Flying Beetle

RIDING ALONG WITH TANNER FOUST IN VWÕS 550HP GRC BEETLE

- Bradley Iger

It all happened so fast, but I guess that’s to be expected in a car that does 0-60 mph in less than 2 seconds. By the time my brain finished processing the sheer magnitude of the dirt jump in front of us—a two-story launch pad that serves as the centerpiece of the Port of Los Angeles GRC course—we were airborne, sailing over the 70-foot ramp with a panoramic view of San Pedro Bay through the windshield.

I braced for a kidney-crushing impact on the other side, but the suspension simply soaked it up like a pothole, and once the tires reached pavement, we were back at wideopen throttle, approaching triple-digit speeds in the time it takes to let out a breath. 

Those of us who are fortunate enough to spend their time behind the wheel of the world’s most capable sports cars tend to be a jaded bunch when it comes to performance—we somehow become acclimated to 1.2 g of lateral grip and sub-4-second sprints to freeway speeds. But this Beetle is on an entirely different level, combining offroad and road-racing capability to such a high degree that it gives me an entirely new kind of appreciation for Tanner Foust’s skill behind the wheel. He seems nearly clairvoyant when it comes to car control, anticipating the VW’s behavior two maneuvers ahead. Still, it’s clear that both car and driver are working together to achieve the performance I’m witness to here.

“The GRC Beetle is just a ridiculous car,” Foust told me before we headed out on track. “Like any race car, it is purpose built, but its purpose is fairly chaotic. It’s got to handle a launch from a standstill, hold around 2 g’s of grip on tarmac with a 10-inch tire, take jumps that are as long as 200 feet, and be good on the gravel with what are essentially racing slicks.”