Remember our visit to the Autostadt here? When we were there, we were also shipped off to the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Located in Northern Germany, the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben is about an hour’s drive from Wolfsburg and is Germany’s third permanent race track after the famous Nürburgring and Hockenheim circuits. The circuit is 3.667km long and plays host to an impressive list of races - Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), FIA GT Championship, Formula 3 Euroseries, as well Scirocco R Cup. It was fitting then, that we were headed there to test out the Golf R and Scirocco R.
Pretty maids, all in a row...
'Rocs out on display.
Unfortunately for us, it turned out to be a rather cold, and gloomy day. As we made our way to the Oschersleben, we hoped the weather would progressively get better with a little sun peeking out and while that never happened, the weather never failed to dampen our spirits. For the readers out there who know me; you know that I have very little track experience. In fact, I’ve only ever been to Sepang (all of twice!) so the idea of driving on a new track in wet and icy conditions was actually a little exciting.
There's no question that the Scirocco is the better looking of the two....
...but the Golf isn't what you'd call ugly. Especially with those gorgeous gloss black wheels!
So what exactly are R cars? Type-R, M, AMG – these are all the more hardcore division of respective manufacturers, and Volkswagen R serves the same purpose. They work on current VW models with the end result being high-performance models. The R concept is still relatively new; introduced for the first time in 2004 in the form of the MkIV Golf R32. The R32 boasted a 3.2-litre VR6 engine and was fitted with 4Motion all-wheel-drive system resulting in a car that worthy to compete against the likes of Subaru WRXs and Lancer Evos at the time. Some of you will know that the R32 eventually attained a cult status and the legend continued in the form of the MkV Golf. The latest iteration of the R cars have dropped the big VR6 powerplant and has been replaced instead with a more powerful turbocharged 2.0-litre unit. We’ve driven both the Golf R and Scirocco R briefly on Malaysian roads, and you can click on the links to read our first impressions.
The 14 corners on Oschersleben.
Getting to know Volkswagen R GmbH a little better.
Moving back to the Oschersleben; the media were briefed very quickly on the VW R Concept, along with the dos and don’ts on track. Generally, the message was to have fun, without getting into any incidents. We started off slowly with a quick slalom course to familiarize ourselves with the R cars. We had the opportunity to pick our weapon of choice and I decided to go for the Golf R: more powerful, all-wheel-drive, and wet & icy road conditions made me fairly confident of my decision. As I gained confidence going through the slalom several times, I learnt (on my final attempt) that no amount of technical wizardry can prevent you from slipping on a wet road, if you’re carrying too much speed.
Visibility was fairly poor.
No thanks to the heavy fog; note how you can see the mist even at such short distances.
Didn't stop us from going on track, though
Slalom completed, it was finally time to hit the track. Now, the Oschersleben is relatively small, located on a relatively flat plane of land, with a total of 14 corners and is overall a fast and smooth circuit. Turn 1 is however, a fiendish corner – a 90-degree left, followed immediately a hairpin right; I suffered two incidents here. The first was relatively small, losing some traction as I was exiting the hairpin. The other shunt had me desperately snapping right, left right after entering Turn 1, almost spinning the car. I had the opportunity to ride shotgun in a Golf R that was piloted by one of the R development engineers, who also happened to be a participant in the Scirocco R Cup. Surprisingly, I discovered that he actually preferred the Scirocco over the Golf, claiming that it was actually more nimble, and fun to drive. On a wet and icy Oschersleben, that certainly seemed to be the case – even if the Golf appears to the be the better choice on paper.
Fog + wet & icy track = fun!
Check out the smiles on those faces.
As the shroud of fog grew thicker on track, we had to call it a day, and head back to our hotel. For me, the experience that VW helped to arrange for us was pretty incredible, and has left me looking forward to the launch of these R cars in Malaysia. When I get my paws on them, I will come up with a more comprehensive review… so stay tuned for more updates!
Attachments
Last edited:
