Spreading the love of autocross with our Mk7 GTI

Update by David S. Wallens to the Volkswagen Golf GTI project car
Jul 30, 2024 | Volkswagen, Autocross, Volkswagen GTI

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One of the stated missions for our Mk7 GTI project car: spread the joy.

Okay, let’s be more specific: get more GRM staff members a bit more involved in the activities that we cover.

For a recent weekend, it was about autocross.

Let’s do a local event and just have some fun.

My co-pilot for this past weekend’s Porsche Club of America autocross would be Colin, our web editor. He’s often the one behind the memes.

We weren’t jumping into the deep end of the pool, we weren’t heading to Nationals.

This would be chill, a local event under sunny skies and hosted by some old friends on a familiar piece of asphalt.

I got the car prepped and picked him up.

Once there, we walked the course before handing him off to the novice walk-through. I didn’t want to helicopter parent him. He’s a big boy and can get to his own work assignments.

I had another first-timer at my corner station. He had questions. I offered answers.

My goal: Not to overwhelm him with autocross minutiae because, let’s be honest, there’s plenty out there. I wasn’t going to dive into how many millimeters he could alter the offset of his wheels and remain in a stock class.

My goals: Keep him safe (eyes on the cars) and make him want to return, ideally with a friend in tow.

When it was Colin’s turn to drive, we stuck to the basics: eyes up with smooth inputs. Trust the car, trust your gut. Remember to breathe. For each subsequent run, try to improve just one thing. The speed, I figured, would follow. (Spoiler alert: It did.)

[All you need for a life-changing afternoon? $30 and a Mk7 GTI.]

I’ve been at this game for a long time, as I started autocrossing 32 years ago. I don’t see parlaying this autocross into an IMSA ride, so my current goal: Pay it forward and get the next generation excited to have fun with cars.