Mk7 Golf R development car achieves 10.72-second quarter mile sprint at Santa Pod thanks to bespoke E85 ECU calibration and choice hardware upgrades

The Ecotune team is delighted to announce that it has comfortably smashed the previous stock-turbo Mk7 Golf R quarter-mile world record with its long-term project vehicle.

The car achieved a best time of 10.72 seconds @126mph at Santa Pod Raceway’s ‘Back on Track’ event on Sunday, 5 July, breaking the previous record on numerous occasions throughout the day before this best time was eventually achieved.

THE CAR

If you’re following our social media channels or have read any of our previous blog entries, you’ll probably be no stranger to this Mk7 VW Golf R that has acted as a development vehicle for us over the past few months.

The original plan was to install a hybrid turbocharger and Stage 3 tune, but after some time spent developing bespoke E85 ECU calibrations whilst retaining the car’s stock turbo (something which almost no one else has successfully implemented on this platform), we soon decided there was another record that needed re-writing first.

You can read more about our initial thoughts on E85 with the MQB platform by clicking here, but to summarise, the car was soon the first in Europe to break into the 10-second bracket on this fuel, with minimal hardware modifications required to reach such a figure.

Already knocking on the door of the stock-turbo world record at this stage with a run that was performed on a Mexican road and with a relatively unprepared car, the plan once the lockdown period had finished was to get the Golf drag-ready and await the day that Santa Pod re-opened its doors so we could officially claim the title.

To complement Stan’s bespoke ECU tune, an Ecotune E85 fuelling kit was also installed, comprising port injectors and a low-pressure fuel pump. Breathing enhancements included a RacingLine R600 intake, a Scorpion Exhausts downpipe as well as APR’s intercooler and cat-back exhaust system (removed for the run).

Things didn’t remain stock with the car’s DSG ‘box, either, with TVS Engineering supplying not only Stage 4 TCU software but also some stronger race clutches. This was all bolstered with a Wavetrac front LSD up front and a RacingLine DSG cooler, to ensure there were no weak points on the entire vehicle during the intense weekend it was soon going to face.

With a date in early July finally announced for us to work towards, the week leading up to the trip was something of a mad rush, involving fitting some drag-friendly STM front brakes, 15” Team Dynamics alloy wheels and sticky Hoosier slicks to give us maximum traction down the 1320ft strip.

Finally, we needed to ensure Ecotune was representing in the best possible way, calling on our friends at Shore Wraps to squeeze us in for a stunning full-body vinyl wrap that was carried out on the Thursday before we headed down to Santa Pod – thanks a lot to the guys there for working overtime to get this finished in time!

THE DAY AT SANTA POD

With the Golf strapped onto the trailer on the Saturday, we headed south for the 360-mile pilgrimage alongside our friend Sean McLaren in his Audi TTRS.

On Sunday morning, the car was rolled off the trailer at Wellingborough’s Santa Pod before our designated pilot, Lewis MacDougall, decided to play it safe and try and bank the record straight away before there was a chance for anything to go wrong along the way.

With high tyre pressures, no burnouts and friends across the world watching on the live stream, he clinched a 10.79-second run straight out of the gate – bagging the record and meaning the pressure was already off!

The rest of the day consisted of attempting to eat into this figure even more, meaning tyre pressures were gradually lowered before each run and the launches became harder. As such, the record was broken a further three times over the course of the next four runs, with the ultimate figure of 10.72 seconds @126mph certainly nothing to frown upon.

“I did five runs in total and didn’t even use a full can of E85,” a modest Lewis said. “The car never put a foot wrong all day and it was pretty effortless to be honest.”

FIGURES AT-A-GLANCE

Best run: 10.72 seconds @126.32mph

60ft: 1.53 seconds

0-60mph: 2.70 seconds

100-200km/h: 7.90 seconds

CAR SPECIFICATION

2016 VW Golf R

Stock IS38 turbocharger and engine internals

Ecotune Stage 2 E85 ECU calibration

Ecotune E85 fuelling kit (port injectors and low-pressure pump)

APR intercooler

APR cat-back exhaust system (removed for the run)

Scorpion Exhausts downpipe

Racingline R600 intake

Racingline DSG cooler

TVS race clutches

TVS Stage 4 TCU calibration

Wavetrac front limited-slip differential

STM front brake kit

Ecotune rear brake kit

15" Team Dynamics alloy wheels

Hoosier slick tyres

WHAT’S NEXT?

Stay tuned as we take our Golf R to the next level very soon…