Johannesburg - Regarded as the holy grail of hot hatch festivals, Wörthersee is where the world’s wickedest GTIs meet each year and this year will see a unique blue-and-white South African creation strut its stuff as part of a three-continent tour.
The project is the brainchild of American automotive enthusiast Jamie Orr, who shipped a 225kW Passat 3.6-litre VR6 engine in from North America before finding a suitable donor car in the form of a 1991 blue and white Citi Golf.
His team then installed the imported engine along with a gearbox from a Golf 4 VR5, a limited slip differential and lightweight billet flywheel and clutch set-up.
The Citi Golf was also treated to a respray as well as an updated cabin with GTi Mk7 inspired seat fabric and upgraded brakes and steering components.
Following the build, which took about a week, Jamie took the Citi Golf to its first car show, the VDub Camp Fest in Bela Bela, before heading to the Uitenhage factory for a visit to the AutoPavilion museum.
The car will now be shipped to Germany, where some “finishing touches” will be applied before the car makes another 1000km journey to Wörthersee. Before leaving Germany for America, the Citi Golf will also visit factories, museums and the Nurburgring.
"While the Golf 1 enjoys a strong enthusiast following around the world, Citi Golfs are a rare sight even at Volkswagen fan events, that is why I wanted to buy restore, and share one as much as possible," Jamie enthused.