The VW Golf GTI TCR Is A Spectacularly Angry 325bhp Racing Car

Take a VW Golf GTI, remove weight, add some muscular aero and dump in a fettled Golf R engine, and this is what you get. It’s called the Golf GTI TCR, and it’s the latest wide-arched beauty that’s tempting us into watching the new TCR International Series, which started last year.

The EA888 2.0-litre turbo engine up front is good for 325bhp and 302lb ft, all of which is sent through the front wheels. It’s 40mm wider than the bog standard Golf - hence the need for those outrageously wide arches - and has been treated to a carbonfibre front splitter and a stupidly big carbonfibre rear wing.

The car sits on adjustable suspension, while the job of stopping goes to a set of uprated brakes with 362mm discs at the front and 310mm at the rear. In line with series regulations, it weighs 1285kg including the driver.

Only 20 will be built, each of which have already been snapped up by various racing teams. You can see it in action - plus its co-developed Seat Leon TCR cousin - when the first race takes place in April as a support event for the Bahrain Grand Prix.