As I alluded to in my A59 post, I almost crunched the one-of-a-kind rear quarter panel of that car with the NGP Rallye Golf Turbo VR6. This car was also sourced from Canada now that I think about it, although at the time it was pretty much bone stock minus a set of coilovers and the VR6 swap. Some purists might scoff at the fact it has a VR swapped into it, but considering it was brought over to North American minus an engine, it really only made sense to put in a VR6. A G60 would be harder to source, harder to make good power with, and beside all of that it would never be quite right: The G60 motors which came in the Golf Rallye models is different than the Corrado G60 versions. Minor changes perhaps, but different nonetheless.
This car was built by Ed at NGP as an all-engine, no frills street / track monster. Built 2.9 bottom end, ported head, Techtonics cams, monster turbo, Autronic stand alone management 3.5" downpipe and exhaust, the works. At 29psi it made 550whp, which is around 640hp to the crank. That was on a C16 mix, which it obviously didn't run on all the time. On the street it ran 15psi on pump (about 380whp) and occasionally we ran it on pump 100 octane, and around 23psi (around 450whp). When Blaksquirrel shot these pics it was on that 100 octane set up.
As I'm sure Josh can attest to the speed at which this car could accelerate with the gearing it as running. A 5-speed 02A with Peloquin differential was originally in the car, but it stripped 3rd gear during a tuning session, and a Quaife 6-speed box was available, so hey, why not, The 6-speed trans was not really set up for a turbo...the gears were a bit short to be honest, and it could get through them in a hurry. I was in the car with Ed on that trip and let's just say this car has no problem topping out 6th gear. It would accelerate in 5th gear like most cars do in 2nd.
On that particular run it was just third....fourth......fifth............sixth..............done. All I can really say is that I don't want to be going that fast in a Mk2 anytime in the near future. We were probably going around 155mph to 160mph (speedo wasn't hooked up), and the effects of low and high pressure zones developing around the car were starting to become quite clear. The hood (carbon fiber) was flexing quite a bit, but it's when the headliner of the car started flapping and moving around that I was like "uh oh..." That was the point that we had reached terminal velocity though so Ed stomped the brakes and we were back down to normal speeds in no time.
Luckily Ed was smart enough to fit brakes up to the task of slowing a 2500lb car from 150mph in a heart beat. RPI big brake kits, 13" rotors with Wilwood calipers, were fitted at all four corners, and they could take care of pretty much anything you threw at them.
A hydraulic line-lock was used for e-brake function, and the bias was cockpit adjustable. I drove this car before this was installed, and let's just say you didn't want to hit the brakes too hard. The rear tires would lock up well before the fronts, meaning you were probably looking sideways, i.e. spinning out if you made a panic stop.
There was not much else to this car. FK coilovers with special Shine Racing springs, Team Dynamics 17x8" et20 wheels, a Spec Stage 5 clutch, Sparco seat and wheel, color matched cage, some gauges, and no radio. That no radio bit was a real boon for me personally. At the time that NGP had this car I was typically a "go to" guy for being behind the wheel of these cars for shows.
It was both an honor and a displeasure. Driving a 600hp+ Mk2 with all wheel drive, a race-firm suspension, race seat, race harness, race clutch and no stereo was a dream at the beginning of a drive. It was LOUD, it was FAST and it was FUN. After an hour or two behind the wheel the exhaust drone would begin to make your thoughts wander. Songs would pop into my head and swim around, the rumble of the tires over broken pavement would add to the effect....my own little percussion section for my little prison of a car.
After a show...12 hours or more of hard work, packing and unpacking, selling, barely eating, no time to relax, driving this thing home was the LAST thing any sane person would want to do. I can recall one fateful trip home from Waterfest in 2004 or so. It was raining hard, the traffic was terrible (that clutch made that one even worse), and the VR6, monster turbo and 3.5" exhaust made the cabin feel like a sauna. No A/C by the way. Fogged windows, driving behind the NGP truck, transmission making noise, exhaust popping and spitting. By the time we arrived back in Maryland I was fit to be tied. That wasn't the last time I drove the Rallye to or from a show, but it was when the shine began to wear off or me.
Ed raffled off this car in 2006, and it ended up in Tennessee, the lucky winner treating it fairly well, but it ultimately spun a bearing and ended up sitting for a while before the raffle winner sold it. I know who has the car now, and I know more or less what the owner has in store for it. I can't say much else really, and it'll probably be a couple years before the Rallye shows its face again, but the owner is a die hard enthusiast, a smart enthusiast, and chances are it'll have even more power than it did before. Yikes._WRS
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