This was one of those cars that I sadly missed at the Wörthersee Tour. So at M.I.V.W. I finally got to see why there was so much buzz surrounding this car. You might not see it at a first glance but there is a reason why all those people are surrounding it.
It just so happens that the entire car has been covered in carbon.
The owner came all the way from Hungary to showcase his car. A true testament to the international nature of the M.I.V.W. show.
But a car made out of carbon isn't enough these days so the owner went the extra mile and mounted these sexy 18" Porsche OEM wheels. It didn't end there with the Porsche influence because the owner also got his hands a set of Porsche brakes.
In the rear the setup is the same but I was more interested in the small tag just below the rear light. It seemed that the car was running a turbo'd VR6 that had its capacity increased to three liters. While the car was on stage I heard it was running approximately 500bhp.
I grabbed this shot just before it went on stage. It shows the car in its highest position made possible thanks to its airbag system.
Inside the interior was more carbon and every other plastic part had been covered with alcantara.
I think these seats came out of a Audi RS model.
The carbon weave was perfect on every panel of the car and it all lined up.
It must have took the owner thousands of hours to make this car. In the end he created a one of a kind vehicle that will be talked about for years to come.
-Jeroen Willemsen
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
it all lined up except the back bumper right below the tag below you are so interested in. Nice car nonetheless. I wouldnt do it on a old golf though but these are work of passion and love so to each their own.
as much as I want to complain about how silly of an idea this is, especially since it would appear there's still metal under all that, holy god THANK YOU speedhunters for not saying dry in front of the word carbon every time you use it. Makes my heart proud that you're learning about composites =D
I can appreciate some German quality. I hope the carbon body is not wrapped around the OE panels. Very nice Golf with those Porsche wheels/ brakes. However; then I read the car is on bags, not for me.
I am sorry to say, I don't think the panels are the only parts fake on this car:
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=brake+cover+look&_sacat=0&_odkw=porsche+look+brake&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313
i too am hoping its not a wrap, but im guessing if it was u guys wouldnt do a spotlight on it,,
I kno haters gon' hate but wow guys slow the f_k down with the sh_t talkn,, y is it that most of the comments are from these"fanboys" tryin to talk down to Speedhunters faculty as if they have some secret info that makes them holier than thou,, If i worked in an R&D dept. for a composite manufacturer im sure id know more than the average speedhunter about composites, but id never regurgitate random info i heard at work in a weak attempt at sounding smart.. grow up and just enjoy the features these people (speedhunters) are putting 2gethr for u
How much does it weigh?
PHwoaa, man that would be nice to watch around a tight track - it would would jump out of its Chassis
Why waste all that skill and money on a mkII golf!?
"covered in carbon"
Note the verb "covered". Not replaced with carbon fiber panels, but "covered".
This is a feature on a car with a _vinyl wrap in fake carbon fiber_. It's a damn sticker.
Are you serious? This is an example of the quality that represents Speed Hunters?
Speedhunters: It is not a vinyl wrap but the real deal.
i can't believe you wrote an entire article about a fully carbon car and didn't mention it's new curb weight!
"It just so happens that the entire car has been covered in carbon." So it's even heavier then it's stock form because it's all over the stock body? Or is everything a new one off carbon piece? I'm starting to be less impressed from a performance perspective...
I've never understood the VW scene and never will.
I just like how he has NA bumpers
IMO Carbon fiber looks like cheap ricey crap. I bet that car is just wrapped in carbon fiber which is dumb because that just added more weight to it. It would be really interesting to see what kind of weight savings you could actually achieve if it were made from carbon fiber and not just covered with it.
Why would you wrap every panel with carbon fiber? I suppose it looks good but the whole point of carbon fiber is to reduce weight. Not to mention 500hp FWD... can you say Torque Steer.
Just doesn't make much sense to me.
Do not want,
Not a fan.
Nice under good pictures of that 500 HP engine. Full sarcasm intended.
It's carbon wrap, it's not really a carbon bodied Golf.
They just discovered carbon weave stickers in Eastern Europe? That's mid 90's rice boy. How far behind are they over there?
Damn he has recaro sportster seats, I want them so bad.
A touch overdone, but you gotta love how committed these owners are to their cars. I hope I'm at least half as much as this guy when I get my first car.
I was actually at this show, it IS a REAL carbon body, not a wrap, but real carbon panels.
Haters gonna hate, and i love haters
That is a one piece Mk3 polyurethane rear bumper cover. There is no lower fascia. The carbon fiber ends at the crease line and reveals the plastic beneath. Same thing on the front bumper. The Hungarian does not want to scratch his carbon fiber stickers on curbs. If Igor had not left the carbon fiber sticker off the bottoms of the bumpers, it might have been convincing, and Speed Hunters might not have been caught in a lie.
IT IS A VINYL WRAP!
love it. looks the goods. and like oskar said... fanboys shut the f__k up. link us to your full carbon fibre car maybe? also jonas can u show me the ebay link for the fake rotors that hes so obviously installed to match those "fake" brakes? grow up everyone.
love your work speedhunters its just a shame the website is being overrun by 14 year olds and self important tossers.
