PoloDriver

Volkswagen Motorsport’s first foray into WRC for a fair few years didn’t quite make the impact the team had planned. Entering a pair of Škoda Fabia S2000s on the Neste Oil Rally Finland on 27-30 July, Volkswagen Motorsport is using the Czech cars as technological, mechanical, and driver testbeds, but, on the Finnish round of the 2011 World Rally Championship both cars failed to finish. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Norway) suffered a damaged radiator during stage 17 while Joonas Lindroos/Pasi Kilpeläinen (Finland) retired from the event after rolling on the eighth special stage. Volkswagen Motorsport announced in May 2011 that it is contesting the 2013 World Rally Championship with the new four-wheel drive, 300bhp Polo R WRC rally car. The full Volkswagen Motorsport Neste Rally Finland press release and gallery is posted over in our Polo R WRC pages.

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The Polo BlueMotion 1.2 TDI won its class at the 2011 Total Economy Run in South Africa last weekend. Competing in the diesel engines up to 1400cc class, driver Natie Ferreira and his co-driver Christo Ferreira achieved a winning fuel consumption figure of 4.44 litres/100km. The duo were also placed second overall in the diesel category. The official quoted imperial fuel consumption figure for the Polo BlueMotion is 80.7mpg. The 35th running of the 2011 Total Economy Run took place in and around the Thaba ‘Nchu, Free State. A Volkswagen won the event overall, too – the winning team of Eddie Bielfeld and Brian Page squeezing 4.39 litres/km from their 1.6 TDI-powered Golf BlueMotion.

The Polo BlueMotion was launched in South Africa in December 2010, and features a state of the art 1.2-litre, 74bhp/55kW TDI engine with 133lb ft/180Nm of torque at 4200rpm, a top speed of 107mph (173km/h) and emissions of 91g/km. It has many aerodynamic body styling modifications which differ from the standard fifth-generation Polo hatchback and help cut fuel consumption including a larger rear spoiler, side skirts, blanked-off front grille, front and rear skirts, 5.5J x 15 ‘Greenland’ alloy wheels with low-rolling resistance tyres and special ‘BlueMotion’ badging. The Polo BlueMotion is available in South Africa from R178,100 and was first launched in Europe in 2007, in fourth-generation Polo guise.

In other news, Volkswagen’s BlueMotion range has won the inaugural Green Award from UK magazine Auto Express. A range of innovations that help to cut the cost of motoring by making every drop of fuel take you further, Auto Express stated that, ‘Simplicity is the key to the BlueMotion line-up, as clever technology such as stop-start and brake regeneration combines with measures like low-rolling-resistance tyres and optimised aerodynamics to bring fuel-sipping economy and low emissions to the mass market. The best thing about BlueMotion is how few compromises it demands. Sealing the deal is the fact it delivers genuine gains for business users and private buyers, as well as the environment.’

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Have a current fifth-generation Polo 6R? Is it not tasty enough for you? Then worry no more, as Volkswagen UK has released an Official Polo Accessories app for the ubiquitous Apple iPhone and iPad. Available free from the Apple App Store, the app is essentially a swish brochure to swipe and poke at, giving details of all the latest official accessories and trinkets that are available to make your Polo stand out from the crowd. There’s a video showcasing most of the external add-ons as well as some ‘lifestyle’ items, a general extras and sports section featuring body kits and styling addenda, and a wheels and tyres section (strangely using the US spelling of ‘tires’, when the Polo’s not even sold there). The wheels section is particularly nice, as the wheels are shown on an actual Polo, so you get an instant visual representation of what the choice will look like. All part numbers and prices are included, to help make ordering from a Volkswagen Retailer easy. Volkswagen UK has also launched similar Official Accessories apps for the Eos, Jetta and new Passat.

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Fancy a mean Golf R/Porsche 911-like piercing LED stare from your 6R Polo? Or how about a bit of Audi LED-bling? Volkswagen Accessories in Germany has announced that current Polo (AO5) and Golf (AO6) models can be retrofitted with bright white LED daytime running lights. The 22 LEDs that make up each unit generate four times the luminosity of conventional parking/side lights and automatically start when the engine is turned on, going out when parking or low-beam headlights are illuminated, or, when the engine is turned off. The LED daytime runners are energy saving, too, and have 10,000 hours of operation – more than enough to bear down on that Corsa or Fiesta on the M1. Unlike the £745 Bi-Xenon headlamp units available as an optional extra on SEL and GTI Polo models, the retrofit LED lights are mounted on the front bumper. Ordering takes place via Volkswagen Retailers, although prices and availability for the UK has yet to be decided.

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Rahil Noorani won his first Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2011 race in round 2 of the championship, held over 17-18 July at Coimbatore. The 21 year-old rookie driver beat championship leader Vishnu Prasad into third place (from a ninth-place start), ahead of Ajay Kini from Bangalore. Noorani had a great start and led into the first corner ahead of Kini and Avdumbder Hede. Oshan Kothadiya from Pune fought Kini for a podium place, ultimately losing out to Prasad. Commenting on his first victory, winner Rahil Noorani said: ‘It feels great to win. I qualified on pole and the only thing on my mind was to lead into the first corner and take it from there. I stayed focussed, which helped me to win the race.’

Prithviraj Siddappa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India, was pleased with the result: ‘Another great race to start off round 2. It was an action-packed race and it was good to see different winners on the podium. It is great to see drivers giving more attention in analysing their data to see where they can improve. This shows the drivers are enthusiastic and determined to do well in this championship. The Polo Race cars are performing greatly, and we are very happy with the performance and efficiency of their engines.’ The 2011 Volkswagen Polo Cup India is run by Volkswagen India Motorsport in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young racers drive identical and centrally-prepared 129bhp TDI Polo R Cup racing cars.

Race 2 saw many crashes, collisions and high-speed spins which saw the lead change hands a number of times. A reverse grid start saw race 1 winner Noorani roll from eighth position, with Prasad ahead in sixth. Mihir Dharkar from Mumbai took pole position, although an unfortunate spin dashed his hopes of holding onto the lead until the end of the race. The lead was passed to Kothadia, closely tailed by Prasad. A safety car outing saw Prasad close in on the leaders and on the tenth lap, he passed Kothadia to take pole and win the race. Kothadia then forced Noorani into a spin with three laps to go, but both drivers ended up on podium in second and third places respectively. Round 3 of the Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2011 will take place on 19-21 August at the Irungattukottai Race Track in Chennai.

[Image: Rahul Basu/zigwheels.com]

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