Índex per July 2024 a Performance VW

Well, after what feels like an eternity, I’ve finally got my beloved Golf Rallye back on the road. Yes, it’s been an emotional roller coaster, but has it been worth it? Head to page 72 to find out. All I will say at this point is a massive thanks to everybody that’s been involved in the car’s recommissioning, especially Tim Saunders at The Phirm who has been an absolute legend for project managing the build. Amazingly, we’re still on talking terms, too… Up the sharp end this month we have Gordon Higgins’s race-inspired Mk1 1.8T (p8), which is about as timeless as they come. Elsewhere in the issue we have a bagged and boosted Mk6 Golf R from Holland (p26), a 900bhp carbon-clad Audi RS3 saloon (p34) and a his…

Rotiform just released its latest Cast MonoBlock wheel named the RC201 LSE. The LSE features a mesh Y-spoke hybrid design and intricate ‘Dimpled Hub Pockets’, which really set the wheel apart. It has been launched in Gloss Silver Machined, Anthracite and Matte Black finishes. The five-stud wheel is available in 5x112 and 5x120 fitment, staggered 19” and 20” dimensions with a number of offsets on the table, too. The 19” wheels start at £344.40, while the 20” Transporter fitment (weight loading 997kg per wheel) are priced from £376.80. For more details, head to the site below. PRICE: From £344.40 CONTACT: rotiform.com Got a product, service or offer you want our readers to know about? Email: pvw.ed@kelsey.co.uk with all the details and we’ll make it happen…

Carly, the direct-to-consumer car diagnostics company, has just launched the first-ever free Car History Check. Carly’s Car History check will allow prospective car buyers to access comprehensive history on any car using just a vehicle registration number, completely for free. This new service will allow users to ascertain if a car has been written-off, stolen, damaged or clocked. Currently, “VIN checker” services charge up to £30 for an individual car history check. For anyone interested in checking the viability of several cars, either as a comparison exercise or for purchasing a fleet of vehicles, this service can soon add up to hundreds of pounds. PRICE: £0 CONTACT: mycarly.com…

This new IE HPFP Internal Kit upgrades the high pressure fuel pump in your Audi B9 3.0T or 2.9T engine with the largest volume possible piston and cylinder design to unlock fuel delivery for hybrid turbos and its Stage ½ Plus ECU tunes. Manufactured with top-quality components and an industry-leading QC process to ensure extreme reliability this will increase your fuelling overhead and allow you to enjoy worry-free HPFP operation for your 6-cylinder turbocharged engine. IE also offers other HPFP upgrades for many other popular VAG engines. PRICE: $399.99 CONTACT: performancebyie.com…

Physicists might disagree, but speed isn’t a black and white concept. That fingertip-tingling rush of adrenaline varies wildly depending on what you’re sat in, and the gap becomes even wider once you factor bikes into the equation. Ask anyone who’s grown up on two wheels, and they’ll tell you that the buzz of riding is hard to replicate in a car, but it also isn’t out of reach for the most determined owners. In Adam Smith’s case, that point of reference set him on a course for a project fleet pushing out just shy of 2,000bhp – and almost half of that comes from this car. “For me, cars are all about the adrenaline and speed,” he tells us. “I was brought up on motocross, so I was into bikes…

With its 306hp EA888 motor and all-wheel-drive, the VW Golf R Mk7 was a hoot to drive out of the box. Our definitive tuning guide demonstrates how to make what many consider to be the best Hot Hatch even better! For most enthusiasts, Volkswagen’s 300ps (296bhp) all-wheel-drive Mk7 Golf R offered more than enough to get their juices flowing and pulses racing. With a sub 5-secs 0-60mph dash and 155mph (limited) top speed, it’s no wonder your average owner was happy to leave the extremely hot hatch totally stock. Chances are, though, if you’re a PVW fan, then you’re not your average car owner. With that in mind, our VW Golf R Mk7 tuning guide will talk you through the various stages of upgrades available for the cult car. We…

There must be something in the (Highland Spring mineral) water recently. In April we featured Steve Fraser’s bagged R8 (yeah, we know Steve is a Londoner but he now lives on the outskirts of Glasgow with his Scottish wife Becca whose dope and decked Porsche Macan also featured in the shoot), In May, Lee Docherty took cover for the second time with his TSW Venom wearing, neon-equipped Mk3 Golf love letter to the good old days, and now we bring you Gordon Higgins’ clinically clean take on Mk1 Golf perfection. Of course, Scottish snapping supremo Ade Brannon has photographically captured all of these bonnie builds, documenting the rise and rise of Clan Wolfsburg. Clydebank-based graphics company owner Gordon is no stranger to these pages as he and his good pal…

Check out these whopping new stoppers for various MQB and MQB EVO vehicles from America-tuner APR. These beautifully crafted brakes come with 370x34mm semi-floating two-piece discs, mega six-pot billet calipers (with stainless pistons), High-performance Street pads, stainless brake hoses, plus billet mounting brackets to suit your car. Also included in the kit is all necessary install hardware and comprehensive fitment and bed-in instructions. APR describes these as an ultra-high-end solution for maximum stopping power and from where we’re sitting, we can see why. These are said to be low noise, vibration and harshness. They will stop quicker, last longer and be more consistent than stock. What’s not to like? Oh, and you can even choose from grey or red calipers. What are you waiting for? PRICE: From $3999.95 CONTACT: goapr.com…

RacingLine’s massive High Performance ‘Plate & Bar’ Stepped Intercooler for the Polo GTI AW and Audi A1 40 TFSI (2017+) offers a 56% increase in core volume over stock. It features a high-speed core using extra tall internal tubes for maximum boost flow, minimising the typical lag increase that often results from running such a big cooler. The Polo’s factory intercooler is unable to cope with the demands of higher power, hard driven cars, showing up as serious power losses during demanding driving as air temperatures soar. Fitting this RacingLine Performance Intercooler for your Polo GTI AW 2017+ is the answer for repeated high performance driving! PRICE: £598.80 CONTACT: racingline.shop…

