Volkswagen Golf Gti Edition 50 is the fastest front-wheel drive at the Nürburgring

There Volkswagen Golf Gti Edition 50 he tried again. And she succeeded. A year later it has returned to attack the curbs of the so-called “green hell”, that ribbon of asphalt that winds rapidly and sinuously through the woods for 21 km, or rather, to be precise, for 20 kilometers and 832 metres. In this case, moreover, precision is an obligation: record challenges are played on details, nuances, context, centimeters and tenths of a second. And in this case it was probably the context, the ideal weather conditionsto make the difference between an “internal” record like last year’s and a broader one like this year’s. With a time of 7’44”523 – almost two seconds less than the time of a year ago, which also set a record – the Golf Gti Edition 50 is the fastest front-wheel drive production car who has ever stopped the clock at the Nürburgring.

PREVIOUS

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He is still driving the record-breaking Golf Gti: Benjamin Leuchter, Volkswagen driver and test driver who in June a year ago pushed the limited edition Edition 50 to lap the Nordschleife in 7’46″13. The one who paid the price, for about a second, was the 333 HP Golf R 20 Years Edition, which despite the all-wheel drive saw the title of fastest Golf in history slip away. A year later, the same Golf GTI Edition 50, the version of the famous Wolfsburg C-segment produced in a limited edition for the 50th anniversary of the presentation of the first GTI, returns to the northern ring of the Nürburgring to confirm itself not only as the fastest Golf in history, but also the fastest front-wheel drive production car on the legendary German circuit.

CONFIGURATION

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From the press note in which Volkswagen announces the record of the Golf Gti Edition 50, the element that may have made the difference between the 2025 and 2026 lap emerges practically immediately: the last one, Volkswagen writes, “was completed in optimal weather conditions“. The driver and the car, moreover, were the same. The Golf Gti Edition 50 is powered by the 2.0 Tsi with 325 HP and 420 Nm of torque, enough to cut the 0-100 km/h in 5.3 seconds and reach a top speed of 270 km/h. The gearbox is the tried and tested 7-speed DSG. The celebratory Edition 50 trim includes as standard a ground clearance 15 mm lower than a classic Golf and adaptive suspension control (DCC), with electrically adjustable shock absorbers and steering. An approach made more incisive by the presence of Performance packagean optional present on both of the record-breaking Golfs at the Nürburgring: -20 mm from the ground compared to a classic Golf, stiffer springs and more extreme camber, R-Performance exhaust system with titanium silencers, 19″ forged alloy wheels and semi-slick Bridgestone Potenza Race 235/35 R19 91Y tyres. A set of equipment worth 4,320 euros on the list which is worth a reduction on the scales 25 kg compared to a normal Edition 50, for a total weight of 1,445 kg.