Maxxd.com – Modified and Performance Car News

  • BAGGED IMPREZA STI: WHITE HEAT

    Before lockdown, Rory McEwing’s bagged Impreza STI was resplendent in an infernal shade of copper. But he’s been a busy boy, and the latest round of upgrades sees it bringing the fire with white-hot aggression…

    Fast Car magazine. Words: Dan Bevis. Photos: LomotiveUK Media

    Evolution. That’s a loaded term, isn’t it? In the automotive world, it’s a word most likely to be found gummed to the backside of a Mitsubishi Lancer of some homologation-flavoured description, and that creates a tension here: the Mitsi Evo was the natural nemesis of the Subaru Impreza, it was true on the rally stages and remains so today… although Mitsubishi doesn’t have a monopoly on the term, and it’s the very concept of evolution which has been determining the progress of the gleaming white bagged Impreza STI hawkeye you see before you.

    Yes, the eagle-eyed who have recognised the registration number and started mulling over a few suspicions are indeed correct: this bagged Impreza STI has been featured in Fast Car before – in the July 2019 issue to be exact (you can read it here), although it looked rather different to how it does today. For one thing, it was a spangly shade of copper.

    Bagged Impreza STI

    You see, what it comes down to is this: the basic premise of evolution is that successive generations of whatever creature you care to name adapt and develop characteristics with each newly-spawned propagation, constantly changing to suit environmental conditions and survival needs. Life on earth just can’t sit still. From the myriad spiralling specks of matter that burst forth from the Big Bang to the living-fossil stromatolites of Western Australia, the entire history of the Earth is characterised by a necessity to change and adapt. This macro concept neatly segues into the micro-evolution of this Impreza and, moreover, the approach of its owner, Rory McEwing.

    So let’s rewind to the start. This whole stars-of-Pleiades adventure began back in 2015, when Rory first bought the Impreza. His prior modding history had been grounded in familiar territory – subtle mods with a focus on quality – starting with his first car, a fully smoothed and slammed Corsa SRi, followed by a tastefully-done 207 GTI. An Impreza had always been in the crosshairs, and when he saw this one advertised on Pistonheads it was clearly the time to make the dream come true; Rory hared down from Glasgow to Cheshire and signed on the line right away.

    Bagged Impreza STI

    “What really caught my eye was that it was a white WRX STI Type UK,” he recalls. “Only a couple of dozen Type UK hawkeyes were sold in white – so while I’d originally been imagining the classic blue-and-gold Subaru Impreza combo, this was something more special.”

    For the uninitiated, the lowdown on the Type UK is this: while there are many, many special editions and spec variants of the Impreza, the bare bones of it are that the WRX is the spicy one, and the WRX STI is the really fiery one. What makes a WRX STI Type UK unique is that, obviously, you could only officially get them in the UK; along with its impressive 296bhp and 300lb.ft, buyers also got SI-Drive and a DCCD centre diff, as well as Smartnav, a tracker, and a Type UK badge on the boot. And the fact that it was white meant that this one was a rare beast… which is why Rory’s last evolution of the project really irritated the purists, when he covered up that obscure paint shade with a copper wrap.

    Not that Rory’s afraid of annoying the fanboys. The fact that the bagged Impreza STI is running a full Air Lift Performance suspension with V2 digital management is enough of a middle-finger to tradition. He’s built this car because he wants it this way, and that’s just the way it should be.

    Bagged Impreza STI

    “I didn’t actually plan on fitting air-ride,” he admits. “In fact, in all honesty I didn’t plan on modifying the car at all! I enjoy doing subtle modifications, but never did I dream it would turn into what it is now. I never even imagined bagging a car until my pal Chris Coles told me to jump in his Golf and have a play – I’ll never forget that day, I blame Chris for everything!”

