Very special thanks must go to Gerhard Püttbach for help with this page. He was a driver in the 1976 Junior Cup.

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Scirocco Junior Cup

Following on from the Formula V racing series, Volkswagen introduced the one-make Junior Cup series for the 1976 season. In it's inaugural year of running, 50 specially commissioned Sciroccos were raced using the new for '76 fuel injected engine.

The premise of the new race series was to give young, promising racers the opportunity to prove themselves in a relatively cheap race series that was on a level playing field due to the identical cars. Prospective racers, all of whom had to be under the age of 30, needed to apply to Formel V Europa (now VW Motorsport) in Hannover for a chance to buy one of the 50 Sciroccos. Around 1200 initial applicants were whittled down to 200 due to the 5000DM deposit required. Due to the overwhelming number of applicants, a test session was held at Volkswagens Ehra-Lessien test track in February 1976. Slaloms, wet track, time trials and cornering tests ensured that only 45 drivers with the best abilities were given the chance to race in the Junior Cup. The remaining seats were given to winners of other race series. Professional guest drivers, celebrities and journalists would race in some rounds, starting at the back of the grid. The main sponsors of the series were Castrol, Sachs and Minolta.

Prize money of 5,000DM could be won for 1st place at each round, with the final race at Hockenheim boasting a 10,000DM purse. Tuning of the cars was not allowed. Only the tyre pressures could be adjusted. Later in the season, changes were made to the suspension due to the tail happy nature of the set up that caught out many of the drivers. Cup Sciroccos had to be driven to races as transporting them by trailer was banned. Each competitor had only three sets of Pirelli P7 tyres for the entire season. 

Round 1 of the series took place on 11th April 1976 at Hockenheim, as a Formula 2 'Jim Clark Rennen' support race. Seven more races took place at tracks like Sylt and the Nürburgring, with the season finale returning to Hockenheim in September. The outcome of the season was a point of contention in German car magazines of the era. The series win was awarded to Willi Bergmeister by series organizers Formel V Europa for amassing the most points over the course of the season. 'Sport Auto' magazine claimed that Manfred Winkelhock should have won the title due to him winning the last race at Hockenheim as stated in the series regulations.

Manfred Winkelhock. Later in his career he would race in Formula 1. Tragically, he was  killed in 1985 whilst participating in an endurance race in Canada.

L-R. Luis Bachmaier, Willi Bergmeister and Wolfgang Schütz

Click on the Round 1-8 buttons to go to each race page. Click on the programme thumbnails for larger images.

Programme covers sourced from and linked to http://www.progcovers.com/motor/index.html

MUSIC-GEORGE LYNCH, LOVE POWER FROM THE MAMA HEAD. ALBUM, SACRED GROOVE.

Cutaway pic of a Scirocco Cup car. Click on the image for XL version.

The Cup Scirocco could be used as an everyday road car, as Gerhard Püttbach demonstrates.

Although the Cup Scirocco cost 22,000DM to produce, it was sold to participants in the series for only 15,500DM, which for a race spec car compared well to the 13,000DM for an off the shelf Scirocco TS. The new 1.6 litre engine used Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection, producing 110bhp. A precursor to the Scirocco GTI that was available from VW dealers later in 1976. To control oil temperature, a Serck oil-cooler was provided. For race use, the road legal rear exhaust box was removed and replaced with a through pipe.

Suspension was upgraded to included lowered, stiffer springs with Sachs gas shock absorbers. A 24mm anti-roll bar was attached to the rear beam. This gave neutral handling that promoted drifting when cornering at racing speeds. To assist traction and further improve handling, Pirelli 195/50 15 tyres were mounted on 15" ATS Cup alloy wheels. ATE vented brakes discs up front combined with rear drum brakes help to retard forward motion.

This early pre-season press car had differing sponsors graphics than the race Scirocco.

Externally, the Scirocco Cup gained a Zender body kit comprising front and rear spoilers with wheel arch extensions. All cars in the series were black with the same graphics and sponsor logos. To differentiate the cars, the nose was painted in various colours. Judging by the 'T.V.' headlights and black bumpers, a basic model from the Scirocco range was used as the basis of the Cup racecar package.

In the cockpit, a Matter roll cage and Britax harnesses ensured driver safety.

Recaro front seats were fitted, the drivers being a racing bucket type. The colourful striped trim continued on the rear bench seat.

Steering was through a Petri sports wheel. Further safety features included a Heizmann fire extinguisher and an electrics cut off switch.

In this photo from 1976, a different wheel is fitted

Scirocco Cup versus Scirocco GTI.

Series sponsors Castrol and Sachs featured the Junior Cup in advertising campaigns.

In 1977, the Scirocco was replaced by the Golf GTI in the VW Junior Cup. Over the years the VW one-make format has also featured the Polo, New Beetle and Lupo. 2010 saw the return of the Scirocco in the Scirocco R-Cup series.

For more information, please click on the logo to go to the official VW Scirocco R-Cup site.

2010 Season

1976 VW Junior Cup champion Willi Bergmeister took part in the final race of the 2010 Scirocco R-Cup season. The championship was won by Kris Heidorn.

2010 Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup Race Calendar
 
23/24 Apr Hockenheim
 04/05 Jun Lausitzring
 02/03 Jul Norisring
 06-08 Aug Nürburgring
 03/04 Sep Brands Hatch
 17-19 Sep Oschersleben
 15/16 Oct Hockenheim

2011 Season

Round 1 of the 2011 season at Hockenheim. Mateusz Lisowski (8) took the series title.

2011 Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup Calendar.

29/30 Apr Hockenheim
03/05 Jun Spielberg
17/18 Jun Lausitzring
01/02 Jul Norisring
05/06 Aug Nürburgring
02/04 Sep Brands Hatch
16/18 Sep Oschersleben
21/22 Oct Hockenheim

2012 Season

Ola Nilsson (23) wins the 2012 season opener at Hockenheim.

2012 Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup Calendar.

27/28 Apr Hockenheim
04/05 May Lausitzring *
18/19 May Brands Hatch
01-03 Jun Spielberg
29/30 Jun Norisring
17/18 Aug Nürburgring
14-16 Sept Oschersleben
19/20 Oct Hockenheim

*Race won by Markus Winlekhock, the son of Manfred.

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