gruber and Jimmy Johansson should deliver a breath-taking performance by the Scirocco; last year the three drivers impressively won their vehicle class in this classic race. Just how much the Volkswagen engineers put body and soul into their work is also demonstrated by the fact that Volkswagen’s Development Chief, Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, will fight for every meter in a very personal way, aboard one of the three Scirocco GT24 race cars.

325 PS –The strongest TSI of all times

The Volkswagen race cars with starting numbers 116, 117 and 118will bring the witches’ brew to a boil on the Eifel racetrack. 325 PSat 6,500 rpm is one key ingredient, and the other is that the power is obtained from just two liters of displacement. Together, these key performance indicators once again demonstrate the strength and durability of TSI engines from Volkswagen. At a low 2,100 rpm, the 16-valve gasoline direct injection engine with turbocharger and intercooler delivers its maximum torque of 340 Newton-meters. The Scirocco has more than adequate power, for example, to accelerate out of the famous “Carousel” at fullpower into the “High Eight”.

Shifting work is assumed by the dual clutch transmission (DSG)that is also available for the production version.

DSG assumes the shifting work

The new Scirocco demonstrates – both as a production car and aracing version – just how well a contemporary front-wheel drive car can perform. While street versions arriving on the market inearly summer will have standard ESP, the racing version will have to do without this feature. The 6-speed DSG (dual-clutchtransmission) was derived from the production car; but in thiscase it has special racing clutches. When it comes to powertransmission, different gearwheels, modified gear ratios, a lighterweight flywheel and a differential lock are used.

Chassis is adjustable in racing and street versions

Also adopted from the production vehicle was the chassis configuration with its McPherson front suspension and four-link rear suspension. However, in this case both axles are “manually”adjustable in height. Also typical of race cars is that their tread width and camber can be varied quickly. The same is true of the compression and rebound stages of the shock absorbers. The driver of the production Scirocco can make noticeable adjustments to chassis tuning. The optional “DCC adaptive chassis control” offers the driver three programs to choose fromat the press of a button: “Normal”, “Comfort” and “Sport”. However, “DCC” may also be operated fully automatically. It not only controls the damping characteristic, but also tuning of the electro-mechanical power steering.

Front disk brakes with 362 millimeter diameter

Back to the racing version: the braking system was also tuned for the extreme stresses and loads experienced during the 24 hour race. Compared to the already durable production system, it hardly offers extra comfort, but it does deliver the extreme deceleration values needed, for example, when Hans-Joachim Stuck hands a Scirocco GT24 over to the next driver after the usual two hours of turns. While front disk brakes with a diameter of 312 millimeters reliably slow the forward propulsion of the 200 PS production Scirocco (147 kW), in the racing version the disks are 362 millimeters in diameter. In the rear, 255 millimeter disks are used. This diameter matches that of their counterpartson the 118 kW (160 PS) Scirocco; a compliment to the layout of the production version. To be fair, it should be clarified that the top performance “racing disks” in the rear also have an internal air cooling system. The disks are gripped by six-piston brake calipers in the front and single-piston calipers in the rear. In the racing version, it is possible to adjust brake force distribution and brake force limiting for the rear axle from the cockpit. Michelin tires with car racing dimensions 24/64-18 transfer power to the Eifel asphalt with matching 18 inch alloy wheels.

Compared to the production model, the Scirocco GT24 is significantly longer at 4,483 millimeters (extra 227 millimeters) and is also wider at 1,871 millimeters (gain of 61 millimeters). On the other hand, the lightweight 1,120 kilogram high-performance car (178 kilograms lighter than the 200 PS production version) was lowered by 75 millimeters to a height of 1,325 millimeters. As is usual practice in car racing, the tread width is significantly wider in front (1,706 millimeters, a gain of 137 millimeters) and rear (1,620 millimeters, an extra 45 millimeters). The wheelbase was also modified slightly (2,594 millimeters for a gain of 16 millimeters).

Production design adopted for car racing

When all of these raw values merge they yield a flawless sports car design. The Scirocco GT24 cars are painted in the Volkswagen Motorsport color: blue. Painted over this base color is a map of the North Loop in white that winds its way over the car’s rear side panel.

This much is certain: the car does not even need to be driven to look fast. That is because the Scirocco GT24 crouches so deeply over its broad flared wheel housings that a hand will not even fit between the wheel arch and the tires. From any point of view, the racing version is unmistakably a Scirocco. Just a little wider, a little longer and a little lower in profile.

Take the example of the front end: it matches the new Sciroccodesign 1:1; only the total area of the air inlets was made even larger to feed sufficient cooling air to the TSI and the brakes. Take the example of the rear end: at first glance everything would appear just like the new Scirocco design except for the centrally located exhaust pipe, if this gigantic spoiler were not there on the tailgate, which presses the Scirocco onto the asphalt of the “Döttinger Höhe” at top speed. Then there is the example of the side profile: here too Volkswagen Motorsport has remained true to the production Scirocco. But from this perspective too the rear wing extends from the car like the cathedral in Cologne that lies before the gates of the Eifel countryside. Also conspicuous (and beautiful), by the way, are the 18 inch alloy wheels with their white-metallic ten spokes.

Racecar technology makes its mark on the driver’s workplace

Although the exterior was derived 1:1 from the production version, there are hardly any parallels in the interior. It was the requirements of a high performance race car that very clearly dictated the character of its look and controls here.

While comfortable sport seats with one-piece head restraints are used on the production Scirocco, the racing version and race taxi have Recaro bucket seats. This change had to be made, even though the production seats already offered excellent lateral support. But to handle the extreme conditions of racing, realize further weight reduction and integrate five-point safety belts, Recaro bucket seats are used. The shells themselves are painted ahigh-gloss black; black is also the basic color of the leather seatcovers. Wherever the driver contacts the seat, there is textured gray leather to provide very good resistance to sliding. The instruments and sport steering wheel were designed in the samematerial. As was done over the exterior paint, the Nürburgring course is embossed in the leather of the cockpit area.

During the 24 hour race, the driver activates the CB radio and the extremely important drinking water supply by two buttons above the steering wheel impact-absorber. In addition, the shift paddles of the dual clutch transmission (DSG) are directly behindthe steering wheel. Also located at the center of the driver’s field of vision is the central information display with all vehicle-relevant data (including gear display, shifting indicator lamps, lap times and other parameters). The race taxi also has a displayon the passenger side. Upon request, it can record images by the “co-pilot” via an integrated camera during trips.

The main switches are located on the center tunnel that is madeof aluminum. They include “Main ON” to start the engine and “Main OFF” to shut down all systems. Heating and ventilation are also controlled in this section. ABS may be deactivated via another key. The entire switch panel, foot well and door trim are made of lightweight carbon. The same applies to the trim of the rollover cage vicinity of the seating surfaces.

Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 Pictures

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