So, this is where we were last week
Historic Watkins Glen— the premiere road course destination in the northeastern United States, and at various times throughout its decorated history home to all different classes of road racing, not least among them US Grand Prix. This really is the marquee event of our annual summer track season. And as has been the case all year long, the kleiner GTI ran like a champ, more than holding its own against more powerful cars.
The waterbug hatchback is surely neither the fastest nor the most sportiv car out in the field. Nor does it carry the most cachet. But it wears many hats and wears them pretty well, all while being plenty of fun to drive. And that’s why we love it so.
Raw footage from the second session of the day. Line is still not very good here (throwing away far too much of the track), but had fun chasing an RS4 (like the one in today’s grab bag, incidentally) for several laps. He pulls away for good when a B5 S4 refuses to give the pointby on the front straight.
Tossing it around a bit:
A friend in his very nice A3— basically the same car, only with a lower center of gravity and a lot more go-fast mods:
We were hoping to make Lime Rock our last hurrah for the year, but alas our tires are shot, so our season might be done. It was a short season – too short, as always – but sweet, and confirmation yet again that there are very few things we’d rather be doing than standing on the gas pedal out on the race track. What an absolutely fantastic time.
Motoring Con Brio 
awesome. I have the same in 2-door. love the BBS CH. what else is not stock?
Mike said this on August 30, 2010 at 2:30 pm
the suspension, for starters. it’s a good deal lower, stiffer, and noisier than stock. then the usual things to make a street car more trackworthy, like stickier tires, racing brake fluid (which has a higher boiling point), more aggressive brake pads, and a few other things.
motoring con brio said this on August 30, 2010 at 4:39 pm
How and where do you mount the camera? We played around with rolling video this weekend with mixed results using a DSLR. Had a lot of vibration but relative to your speed the picture seems really stable!
Murph said this on August 30, 2010 at 6:30 pm
i mount to the bumper using a panavise mount- it grips really well. but i am using a small dedicated motorsports cam, which weighs a lot less than a dslr. are you using a nikon? i prefer nikon myself, but i believe they are known to not be great for rolling video..
motoring con brio said this on August 30, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Yeah, we used my D5000 – pictures came out well but the video had the sort of rolling/gelatinous effect due to the combined problems of high windows, a Toyota Corolla rental/camera car and the Nikon’s inclination towards this – maybe it’s time to invest in a 5D mk II.
What were you up against at the Glen in your class? Did you shoot past a B8 A4 in the video?!
Murph said this on August 30, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Awww man! So JEALOUS!
Automobiliac said this on August 30, 2010 at 11:52 pm