By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I got to Road Atlanta a little early this morning to watch the TDI Jettas complete the half-hour mad scramble that was the final race of their series. It was awesome! Lots of close, three-wide and even four-wide racing as the drivers battled door-to-door for that quarter-million dollar award—the $100,000 championship prize, plus an additional $150,000 bonus they get for signing with a sponsor. In the end, there was a desperate battle between Josh Hurley in the No. 11 car and Liam Kenney in the 35, with Liam finally taking the win and Josh hanging onto the championship. Congrats to both! CarDomain member Chris Castagna came in 12th, which was also a pretty stellar finish considering his No. 37 car had sustained a bent frame during a wreck in practice the night before. I spoke with him on the phone after the run, and he says the TDI cup has been a great time and that he’s looking forward to taking another stab at it next year. And in the meantime, he’ll be looking out for other series and sponsorship possibilities. Best of luck, man! Follow the jump to check out more crazy bumper-to-bumper and side-by-side racing from the TDI Cup race, and click here to check out yesterday’s tour of the TDI garage.

Check out the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest. They’re giving away gas money on a weekly basis, and one Grand Prize Winner will get to go to France for 24 Hours Of Le Mans!

Continue reading "VW TDI Cup Crowns Race Winner and 2008 Champ!" »

CarDomain member Chris Castagna (AKA crc930) was chosen to be one of thirty drivers to compete in this year’s 2008 VW TDI Cup sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing. As of this Saturday’s race at Iowa Speedway, he is the championship points leader. The season is just three races away from wrapping up at Road Atlanta, where the season points champ will be awarded $100,000. The points champ will also get an additional $150,000 if they sign a contract with another pro team within six months of winning. Be sure to visit Chris’s Jetta TDI ride page to wish him luck and to check out some awesome racing pics.

You know, I don’t think I have shared this photo with anyone yet. I’m sure most of us have seen cars turned into pickups. We have a Fairmont sedan running around town that has received such treatment, and many years ago my friend and I visited a you-pull-it in his hearse. While we were getting ready to leave, one of the guys there noted how the hearse could easily be turned into a pickup with one long cut–he even ran his finger down the side of the hearse to show us where to cut. Anyway, I saw this awesome Jetta pickup last time I was out at the you-pull-it.

Get one of the new 50-state-compliant TDI Jettas or SportWagens and you can score a $1300 income tax credit on your next return. Though the idea of paying consumers to buy new cars is always a little economically and environmentally dubious, I guess Uncle Sam has decided it all pays off. VW claims that the Jetta TDI can get a very respectable 38 mpg and 44 hwy on diesel under real-world conditions, though the EPA’s "estimated" mpg’s amount to a more modest 29/40. Almost worth it!

Do you have any import cop cars in your town? What do you think?

Chili Pepper Racing’s MK5 Jetta TDI was the world’s first professional bio-diesel touring car. Their mission? To raise money to fund research into the diagnosis, treatment and development of a cure for pediatric cancer. And they will be competing in the green track car category at the Ultimate Track Car Challenge at Buttonwillow in June!

If you want to be involved with the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge, time is running out. Check out cardomain.com/grm. And yes, we’re looking for more green track cars!

The Honda Civic was voted "most mod friendly car" two years running in our People’s Choice Awards, so I guess you guys really hate hybrids. Either that or you really love the TDI. Cause the poor Civic Hybrid only got two votes in our latest Showroom Showdown. Even a Civic owner voted for the VW. Oh well. The Jetta is a pretty cool car. And I guess it doesn’t hurt to have a kick ass race series, too.

Post your ideas for new week’s match up! If I use it (and you leave me some way to contact you) I’ll send you a CarDomain t-shirt!

So you want to go green, but don’t feel like you have to announce it to the entire world by buying an ugly ass Prius? Want something that’s more of a driver’s car? Two great options for around $23k are the Honda Civic Hybrid and the VW Jetta TDI. Which would you choose, the Japanese hybrid or the German diesel?

A guy over at VWVortex made this lamp out of an old 8v cam from his old MkIV 2.0 Jetta. He brought it to a gun-drilling place to have the inside bored out, and then to a machine shop to have it welded to the rotor from a Passat. It would go well with this table that Jen found a while back. Have you used any old car parts to build furniture?

VW recently announced the launch of a new racing series in the US: The Jetta TDI Cup. This is the first all-diesel powered car racing series, and it’ll feature the new TDI Jetta equipped with a 2.0L 4-cylinder turbo diesel engine. The car will pack 170hp, almost 300 lb-ft of torque, the amazing automatic DSG transmission, ABS racing brakes, a fully independent racing suspension, and a special driver’s side airbag. To help promote the launch, the the VWoA Motorsport Board is looking for 40 drivers (30 drivers, 10 backup) between the ages of 16-26 to participate in the series—and they mean business. After each race, the winner will walk with $1500, and the Series Point Champion will nab a cool hundred grand. As if that wasn’t enough, if the Series Champ is selected for a professional Motorsport series within six months, the prize is upped to $250,000. What an incredible opportunity! Think you got what it takes? Then head on over to VW.com to and sign up!