Table of contents for November 2020 in Performance VW

When we think back to aftermarket styling during the 80’s and 90’s it’s easy to cringe and wonder what the hell some companies were thinking. However, if you look at the demo cars built back then more closely, vehicles produced by the likes of Zender, Oettinger, Rieger, it’s actually the poor stance that let a lot of these cars down. We’ve been saying for a while now that even the wildest Mattig creation would look bang on point these days if fitted with modern suspension components and low profile tyres to dial the ride height in. Stance clearly does play a massive factor, but then so does good taste, too. Choosing to use a sprinkling of the right period parts, but knowing where to stop is also fine line that…

In their own words, HP Tuners offer tuning solutions that are ideal for the weekend warrior and the professional tuning shops. The American firm is constantly releasing support for additional vehicles, and focusing on making its software easy to use and hassle free for the customer. HP Tuners actually offers both hardware and software. So, you can buy the MPV12 dongle, and credits - and map your car yourself, if you're so inclined - or go to an HP Tuners dealer, hand them your car and some cash and leave with many powers. So, the product is aimed at end users and tuners too. HP recently launched software for VW’s 2.0T engine and transmission modules. Using the latest generation MPVI2 and the feature packed VCM Suite – you can read,…

While developing its new Golf 8, Volkswagen required a tyre that offered a super low rolling resistance without comprising other performance areas. Bridgestone, Volkswagen’s long-term partner, answered that brief with custom-developed Turanza Eco tyres with ENLITEN Technology which achieve a best-in-class EU label A-grade in rolling resistance. One of the standout features of this custom-engineered tyre is the improved vehicle handling it enables. This is thanks to the synergy between the unique materials used to create ENLITEN Technology and a new mixing process that has enhanced the technology’s compound wear performance, without compromising on grip. Alongside enhanced driving dynamics due to a lower rotating mass, Bridgestone’s new innovative lightweight tyre technology sets a new standard in reduced material use and rolling resistance to deliver significant environmental benefits. To find out…

The names Simon Sweetland and StillStatic will be familiar with many readers of this magazine, especially those who have been around the scene for a while. Simon is a regular to these pages, having been building his own show cars for over twenty years, plus he was one of the founding members of Edition38. Need we say more? Well, yes, that’s just a small part of the story. After leaving E38 in 2010, Simon shortly went on to form his own suspension specialist company, StillStatic. The latter was not only aimed at turning his hobby into a successful business, but also somewhere he could pass on the knowledge he’d gained from two decades of tinkering with his own cars and getting them to drive as low as humanly possible without…

Modifying cars is a virus. No two ways about it – exposure to modded and customised rides leads directly to an infestation of such behaviour in your own sphere of reality, regardless of whether you’ve had any interest in these shenanigans before. It’s all-pervading, deeply invasive, and totally incurable. We needn’t see this as a negative, of course. It’s not the sort of virus which demands that you wear a mask in shops and bump elbows instead of shaking hands. No, think of it more like the positive viruses in the ‘Quarantine’ episode of Red Dwarf. (That’s a nineties reference, look it up.) The kind of thing that entangles itself within the helixes of your very DNA and works hard to make your life better. Just ask Millie Robinson –…

O’m a bit rubbish with working on cars, I admit it. Sure, I love to get stuck in and have a go, and in my teens and early-twenties I was always keen to have a crack at swapping an oil pump here and a bodykit there, simply to save on garage labour bills. But over the years I’ve concluded that modding and maintenance is something I’d prefer to leave to the professionals. This is the same line of thinking which explains why I don’t perform dentistry on myself, I don’t cut my own hair, I’d never try to re-tile my roof, and if I should ever find myself in the position of needing a heart bypass, I’ll probably ask a surgeon to take care of it. It just makes sense.…