When Simon Gough lost his convertible Bug in an accident in 1991, it wasn’t just the sorry Beetle that left him. “The feeling I had with that car never came back,” he says, sadly. “I went through another three Bugs during ’92 and ’93, but eventually they were all sold and I just moved away from the whole VW scene completely.” If you think you’re ever going to fall out of love with Volkswagens, we have news for you. It just doesn’t happen. There may be gaps in ownership, but you will never fully lose it. Simon’s situation is the perfect case in point. A year shy of a full three decades later, he found himself in Sheffield during the summer negotiating on another Beetle Cabriolet. “I always knew there…

Remember the stunning multi-spoke 18” wheels that adorned the Beetle RSI when it left the factory? Stunning, weren’t they? Sadly, they’re almost impossible to get hold of and if you can find a set then the 18” diameter wheels do look a little bit small on most of the larger new-wave cars. Thankfully, the team at B-Star wheels, who are famed for creating upsized versions of some of the classic OEM wheels, has just announced its plans to produce an 8.5x19” wheel that draws inspiration from the RSI wheels. Its RSi-1985 will come as a 5x100 or 5x112 fitment wheel and be available in ET20, 33 and 43 offsets. This gives you the chance to choose from either a square or staggered offset set. Finished in the period correct Bright…

Glen Van Der Linden is a Golf guy. The 26-year-old window film specialist from Noord Brabant in the Netherlands is on his fourth one. “I've always liked the Golf model,” Glen tells us. “They’re fun to drive and with little adjustments, they look very good. But as you can see, it never stops with those little adjustments.” Starting with a MK3 Golf GT, Glen kept it rather simple, including suspension upgrades and some minor modifications. Following that, a MK4 V5 was given some trim changes to help it masquerade as an R32, while a MK4 GTI on coilovers and aftermarket wheels ended his Golf game for a while. “After that, I owned a BMW E46 which was my first actual show car. I built that car from beginning till end.”…

The annual VolksWorld show, organised by sister title, VolksWorld magazine, has continued to bring together the UK’s finest air-cooled cars, plus a bunch of the finest from Europe, for many years now. However, when the bean counters this end decided to add Porsche and watercooled displays into the mix this year (creating VolksWorld Plus) a few of the air-cooled OGs were slightly cynical. This certainly shocked us as we’d always thought of the air-cooled scene as being super laidback and generally groovy about everything. It reminded us just how inclusive and openminded the modified water-cooled scene has always been. There’s never been any ‘them’ and ‘us’ when it comes to air- and watercooled Dubs. In fact, as much as we consider ourselves die-hard water-cooled people, we’ve always embraced something, regardless…

Good things come to those who wait and boy have I waited to get ‘my’ Rallye back on the road, but as the saying goes, everything happens for a reason. Lady Luck certainly has a funny way of operating sometimes. It’s safe to say that at times I’ve been more than frustrated with the various delays which have held back the Rallye’s resto’ progress over the past 15 years. However, had I not pulled the car off the road when I did back in 2008, then chances are it would have been long gone by now. In fact, since 2008, I’ve got married, had two kids, started my own business, had a stroke (that I don’t like to talk about - lol) and moved house numerous times. Had the car…

Car manufacturers don’t like to waste money fitting unnecessary parts, so why doesn’t our Jetta simply have a high-pressure fuel pump, gravity fed from the tank? What it actually has is a low-pressure pump in the fuel tank, feeding a fuel reservoir which the high-pressure pump sits in. Surely one pump would do the job? Well yes, it would, but not with this type of fuel tank. Remember, lesser versions of the Jetta and Golf had a carburettor. On these models the low pressure in-tank pump on our car would be connected straight to that carburettor’s float chamber – job done. But even if VW had simply replaced that low pressure in-tank pump with a high-pressure unit suitable for fuel injection, it still wouldn’t have worked properly. The reason comes…

JUNE 1st FORGE BRUNCH CLUB Forge Motorsport HQ forgemotorsport.co.uk 2nd PLUSFOURFOUR SHOW Hartham Park, Corsham plusfourfourautomotive.co.uk 2nd STONOR VW 40 Stonor Park, Henley-on-Thames abvwc.com/stonor 7-9th VW TUNING SHOW Karlovac, Croatia vwtuningshow.com 8-9th CUMBRIAVAG SHOW & SHINE Westmorland Country Showground cumbriavag.co.uk 8-9th VACATIONLAND Maine, USA vagfair.com 8-9th VW DAYS Seraucourt-Le-Grand, France clubgolfidf.com 8-9th PLAYERS CLASSIC Goodwood Circuit players-show.com 9th BHP FUEL FEST Westpoint Arena, Exeter bhpshows.com 15th UDDERLY EURO Neenah, Wisconsin, USA udderlyeuro.com 23rd VAG NATION R-LOADED Zele, Belgium vagnationreloaded.be 28-30th DANES N DUBS Hadsund, Denmark danesndubs.com 28-30th EUROPEAN BUG-IN 10 Chimay Raceway, Belgium europeanbugin.com 28-30th MODIFIED NATIONALS Lincoln Showground modifiednationals.com 30th CULT CLASSIC Cooperburg, Pennsylvania, USA nlscultclassic.com JULY 4-7th WOLFSBRUPPE VAG EVENT & VOLXZONE 15TH ANNIVERSARY Zerkw, Poland volxzone.com 6th EURO TREFFEN Blue Circle Sailing Club, Larne, NI GTINI.com 7th…