Across the pond: Kamei Racer Replica

The Mk1. The original. The Best. And for years, sort of put on the back burner of the scene here in the USA. Sometime in the past couple of years that all changed, and they became the 'scene' thing to have. Unfortunately almost all of these cars or builds are more towards the show than go. Not that there's anything wrong with that per say, but as the most nimble, lightweight and spartan VW, it seems criminal to take a Mk1 and burden it with show queen status.



Not everywhere though, and it seems the tide may be turning. For example, Luis's killer brown supercharged 8v over on VW Vortex, which is sporting the key elements but has dare I say, a ride height and look that can be thrown around a bit? And nary a 'lower it' to be seen. GMP Performance restored their long moth-balled and historically significant racer, and there seems to be a renewed interest in the rich, if somewhat hard to research motorsport history of the VW brand.

Michael Flynn, a reader over the Atlantic and a member Club GTI, sent over word of his own motorsport-themed rebuild. His is of one of the most famous VW race cars of all, the Kamei Golf. The Kamei Golf is one which needs little introduction to the hardcore, but for the uninitiated it was one of the most visible and visually impressive GTIs to put tire to track. It raced in Germany at first, then over in the USA, and in fact is still here.



Not looking quite the same rather obviously, with that Westmoreland front end, but it's the same car.



Mike is going for the classic look naturally, and is nearly there. He's got a very detailed thread of the build, which looks to be quite promising. (and that's all paint! no vinyl wrap)



The car runs a 2.1 TSR-built 8v motor, with a 'Pack C' head and TSR cam. TSR is / was one of the classic tuners of the 90s over in the UK, and their heads are the stuff of legend...and the motor is quite stout, as you can see in this track-day video that Mike sent over a few days back. Sort of makes me a bit teary thinking back to my own Mk1; the sound is quite similar.

So I suppose all is not lost, after all what goes around comes around, and eventually the hard-parking / no fun to drive thing will become passé and we'll swing back the other way. Sometime soon I hope to be back into a Mk1 myself, and you can bet it'll be built for performance. Looks too, but the car has to perform, after all it's like they say: Going fast = looking good.

Pics / info: Thanks to Michael Flynn / Club GTI UK - Check their forums for an amazingly full history of the Kamei Golf.

_WRS