Table of contents for October 2023 in Performance VW

Generally, when it comes to modifications, most of the Corrados we’ve featured in the past haven’t been over the top. Less is more is usually the best approach. Karmann got the ingredients so spot on in the late 80s when the Corrado rolled off the production line, that to mess with the formula too much can often been considered sacrilege. Okay, bringing that beautifully sculptured body an inch or two closer to terra firma never caused too much of a stir, and swapping the rollers for something more unique or special is hardly going to upset the purists. You just mustn’t go too over the top… Of course, there are occasionally exceptions to the rule and this stunning Corrado VR6, built by forty-year-old German, Robin Schwab is exactly that. He…

When you consider this T5 is nearly 20 years old, it puts into perspective just how much work has gone into making it look this good. If we didn’t spill the beans, there’s really very little chance of you guessing its age. Even the dash has been updated with a T5.1 centre console. It’s all down to the skills and vision of 35-year-old owner of PM Tuning, Geno Mellici. Inspired by the JPL Automotive double cab build and the Transporter HQ single cab, Geno decided he wanted in. Not just any old in, he was all in. “I saw them in the flesh at Camperjam,” he recalls. “I immediately started looking for a donor when I got back from the show.” After already building a T5 camper to an incredibly…

With the German Car Festival at Silverstone just around the corner, we thought a track guide of the National Circuit might tempt a few of you into one of the many track session being held on the day. Honestly, it’s not that hard… NATIONAL CIRCUIT This 1.64-mile track is the same layout as used by many of the country’s leading motorsport series’ – including the British Touring Car Championship – meaning you’ll be able to really put your car through its paces. The National Circuit also features some of Silverstone’s most legendary and iconic corners that form part of both the new and old F1 layouts, giving you the opportunity to follow in the tyre tracks of truly great drivers past and present! 1 ENTERING THE TRACK Your track time…

In the long and varied history of modified cars, few things have broadened our creative horizons quite as much as Photoshop. It’s a virtual workshop unconstrained by budgets or physics, where everything from simple wheel swaps and resprays to imagination-run-wild rebuilds can be explored with a few clicks of a mouse, often with photorealistic results. Digital nip-tucks have become a common source of inspiration for the next steps in a project, but reality-bending renders rarely evolve into road-going reality. It’s rarer still when that happens at home. Curtis Anderson’s box-arched, frame-laying Polo has the sort of on-road presence that you could mistake for a virtual brainstorm if it dropped into your social media feed. However, we can assure you that this one is very much a reality – and the…

Manchester-based performance VW Audi Group specialist, Awesome, celebrated the official opening of its all-new HQ in June, with an impressively attended open day to showcase the stunning new facility it now calls home. The pristine new headquarters lie next door to Awesome’s well-known previous site in North bank Industrial Estate, Irlam (which the company has retained to become the official base for sister brands Vagbremtechnic and Performance M), and comes in the form of a mammoth complex of almost 30,000sq ft that undoubtedly pushes car workshop/dyno facilities to a whole new level. A gleaming reception area with unique high-polish glass resin floor houses customer seating and workstation areas, as well as a fully fledged coffee bar (complete with Awesome branded coffee) for staff and customers to catch up in a…

Patience is a virtue, fate will prevail, good things come to those who wait – all phrases we’ve subconsciously been subjected to a million times before on overshared social media posts and in those inspirational books they try and flog you at service stations. While we’ve all learnt to take these sayings with a liberal amount of salt, it takes a story like Kate Dixon’s here to remind you that there can indeed still be some truth behind them after all. Because the story of how she came to own this beloved Amarok is one full of fate, setbacks and downright perseverance, proving that if you really want something bad enough, it’s worth fighting for it… Welsh-born Kate (now residing in Cornwall) certainly isn’t a new face in the modified…

WHY ALLOYS? Obviously there are still plenty of pressed steel wheels out there, and at the other end of the scale super light carbon and magnesium wheels, but conventional alloys will always be the bread and butter of our scene. They’re not just about the improved looks though, the benefits of alloy wheels include better heat conduction and dissipation for ‘enthusiastic’ braking, and lower weight for the same strength as steel – in other words they’re all about performance. FORGING There’s no getting away from it – forged wheels are expensive. There’s a good reason for that though, the process is what you might call a little ‘involved.’ A forged wheel will start life as a solid block of metal referred to as a ‘billet.’ This will undergo extensive heat…

SANDY HINCHCLIFFE CUSTOM SKODA FELICIA FUN Skoda’s Felicia Fun pickup, produced from 1997 to 2001 was a very rare (612UK cars were made) vehicle in the first place, but this particular example is literally one of a kind. Firstly, the original 73bhp 1.6MPI engine has been swapped for a remapped 175bhp PD130 motor from a Mk4 GT TDI with matching six-speed box. The Golf also gave up its 16” wheels (plus brakes and driveshafts) which replace the original 13s. You may have noticed the darker yellow factory bodykit has since been colour-coded to match the truck’s factory Imola yellow body. Sandy has owned five Funs previous to this, but none were as original as the TDI. While the engine had already been installed, Sandy has spent a year or so…

O Every neighbourhood has one. Maybe it was your best friend’s older brother. Maybe he was just an upperclassman who lived in a house at the end of the road. The one everyone looked up to. Wore the coolest t-shirts. Listened to the best punk rock compilations. Moms loved him. Bullies feared him. He was heralded. Admired. A hero to all. Now, let’s apply that nostalgia to the four wheeled wonder before you whose story is decades old and itching to be told. “This 1992 VW GTI has quite the local history,” 33-year-old Joe Simon tells us. “It started life off as a stock Montana Green 16v GTI that belonged to Ryan Dumaresq, the owner of a local shop called Hot Water Performance. It is my understanding that it was…

AUGUST 18-20th WEEKEND AT JAYS Bath and West Showground www.weekendatjays.com 20th STANCE FEVER Newbury Showground, RG18 9QZ www.stancefever.com 25-27th CAR FEST Laverstoke Park Farm, Hampshire www.carfest.org 25-27th SILVERSTONE FESTIVAL Silverstone Circuit, Northants www.silverstone.co.uk/events 26-27th GRAVITY NEC, Birmingham www.gravityshow.co.uk 27th GOT THE DROP Waterside Campus, Northampton www.still-static.com 27th EUROBUILT Vermont St Fairgrounds, VT, USA www.eurobuiltvt.com SEPTEMBER 31st August - September 3rd L’OE SHOW Pottstown, PA, USA www.loeshow.com 1-3rd VW ACTION Santa Pod Raceway www.santapod.co.uk 1-3rd VANWEST CHILL OUT Redruth Paddocks, Cheddar Gorge www.vanwest.co.uk 2nd FORGE ACTION DAY Castle Combe, Wilts FB: Forge Action Day 2nd BRIGHTON SPEED TRIALS Madeira Drive, Brighton www.bhmc.com 9-10th LOWCOLLECTIVE Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 8UH FB: Lowcollective 8-10th ROOTS CLASSIC 2 Wildwoods Convention Center, NJ, USA www.rootsclassic.com 10th GERMAN CAR FESTIVAL Silverstone, Northamptonshire www.germancarfestival.co.uk 15-17th DUBS AT THE…