Friday 15 May 2015

Berserk 740-hp VW Golf leaves supercars in the dust - driving

The Porsche 911 may be a benchmark for activities cars, however the bench in question has on at the present time develop into a conical pile of gently smouldering ashes. See, I brought this 911, the 430-horsepower GTS variant, to a small Volkswagen tuning shop in Langley, B.C., expecting to get a simple David vs. Goliath story out of the experience.
sadly, I made a mistake about which one of those automobiles is Goliath. It’s no longer so lots about bringing a knife to a gunfight: the 911 is a well-honed weapon in its personal appropriate. No, what I’ve finished here is brought a finely crafted computerized pistol to the thermonuclear, assorted-warhead, end-of-the-world Armageddon.
This tuned-up little Golf with the big wheels and the carbon-fibre hood isn’t only a scorching little hatch. it is the fastest and most powerful vehicle I have ever driven. almost, I should have brought a Veyron.
A Porsche 911 GTS cowers in front of a couple of tuned-up Volkswagens.
A Porsche 911 GTS cowers in entrance of a few tuned-up Volkswagens.Brendan McAleer, riding
First though, the 911, which is a wonderful vehicle. It took me a long time to heat to the 991-sequence Porsche, by and large because it lacked the personality of previous 911s. it is emphatically a GT, leaving nimbleness and reactivity to the Cayman and the Boxster.
youngsters, pressure the 911 on a song, as we did at Ascari, and its sheer competence is a revelation to even probably the most ham-handed driver (my mitts are Black wooded area, if you’re wondering). There’s grip like loopy, of route, but between the telepathy of Porsche’s neatly-tuned PDK twin-seize and the watchful eye of the stability programs, the 911 will fortunately can help you hoon like a loon. that you could trail-brake deep into corners, rotate the tail via a hairpin, and then rip off triple-digit speeds down the a bit curving straight at Ascari with out your hands sweating into the Alcantara wheel.
read extra: HPA Motorsports turns humble VWs into Lambo killers
This one, an excellent Carmine crimson with a convertible good and black, centre-lock 20-inch alloys, is a automobile by which to be viewed. Being viewed isn't really my issue – and with a face like this, now not definitely any bystander’s element either. but if you need to strut, it’s the superb 911. You fire up the three.eight-litre flat-six with a left-handed pull on the paddle-shifter, and it snaps and snarls and rockets you forward.

  • The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    photograph: Brendan McAleer, riding
  • The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    photograph: Brendan McAleer, riding
  • The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    image: Brendan McAleer, riding
  • The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    photograph: Brendan McAleer, driving
  • HPA Motorsports president Marcel Horn in the driver's seat.
    HPA Motorsports president Marcel Horn in the driver's seat.
    HPA Motorsports president Marcel Horn within the driver's seat.
    picture: Brendan McAleer, driving
  • A Porsche 911 GTS goes nose-to-nose with the HPA tuned Golf R.
    A Porsche 911 GTS goes nose-to-nose with the HPA tuned Golf R.
    A Porsche 911 GTS goes nostril-to-nostril with the HPA tuned Golf R.
    image: Brendan McAleer, driving
  • The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    photo: Brendan McAleer, using
  • HPA Motorsports' top-trim tuned Golf R packs a twin-turbo 3.6L engine making 740 horsepower as well as a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox pulled from the Audi TT-RS.
    HPA Motorsports' top-trim tuned Golf R packs a twin-turbo 3.6L engine making 740 horsepower as well as a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox pulled from the Audi TT-RS.
    HPA Motorsports' good-trim tuned Golf R packs a twin-turbo three.6L engine making 740 horsepower in addition to a seven-speed twin-take hold of gearbox pulled from the Audi TT-RS.
    image: Brendan McAleer, driving
  • The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    picture: Brendan McAleer, using
  • A look inside the HPA Motorsports VW tuning shop in Langley, B.C.
    A look inside the HPA Motorsports VW tuning shop in Langley, B.C.
    a glance inside the HPA Motorsports VW tuning store in Langley, B.C.
    picture: Brendan McAleer, driving
  • Porsche 911 GTS.
    Porsche 911 GTS.
    Porsche 911 GTS.
    image: Brendan McAleer, using
  • Porsche 911 GTS.
    Porsche 911 GTS.
    Porsche 911 GTS.
    photo: Brendan McAleer, driving
  • Porsche 911 GTS.
    Porsche 911 GTS.
    Porsche 911 GTS.
    photo: Brendan McAleer, driving
  • Porsche 911 GTS.
    Porsche 911 GTS.
    Porsche 911 GTS.
    photograph: Brendan McAleer, using
  • Porsche 911 GTS.
    Porsche 911 GTS.
    Porsche 911 GTS.
    photograph: Brendan McAleer, riding

  • And now, HPA Motorsports’ desirable-trim tuned Golf R, a automobile that the B.C. tuning enterprise’s president, Marcel Horn, describes as a wolf in sheep’s garb. He’s incorrect.
    Sheep’s clothing, ok, sure. regardless of the “HPA” script down the facet, the carbon-fibre hood, and the 19-inch bronze HRE alloys, you may be forgiven for considering this Golf turned into a different hopped-up quick and furious front-wheel-pressure, piloted with the aid of a youth fizzing with Monster energy drink and wearing one of those hats that you’re not presupposed to take the decal off.
    however as for the wolf: may you name HPA’s four hundred-plus hp seventh-generation Golf R a wolf in sheep’s garb? sure. may you indicate that the 565-hp turbo-V6 Golf R additionally parked out entrance is probably that identical wolf, apart from with more rabies and raise? ok, I bet.

