Four new speed record for diesel vehicles were set at Goudies Road Rerewhakaitu on Saturday 29^th & Sunday 30^th July 06 in a Volkswagen Jetta TDi.

Driver Maurice O’Reilly driving the Gull Volkswagen Jetta successfully set a new Diesel Speed record for the flying kilometer of 232.1245km/h.

This bettered the previous record by over 40kph.

The new flying mile record was set at 144.5416mph.

Like the recent Le Mans Winner the Jetta is powered by a turbocharged TDi engine. The small 1900cc Jetta engine produces high torque combined with low fuel consumption. The objective of challenging the speed record is to demonstrate that when used in new generation engines, Diesel is a serious performance fuel.

The Saturday attempt was frustrated by thick fog covering the bumpy 7km straight in the Southern BOP until only ˝ an hour before the road closure expired. There was time for only a few speed runs, each of which were an improvement on the previous. The record breaking team learned valuable lessons that would assist in future speed record attempts and are confident that the Jetta could achieve an even better speed if the occasion eventuates.