There's no denying that America has a lot of cool stuff; a popular culture that the rest of the world cant get enough of, breathtaking vistas, every kind of weather… and not all in the same day either, proper nice cars, music everyone is crazy about, movies and telly that's got you hooked… its the land of the beautiful people, home of the brave and the rest of it. Ever since the Brits and the rest of the Euro crew loaded up their galleons and headed west a couple of hundred years ago, the US of A has been a must see destination for everyone and their grandmother. As with every English invasion, be it Tenerife or the Colonies, the Brits packed everything including the kitchen sink. It seems that…

We know, it’s not a Volkswagen. Actually, it’s not even a car, but as 3D printing technology continues to advance, we couldn’t help but let you know about the new Superstrata 3D-printed e-bicycle. It features an impact-resistant unibody carbon-fibre frame, which is available in both traditional and e-bike style. Lighter than two bottles of water (as tested) and allegedly stronger than Kevlar, the Superstrata is a world’s first. The Terra bike and Ion e-bike will be made to measure for each individual rider, as customers send their measurements in for their bike to be 3D printed - bespoke down to the spokes. With more than 500,000 unique combinations available, no two bikes will be the exact same. In a word, want! PRICE: Terra £2599 and Ion £3699 CONTACT: www.superstrata.bike…

Chassis expert Powerflex has released details of its precision-moulded front radius rod bush for the VW T25/T3 Transporter model. The standard part on these vehicles can wear through its sleeve when worn out, cutting into and then damaging the front cross member, if left. With many T25s also being lowered, with aftermarket wheels and tyres, this problem can quickly be accelerated. The Powerflex upgrade is precision moulded in the firm’s trademark 80A polyurethane material to give compliance and comfort, only with greater control and precision. Supplied with stainless steel sleeves, CNC machined aluminium cups and plated steel washers it won’t just give your T25 better steering feel and feedback, but also enhances braking stability and reduces tyre wear. PRICE: £44.45 CONTACT: www.powerflex.co.uk…

Stopping stones, reducing puddle splashes and keeping airflow onto your brakes are all jobs carried out by the brake disc backing plate. However their location on your vehicle puts them at risk from damage and corrosion from all the crud they catch. Help is at hand though. Heritage Parts Centre have these available new for owners of all VW T4 models. They're sold individually allowing you to replace a broken or missing splash guard singularly, although priced at £12.75 each, we expect you'll chose to purchase a pair for complete peace of mind. PRICE: £12.75 each CONTACT: www.heritagepartscentre.com…

Cory Sterling (yes, the same guy that owns and built this month’s cover car) has been holding his York VAG Fair event since way back in 2006, and thankfully the show has continued to offer a true enthusiast feel to it, even to this day. I guess when an event is put on by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, then very little can get in the way. The laid back feel starts from the moment you pull into the show ground and realise you’re allowed to park where you want, rather than being ordered to lined up in categories. Thankfully, despite all that was going on elsewhere in the world, this year’s event did still go ahead and it was held on the second weekend in August. Despite having originally been planned…

My name is Jerry Xiao (@ Kujiwara) and last year I took my 2004 Jetta GLI from my home in Canada to Europe for a 43-day road trip of a lifetime. During that time, I drove over 12,000km in Europe and 6000km in the USA and Canada (that's over 11,000 miles in total). The story began after I reached out to regular PVW contributor, Jamie Orr, to see how we could take my West coast Canadian Jetta to Germany, shipping out from the East coast of American as part of Jamie’s 2019 USA to Worthersee crew. The difference with my trip was that whereas Jamie’s team would stay for just 14 days, my journey would last a total of 43 days! From Vancouver, Canada, initially I had the car transported…

PWR provides world class cooling solutions for various F1, NASCAR, V8 Supercars, DTM, BTCC and World Rally Championship teams and is recognised as a world leader when it comes to high performance cooling. You’ll be pleased to hear it also produces parts for road cars and this intercooler is a direct replacement for the factory fitted item used in all Mk7/Mk7.5 Golf GTI & R 2.0 TSI models. Developed and tested by PWR in the unforgiving Australian summer, it is manufactured to the highest standard, and has been proven to provide 83% increased cooling, 40% more cooling capacity and 25% better intake temps over the stock cooler. Each unit has billet machined outlets, and utilises all OEM mounts and pipework. This unit has been dyno proven to provide 300kw (402bhp)…

