Page 33 - Fast Car (March 2020)

VW GOLF R32

wrangling. “With most of my parts, I just
hunt the internet for something I like or that
stands out, and then buy it,” he shrugs. “If it
doesn’t it, I think of a way to make it it; with
the wheels I had to add some camber and
smaller tyres, and it all worked out just
as I imagined.”
Those wider front wings form just part
of the exterior artwork, as there’s been a
huge amount of upheaval to create this
sun-shiney Californian vibe. The paint is
the key lure here, a Jaguar shade by the
name of Caviar Pearl, and it’s a brilliant
choice which harnesses 21st-century paint
technologies to evoke a 1990s colour-
shifting aesthetic – it’s halfway between a
Global Hypercolour t-shirt and a lip-painted
TVR. The eagle-eyed will have spotted a
whole world of smoothing: the bumpers,
roof aerial, rubstrips, boot handle, it’s all
been shaved and perfected in the old-
school style, with the look then brought

One of the best side right up to date with a smattering of carbon
profiles we’ve ever seen ibre embellishment. The front grille, wiper
arms, mirror surrounds, they gleam with the
glossy weave, and it creates a motorsport
chic that’s mirrored in the high-end
interior treatment. Porsche 996 seats wear
sumptuous cream trim, courtesy of Del at
Optimus Automotive Trimmers, and the feel
speaks of luxury-infused track menace. If it
weren’t prowling around Scotland, it’d be
ready for playtime at Laguna Seca.
SHOW AND GO

While we’re on the subject of power, just
take a look at what’s lurking under the
bonnet. VW’s celebrated VR6 in full-fat
R32 spec is a formidable thing even in
showroom form, but when you shove in a
set of Schrick cams and bolt on a custom
and completely unsilenced straight-through
exhaust system (which, believe us, sounds
like the enraged bellowing of the devil
himself), you’re just a robust remap away
from 289bhp – a situation with which
the plucky 24-year-old is understandably
pretty chuffed. All of this holistic modding
prowess feeds into an intercontinental
sharing of ideas that’s been bubbling away
for generations: the phrase ‘global village’
has been circulating since the 1960s, when
Canadian professor Marshall McLuhan
outlined the idea that the instant transfer
of information from electrical devices had
effectively shrunk the world. It all came true,
his work basically predicted the internet;
nowadays it mightn’t occur to you to write a

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