FATHER LIKE SON IN VW CUP

Paul Taylor and his race-winning Golf R32. Photo: Jakob Ebrey.

The driver holding the record for the greatest number of race wins in the Volkswagen Racing Cup, Paul Taylor, is to return to the Fuchs Lubricants-backed championship for 2010 to see if he can improve his tally – and he's bringing along his dad to help.

Paul, 44, will be at the wheel of the Golf R32 with which he won the championship title in 2006, while his 64-year-old father Tony will compete – as the oldest driver on the grid – in a Golf VR6.

"Dad has been racing for years," says Paul, "and he got me into it as a boy in karts. We've raced together in all sorts of things over the years, but never in the VWs. He always says that he's not going to win anything but that as long as he is not at the back and is enjoying himself, then he's happy."

The Taylors are banding together with Polo racer Darren Blumson and with the championship's other father-and-son pairing, Martyn and Barrie Culley, under the banner Adrenalin Motorsport to provide mutual between-race mechanical assistance.

Paul says he hopes a weight break handed to the four-wheel-drive Golf R32 for the coming season will aid reliability: "The problem last year was that it was running so heavy parts kept breaking under the strain. The reduced weight should help. It still won't be the fastest car out there but it will suit some tracks, and I'll be driving it 101 per cent, as I normally do."

Taylor's commitment brought him a win on his championship debut in 2005. He won the title the following season thanks to five race victories and he was third overall in 2008. In all he has won 14 races over five seasons; his closest rival is retiring double champion Joe Fulbrook with nine wins.

Taylor Jnr will be on the grid for the opening rounds of the championship at Oulton Park on 5 April, with dad Tony joining in from rounds three and four at Zandvoort the following month. Taylor Snr has secured the 2.9-litre VR6 Golf previously raced by Tony Harberman.

More information about the Fuchs Lubricants backed VW Cup can be found at Here