“We would have had a good chance but it was over before it began. Our F1 project was killed off in the boardroom”
VW ENGINE CHIEF
Volkswagen will join Formula 1 in 2026 through Audi participation, but in the ’80s it also launched a top secret plan to join the F1 grid. How far did the Germans go and why was it hushed up? Gary Watkins investigates
A partnership with Judd was explored
Klaus Peter Rosorius was head of VW Motorsport
V6 power for the Golf R32
Peter Hofbauer was VW’s engine chief
An error by Nielsen at the 1984 Macau GP
John Nielsen (No30) racing for VW in the 1982 European Formula 3 series
Nielsen expected to move to F1 with VW
GRAND PRIX PHOTO, SIMON ARRON, McKLEIN, PAUL-HENRI CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES, VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
Volkswagen will be on the Formula 1 grid come 2026. Its Audi brand has confirmed its entry to the motor sport big time, while sister marque Porsche may or may not still have plans to join it. Yet for all Porsche’s heritage in F1, it will be Volkswagen’s first involvement. The Stuttgart marque wasn’t part of the German car giant when it was a race winner in the 1960s, nor when it was building the TAG turbo engines that powered McLaren to a trio of world drivers’ titles in 1984-86. What isn’t widely known is that the McLaren-TAGs might have faced opposition from the manufacturer that would eventually seize full control of Porsche in 2012 after a protracted ownership battle.
Nearly 40 years ago, VW was working on a 1.5-litre F1 turbo engine of its own. Much of the detail of a project that got little if any press coverage in the UK in period appears to have been lost in the midst of time, yet, says one of its architects, it was “very serious”. Those are the words of longtime VW engine boss Peter Hofbauer, who conceived what was admittedly a short-lived project along with the late Klaus-Peter Rosorious, the manufacturer’s even longerserving head of motor sport.
There was an early stage development engine in existence at VW headquarters in Wolfsburg and a racing specialist was being lined up as a development partner. Discussions were underway with multiple F1 teams, which seem to have run alongside an alternative plan for an entry with a chassis bearing VW badges. It even had a driver under contract.