For sale is one of the first UK which we now have in, it is finished in Metallic Black and comes with optional Air Conditioning. The Golf GTI Clubsport S is the fastest front-wheel drive production car around the Nurburgring. Honda, Seat and Renault have been squabbling over that particular honour for the past year or so, but by recording a 7min 49.21secs lap in April Volkswagen usurped them all, bettering Honda’s Civic Type R by 1.4 seconds. The Clubsport S will be limited to 400 units, with 150 right-hand drive cars set to come to the UK. But if you haven't got your name down already you're out of luck, as every one of those UK-allocated cars has been sold out. The Clubsport S becomes the fastest and most exclusive model in an extensive line up of high-performance, front-wheel drive Golfs. The Golf GTI is the entry-level version, followed by the GTI Performance and the GTI Clubsport Edition 40, the model that marks 40 years of VW’s hot hatch and that forms the basis for the Clubsport S. With 306bhp the Clubsport S becomes the most powerful Golf ever, as well as the fastest. It uses the same EA888 2-litre, four-cylinder turbo unit that powers all high performance Golfs, tweaked here to deliver its peak output between 5800-6500rpm, with 280lb ft of torque available from 1850-5700rpm. For reference, the Clubsport delivers a peak power output of 286bhp on temporary overboost. The only transmission option is six-speed manual, carried over unchanged from the Clubsport. Drive is sent to the front wheels and apportioned between them by an electronically controlled limited slip differential. The Clubsport S carries over the Clubsport’s aerodynamic revisions. The front splitter and rear wing not only cancel out the 60kg of lift generated by the GTI Performance, they actually produce a small amount of downforce. VW’s engineers quote 8kg on the front axle and 17kg at the rear. They’re modest numbers, but with no lift to contend with VW has been able to make significant changes to the chassis balance. With so much more stability at high speed than before the engineers can dial in a more neutral balance, which reduces understeer and promotes oversteer characteristics. In a front-wheel drive car that translates into more speed through corners. From there the Clubsport S starts to distinguish itself from the Clubsport. The chassis gets bespoke damper tuning, new front knuckles, more camber front and rear with less toe and a lightweight front aluminium subframe. Those revisions are all designed to make the car more stable at speed, and reduce understeer. Bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres are standard fit (they’re optional on the Clubsport) and the brakes get specific pads and aluminium bowls that enable the discs to expand under sustained track work without warping. Some 30kg has been saved over the Clubsport by removing the rear seats and some sound deadening material. The car’s Individual drive mode has been configured specifically for the Nurburgring Nordschleife, which is notoriously bumpy. It slackens the dampers off to deal with the circuit’s countless bumps and high kerbs while keeping all other parameters in their most aggressive settings.A DSG gearbox would add 20kg to the overall weight of the car, so the engineers very quickly ruled it out as an option. Most cars will come fitted with air conditioning, but around five per cent will do without, saving a further 15kg. The exhaust, finally, is a freer breathing item to help achieve the lift in power.