WOLF WHISTLE
Words: Louise Woodhams
Photos: Matt Woods
The word ‘Lupo’ is Latin for ‘wolf’ and this particular example is certainly wild in both its appearance and actions.
“I think the most fun moment I’ve had in this Lupo was upsetting a Ferrari F430 driver who thought he could get away. It’s hardly stock-looking in Porsche GT3 green and with a stripped and caged interior, but people are still shocked to hear it has 393bhp, and that’s before the use of the nitrous oxide,” explains Jamie Jackson with a wry grin on his face.
That wasn’t a misprint by the way; the GTI Lupo’s 1.6-litre engine in standard guise pushes out 125bhp, which means Jamie has managed to triple its power output. If we take the manufacturer’s quoted kerb weight figure of 960kg, this Lupo has an impressive power-toweight ratio of 409hp per ton. The nearest comparison to that is a Ferrari F50. Interestingly the owner of that aforementioned Fezza has 342hp per tonne at his disposal, and no doubt spent five times as much as Jamie.
AGU 1.8T boasts GT2871 blower, PEC rods, Wossner pistons and a Nortech manifold. The result? 393bhp, and that’s before the NOS is switched on!
So, whilst the haters are going to hate (supercar owners and the purists who object to the outlandish colour scheme and Mk4 Golf 1.8T engine), they can’t deny it’s one crazy machine. In terms of nutty Lupos, we’ve only featured a few: Richard Baron’s (of Venom Motorsport fame) lime green project with the same conversion in the June 2004 issue, followed by a bright red one with an Edition 30 2.0-litre TFSI engine exactly ten years later. So modified Lupos of this calibre aren’t exactly common.