IMO this is not a golf anymore - tops the timesheets as a mk1 golf at many events but is a quattro.......there's a chap on cupranet, top engineer who works at prodrive, who has built a special ibiza with a renault WRC engine, ford running gear and gearbox and I think a BWM rear axle, awesome bit of kit, made his own bodywork and everything - if he turned up at a vag event, is that an ibiza ? difficult to call when a line has been crossed dont get me wrong, I like the car, its a nice piece of work, but when is a golf a golf still ? sorry, this could be a new thread actually so mod it if you like guys lots of options for 'the line' a) anything goes - fit a golf body to a rail dragster if you like, 911 turbo rear engined 'golf' b) fit only parts that have been fitted by the factory to the model or derivative of it (eg. 1.8T in a Mk1) c) tune only parts fitted to that car - mk1 would only be allowed to fit a 1.8 KR type block but you could bore it to 2L and fit a turbo for eg. etc etc
I don't think anyone's kidding themselves about what it is. It's logbooked as a Golf, but that's about it. Goes like a bullet - and has a dodgy bodykit in some eyes. But it's great, irrespective. I heard it for two days going off the line at Inters last year - sounded great.
the dodgy body kit is only there to cover the wheels, as the running gear is wider than the original mk1 shell, in my eyes its still a golf, no different that running a 20v conversion, it is after all a 20v engine, just on a five pot lump
The most absurd example of this type of modified golf was the TVR Mk1 imo. clicky clicky Looks like sh*t and couldn't be construed to be a golf by any stretch of the imagination, not to mention what a waste of a TVR
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=104938 staggering piece of work - is this an ibiza ? what if this came to gti inters, allowed as a vag ?
I must admit having seen elements of what's gone into that Ibiza, I struggle to think why he's not gone 4WD, what with the resources he's got access to. If he brought it to Inters, it would go in 'Trade & Competition'. Any road... how about the Awesome/Dubsport creations? Twin engined cars, rear engined one... are these "Golfs"?
For me the floorpan is critical in a car still being called its original type - a golf shell on a quattro floorpan does not make a golf IMO - for things like a twin engined car or like the ibiza above, so much of the floorpan is changed, is that the same as a new floorpan.....dunno, hard to say where one starts and the other stops would a vauxhall engined spaceframe corrado hotrod be considered allowable at a vag meet ?
You could say the same about the Beetles in the (is it the funny car or summit?) where the only thing used from a beetle is the windscreen. The body is just a mould made to look like a Beetle, it's all space framed underneath & they run the old Golf engines in the back.
http://www.clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123081 I would say that if you show a car to Joe Public & they recognize the shape that's what it will always end up being called.
I would have thought the Golf would be more at home at an Audi day as it shares more components and basic structure with the S2, the Seat is neither one thing nor another but I wouldnt like to think hed be kicked off a VAG day. Itd be one thing to exclude a car from competition as relaxed as it may be but ridiculous to think an exceptional car like the Seat could be excluded from a general VAG track day because of non VAG running gear. Having said that I wouldnt allow the Clio with the 1.8T engine in on a VAG day, you need to draw a line somewhere I think the only time you can call a Golf a Golf is when it shares most of its parts with the original car which can still cover most heavily modified cars. I still consider my car to be a Corrado as strange as it may be, it shares all the running gear with an original car (02J not 02A but the same), same suspension, the block is derived from the original 4 pot lump etc, the only major components that are totally alien to the car other than motorsport bits are the head and turbo. Other than the fuel tanks and the like its still 100% VW and not just VAG parts. I think when reregistering a stolen recovered car they go on a points system on the parts, most of the major components must be from the original vehicle for it to be classed as the original vehicle
I still regard Pauls 'creation' as an Ibiza even though 80-90% is not original. The dubwieser golf even though looks awful is still a golf. Even Darth Vader despite all prosthetics and bionic implants is still Anakin Skywalker......
most of the original components........ like engine, gearbox, axles, steering etc etc - that may make it an audi then