Official S2000 Polo Pics and Information

[phaeton]

Woohoo on picture front

Good Luck next round Team OZ2000

[Bluerex]

The rest of the gallery is here, please help yourselves.
Forgive us if the pics are a little out of focus, Kelly and I started our Saturday by reporting to the start of SS1 at 3:00am, Sunday we slept in - a 4:00am start.

Yawn........

C&K

[shaneth]

So Marius/Gerald, how was it, how did you fair??? Tell us all.

[shaneth]

here is an article on the rally web site. Good read. OZ2000 Debut

[PeterHBne]

Mmmmmmm - white Compomotives would look great on a red car (mine).

Interesting the stripped out car still weighs 1150kgs (I guess roll cage and all the other gear makes up for the lack of trim and sound deadening)

[Bluerex]

Mmmmmmm - white Compomotives would look great on a red car (mine).

Interesting the stripped out car still weighs 1150kgs (I guess roll cage and all the other gear makes up for the lack of trim and sound deadening)

Not to mention the 4wd gear, suspension changes (no torsion beam) and dog-box

c

[WEDEL.1]

Found this on Rally Sport Magazine.

http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2559&Itemid=2

VW Polo to add roar to Australian Rally Championship
Written by Official release
Friday, 18 April 2008
The Spanish Press acclaimed it as “The King of Africa” on its maiden European Rally victory – and now its roar will be heard in the forests of Australia as part of the Australian Rally Championship: Australia’s first, and at this stage only, FIA Homologated Super 2000 Rally Car – the all conquering VW Polo S2000.

Built and Developed by VW Racing South Africa, this ex-Works Polo comes to our shores fully rebuilt and fresh from Victory in the 2007 South African Rally Championship where, in the hands of 2007 South African Rally Champion Jannie Habig, it regularly dominated over the local Toyota Corollas, Subaru STi’s and Evo Lancers.

Powered by a Lehmann Built normally aspirated 2.0ltr engine, developing 273+ HP at 8,500RPM, its drive is generated through all four wheels via a SADEV 6 Speed Sequential Gearbox – a control element common to all S2000 cars.

Queensland business owner , Marius Swart has imported the vehicle after prolonged negotiations with the South African VW Works Team that commenced in April last Year. He was able to finally clinch the deal, to bring The King of Africa down under, late in November.

Now, after a full refurbishment the car has been delivered to Swart’s Brisbane based workshop in anticipation of a Maximum Attack on the Australian Rally Championship, beginning at the Rally of Canberra in May.

Rally of Canberra will be the cars’ first event and Swart, along with co-driver Gerard McConkey, is working hard at putting the new team – OZ2000 Rallyesport - and budget together for the full ARC season.

Swart today emphasized his enthusiasm for the car and its potential while talking about his plans.

“There is a very exciting year ahead of both Gerard and myself,” said Swart. “The design principals and build quality of the Polo is absolutely world class and we can’t wait for the first event, to get on with it.

“We hope to put together decent sponsorship to enable us to mix it with the big boys but come what may, we will give it our best shot.

“Still, I have to familiarise myself with the Polo and how it behaves, but having come through the ranks of RWD , N2 FWD and N4 AWD in the tough South African Rally Scene, I am confident that I will come to grips with it fairly quickly and should be able to drive it to its full potential; as much as a true privateer can afford to do.

“The pedigree of this VW Polo S2000 shows that it has Event and Championship winning capability – it is now up to us to prove it,” he continued.

Team OZ2000 Rallyesport is currently engaged in rigorous pre-event testing and promotional activity with interest in the VW Polo S2000 already huge.

A dedicated group of fans and admirers have already started to grow and they are about to become known as the ‘OZ2000 Polo Club’ as Corporate and local financial backing comes to fruition.

Swart is urging all motor sport fans to come and spectate at the Australian Rally Championship events and experience first hand the mighty roar of The King of Africa!!

[FL00DY]

Taken awhile to these up ... http://fl00dy.smugmug.com/gallery/50...02283476_cFugw








Oh and who said this car bares little resemblance to our GTI's

Oh and the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UekIxbal4Gg Yes that's my voice and yes I wish I'd kept my mouth shut as I knew Id be posting the video

[phaeton]

ROFL Floody ehhhhhh

BTW great shots and video

[Guy_H]

Wonder when he goes in for warranty, does the dealer notice its modified??

[DaveMack]

Wonder when he goes in for warranty, does the dealer notice its modified??

"Only driven on sundays by a little old lady to church." you reckon, Guy.

Dave

[OZ2000]

Floody,
Good meeting you @ the event and the vid is great. I never knew it sounded as good as this - totally different inside the car.
Sorry that we have bee so quiet after the event but very busy trying to get the car ready for Rally Queensland.
The diagnosis on the gearbox is that the rear casing broke when we landed on full throttle on 2 wheels after the big jump at the speccie point on the second last stage. At the start of the last stage the rear bearing disintegrated and got into the box. We did however manage to limp to the end and finish the event although it cost us 6 minutes plus which dropped us quite a few places in the overall standings.

All in all though a great event and fantastic to be back in a rally car after 5 years.

Would like to thank everyone that came and supported us and especially you guys on the forum for all the support and kind words.

Lennocks VW in Canberra(Peter Munday and his team) was extremely supportive and the VW fraternity in Canberra is lucky to have a dealer like this - support them.

We are doing our utmost to have the Polo ready for Rally Queensland(the box is currently with VW Racing South Africa) and are also busy with getting the website and the Supporters Club operational.

Hope to see you in the forest @ Imbil.

Marius and Gerard.

[gtimk5]

Sorry to hear of the problems mate. They didnt show you on the telecast either. Bugger! Did Evans show any interest in the Polo?? He did well in the Golfs years ago.
All the very best QLD, wish I could see it for real.....
Once again Tassie is out of the ARC.
Cheers, Andrew

[OZ2000]

Andrew,
They showed us twice - once with a bit of commentary and also at the very end just before the credits. You must have blinked and missed it

[gtimk5]

Oops!!! Must have blinked!!! Sorry mate.
I know that 10 used to get financed by Toyota, Subaru and Mitsubishi and they mainly featured the leading factory teams. Proton had their own series in the ARC and put their hand up to join in with fees for the telecasts as long as they got some exposure. The other brands wouldnt allow them so the Proton series received very little coverage.
Having said that, I hope that you get a lot more coverage in the future and some success mate.
All the very best, love to see and hear the Polo sometime!!1
Andrew