Leading suspension specialist GAZ has announced its GHA 'Street Kit' coilover suspension kit for the Audi TT 2wd 1998-01. The kit has been designed specifically with road use in mind and has the relevant spring and damping rates - although it is also suitable for track day use we’re told! GAZ damper units allow damping adjustment whilst on the vehicle by means of easily accessible adjuster knobs. Shortened body and stroke lengths allow a-25 to -55mm ride height adjustment at the front and the coilover units have a coarse acme form thread for easy height adjustment. Each unit is finished in zinc as standard to minimise corrosion and to ensure that the height adjusters will go on working for many years to come. Black zinc finish is available as an…

For those who wish to retain the standard downpipe, whilst still improving the sound and performance of their Mk7.5 GTI, Cobra has developed a solution in the form of its new Venom performance exhaust system which fits neatly to both GPF and earlier pre-GPF models. Precision TIG-welded from T304 stainless steel, this is the loudest possible cat back exhaust system currently offered by Cobra Sport for the Mk7.5 GTI. The 'Venom' exhaust essentially replaces the standard vehicle's back box and centre section with beautiful mandrel-bent pipework. The exhaust replaces the large standard centre resonator with a smaller unit to iron out any possible drone that would otherwise be created. Throughout the rev range, Venom-equipped GPF cars are an average of 7db louder than standard, and when fitted with the optional…

The years are ticking away towards the Golf’s 50th anniversary, and it’s got quite the legacy under its belt. Tasked with filling the Beetle’s dauntingly big shoes, it’s the car that really kick-started Volkswagen’s water-cooled era, with variants of its eight generations proving just as comfortable hauling families and work tools as they have been for open-top road trips and track days. But some are just that little more multi-talented than the norm. Context is everything, obviously. There are no prizes for figuring out, based on the rest of this magazine, that there’s more to Paul White’s backdated drop-top than you’ll get from a passing glimpse. Behind the chrome trim, those subtly-staggered BBS wheels and that eye-popping tartan retrim, it’s a dollar-bill hued bruiser. Drop it into pretty much any…

Marking time has become something of a constant through 2020. With all that’s going on in the world, it’s grown into a bit of a habit to mentally tick off the weeks as they pass by, aiming for some sort of ethereal ‘return to normal’ at an indeterminate point down the line. Of course, for car enthusiasts it’s always been ingrained to have a keen sense of what’s happening and when, as the show season and the track calendar provide markers throughout the year. It’s perhaps for this reason that the fabled Pirelli calendar has always been so popular: since 1964, this arty publication has been hung from garage walls and workshop doors, combining racy imagery with a countdown to the next big thing. In a neat demonstration of automotive…

OZY DINC INSTAGRAM: @ozygti AGE: 21 LOCATION: London MODEL: 2016 VW Golf GTi PURCHASED: 2019 FIRST MODs: Facelift LED taillights, full carbon steering wheel SPENT: Excess of £10k FUTURE MODS: Carbon bootlid as we speak, carbon roof, stage 3, change the wrap colour again DUB DETAILS ENGINE: MRC Tuning Stage 2 software, Scorpion decat and catback exhaust, RacingLine turbo elbow and muffler delete, NGK completion -8 spark plugs, BMC panel filter, APR coil packs and short shifter, Sachs racing Stage 2 clutch CHASSIS: 19” OZ Ultraleggera III split wheels, Whiteline front and rear ARB, heavy duty adjustable drop links, 034 motorsports lower and upper dogbone mount insert, H&R -35mm springs, RS3 aluminium subframe and arms, front strut brace, rear BAF Motorsports K brace EXTERIOR: Seibon wide carbon fibre vented wings,…