Homologation Hero: The Mk2 Rallye
This particular Golf was a little bit of a mythical creature. I would see it once or twice a year, more often than not did I have to convince some people that this actually existed; it was like the tooth fairy, or the loch ness monster. Many people weren’t even aware that this homologation even existed. For those that aren’t aware, a homologation special in simple terms is where manufacturer is required to build a road going version of the car they wish to compete with for a particular series or event.
Growing up, my all of my favourite cars were Homologation specials. Anything ranging from the E30 M3, the R32 GTR, the R390, the Lancer Evo, the RS200 the F40 LM and well you get the idea… There is just something so enjoyable about a company putting together a custom bastardized version of a chassis and then having to make a road going version to sell to the public, a car where practicality and styling come second.
Volkswagen put this together right at the tail end of the Group B series being banned. This led to companies putting all their efforts and development into the Group A series thus forcing Volkswagen to rethink their competition FWD MKII, which at the time was being bullied by the increasing competition from threatening machines like the Cosworths, Delta Intergrale’s and Celica GT4’s.
Volkswagen had to come up with a competitive car to satisfy FIA homologation rules for the 1990 World rally Championship and this is how the MKII Rallye was conceived. Only 5000 of these were ever produced, and supposedly only 100 were ever imported into the United Kingdom. I can only imagine the number are incredibly low for Irish imports.
I had a die-cast model of one of these as a kid and was just obsessed with how eighties and box shaped it is; it was always a strange but seductive little box. The square lamps, box flares, it just oozes that eighties goodness.
Finding this car was like tracking down an a serial killer, or some sort of rare endangered species. Noel was kind enough to meet up for a shoot after a long hunt and allowed the inner child in me to spend a few hours snapping this rare German unicorn.
This is probably the most sought after of the Golf models and Noel has added modifications in a very subtle way. Many of these cars have been heavily modified over the years and yet the modifications Noel has undertaken are almost a nod to the original car, nothing would appear out of place and basically all of the original interior trim remains stock.
The Rallye came in four wheel drive and was fitted with the Corrado engine which was toned down to 1,763cc from the usual 1781cc to meet regulations. Little things that get me about this car is the fact Volkswagen glued the window into the car instead of sealing it in for added rigidity to the chassis, its a very purpose built machine. The cars were all hand built at the VW plant in Brussels, this was right at a time when Volkswagens were going fully automated in the assembly.
The G-Lader supercharger has been swapped out for a Lysholm twin-screw charger. The original 5-speed box swapped out for a Quaife 6 speed semi sequential, which must add a ton of joy to the feeling of the Golf.
Noel upgraded the hubs to the 5 speed VR6 variants. Wrapped around the Hubs is 305mm 4 pot Brembo’s up front while the rear was gifted to a set of 288mm Audi S3 calipers. This all sits behind a set of 16 x 8 Fifteen 52 snowflake wheels.
I absolutely love how subtle these modifications are. To the average enthusiast the car looks completely stock (well asides from the rather box shape flares). At the rear Noel swapped out the standard exhaust for a Supersprint S/S exhaust system.
Although after all its efforts the Rallye could only achieve third place in its class. To be honest this doesn’t really matter, what matters is Volkswagen created one of the most fascinating cars, which in my opinion was sort of a send off to the decade. The Mk2 Rallye Captured everything that was awesome about eighties car technology and design.
It’s a shame companies don’t make Homologation specials like this anymore. It really sort of fizzled out and funky models like this have sort of diminished over the years. I think this is what makes cars like the Mk2 Rallye all that more special. I hope you enjoyed feature as much as I enjoyed shooting it. The car has since been shipped off to Australia, so I guess it’s a car we wont be seeing on the road… a Myth, luckily we have some snaps!
Its nice to get something truly special on the site asides from the norm. Thanks to Noel for taking the time to bring the car out for me, its a beauty.