Volkswagen creates world's fastest Arteon

Volkswagen Group Australia has developed an unlikely supercar beater out of its stylish Arteon sedan that's set to do battle at the World Time Attack Challenge in Sydney this Friday (October 12).

Powered by a heavily tuned version of the standard Arteon's 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder, the track-ready sedan -- dubbed the ART3on -- produces a punchier 360kW of power and 600Nm of torque (up from 206kW/350Nm).

This, says VW, is enough to launch the ART3on to 100km/h in just 3.9 seconds. Helping deploy its impressive performance on track is the standard car's seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and 4MOTION all-wheel drive.

Volkswagen Australia apprentices and specialists from the automotive aftermarket industry liberated all that extra power via a larger turbocharger, redesigned air intake, bigger intercooler, new sports exhaust, upgraded cooling system and revised software governing the engine and transmission.

To harness all that power, the ART3on gets a big brake upgrade and lower Bilstein sports suspension.

Finally, the fast Volkswagen gets a stripped out interior, roll cage, race seats and runs on Pirelli P Zero Trofeo track-biased tyres.

To ensure its performance isn't the only talking point of the race-ready VW sedan, the fast sedan also comes complete with an eye-catching paint job worthy of its ART3on name.

Created by renowned Sydney street artist Simon Murray, aka 'KADE', the vibrant one-off paint job is said to elevate the track-suited Volkswagen to art-car status.

Shakedown testing has already been completed at Luddenham Raceway, but Volkswagen Australia hasn't released a target lap time for the ART3on at Sydney Motorsport Park.

However, it's thought the world's fastest Arteon will display giant-slaying performance that will stray into supercar territory.

It's not the first time Volkswagen Australia has caused a few upsets at the World Time Attack Challenge.

Last year another team of VW apprentices and motorsport experts created a diesel Amorak V6 ute that delivered Golf GTI-humbling performance, despite weighing in at a considerable 2.2 tonnes.

Named the 'Big Bad Wolf', the race-prepped Amarok Highline’s chassis was modified but its 165kW/550Nm V6 turbo-diesel engine was left alone.

Despite boasting no more power, the big German ute ended up setting a timed lap of 1:57.1 -- almost two seconds quicker than a Golf GTI -- around the Eastern Creek circuit.

Since then Volkswagen has released the more powerful V6 Ultimate 580, which delivers up to 200kW/580Nm on overboost – the highest outputs of any ute in its class.