The last few weeks have been hectic to say the least, so this is going to be a quick one.
It only occurred to me yesterday (when I say occurred, I mean Facebook sent me one of those memory posts) that I’ve owned Project GTI now for exactly a year. Honestly, it really doesn’t feel like an entire 12 months have passed since I picked the car up stock from the dealer’s forecourt. When I started searching for a Mk6 GTI, I had a very clear idea in my head of how it would look and what direction it was going to take. Looking at it now, I feel a certain amount of pride for sticking with this idea, even if it often wasn’t the easiest route to take. It remains every bit as useable and practical as the day I bought it, but sharper and more focused. It’s become the exact car I’ve always wanted, at least this side of an Audi RS6.
I was supposed to get some track time in the car this month, which is currently looking like it won’t happen due to the life of a freelancer. I did however, just spend two days working across some of my favourite roads in the world, which finally allowed me to drive the car in a more spirited manner. After making some slight pressure changes to the Air Lift Performace 3H setup, I was quickly able to dial in a preset which gave me 100 per cent confidence in the car over both the smooth and rough surfaces. The car is an absolute blast to drive, and I don’t have to worry about smashing my new splitter either.
But, even with as much as I’ve changed and upgraded, I keep finding myself wanting to extract just a little bit more from the car. A little bit more power would always be nice, as would a proper mechanical LSD. I’d like to tighten the suspension componentry with fresh bushings and complement the Air Lift setup with stiffer ARBs and maybe an anti-lift kit. I still think I have a little bit more room to play with before I cross the line into compromising the car’s daily driver duties.
I just need to get on track with it first, to really see its full potential.
Paddy McGrath
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paddy@speedhunters.com