The largest Volkswagen Golf GTI meeting in the world gets underway on Wednesday, 9^th May, held in Reifnitz am Worthersee, Austria. Last year, 7,300 cars and around 125,000 visitors turned the Austrian town into the Mecca of the GTI world. Figures of this magnitude are expected again this year.

Volkswagen will also present a special highlight to the participants and visitors - the new Golf GTI TCR, which is nearly ready for production. As a tribute to fans, the 286bhp GTI will be unveiled in a world premiere at Worthersee. The future top model in the Golf GTI series will be launched at the end of the year.

The special edition is the road version of the two-time overall winner of the international TCR race series - the Golf GTI TCR of the same name. The touring racing car's specs make the new top model a dominating presence - design, power and performance are intrinsic to the pure sports car doctrine. The turbo engine of the new Golf GTI TCR delivers 286bhp and 370Nm of torque. A seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and a front axle differential lock are responsible for power transmission and excellent traction.

The maximum speed is 250km/h, but can be increased to 264km/h by opting to remove the electronic Vmax limiter. This makes the new GTI TCR the fastest Golf and generally the fastest Volkswagen licensed for use on public roads.