Volkswagen celebrates 40 years of Golf GTI at Goodwood Festival of Speed

Volkswagen will celebrate 40 years of the Golf GTI at this month's Goodwood Festival of Speed. The famous motoring event takes place on the South Coast of the U.K. from the 23^rd to 26^th of June and attracts hundreds of thousands of motoring enthusiasts.

The Golf GTI went on sale in the U.K. in 1976 and since then, the car has achieved iconic status. Now into its seventh generation, the model's milestone birthday is being celebrated with the special edition Golf GTI Clubsport S. This two-seat machine packs 306bhp and recently took the lap record for front-wheel drive production cars at the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany.

The Clubsport S has a special Nurburgring setting, which fine-tunes the adaptive chassis control, engine, steering and sound to suit the famous road circuit. The car also has enlarged tailpipes and semi-slick tyres for stronger grip. Limited to just 400 examples, 150 of those will be sold in the U.K.

Both the Clubsport S and the Mk1, the bookends of the Golf GTI story, will be driven up the world famous Goodwood hill by two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Hans-Joachim Stuck. The German ace will be keen to contrast the impact that 40 years of technological advancement has had on the Golf GTI.