Innehållsförteckning för March 2023 från Performance VW

Thaison Shelter’s stunning R32-powered Mk2, which graces this month’s cover, got me thinking about just how far the North American scene has come over the years. Don’t get me wrong, water-cooled Dubs have always been popular Stateside, certainly for as long as I can remember, but the build quality and general great taste, well, that’s come on leaps and bounds of late. Don’t take my word for it? Well, we announce our 2022 Car of the Year results this month (p42) and, while I won’t totally give the game away (you’d better not - All), just look at the quality of American metal that was short listed - and also how many US winners there have been in recent years - for proof. When they like something across the pond,…

For most cars, there comes a point in life where things start to slow down. It’s that age where daily driver duty fades out in favour of preservation, restoration and rising values, each capable of turning once ‘ordinary’ machinery into a pampered, low-mileage showpiece. However, things don’t always pan out that way, and Vitor Santos had very different plans for his Mk2 Polo breadvan. Whereas most four-year rebuilds would result in a car being retired for special occasions, this one kick-started a more interesting existence than it ever had as a daily driver. A grand tour of Europe’s biggest car shows spanning five years, ten countries and 50,000km (31,000 miles), all without the assistance of a trailer and – perhaps even more impressive – under the power of its factory-fitted…

Fitting a bigger turbo is almost guaranteed to give your car a bhp boost, or certainly the potential to make more power. But it’s not often a simple case of bolting on a new blower and forgetting about everything else; to optimise the performance potential of that new turbocharger a few other upgrades are usually needed along the way too. While the turbo upgrade steals the limelight, little thought is given to the supporting mods. But the truth is, they are equally as important. Without them, your shiny new turbo won’t work as well as it should. To help point us in the right direction we spoke to TurboZentrum. The company’s roots may be in turbocharger upgrades, but with the UK’s biggest online shop for products and accessories in the…

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The need to work with tools began as a child for Thaison (pronounced ‘Tyson’) Shelter, a plumbing salesman by trade and a BMX/VeeDubber at heart. ‘Thai’ claims that he was “born with a wrench in his hand.” Hi father was a man of the tools, so it’s only natural that Thai would grow up working with his hands. Like most of us as kids it was R/C cars and bikes that appealed early on. The Mk2 bug bit Thai a little later on when a buddy of his bought an 88 GTI 16v. That was a game changer! It’s safe to say that Thai thought that particular car and all that his buddy did with it was just the “raddest”. It was actually Thai’s friend’s 16v that encouraged him to…

Let us know! Email us at: pvw.ed@kelsey.co.uk with the date, location and website and we’ll get it on these pages! FEBRUARY 3-5th VDUB CAMP FEST Warmbaths, A Forever Resort, S.Africa www.vdubfestival.com 3-4th EUROTRIPPER 10 Fort Myers, FL, USA www.eurotrippershow.com 24-26 THE LONDON CLASSIC CAR SHOW Olympia, London www.theclassiccarshowuk.com MARCH 12th ULTIMATE DUBS Telford International Centre www.ultimate-dubs.co.uk 18-19th VOLKSWORLD SHOW Sandown Park, Surrey www.volksworldshows.com 26th THE FAST SHOW Santa Pod Raceway www.santapod.co.uk APRIL 1-2nd DUBSHED Eikon Centre, Lisburn, BT27 5RF www.dubshed.com 15-16th OFFSET SHOW Royal Cornwall Events Centre www.wgnuk.com 15-16th GR8 CAR SHOW Kortrijk Xpo, Belgium www.gr8mag.be 16th ELSECAR AT THE RACES Doncaster Racecourse www.elsecarattheraces.com 16th VAG METTING AZEVEN Fries Congres Centrum, Drahten, Holland www.vagmeeting-azeven.nl 23rd GTI SPRING FEST Santa Pod Raceway www.santapod.co.uk 30th THE DRIVERS COLLECTION Magna Science & Adventure Centre…

This year marks a major milestone for Milltek Sport, one of the best known and most highly regarded aftermarket exhaust manufactures, as it celebrates 40 years of business. And what better way to celebrate, than investing £2.5 million in a new UK R&D facility (above)? Its new purpose-built Advanced Manufacturing Centre in Derby utilises the latest manufacturing machinery to not only increase production efficiency but also reduce energy consumption, which sounds like a win, win to us. Housed in a new 15,000 sq ft building that’s located just across from its existing HQ, the manufacturing centre features the latest five-axis twin robot laser, combo tube and sheet laser and multi-stack tube bender, to name just a few of the new machines in use. This new centre will work hand in…

Legend is a term that is thrown around a little too liberally these days but, when it comes to building killer Mk1s, 42-year old Norfolk-based Stuart is a man who is definitely worthy of the moniker. His cars simultaneously manage to look timeless and fresh to death. This time Stuart started with a car whose history is almost as well known in VW circles as his. Stuart’s love affair with cars started much later than that of many enthusiasts: “I never wanted to drive, I had a BMX that I used to get to work when I was a postman. I was made to take driving lessons and then my test. I didn’t want to spend a lot on a car but I used to deliver post to a house…

How often, when traveling from point A to an unfamiliar point B, do you make it successfully without one wrong turn? It’s not likely the majority of you will raise your hand and assume the identity of Rand McNally. There aren’t many instances where I interview people and their story doesn’t include some sort of detour, distraction or derailment, but here we are with this purpose-built Audi RS3. “The RS3 is my third ‘build’, but my first full-on build in the sense that there is no aspect of the car left untouched,” says owner Nick Flom very matter-of-factly. Flom, a 30-year-old cyber security consulting engineer from northern Virginia, has been investing time and money into an automotive habit for the luckier part of thirteen years. “My first car, when I…

It has been a while since I last wrote and update in the magazine about my Mk5 Golf performance pairing. There’s apart from the sale of the R32 that I purchased not so long ago. Yes, while the car was tempting me to keep hold of it I had enjoyed the ownership and drive of the GTI far too much, so my plan with the R was to get it up to the standard it deserved and move it on. I just didn’t need two Mk5 Golfs in my life and the GTI just ticked more boxes for me personally. Before I could sell it, though, the R32 did require an alloy wheel refurbishment, as the OEM wheels all had the usual wear and tear on them. Thankfully, the car…