Mk7 Golf R development car the first of its kind to break into the 9-second barrier with stock engine internals

The Ecotune team has continued its record-breaking drag strip streak by clinching two further world records with its Mk7 VW Golf R development car.

Having achieved the fastest-ever stock-turbo Golf R time just weeks before at Northamptonshire’s Santa Pod Raceway (click here for more details on this record), more development work was promptly carried out on this ballistic hot hatch at the firm’s Glasgow nerve centre, before the titles of ‘First Ever 9-Sec Golf R (Stock Engine)’ and ‘First Ever 9-Sec Golf R with a Hybrid Turbocharger’ were also both comfortably secured during the next visit to Pod in mid-August.

THE RECORDS

First Ever 9-Sec Golf R (Stock Engine)

First Ever 9-Sec Golf R with a Hybrid Turbocharger

– 9.89 seconds @ 139.0mph

THE CAR

Acting as a development vehicle for Ecotune – the UK’s leading software development centre – in past months, you can read our previous blog entries on this car’s impressive previous specifications that have helped it break other world records recently by clicking here.

In summary, the Mk7 R’s Siemens ECU was expertly calibrated to run perfectly on E85 fuel with some select hardware upgrades that allowed it to take the title of ‘Stock-Turbo Golf R World Record’ with a run of 10.72 seconds @ 126mph.

This really was only the start of what the Ecotune team had planned with this monstrous vehicle, however. The eventual goal was always to install a hybrid turbocharger and produce an E85 Stage 3 calibration, in an attempt to create the fastest stock-engine Golf R on the planet.

It’s why you could find the team, fresh back from their previous trip to Santa Pod, working alongside Leeds-based Venom Hybrid Turbos to help supply the grunt required for the job. Once the new Venom hardware arrived at Ecotune’s HQ, Calibrations Engineer Stan buried himself away to work on the optimum E85 software to complement this beautifully engineered piece of hardware.

With 584bhp and 514lb ft of torque recorded on Ecotune’s dyno, things were looking extremely promising indeed for the next scheduled trip down to Santa Pod…

THE DAY AT SANTA POD

The long drive back down south occurred ahead of the VW Drag Racing Club’s ‘Drag Days’ event on 6-7 August.

This time around, Calibrations Engineer Stan himself came along for the ride, in anticipation of any last-minute calibration tweaks that might’ve been needed in order to achieve the optimum times possible across the two days.

With staff member Lewis MacDougall once again at the helm, the Golf secured a 10.16 second run @ 135mph straight off the trailer, comfortably overturning the previous 10.4-second hybrid turbocharger record – an incredibly promising start that was followed by several more 10.1X-second runs across the course of day one following various small calibration tweaks along the way. Useful data was gathered that would prove valuable for the following day’s event.

With an original target being 10.3 seconds and having achieved a time so close to the elusive ‘9’, back at the hotel the team decided they wouldn’t leave the next day until they’d claimed that milestone. A detailed look at the run data logs well into the early hours seen Stan piece together a calibration that collated the best results of their changes made during the day. A revised ECU calibration (confidently titled ‘Revision 14 – 9-Second Pass’), meant when the Friday came around, they were sure they’d see even faster times appear on that fabled dot matrix screen this time around.

“We aimed to get to the front of the queue for the track opening on the Friday. This gave us our best chance with lower temperatures, as it had been in the low-30s for most of Thursday and was forecast to be even warmer the following day.”

The tactics clearly worked, with the car nailing a first run of 9.95 seconds @ 134mph. Undoubtedly an incredible achievement, but the team was adamant more could time be whittled off still.

“This was a great run, but the speed hadn’t picked up significantly, and looking at the logs, the car had reduced the timing all through fourth gear, which cost us some power. Stan immediately addressed the torque limitation and set the car back to the track.”

With a hesitant gear change from second to third on their next run (down to driver error), temperatures were now rising to 34°C and beyond above the sticky Tarmac. Letting the car (and driver) cool down, one final run eventually delivered what the team had hoped to achieve and more: a 9.89 second blast @ 139mph – enough to officially deem this car the fastest stock-engine Golf R in the world.

“We were looking for a 9.9, so to dip into the 9.8s was really exciting for us. Having achieved what we set out to do, we packed up and headed home. The drive is usually terribly dull, but we were so buzzing that it seemed like we were home within 20 minutes!”

TURBO DEVELOPMENT

The Venom Hybrid Turbos hardware performed brilliantly and the outfit is finalising the production of the ‘Venom 9’ unit that will soon be available exclusively through Ecotune. Stay tuned for more announcements on this.

CAR SPECIFICATION

2016 VW Golf R

Stock engine internals

Venom Hybrid Turbos hybrid turbocharger

Ecotune Stage 3 ECU calibration

Ecotune E85 fuelling kit (port injectors and low- & high-pressure pumps)

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…