NEWS RELEASE: 22 FEBRUARY 2008
MINICAB FIRM BOSS HAILS HIMSELF A GOLF GTI
The managing director of one of Volkswagen's largest UK fleet customers has just taken delivery of another car to add to the 2300 Volkswagens already on his company's books. But the Golf GTI in question is a little different - it's a 150mph war-painted racing model in which Liam Griffin plans to take up a track career.
Griffin is the 34-year-old boss of Addison Lee plc - London's largest minicab, courier, chauffeur and coach company - and was bitten by the racing bug last year. 'I took part in some track days and thoroughly enjoyed them,' he said, 'so I started looking around at ways in which I could compete. It wasn't long before I found the Volkswagen Racing Cup, and thanks to the great relationship I have with Volkswagen it was a natural fit.'
Addison Lee runs a fleet of 2500 vehicles in the capital and almost all are Volkswagens, with the Sharan model making up the lion's share. The firm undertakes around 15,000 courier jobs a day in London and is responsible for moving 10,000,000 people every year.
Griffin's new Golf GTI, which was built by Milton Keynes-based Volkswagen Racing UK, will be prepared between races at Addison Lee's North London workshop by the firm's mechanics, who are looking forward to using their considerable Volkswagen maintenance skills on the racer.
Griffin, whose debut in the Hankook-backed Volkswagen Racing Cup at Oulton Park's Easter British GT/F3 meeting will be his maiden race, is also benefiting from the talents of another Addison Lee employee, the 'Faster Rasta' Olevi Doctrove, who used to rally a Polo and who is now a licensed race instructor. 'Olevi is giving me some coaching,' said Liam, 'and I am making progress. I have a lot to learn, and it's going to be interesting to see how I get on. It's also good to be going racing with work colleagues.'
Griffin's Golf is backed by Addison Lee, Volkswagen retailer Citygate, British Telecom, Sybase, Magenta Technology, Euro Car Parts and Pillar Data Systems.
The addition of his car means there will be at least seven current-model Golf GTIs on the Volkswagen Racing Cup grid in 2008, as well as older Golfs, a bevy of 3.2-litre Beetles, the new Jetta TSI and even a brace of turbodiesel Caddy vans.
The Volkswagen Racing Cup in association with Hankook is additionally supported by Augustus Martin, Castrol, ECM Vehicle Delivery, Milltek Sport, Mondial Assistance, KW Automotive, Superchips, TNT Logistics, Turbo Dynamics, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Volkswagen Financial Services UK.