    Following the Air Lift upgrade, a set of Japan Racing rims found their way into the mix, before Rory set about perfecting the exterior with a raft of choice improvements. “The majority of the external modifications were done by my friend Harry and I,” he says. “I’d help where I could but I’m no mechanic! The car’s had a number of different looks over the years, from standard to having old WRD custom splits I had fully rebuilt, and a massive carbon spoiler, to a more subtle modified look with wide WORK wheels, then the copper wrap. It’s got imported custom headlights and I’d fitted a Voltex diffuser, both of which are mega rare in the UK, and I’ve really just focused on making tasteful mods to give a little extra appeal and help it stand out rather than going crazy with it.”

    Bagged Impreza STI

    As befits the universal constant of evolution, Rory’s next move was to ease the game forward by, unexpectedly, taking a large step back again. That’s the whole purpose of natural selection, as you’ll no doubt remember from your high school science lessons: organisms try out new things to see if they work – if it’s successful, they stick with it; if not, it gets ditched. That’s not to say the copper wrap wasn’t a success, it looked bloody gorgeous – but Rory has ants in his pants when it comes to modifying. He just can’t sit still.

    “The orange was nice, but the white… well, it’s beautiful isn’t it?” he beams, starry-eyed, and we can’t help but agree. “I’ve seen a few builds recently that are white with chrome wheels, and I thought it would be insane to have something like that – so I made it happen!”

    This is a key benefit of wraps: peeling away that show-stopping copper finish revealed the pristine and perfectly preserved white paint beneath, a move that wholly changed the look in one fell swoop. Naturally there was more to this stage of evolution; you don’t win a feature slot simply by picking your wrap off. No, Rory had a vision for a new aesthetic profile, and set about achieving it by fitting a fresh Chargespeed-style bodykit. “A new bespoke rear diffuser was also fitted,” he says, “removing the old carbon fibre one and switching to a custom look. This required most of the rear bumper to be cut, which was pretty nerve-wracking! It was the toughest part of the process, as one wrong cut would have meant needing a whole new bumper, so I was pretty nervous about it.”

    All worked out well though, didn’t it? And the icing on this ice-white cake is the aforementioned decision to move to chrome wheels. A fully-polished set of 18” SSR Professor SS1 rims were rebuilt using all the correct parts imported from Japan, right down to the valve caps – by no means the most cost-effective way of undertaking such an endeavour, but Rory was very keen to do everything properly here, no half-measures. Mike the Polisher is the big dog responsible for the finish, a household name in Scotland (well, at least in households who regularly converse about quality wheel choices). With much of the aesthetic changes carried out by Harry at Auto Tec, Kev at KMbodyworx perfecting the paint and Gee at Pristine Machine in Port Glasgow detailing it to a mirror shine, the cast of characters is hand-picked for maximum success. We simply had to get Ryan O’Donoghue down there with his lenses to document the latest evolution in Rory’s constantly developing build.

    None of this success comes without effort, of course. “Chrome wheels? Don’t do it!” Rory laughs. “OK, if you like cleaning your car any and every time it moves then you could keep chrome wheels clean, but they take a lot of effort and time to maintain.” All part of the fun though, isn’t it? And hey, given the essential nature of evolution, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a new set of wheels on the car by the time the show season finally reopens its figurative doors. And perhaps a new bodykit, and a new paint shade, and… well, it’s natural selection, isn’t it? Don’t expect Rory’s Impreza to look this way for long. This is evolution in action.

    Tech Spec: Bagged Impreza STI

    Styling:

    Original white paint, full Chargespeed-style kit inc. front splitter, sideskirts and rear spats, imported custom headlights, custom rear diffuser

    Tuning:

    2.5-litre boxer turbo, remapped to 325bhp, 6-speed manual

    Chassis:

    9×18-inch chrome SSR Professor SS1 wheels, 215/40 Nankang tyres, Air Lift Performance suspension with V2 digital management, Brembo 6-pot brakes

    Interior:

    Bride seats, Takata harnesses, rear bench replaced with Alcantara padding, roof and A/B/C pillars Alcantara-wrapped, blue STI carpet and doorcards swapped for black/grey items

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  • Mercedes-Benz AMG shows off lighter, stiffer body of next SL-Class

    Mercedes-Benz will unveil a new generation of the legendary SL-Class later this year, and on Wednesday the automaker showed off the car’s body shell.

