There are reports that are really special for fans of the world of rallying. This is one of them. Pedro Zubizarreta’s Volkswagen Golf IV Kit-Car was one of the sensations during his active years in the world of competition.
The Cantabrian driver acquired it in 2006. For three seasons, the fans of northern Spain were able to enjoy the driving and the sound of this car. It was one of the few built by Volkswagen Motorsport. Many of them were destined to compete in the British Rally Championship in the early 2000s.
The car arrived from Madeira bound for Valencia. The local driver Santiago Gauchía was its last owner until his arrival in Cantabria. The Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII atomic from “Zubi” was destined for the Mediterranean in exchange for the Golf. Without a doubt, one of the best Mitsubishi of the golden age of the Cantabrian Regional.
Tramalón has shared several minutes with Zubizarreta himself to remember those years. The pilot was able to debut the Golf at the end of 2006 after acquiring it. “I remember that we premiered it in a 2006 Hilliclimb to Hoyomenor. Then, the last two tests of the year were the Rally of Gernika and Rasines“, confesses.
The car, like a good Kit-Car, had the latest evolutions. Engine with 300 horsepower, six-speed sequential gearbox, short group, custom-made Reiger Racing suspensions …
Unbeatable memories
Already painted blue, Zubizarreta trusted Rodolfo del Barrio for 17 races with the German car. They were seen in events like Tineo, a rally of which they both have wonderful memories: “He is one of the best. The fans, the atmosphere and the treatment are spectacular“.
Zubizarreta remembers the Golf as a nervous and very funny car: “On a wide road it was better than on a narrow one, since it was very wide, more than the Mitsubishi. The sound was impressive. The best car of races that I have had without a doubt”, declares to Tramalón.
Come back one day?
Zubizarreta acquired the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX from RMC, with which Alberto Hevia contested the Spanish Rally Championship in 2008. 2010 was his last active year with another Mitsubishi, in this case Evo X. It is the unit that has Endika Beloki to this day. He too, at the end of the year, he acquired a Subaru Impreza.
The Cantabrian has been away from racing for more than a decade (as a driver). Asked about the Golf, he is clear: “It is a car that I would not mind having again, it was the best, but that was another time”.
