Prodrive debuts new rally car

Prodrive of Banbury have developed a new rally car based on the latest VW Golf mark VII. The car, called the VW Golf SCRC, has been designed for the FAW-VW Rally Team for the Chinese Rally Championship and will make its debut in the series this weekend (November 7-9) at the Longyou Rally with Chris Atkinson driving.

Prodrive has developed the all-new car in less than six months and while it has not been designed to FIA regulations, many of the major components are the same as those found in current World Rally Cars, while the roll cage and safety features encompass the latest FIA standards.

John Gaw, Prodrive Motorsport managing director, said: “We have very much built the car to the spirit of the WRC regulations, but with the Chinese Rally regulations in mind.

“There is more freedom in the Chinese regulations and that has helped us to create this car in such a short time frame. However, while the first cars will initially compete in China, the car can readily be modified to compete in most ‘open’ class rally series, of which there are many in Europe, Asia and North America.”

One of the key differentiators between the Golf SCRC and current World Rally Cars, is that it has a two-litre turbocharged engine with a 35 mm restrictor, compared to the 1600cc 33 mm restricted engines found in the WRC. However, the drivetrain is WRC-spec and features the same six speed sequential Xtrac WRC gearbox and rear differential found in most of the current World Rally Cars.

Prodrive was able to create the car in such a short timescale, by using the generic rally car model it had initially developed prior to creating its MINI John Cooper Works WRC.

“We inputted data such as the dimensions, centre of gravity and minimum weight, as well as the positions of key items like the engine and gearbox to create the Golf,” said Gaw. “We then looked at every component and element of the car and identified where we could improve it. Around 80 per cent of the car is all new and the remaining components are either common components you would find on all current WRCs or those where we genuinely believe we already have the best part possible.”

The cars bodywork, and in particular the composite rear wing, were all developed in-house. The bodywork is predominantly the standard steel panels from a five-door Golf, but with specially developed flexible carbon composite front and rear bumpers and wings. These impact resistant panels are far more durable and help maintain the aerodynamic performance at the front.

As Prodrive did successfully with its MINI RX, the Golf could be re-engineered for use in the FIA World Rallycross championship or the GRC in North America. Indeed, the base two litre engine is the same unit as currently used by Mattias Ekstrom in his Audi RX.

The VW Golf means that during its 30 years, Prodrive has now made rally cars with seven different manufacturers, the others being: Porsche, MG Rover, BMW, Subaru, Aston Martin and MINI.

Gaw added: “The team that has designed and engineered the Golf SCRC worked on both the MINI WRC and later versions of the Subaru Impreza WRC. Everything we know about rallying has gone into making this Golf and we believe it is the best rally car we’ve ever made.”