Journeying by ship to the GTI Meet

Jamie Orr and his CiTi Golf 3.6 at Wörthersee

The legendary GTI Meet at Wörthersee attracts the Volkswagen brand’s most loyal fans. American enthusiast and car collector, Jamie Orr, takes it to the extreme: In Johannesburg, South Africa, he constructed a CiTi Golf, which is based on the first generation Golf, in just six days. He equipped it with a 3.6-litre V6 petrol engine with around 300 PS from a Passat. To top it off, he then had his newly assembled rarity shipped to Wörthersee accompanied by his crew from the US and South Africa – along with five other vehicles.

Blogger and publisher of AUTOmativ.de, Benjamin Brodbeck met Jamie Orr at Wörthersee and spoke to him about his CiTi Golf and his passion for Volkswagen.

CiTi Golf with 300 PS from a 3.6-litre V6
“After a rainy night in the GTI camp, I met Jamie in the morning at the Volkswagen stand. Contrary to all forecasts, the weather is fortunately magnificent: the sun gleams off the fans’ highly polished GTIs as they crawl and rumble around the corso surrounding the main stage.

One car at the foot of the large main stage stands out in particular; a blue and white CiTi Golf with dramatically lowered suspension, white-spoked rims with gold appliqués. Of course, I know that this little gem belongs to Jamie. With a car like that, he’s recognised far and wide within the social networks. With a broad grin, the aficionado hurries me over to his CiTi Golf 3.6 Sport. After all, his schedule today is jam packed.

Author Benjamin Brodbeck (left) with Jamie Orr in front of the CiTi Golf.

The entire car is something special. From the hand-crafted interior with a pattern very similar to the GTI on the centre seat panels, to the heart of the matter, where a 3.6-litre engine with 300 PS taken from a US Passat is working to feed all of its power onto the front axle. Given the original output of 73 PS, that is an absolute devil of a performance increase. “This combination is – probably – the only one of its kind in the entire world”, says Jamie Orr. Of course, you have to be careful, because you can never be completely sure whether a statement like that is true. But in any case he doesn’t know of any other CiTi Golf with these engine specifications – anywhere in the world. “It was blue and white, and blue and white it will stay” – well, as original as possible.

The CiTi Golf, which was originally only produced in and for South Africa as a derivative of the Golf 1, was available in three colours: red, yellow and blue – each with a white stripe above the side panel and on the rear. But since South Africa’s most famous vehicle has not been produced since the end of 2009, Jamie bought it from a South African. He also came along to the Wörthersee Meet, proud that his car will get to see the world – and vice versa. The crew even had CiTi 3.6 fan shirts made, which he also wore.

The restauration and the technical changes were designed to maintain as much of the car’s originality as possible. They were necessary, however, as the car was not in very good condition.

Which makes the transformation in Johannesburg in just six days even more impressive. “It was simply unbelievable: Volkswagen South Africa invited me to their central parts store that normal people never get to see. I ordered the genuine parts from there – for example the rear lid and the bonnet. The on-site support provided by Volkswagen South Africa and by tuning enthusiasts was breath-taking: over thirty people – even entire families – helped to convert this car in an extremely short timeframe.

The CiTi 3.6’s biggest fan? The South African police!
It is the minute details of his storytelling that impress me – Jamie can certainly make his experiences come to life. But what I find so interesting is how he manages to bring people together and share in his passion for the subject. His enthusiasm for the product and for a set goal is at the top of the agenda – and fascinates the people around him.

Even the South African police are some of the biggest fans of the CiTi 3.6 project. Once the car was finished, Jamie presented it at “Vdub Camp Fest” – the largest Volkswagen Tuning Show in South Africa. From there, it was about 1,000 kilometres to the Volkswagen plant in Uitenhage to transport the CiTi Golf via ship to Emden – and Europe and then on to Wörthersee.

The police stopped him on the way and – after a brief glance at his CiTi 3.6 – asked him to step out. As Jamie told me this story, he was holding his hands in front of his face and is probably still surprised himself at how the story ends. “My passenger and I had to lean against the bonnet of the car with our arms spread – like criminals – while the police searched us. After they saw our papers, they told me to open the bonnet. I thought to myself, it’s over.”

But before I even got the engine compartment open, the officers’ eyes lit up. They laughed and hooted: “That’s exactly what we wanted to see! We saw your stories on Instagram and wanted to see this car for ourselves!” They congratulated Jamie on his car, who, by this point was completely confused, and thanked him for his commitment to this special project.

Jamie commented that the whole story was “totally crazy”.

“A powerful car, the Golf GTI TCR”¹
Jamie is, of course, excited by the 290 PS of the newly introduced Golf GTI TCR concept car. “Whow, it is indeed a powerful car”, he told me – grinning once again.

The concept car, which goes into series production at the end of the year, is the most powerful and, with a high speed of 264 km/h, the fastest road version in the current model programme of the GTI family. With a sporty tuned and adaptive chassis control (DCC) suspension system, a mechanical front differential lock and an Akrapovič exhaust system, it will ignite the excitement of any GTI fan.

When asked why he goes to all the trouble, Jamie answers: “Look, I’ve been lucky enough in life that I can do exactly this here. I want to show off my passion to the world with my international work on special cars and above all with people who share my passion – and bring people together in the process.”

The fact that these are not empty words becomes evident when his crew from South Africa and the USA arrive. They clearly share Jamie’s passion, with some of them coming to Wörthersee with their own cars.

On 16 May, they return to the USA and South Africa on a Volkswagen transport ship together with the cars and including the brand’s newest vehicles.”

Benjamin Brodbeck