    The new SL is the seventh member of a lineage that dates back to the original 300SL gullwing race car of 1952, and the first to be developed by the Mercedes-Benz AMG performance skunkworks.

    AMG has developed the car alongside a new generation of its own GT sports car, with the SL set to replace the current GT Roadster, hence the reason it’s being classified as an AMG product this time around. As a result, expect the new SL to be more performance-focused than past generations.

    Both the new SL and next-generation GT are clean-sheet designs, based on an AMG-developed rear-wheel-drive platform for sports cars dubbed MSA (Modular Sports Architecture). The platform features space-frame construction relying on a mix of aluminum, magnesium and composites for the body shell, with thicker cast aluminum components used for nodal points where forces will be stronger.

    2022 Mercedes-Benz AMG SL Roadster spy shots - Photo credit: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

    2022 Mercedes-Benz AMG SL Roadster spy shots – Photo credit: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien

    Compared to the outgoing SL, Mercedes boasts increased torsional stiffness of 18% and a lower center of gravity. Transverse and longitudinal rigidity are also up 50% and 40%, respectively, over the current GT Roadster. The weight of the body shell minus the doors, hood and trunk lid is 595 pounds.

    The new specs are particularly impressive given the additional packaging requirements of the new SL over its predecessor, as well as the GT Roadster it’s set to replace. Not only did the engineers have to accommodate 2+2 seating and space for the automated folding soft-top, but also new drive concepts including all-wheel drive and electrified powertrains.

    One of the powertrains is expected to be an 800-plus-hp plug-in hybrid setup in an SL73 model. However at launch we’re likely to see mild-hybrid SL53 and SL63 models only.

    Production of the new SL will take place at Mercedes’ plant in Bremen, Germany, where the current generation is built. Look for the car to arrive at showrooms by next spring, most likely as a 2022 model.

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  • SUPERCHARGED MK4 GOLF R32: PLAYING THROUGH

    The R32 is no slouch in stock form. But when Paul Graham appears in his RUF supercharged Mk4 Golf R32, the slower players simply have to make way…

    Fast Car magazine. Words: Dan Bevis. Photos: Lee Cant

    The most fun cars are the ones that do surprising things; ones that subvert your expectations and lead your preconceptions down uncharted paths. We’re not talking about sleepers here – that’s a well-documented area, and a whole textbook in itself. No, what’s flicking our switch today is the idea of using a novel base to build something devastating. Like when Top Gear commissioned Lotus to build a track-slaying Lada, and the Norfolk spanner-twiddlers ended up throwing a hundred grand at it. Or when Volvo entered the BTCC in the 1990s with an 850 estate. These are not the logical cars to choose for such endeavours, which is what makes the whole concept so eminently desirable.

    So it is, in convoluted style, with Paul Graham’s supercharged Mk4 Golf R32. We all know what entertaining and amusing cars these are, taking the seasoned Mk4 Golf platform and sending the very essence of it down a celestial rabbit-hole, by swapping out the forced induction hedonism of the four-pot models for naturally-aspirated grunt and surging swells of torque from the creamy-smooth VR6. What’s happened with this car, however, is a sort of hybrid fusion of the two: it’s a genuine R32 with the correct VR6 motor, but forced induction does also make an appearance here, in the form of a RUF Stage 3 supercharger. The result of this is a meaty 406bhp and 354lb.ft, which is a pretty raucous way to behave. See, people know R32s are brutal, there’s no sense of the sleeper vibe here… but few would suspect that there’d be a blower under the bonnet. Paul’s Golf is taking the established platform in an entirely surprising direction.

