Jetta TDI Cup // Live at the Portland GP

For those of you who thought diesels were not worthy of a race track, click here. For the rest of us, the Jetta TDI Cup represents the future of motorsports. In a few days, the Mazda Grand Prix of Portland will be under way, and with it comes a plethora of racing and racing classes. Amongst the racing groups are 30 Volkswagen TDI Jetta’s, race tuned and ready to rock. The drivers consist of 16-26 year old, non-professional, self motivated individuals with glory on their minds. Glory, why glory you say? Well, with a buy in cost of $35,000 per driver, per season, the entry fee represents a few things. All of the cars are owned by Volkswagen and maintained by Arciero Miller Racing, leaving the drivers to concentrate on what they do best, drive fast. All of the cars are tuned and tested to be identical in every way, leaving no room for financial excuses like, “If I just had better brakes!” Each driver is a novice licensed SCCA competitor, facing an 8 race schedule and a field of competitive individuals. Each driver had to try out for their respected position and with a $150,000 purse waiting for the points leader at the end of the season, that's the glory we were taking about. No, wait, that's not it. If the winning driver, come the end of the season, lands himself a professional seat in another race car, Volkswagen will provide an additional $100,000 to support their effort. Now that's the glory these guys are racing for! Arciero Miller Racing, contracted by Volkswagen to maintain and run the Jetta TDI racing series, is no newbie to the racing world. With a VW Touareg Baja effort underway and a history of VW backed Paris-Dakar races, they are a proper fit for the up and coming class. We look forward to meeting and greeting all of the drivers at the Mazda GP, and will be covering the Jetta TDI race live from PIR. Oh, did we mention the current points leader is from the Northwest! // 07.16.2008