[The Beginning] “Derhase” the 2019 VW GTI

The how and why I chose a GTI

Why I needed a car: I was in a wreck at Mid Ohio in my Mazda2 back in August of 2021. I wasn't 100% sure if I would be "able" to come back to driving on track. I had a concussion that lasted a good week or so, constant feeling of my head being heavier on my right side than my left, poor balance, hard to focus, etc. These symptoms got better/tolerable over the course of about a month, but I still wasn't sure how I'd be when I *actually* get back on track. I also have a 2005 Sequoia which I use daily for work so wasn't in a rush to buy anything. I had been driving the Mazda2 since 2013... it had 186k when it hit the wall, and had been autocrossed from the week I bought it and tracked regularly since 2016.

The day was going great, I was getting comfortable at Mid-Ohio, and felt it was time to go for a “flier lap” where I’d committed to WOT through the blind T1 under the bridge at Mid-Ohio. Unfortunately, a car ahead of me went off track, leaving a huge dust cloud. Coming through T1 I lost sight of track out and had to estimate where the track limits were and dipped two wheels off. I’m fairly sure I had a bit of steering input and “hooked” when I touched pavement and spun to the inside hitting the tire wall, bouncing off and rolling slowly back onto the track - where fortunately nobody else got involved. Here is a short video from the vantage point of the car behind me for reference: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uHbGlEmVQl4.

In hindsight the correct move would have been to keep the wheels straight and just drive into the grass on the right, but in the moment with the amount of dust present my primary concern was driving blind off track and finding potentially finding contact with the car that went off.

A few months went by and I started feeling more capable of doing track things again so decided I wanted to get *something*. Things that I took into consideration:

• Something I like to drive in general. If I got on track and realized I couldn't do it (have had friends that experienced this after a concussion), I didn't want to have to sell the car because it was otherwise worthless to me. Obviously this also rules out a dedicated track car.
  

• Enthusiast base. I've been tracking a car with very little aftermarket (and most that does exist was because parts interchanged with the Fiesta). VIR is my home track at 3.5hr away... I wanted something with somewhat decent power vs the 97whp I had before. Anything under 2:20 at VIR is at least respectable IMO, and this car (with someone else driving) should be able to do that without any real changes aside from tires and proper brakes.
  

• Safety. I wanted to be picky about the car chosen because a lot of Japanese stuff is notoriously bad about wheels intruding into the footwell area. A hard front end hit commonly results in the wheel going into the firewall mangling your legs/feet. Without a cage being a reasonable option in a streetable car, the GTI is one of the few cars I was looking at that is actually really damn good overall:
  https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/volkswagen/gti-4-door-hatchback/2017
  
  Compare the photos/video of the above to the Frisbee twins:
  https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/subaru/brz-2-door-hatchback/2020
  
  And BMW 3 series (M3 was what I was looking at):
  https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/bmw/3-series-4-door-sedan/2015
  
  With those ruled out, the other runner up was the Honda Civic Si which is actually also pretty decent overall:
  https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/honda/civic-4-door-sedan/2021

The final “shove” came from some friends who are VW techs that I track with. They had been pushing me to get into a MK7 for a LONG time now. I looked into them a bit and started keeping an eye out specifically for a 2019 Rabbit Edition. I wanted a 2019 for the longer “Peoples’ Warranty” that was 6yr/72k mi, and specifically a Rabbit because that was the only way to get the Lighting Package AND no sun roof. I hate sun roofs with a passion, and with all the known issues on MK7s with them, I wanted to avoid them like the plague. I was also considering a 2017 Sport if I could find one, as that was the only other way to get the LP/PP without a sun roof, but I really prefer the styling of the MK7.5 over the MK7, and the 2017 Sports are somewhat harder to find.

I ended up finding a white Rabbit Edition for sale at a nearby dealership. I liked it, my wife liked it, so win-win. It happened to be a DSG model, though I was mostly indifferent on 6MT vs DSG at the time. They both have their merits and their problems. The honest truth is you can’t go wrong with either one.

Just purchased - wife not realizing how much money I’m about to waste on this stupid car.

I immediately began doing very basic prep-work for it’s first track event 3 months after purchase, where I ran it at VIR as documented in the Feb 2022 Trip Report.

Aside from pads and fluid - Bone stock at VIR the first time out, all-seasons included.

The car has been an absolute blast, and very reliable overall. I’ve met a lot of cool people and due to the logging capabilities of this platform it’s allowed me to get REALLY nerdy with stuff, as evidenced by this website.

So that is the story of how it all started.