    Supercharged Mk4 Golf R32

    Golf R32 serial offender

    It’s perhaps very little mystery to anyone who knows Paul that he’d have ultimately found himself with a car like this; after all, he’s no stranger to the VAG stable in general, and R32s in particular. “I have owned around thirty VAG cars,” he assures us, “all of which I have modified in some way, or purchased modified and then adapted certain things to my own taste and style. I have always had an interest in cars, specifically modified ones, since I was young and reading about them in Max Power and Fast Car!”

    In total, Paul’s owned five Golf R32s (so far!), two of which were Mk5s and three of them being Mk4s, which he considers to be the best ones. “The reason I have always been attracted to the R32 is the sound,” he enthuses. “There isn’t another car that compares to the VR6 engine and the noise that comes with it! There are tonnes of cars that I like, but the Golf R32 always wins.”

    Supercharged Mk4 Golf R32

    What’s interesting to note with this particular car is that it was already fairly extensively modified when Paul got his hands on it. The work was all done beautifully, which was part of the appeal of buying it in the first place, and this provided an interesting base upon which he could change and adapt and modify to his own taste and standards. His previous car had unfortunately been written off, which is how he came to be browsing the classifieds, and when this car popped up Paul immediately knew that it was a good one – after all, he’d seen it out and about at various shows! “The car was immaculate when I got it,” he says. “The spec was great, everything that I would have wanted to do to my previous car. I travelled to Scotland to collect the Golf and it didn’t disappoint; the previous owner had supercharged it, treated the interior to a stunning custom white leather retrim, and smoothed the engine bay to very high standard. The car had extremely low mileage for its age too – just 55k – which was a huge plus.”

    With the Supercharged Mk4 Golf R32 already cutting quite a dash, Paul was keen to get stuck in and start making it his own. The front end had been fully smoothed and de-badged, but that wasn’t totally to his taste as he prefers a more OEM vibe; a brand new front end was sourced, with only the bumper smoothed where the number plate recess once was, and a set of wide SRS-Tec front wings were stirred into the mix, all of which Paul painted himself. And with that sizeable job taken care of, he set about digging around the chassis with the aim of radically reworking things to exponentially alter the car’s character: it was running coilovers as-bought, but the clear direction here was to get the thing bagged.

    Supercharged Mk4 Golf R32

    “I swapped out the coilovers for Air Lift Slam Series suspension, all of which I fitted myself,” he continues. “I also changed the front arms to polybushed ones, added adjustable polybushed rear arms, and a polybushed dogbone mount to improve the handling. Then I took the car to Jim at Novaks in Wakefield, who does all my suspension adjustments and four-wheel alignment – a company I would happily recommend!”

    Wheel Good

    With the Golf laying frame like a true show-stopper, naturally it was necessary to find just the right wheels to fill those newly tarmac-adjacent arches. Paul’s a bit of a butterfly when it comes to rims, flitting from design to design as the fancy takes him, and it took a few different sets before he settled on the current hoops: a set of 8.5×19-inch Rohana RC10 imported from the States. Drink in the effects while you can, as the car will probably have different wheels before too long…!

    Supercharged Mk4 Golf R32

    Things were really starting to snowball by this point, with the to-do list getting longer and longer. Since there was new air-ride hardware to accommodate, Paul planned out and crafted a custom boot build to match the retrimmed interior, complete with colour-coded air tank, before turning his attention to the exterior. The taillights were exchanged from UK-spec to Euro items, simply because they’re a bit different (a nice little easter egg for the aficionados to spot), while elsewhere the Golf received new TRC splitters fore and aft, and OEM mirrors on carbon-dipped bases to replace the Lupo mirrors that had been fitted.

