Volkswagen W12 Coupe

If there was ever any proof needed that Volkswagen was seeking to bury its proletarian background and join the other German manufacturers (Porsche, BMW, Mercedes and some of its Volkswagen stablemates such as Audi and Bugatti), at the top end of the market, it is the existence of the W12 Coupe.

Originally thought to be a concept car, the W12 took a huge leap forward last October when VW rolled it onto the racetrack and set a raft of performance and speed records, the most convincing being that the W12 averaged a staggering 294 kmh/183 mph over 24 hours.

It was also announced at the prestigious Tokyo Motor Show that the W12 would go into production. Those figures plus the announcement of production status made the W12 coupe the heir apparent to the tag of the world's fastest production car.

More recently, VW decided to have another crack at the speed records and went back to the ultra-fast Narda track in Southern Italy on February 23 and 24, 2002.

This time the W12 smashed its existing world 24-hour speed record by 27.7 km/h, covering 7,749.4 kilometres at an average speed of 322.89 km/h - that's an extra 663 kilometres in the 24 hours.

Whilst these speeds in their metric guise may just seem ridiculously high to many of Gizmo's readers, convert them to imperial measure and you'll suddenly understand why VW went back to the racetrack.

The February records have now pushed the average speed past 200 mph for all records from 100 kilometres and one hour, through to 5000 miles and 24 hours.

Accordingly, the W12 is capable of averaging 200mph almost indefinitely, which makes it one weapon of a roadster.

At the heart of the W12 is a 440 kW (600 bhp) twelve-cylinder engine in a W configuration, which perhaps not necessarily by coincidence, is becoming the VW hallmark.

...continued