Page 34 - Fast Car (March 2020)

HOT RIDE
TECH SPEC: VW GOLF R32
Chris fitted everything on the
car including the air ride
Styling:
Jaguar Caviar Pearl paint, smoothed bumpers, smoothed roof
aerial, smoothed boot handle, smoothed rub strips, SRS-TEC
25mm-wider front wings with smoothed indicators, blacked-
out US-spec headlights with twin amber running lights,
carbon fibre front grille, carbon mirror surrounds, carbon
wiper arms, US-spec mirrors and glass, Euro-spec taillights,
Triple R Composites front splitter and sideskirt extensions, VW
Sharan 90mm boot badge, gloss black bumper grilles

Tuning:
3.2-litre VR6, Schrick cams, stainless decat manifold,
stainless straight-through cat-back exhaust system (no
silencers), BMC CDA carbon induction kit, Porsche oil and
coolant caps, billet washer cap, painted valve covers and
fusebox covers, remap, 6-speed manual, Forge short-shift
Power:
289bhp
Chassis:
9x18in (front) and 10x18in (rear) CCW Classic 3-piece split-
rims – with pearl grey centres, polished lips and polished
letter to someone in Australia or Japan and centre caps, 215/35 (f) and 225/40 (r) Achilles tyres, Air Lift
send it by air mail instead of just emailing Slam Series bags and struts with Air Lift 3P management,
them, or even to look something up in a Only Charged Dubs camber top mounts, adjustable rear
camber arms, chassis notch, OEM-size Brembo pads and
weighty paper encyclopedia in the local uprated discs
library when the job can be done with two
seconds of Googling. The world has never Interior:
been smaller. And while this state of affairs Porsche 996 front seats, R32 rear bench with centre headrest
may seem a little bleak in terms of heritage deleted, seats and gaiters retrimmed in cream with grey stitch
and tradition, it does at least offer certain by Optimus Automotive Trimmers, home-made air install and
beneits to the automotive scene: it’s easier boot build with candy apple red air tank, polished hard pipes
than it’s ever been to connect with like- and OEM carpeting
minded enthusiasts from around the globe
and share ideas, source parts, compare and Thanks:
contrast. We live in a hivemind that makes “Thanks to my girlfriend Sian for putting up with my moods
things better for us all. when things don’t go to plan! And my mates for helping me at
Don’t go thinking that this is an out-and- weekends.”
out show car, though. Despite the top-light
specs and the lawless inish, this hasn’t
simply been a case of Chris absorbing
global trends and redirecting them through Perfectly tucked
his own Scottish prism. “Believe it or not, I CCW Classics
daily the car,” he assures us. “I do also have
a Jeep for carrying parts and that, but most
of the time I’m driving the Golf. People are
always staring at it when I’m out and about,
and when it’s aired out at my work people
don’t understand how it works – ‘How do
you get over speed bumps?’ and ‘That looks
broken’, they’re the two I get most often!”
Yep, that’s a human constant which is true
the world over. From Arbroath to Adelaide,
Los Angeles to Londonderry and Minsk
to Micronesia, we’re united in a common
pursuit. A SoCal-style Golf in Scotland? Hell,
maybe the Californians have been stealing
ideas from the British Isles all along…■

034 www.fastcar.co.uk