The hottest Volkswagen Beetle on sale today is the GSR, which gets 210 horsepower from a turbocharged 2.0-liter four. Cute, right? But when prepped for Global Rallycross duty, the Beetle ditches its love bug image for one that’s a bit more . . . blood-spitting fire ant. Or is it vein-collapsing mega-squito? Either way, the Beetle GRC punches out 544 horsepower from a tiny turbocharged 1.6-liter four—and it weighs as little as 2668 pounds.
According to VW, the Beetle GRC’s bitchin’ power-to-weight ratio enables a zero-to-60 time of just 2.1 seconds. A fixed-split all-wheel-drive system and 17-inch Yokohama race rubber helps put all that power down, as do front and rear limited-slip diffs. The transmission is a six-speed sequential unit. Unlike the production Beetle, which comes with either a twist-beam or multilink rear suspension, the GRC version gets rear struts (the front remains a strut setup). The car is endowed with 9.1 inches of suspension travel, and ZF dampers are used to take the edge off everything Global Rallycross might send this Beetle’s way.
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No matter what terrain this Beetle is tackling—or jumping over—it’s going to look good. The body kit reminds us of the (New) Beetle RSi from more than a decade ago, and we love the open panel beneath the rear wing. The 17-inch wheels look bad-ass, and they provide shelter for 14-inch front and 11.8-inch rear vented brake discs. The car will be covered in stickers and a flashy livery once Tanner Foust and Scott Speed slide behind the wheel for competition, of course, but wouldn’t it be cool if VW left it naked like this? We can dream . . .
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1ih5cvQ
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