    HPA Motorsports' top-trim tuned Golf R packs a twin-turbo 3.6L engine making 740 horsepower as well as a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox pulled from the Audi TT-RS.
    HPA Motorsports’ precise-trim tuned Golf R packs a twin-faster three.6L engine making 740 horsepower as well as a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox pulled from the Audi TT-RS.Brendan McAleer, using
    but what do you call a 740-hp Golf, one with a twin-faster 3.6L engine in keeping with the Passat, the seven-speed twin-seize gearbox out of an Audi TT-RS, and Haldex all-wheel-force? That’s greater vigor than an Aventador, greater than a Ferrari F12, more than a Hellcat. In a Golf! I’m simply going to delivery swearing now. [Editor: Uh, no. You can’t do that.]
    I hand over then. that you may’t explain the violence of this issue devoid of a continuing string of bleepity-bleep-bleeps. 700 and forty horsepower! The exclamation aspect on my keyboard simply cracked out of exhaustion.
    when we closing visited HPA in the spring, this Golf was just a hole shell, ready to get hold of its excessive-explosive heart. nowadays, the store is sprouting with all forms of stuff, together with a pair of Jetta GLIs so that it will compete in the Pirelli World problem in the journeying vehicle type.
    That’s the vital component about HPA: it’s now not only a few gap-in-the-wall tuner company. You might fly this motor vehicle to Dubai, line it up on the music next to a replicate-wrapped Aventador, and its driver would glance down on the HPA badge on the facet and throw his palms up in defeat.

    HPA Motorsports president Marcel Horn in the driver's seat.
    HPA Motorsports president Marcel Horn in the driver’s seat.Brendan McAleer, driving
    HPA is an organization with worldwide renown, 1 / 4-century background of beating up on supercars with hot-rod Volkswagens.
    Horn offers me an introductory lap within the car. From the passenger seat, the foremost manner i will describe the acceleration is like an F-14 getting catapulted off an plane carrier. The Golf raps off a staccato burst of farty explosions after which shreds all four tires, struggling for grip. When it receives traction, bang-bang-bang through the shifts, a not ever-ending pulling that sucks out your abdominal and blurs the perimeters of your imaginative and prescient into plaid.
    Holy sweet Mary mother of acceleration. This car has the holeshot of the Tesla P85D, but with continuous acceleration. The mannequin S lets up, however Marcel’s berserk grocery-getter just maintains on pulling. The claimed specs are a run to 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds, 200 km/h in 8.9 seconds, and 300 km/h in 22.2 seconds. That’s supercar-destroying specs, and the HPA vehicles are likely to blow the scissor doors off stuff at drag strips and the Texas mile.

    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.Brendan McAleer, using
    What’s really remarkable is how docile the vehicle is after 10 minutes in the back of the wheel. sure, it’s the Fenrir wolf wearing a sheep for a hat, however’s additionally just an customary circular of Golf. that you may see out of it comfortably, the suspension isn’t ridiculously jouncy, and in case you’re handy on the throttle, the most effective hint of madness is the wastegates of the two turbos chattering and cooing to each different like a few lovesick doves.
    after which you stomp on it and incoherent screaming follows.
    Oh pricey. Oh dearie me. I may well be ruined for life now. It’s now not just a straight-line car both. It wriggles notwithstanding the corners effortlessly and slows from pace like a McLaren. It’s every little thing loveable in regards to the standard Golf R, simply amplified two-and-a-half instances.

    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.
    The HPA-tuned, 740-hp Golf R.Brendan McAleer, riding
    Naturally, all this wisdom and customization is rather high priced. The HPA Golf is pretty much the identical rate as the 911, and that's a whole lot. more cost-effective than a Lamborghini, bound, however the people who buy these vehicles aren’t trying to find the cut price, they’re trying to find the top of the line sleeper.
    HPA’s also got any number of items attractive to a less-blistering insanity. Their seventh-gen car, which is essentially competent for buyer launch, elements more power than VW’s own Golf R 400 concept, along with all of the suspension, braking, and drivetrain tuning enhancements that HPA picked up breaking stuff on the dragstrip.
    but if you’re due to the fact that a milder construct, do not under any circumstance let Marcel take you for a journey during this aspect. After this hot-pepper, nerve-frying direction, everything else tastes like styrofoam.
    “Have a fun pressure returned on your Beetle!” he grins.
    i would like a cushty Beetle about now; that Golf gave me shell shock.

    A Porsche 911 GTS goes nose-to-nose with the HPA tuned Golf R.
    A Porsche 911 GTS goes nose-to-nostril with the HPA tuned Golf R.Brendan McAleer, using

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