PoloDriver

Following preview microsites and information requests from potential buyers, Volkswagen Australia has finally launched the new Polo. The major product push for the Australian arm of the German giant this year, the new advertising campaign focuses on a ‘Followers of no one’ message – the thinking is that the car appeals to individualists – and VW has built a superbly interactive microsite to ensure that message gets into all those non-conformist’s heads. There are directly (fuel economy, performance, style options) and not so directly-related (innovative designers, unusual professions) photos and videos, all of which are accessed by a cleverly rendered Polo which can be ‘driven’ across the screen.

Buyers can even watch the TV spot which accompanies the campaign, by ‘driving’ to that particular on-screen parking space. As off-beat and strange as its parent microsite, the 45-second commercial features four friends driving to a bar, although all isn’t as it first appears. Mutating faces and clothes allied to outer space-type phaser noises give a clue the chaps’ origins. Confirmation from silver shoes pointing to alien descent comes at the end of the spot. Whether it works or not, the ‘For dedicated followers of no one’ commercial is certainly one of the most unusual and creative we’ve seen for the fifth-generation model. The Australian Polo range starts at $19,990 for the five-speed manual Trendline.

‘For dedicated followers of no one’ TV campaign credits
Agency: DDB Sydney
National ECD: Matt Eastwood
Creative Director: Mark Harricks
Creative Team: Paul Sharp & Mike Burdick
Business Management: Scott Thomson & Patrice Bougouin
Strategy: Nick Andrews
Director: Gary Freedman
Photography: Andreas Smetana
Production House: Revolver Film
Media Agency: Mediacom

A 22-year-old engineering graduate from Visakhapatnam took the spoils this weekend at the inaugural rounds of the Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010. Races one and two of the new championship were held at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex near Pune, and saw Sailesh Bolisetti drive to victory in his 129bhp TDI Polo Cup racer, beating his 19 other compatriots. The Volkswagen India Motorsport and JK Tyres championship saw a massive crowd turnout, for what is arguably India’s most-awaited motorsport series of the year.

The street track at Pune was kind to Bolisetti and he led race one from the start, ahead of Saran Vikram. Third place was awarded to Mohammed Fahad Kutty, although his result wasn’t without controversy. Overtaking under a yellow flag gained Kutty a 15-second penalty and saw him lose his podium place, Kartik Shankar taking third spot after Kutty’s points and time were readjusted. The 15-lap race was entertaining too; a tyre wall scrape for Kutty and Alisha Abdullah’s first corner spin delighted the ecstatic crowd.

Race two was a rerun for Bolisetti. Leading from the off, he finished in front of second-placed Shankar, while Kutty drove a cleaner race to step on the podium, crossing the line in third place. The next round of the championship will be held at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore over the weekend of July 17 and 18. The Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010 is run by Volkswagen India Motorsport in conjunction with JK Tyres. All 20 young competitors drive identical and centrally-prepared 129bhp TDI Polo Cup racing cars.

[Source: Overdrive]

It turns out that Volkswagen UK have brought over three left-hand drive Polo GTIs hot from the car’s launch in Germany to this green and pleasant land. UK performance car website PistonHeads.com has tested a white example in the roads above Crickhowell in South Wales, seemingly the same playground as where Autocar conducted the first UK drive of the new car a couple of weeks ago with a red model. But, encouragingly, the latest incarnation of the hot shot Polo was more to PistonHeads’ liking: ‘The Polo GTI kind of resurrects the chuckable-but-solid spirit of the old Mk2 Golf GTI. And that makes it rather endearing.’ Head over to the PistonHeads website to read their first impressions of the 2010 Polo GTI.

[Image: PistonHeads]

This weekend (29-30 May) sees the inaugural rounds of the new Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2010. Twenty drivers have been selected from over 1,100 applicants in a two-month selection process at Kolhapur and Coimbatore, and they will drive their focused Polo racers around the Balewadi Stadium circuit in Pune, not far from where the road car version is assembled. The two-round selection process started in late April and tested potential racers, driving two and four-stroke carts as well as the Polo Cup car itself.

Forty-five candidates went through from the first stage at Kolhapur to the second evaluation days at Coimbatore, where 20 were picked (plus 5 back-up drivers) to take to the track in the latest evolution of the Polo’s motorsport career. At Coimbatore, the drivers also undertook advanced driver training, ready for the six-round series. Twenty identical Polo racers with 129bhp 1.6-litre TDI engines will contest the championship, and after the opener at Pune, races will follow at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore and the Irungattukottal Race Track in Chennai.

Rounds three and four of UK circuit series the Volkswagen Racing Cup were played out at Zandvoort over the weekend of 22 and 23 May. The championship’s first-ever overseas rounds, 23 racing Volkswagens of all shapes and sizes took to the Dutch seaside circuit, with two Polos mixing things up. Zoë Wenham, the Volkswagen Racing Cup’s youngest ever competitor at just 16, delivered a good account of herself on her championship debut. But, a highly unfortunate driveshaft failure – which was later followed by a problem with the turbo on her Polo GTI – meant a retirement from race one and subsequently prevented her from taking to the grid for race two.

The pair of Polos started at the back of the grid for both races, Wenham posting a 2:10.216-minute lap time equalling a 20th place on the grid, while Reigate’s Darren Blumson in the Adrenaline Motorsport Polo GTI recorded a 2:13.872, positioning him two cars further back. Zoë’s driveshaft failure meant she retired after 8 laps, while problems with Blumson’s car led him to finish only 6 laps out of the total 13. The silver Adrenaline Motorsport car started from 20th place on row 10 in race 2, but retired again, this time after 8 laps.

Similar to Blumson’s car, Wenham’s white 1.8-litre Polo GTI is also turbocharged, but prepared by KPM Racing, the team headed by ex-Honda F1 technician Kevin Poole. Speaking before Saturday’s race, Wenham said: ‘I’ve given the Polo a shakedown at Silverstone and I have a day planned at Rockingham, but other than that I have no experience of the car. It’s going to be a big step up for me.’ With extensive karting experience, Wenham has raced for two years in the junior SaxMax series, finishing the championship ninth overall in 2009. She hopes to her experience in the Volkswagen Racing Cup will enable her to graduate to touring cars.

The Volkswagen Racing Cup 2010 with Fuchs Lubricants is additionally supported by Augustus Martin, Ceva Logistics, ECM Vehicle Delivery, Hankook, Milltek Sport, KW Automotive, Superchips and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

[Images: Chris Schotanus/www.imagevaults.co.uk]