My second drive with Car Chase Heroes would be the VW Golf Mk 1.
Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro the Golf named after the Golfstrom, the German for Gulfstream appeared in May 1974 and would remain in production until 1983 selling 6.99 million cars worldwide. The Golf was the successor to the Beetle but some drastic changes were made. Firstly The Beetles engine was air cooled and in the rear, the Golf was water cooled and in the front with front wheel drive.
What was round became angular and this gave more space inside the car.
The Golf was a family car but due to the efforts of some VW engineers doing work after hours on a Sport Golf project saw the release in the late 1970's of the Golf GTI that would see the rise of the Hot Hatch.
This Golf has a 1.6 litre engine with around 110bhp that has a 0-60 in 8.8 seconds and a top speed of 113mph. The gearbox is a 4 speed manual.
I walk to the car and notice a couple of burly chaps stood at the back of it. I get in and familiarise myself with the interior. The instructor explains to me that this is the cars first outing and it has to be bump started. Once I'm ready I turn the key, put the car into second and give the signal to the chaps to start pushing. I bring the clutch up and the car clunks into life.
Out of the pit, I have a clear track so it's foot down and up to third and fourth. The pit exit is at Folly Corner, making my way to Avon Rise before braking and back down to third to turn into Quarry corner, Once out of Quarry it was back on the power and up to fourth and down the farm straight towards the Esses, with Mini making a great noise. Break and change to third for the tight chicane is the Esses. Back on the power and up to fourth round the Old Paddock Band and Hammerdown before going back down to third for Tower Corner, Once through this tight corner, back on the power and then break for the next tight chicane Bobbies.
Once through this chicane back on the power up Westway then onto the Dean Straight before braking and changing down to third for Bybrook and then back on the power through Camp Corner and the start finish straight heading towards Folly.
Taking it around Castle Combe it becomes easy to see why this car started the Hot Hatch boom.
It feels quick on the straight and good in the corners although it felt like there was a lot of body roll through the chicanes. The gearbox is also easy to work.
To conclude the Golf is a great car to drive. It's iconic lines still have to power to make people smile if you are driving it or one passes you by in the street. Even though this car has a radio and tape player, the engine make a good noise at speed. It's comfortable and easy to drive at speed but don't take chicane style corners too quickly.
I imagine the team at Car Chase Heroes will get the starter motor issue sorted soon as starting with a key will be easier than having people on standby to bump start it.
For a car that's 47 years old, it's still going strong.
For more information about Car Chase Heroes, U Drive Cars and Castle Combe please visit
No comments:
Post a Comment