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What more do you need to prove that your company cares for tuners when the Chief Designer owns a moderetly tuned street car? Well, in VW there is no doubt left in anyone’s mind. Instead of your usual top level management employees with little interest in their own product, Derek Jenkins (Chief Designer for VWoA) is proud to display his daily driver: a well-tuned 2006 VW GTi.  PerformanceThis car was designed to be a sleeper (and also to prevent hassling from the CA policemen) and at a first glance under the hood, you would think the car is stock. Aside the carbon fiber intake and engine cover, there are no modifications done under the hood. For power gains, Derek chose an APR stainless steel turbo-back exhaust and a APR 91/93 octane software for a better fuel/timing map, the different maps can be selected from the cruise control stalk and on 93 octance, this GTi put out 211hp and 258ft/lbs of torque.The most unique part about this car are the Porsche 997 wheels. Since he could not fit the desired tire size for the back on the 8" wide wheels, Derek had to customize another pair of front wheels to widen them another inch. The result is a set of 19x8" wheels in the front, wrapped with 225/35/19 tires and 19x9 in the back, wrapped with 265/30/19 tires. To properly fit the wheels of different lug pattern, the use of 15mm H&R wheel adapters was required. With the addition of the H&R Street coilovers, there has been no sign of tires rubbing. Brakes were also upgraded with the use of an APR/Brembo 328mm two-piece kit, with slotted front rotors and four-piston calipers. It’s in the handling department where this car really shines.  BodyDerek modified his car in a very subtle manner. For body parts, he chose to go with VW’s Votex body kit, composed of the front spoiler, skirts and rear valence. He claims to be happy witht he overall look as it covers the lower rocker panels that make the stock car look higher than it is. For carbon fiber trim, he found a Hong Kong based company named OSIR Design. After trying the parts on his own car, he decided to fit many of their parts to VW’s own RGTI. OSIR parts that can be found in Derek’s car include the carbon fiber chin spoiler (with the central carbon diffuser), carbon grille sorround and carbon mirrors. For the hood, it was chosen to go with a DTM Karbon GTi hood, which allowed them to use DTM’s own professional paint and bodyshop for the painting of all the carbon pieces. Continuing with the body style, Derek tinted the windows and installed a set of european R32 tail lights, which he had brought back from a visit to VW headquarters in Germany.SpecificationsEngine: Drivetrain: Suspension: Brakes: Wheels & Tires: Exterior:  |
Full story Volkswagen GTI
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