Innehållsförteckning för August 2022 från Performance VW

It’s over 20 years since Vic Sharma’s legendary Mk2 Golf first graced the pages of Performance VW (PVW 3/02) and that very car - the car you see in front of you today - returns this month for its fourth sitting. What started as a daily-driven, naturally aspirated Atlas Grey 16-valver has evolved into the full-blown, turbocharged VR6 show stopper you see before you. It’s always been low and it’s always been cool, but this latest guise is without doubt our favourite look yet. Is Vic finished? Well, you’ll have to read the build story on page 8 to answer that. All we’ll say is Vic is just as humble now as he was when we met him all those years ago. Elsewhere in the issue we’ve bagged you a…

“Geography is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it.” So said Terry Pratchett in The Last Continent, and he makes an interesting point. The location of things across the globe is secondary to the scientific constants that anchor them in reality, and there’s an inarguably scientific approach to certain modifying styles within the water-cooled VW scene: the Euro look, for example… take an early Golf or Polo, shove in a hot valver, run it very low on BBS splits with lo-pros, keep it smooth and simple, and paint it in some lurid or pastel shade. Voila, you’re rocking the Euro look, just like a 1990s wideboy. OK, there’s a formula, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking these cars are strictly formulaic; each one…

This 28-year-old welder and fabricator hails from Jefferson, Ohio and has cars in his blood. “I have been interested in VWs since I was 16. VWs are special to me because my Dad was a VW/Mazda auto mechanic for 34 years at a local dealership. I didn’t know at the time that his occupation would have such a profound impact on me. When my toys broke, we fixed them to use again. At that time, I wasn’t aware that others threw items away because they lacked the skillset to mend them. Whilst in junior high school, my science teacher approached my parents telling us about the vocational welding program the school system offered. I wasn’t very good in school, but I excelled in my science course that year because it…

Remember the ‘70s? Probably not. Well, if you don’t, let’s just say it was an era defined by bell-bottom jeans, disco music, revolutionary movements, and a craze for small vehicles that could go anywhere over land – and sometimes water, too. The first “all-terrain vehicle” was dreamed up by a Canadian inventor in 1959, using two chainsaw engines for power. To conquer every type of terrain, the ATV used six wheels with low-pressure balloon tires that provided floatation as well as traction. Though unprofitable, the design proved quite popular, and sparked decades of ATV innovation and enthusiasm. During the ‘60s and early ‘70s, builders and inventors from across the country began to follow suit and build their own 6x6 ATVs and companies. The U.S. saw the creation of its first…

“For those that have stuck around to read an actual update, rather than filler fluff, let’s do it" It’s been about a year since the WUT mobile made its PVW debut. For those looking for a performance update, sorry to disappoint. I’ll do my best to teach you a few new words to turbocharge your vocabulary, but otherwise this column will be of no use to you. For those that are enamored by clean cars and sharp pictures, I hope the seasonal wash of the WUTmobile and the accompanying glamour shots are to your liking. I know it’s lacking stance or fancy wheels, but rest assured its aging gracefully. For those that have stuck around to read an actual update, rather than filler fluff, let’s do it. Winter is over…

Vic Sharma has appeared in the sacred PVW archive multiple times before, back in February 2009, September 2003 and also March 2002 with this very same Mk2 Golf. There’s no other way of putting this, few people have managed to achieve the same feat with the same car four times in two decades. Back in ‘09 the car looked like a typical 90s Brit looker - big arches, a Rallye front end and a set of Worx splits rims, but over the course of the last 13 years Vic has systematically rebuilt and refined his VR6 monster producing something new from something that was already pretty flawless. It’s a testament to changing fashions and the gradual evolution of the scene, not to mention the modern-day expectation for ever more power.…

The life of a first car is rarely easy. These are machines tasked with delivering newfound freedom before the practicalities of adulthood get in the way, but also reined in by the constraints of full-time education and minimum wage employment. And, for those that aren’t replaced as soon as insurance allows, the transition from daily driver to weekend project can be challenging too. Especially, as Mike Myers found out the hard way, if that stage begins without the protection of off-road parking. “I’ve had this thing since high school, but my long-term plans were only just coming to fruition when someone crashed into it outside my apartment, one hour into my 25th birthday,” he tells us. “She destroyed the fender, popped the airbag, broke a transmission mount and cracked a…

Think high-performance estate cars within the Volkswagen Group and you’d naturally gravitate towards Audi, the brand that kicked it all off with the 5-cylinder turbocharged S2 and RS2 Avant in the Nineties. Audi has since followed through with high-performance Avant and Sportback versions of virtually every model from the 100 (S4), A4 (RS4), A5 (RS5), A6 (RS6) and A3 (RS3) with all-electrics to follow. For the Volkswagen brand, the emphasis on high-performance was carried primarily by the ‘hot hatch’ models, the Golf GTI and Polo GTI as well as the Golf R32 and Golf R, and to a lesser extent the Lupo GTI and Up! GTI. We have to look a little further before we realise that there were also quite a few high-performance versions of the various estate models,…

AIRLIFT PERFORMANCE TO SPONSOR PVW PADDOCK AT TRAX We can confirm that the guys at world famous air suspension producer, Air Lift will once again be supporting the PVW paddock at the TRAX Silverstone event on September 11th. The show itself is organised by Kelsey Media, the same firm that publish this very magazine (plus many more). Another title in the vast Kelsey library is VWT, and we’ll actually be sharing the paddock with editor, Glenn and his team of merry helpers, plus, of course, some of the UK’s finest T4, 5 and 6 vans. As usual, on display in the PVW area you’ll find a number of past, present and future feature cars to get those creative juices flowing. It’s probably a good time to send out an open…

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JUNE 23-26th GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED Goodwood House, Chichester, UK www.goodwood.com 26th NLS CULT CLASSIC Coopersburg, PA, USA www.nlscultclassic.com JULY 10th GRAVITY Stoneleigh Park www.slammeduk.co.uk 17th BHP FUEL FEST Westpoint Arena, Exeter, UK www.bhpperformanceshow.com 24th FITTED UK Manchester Central, UK www.fitteduk.com 29th XS CARNIGHT 20Y (TOP 50) Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany FB: XS CarNight AUGUST 5-7th ULTIMATE STREET CAR Santa Pod, Wellingborough, UK www.santapod.co.uk 12-14th VW FESTIVAL Harewood House, Leeds, UK www.vwfestival.co.uk 13-14th VAG FAIR York Fairgrounds, York, PA, USA www.vagfair.com EUROKRACY 13-14th Mirabel, Quebec, Canada www.eurokracy.com 14th ROLLHARD X BICESTER Bicester Heritage Centre www.rollhard.co.uk/bicester 14th VAG NATION RELOADED Venue TBC FB: VAG Nation Belgium 20-21st WEEKEND AT JAY’S Bath and West Showgrounds www.weekendatjays.com 28th EUROBUILT The Vermont State Fair www.eurobuiltvt.com 28th CRUISE CULTURE Carmarthen Showgrounds, SA33 5DR www.cruise-swansea.co.uk SEPTEMBER…