Why so many negative comments? If you have nothing positive so say - dont say it.
Great job!
Anyways, it IS the real deal - not fake. And its a cool idea to do something noone would do - and do it! Thats how you stand out these days - and I for one love it
I was actually at this show, it IS a REAL carbon body, not a wrap, but real carbon panels.
Haters gonna hate, and i love haters
It is real car. Twill. More than likely laid over the original panels and then buffed and clearcoated. I would be surprised if they were complete carbon parts, Esp., where the car frame starts. It would be easier to do a carbon overlay. Either way, looks good and I'm sure owner is happy.
Nice brakes btw.
That'll be the first carbon fiber car in history to rust in two, as soon as some water gets between the sticker sheet and the steel body under the sticker.
It would be far fetched enough to suggest that some bumpkin, out in the middle of Hungary, could successfully bond together a store bought carbon fiber roof panel, carbon fiber quarter panels, and steel floor pan.
But to claim that the same bumpkin spent several thousand dollars for each mold, over a dozen to do the panels shown in the pictures of that car, and he just so happens to have a multi million dollar autoclave in which to make carbon fiber panels.
And there is not a single picture of the edge of a panel or if the carbon extends through the door and hood jambs. Too convenient.
What a bunch of suckers. And Jeroen is their king.
If I've got this straight, it's an overpowered, front-heavy, front-wheel-drive piece of German engineering (that's like a swear word after the German cars I've owned).
If the panels have been replaced with carbon fiber panels, this has been a serious amount of work with no real improvement. Assuming that's the case, a whole new unibody was fabricated, and nobody thought to give it wider fenders, or more sleek shoulders? Also, who creates duplicate bumpers in carbon fiber? Wouldn't one at least want to make them lower profile (I know Porsche owners are always excited about non-american bumpers) to clean up the lines of the car?
That being said, the interior looks gorgeous.
Its a show car people... doesn't matter if its real carbon or not...
http://www.rs-carbon.hu/ their website with more pics etc.
Real, authentic, bona fide, full-fledged, certified, guaranteed, legitimate, genuine STICKER.
I assume the owner is not trying to convince people that this is a carbon bodied car. I mean, according to the website above, it seems like they'll coat your coffee cup, your camera or your wedding ring in a sweet faux carbon fiber wrap. I would absolutely be down for a carbon look toothbrush or dog collar. Good on them for making it look pretty good, but to me it's still ricer sh*t, and this is coming from an admitted fan of many ricer things (can't stop liking bubble shift knobs). Those brakes don't look right either.
I still love you Speedhunters. Good on YOU for keeping up the coverage of what different cats are doing around the globe.
What, no Rotas?
WOW great job on that performance speedhunting, lots of blog-friendly panel shots yet the core of the article 500hp engine is not available for scrutiny; surely even an intimidating hungarian man would have lifted his bonnet to a Speedhunters photographer's request. Slightly cynical but c'mon fellas, maybe a lot of the misconception with those golfs could be the very stylistic way they are always obligated to be captured by..
That's definitely real carbon fiber, not a sticker. There is still the matter of whether the OEM sheet metal has been overlaid with carbon versus new panels made. The easily removable front panels like the hood and fenders are obviously simple to make, but the rest of the panels on a unibody car are pretty difficult because of their attachment and structural purpose. Looking at their website, it appears that they are experts in overlaying carbon onto stock parts like axles, sway bars, strut knuckles, catch cans, etc., so it's safe to assume that many/most of the panels on the Golf are overlaid sheet metal. That seems to be the entire core of their "tuning" business, oddly enough. I'm quite surprised that they didn't do the grill though because their site pictures show that they have already done much more complex grill pieces.
Just to clear up a few common misconceptions: You don't need an autoclave to make carbon parts. You need an autoclave to make world-class carbon parts out of pre-preg carbon fiber, which is sometimes called "dry" carbon by the aftermarket tuning industry for whatever reason. Often that isn't true, because you can use a vacuum bag and a cure oven without the extra pressure from an autoclave. It just depends on what level of weight and laminate compaction you're looking to achieve. Most cosmetic and non-critical parts like hoods and fenders can be made with vacuum bagging or resin infusion, no autoclave necessary. You can make carbon parts in your home garage with only a vacuum pump.
And yes, it's a show car. A completely pointless, heavier-than-stock show car. Not my scene (VWs generally aren't), but interesting for the carbon aesthetics anyway.
What was that phrase about gold plating a turd...? In this case, it's no turd, but a thin layer of carbon fabric and resin over the top of a steel body is no more structurally significant than a sticker. It's a 3,000 pound car plus the weight of whatever they put over the top of it.
So you can gold plate a turd, but the gold is only a thin layer on the surface and the gold has done nothing to enhance the turd beneath.
How is it that the European car makers have such high reputations for producing quality products, but every time Jeroen goes to a show, the European people are slapping together a bunch of fake junk and saying it's just as good as the real thing. fake wheels, fake carbon fiber, etc. Is there anything real left in Europe?