    Quite a lot had been achieved by now, and Paul was eager to address the one thing that’d really been niggling away at him: while the supercharger setup had taken the VR to new realms of awesomeness, it was never really running right due to its generic mapping, and this needed nipping in the bud. “I took the car to Stealth Racing UK in Southam, Warwickshire, to a guy called Vince who came highly recommended by lots of people in the car scene,” Paul recalls. “I went there for a custom remap, and Vince really worked his magic! I can’t recommend him enough for the work he did.” This is where we arrive at the aforementioned figures – 406bhp and 354lb.ft – and it’s worth bearing in mind that, thanks to Vince’s notorious expertise, these aren’t just big peak numbers, the power bands and drivability are exponentially improved. The stellar supercharged Mk4 Golf R32 motor has been taken to strange and beguiling new places.

    Supercharged Mk4 Golf R32

    With great power comes great responsibility, so the saying goes, and in this instance it manifests itself as a sodding great 6-pot Porsche caliper upgrade, which Paul now took the time to remove, fully refurbish with new seals and pistons, and paint in Frozen White to match the smoothed engine bay. Upgraded friction material was squeezed in before it was all reassembled, and this largely brings us up to date: a bagged, supercharged, smoothed, ceramic-coated and perfected R32 with a pocketful of secrets and an appetite for mischief. Paul’s been using it as a fair-weather car, for shows and weekend blasts, and the attention it receives is unreal, not least because of its astonishingly clean finish. It helps that he runs his own business, PMG Detailing & Autocentre, where he carries out painting, detailing and all other aspects of automotive repair, so having done about 90% of the work on the car since buying it by himself, he’s fully equipped to keep it looking pristine.

    “The Golf looks and sounds spectacular, it’s a real head-turner and attracts a lot of attention when I’m out and about,” he grins. “I love nothing more than people asking questions about it.” And you can be sure that the questions are always forthcoming… after all, most people know what a Mk4 Golf R32 is, but few would ever expect to find one that looks, sounds, and goes like this.

    Supercharged Mk4 Golf R32

    Tech Spec: Supercharged Mk4 Golf R32

    Styling:

    Full respray in OEM R32 Deep Blue Pearl, ceramic-coated, SRS-TEC wide front wings, front plate removed and bumper smoothed, TRC front and rear splitters, tailgate de-locked, smoothed and de-badged, carbon-dipped mirror bases

    Tuning:

    3.2-litre VR6, RUF Stage 3 supercharger (Carlicious Parts kit), charge-cooler, DW65V high-flow fuel pump, 630cc Bosch injectors, RS4 MAF, Milltek manifold, decat and cat-back exhaust system, Vibra-Technics engine mounts, EVAP delete, small header tank, small PAS tank, colour-coded plastics, bay smoothed and painted Frozen White, relocated battery, ABS, washer bottle, fuse and relay box, brake and clutch lines hidden, engine bay wiring hidden 406bhp, 354lb.ft – tuned by Stealth Racing UK

    Chassis:

    8.5×19-inch Rohana RC10 wheels (US import), 35mm rear hub adaptors; 25mm front, 215/35 tyres, Air Lift Slam Series V2 air-ride, adjustable rear upper and lower polybushed arms, polybushed front wishbone and arms, poly dogbone mount, Porsche 18Z 6-pot front brake conversion (painted Frozen White to match engine bay) with 358mm discs and Brembo pads, Audi S4 rear brake conversion

    Interior:

    Mk5 R32 wingback front seats with custom subframes, rear seats bolstered to mimic Mk5 R32 bench, Mk5 R32 rear headrests, Passat armrest, full white leather retrim (seats, door card centres, gaiters, parcel shelf, boot floor, armrest, mats), contrasting black Alcantara trim on dash, door cards, headlining, A, B, and C pillars and boot surround, Mk4 Golf Anniversary interior trim, custom display in air vent, Mk7 Golf R steering wheel with white trim, Pioneer double-DIN head unit, Alpine 4-channel amp, Alpine monoblock amp, Alpine low-profile 12” sub, custom boot build in white leather and Alcantara with colour-coded air tank

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