It's the ultimate Golf

Since its launch in 1982, fans of the iconic, giant-killing hatch have been gathering to celebrate each year at Worthersee in Austria.

Thousands of cars and their drivers flock to the Austrian town each May for five days of partying. This year Volkswagen selected the event to unveil its greatest Golf ever - the GTI W12-650 show car.

The W12-650 is powered by a 6.0-litre bi-turbo W12 engine that is mounted longitudinally directly behind the driver and front passenger. As its name suggests, the W12 is a 12-cylinder engine, effectively created by joining two 3.0-litre V6s that overlap at the crankshaft.

The beauty of the W-shaped configuration is that it doesn't weigh as much nor does it take up as much space as a standard design. Placing the engine in the middle of the car rather than the front as in a standard GTI provides a perfect 50/50 weight distribution.

The engine that formed the basis for this blown unit has been seen previously here in Audi's pricey, long wheelbase $300,000 A8 W12. With a bi-turbo fitted, however, it produces a massive 477kW (650hp) of power at 6000rpm and 750Nm of torque at 4500rpm.

Not surprisingly, with this kind of mumbo underfoot, the car rockets from 0-100km/h in just 3.7 seconds _ and on to a top speed of 325km/h.

Drive is fed to the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission.

There's no details about the brakes, but our money is on rather large Brembos.

The W12-650 is 160mm wider and sits 70mm lower than a standard GTI, at 1880mm in width (1760mm standard) and 1420mm high (1500mm standard).

The car is fitted with massive 19-inch rims kitted out with 235s up front and 295 rubber down the back. The deep dish alloys are turned inwards to make better use of available space.

Designers say the greatest challenge was to provide the mid-mounted engine with sufficient air, without watering down the GTI's side profile. The finished car had to still look like a GTI or the exercise would have been rendered pointless.

Closer inspection reveals the C-pillars form part of the air ducting for the engine cooling. In addition, provisions had to be made for sufficient downforce at the rear axle.

Instead of adding a huge rear wing, the entire carbon fibre roof acts as a giant diffuser feeding air over and under the rear spoiler like a race car. Two dual chrome-plated tailpipes frame the air outlet in the rear.

At the front of the car, the eye-catching straight-line grille between the headlamps, with its red frame, is reminiscent of the first GTI.

Inside transparent flip-up covers are fitted to important switches to prevent accidental activation, like the switch that turns off the electronic stability control system.

The door linings have been removed to save weight.

In a classic case of understatement VW said the car “outpaces” nearly all other cars in the world.

Really!