Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2020 i Fast Car

The Volkswagen Scirocco is one of those cars that just looks cool, right out of the factory. It’s got a mean, angry face, and a pert little booty – and you know that all the underpinnings are pure Golf, so it’s a complete package. Style, performance, handling, practicality, quality, reliability, it ticks every box you could wish for. Back in 2008, when VW decided to reprise the Scirocco name which had laid dormant since 1992, they struck gold: taking the sublime platform of the Mk5 Golf and adding a stylish body created something that really tapped into buyers’ desires, and the things sold like hot cakes. There was a whole range available too – the entry-level option had a 1.4-litre TSI motor, the fiery one rocked a 2.0 TSI, and…

OK, so we all love a Maccy D’s. Comfort food, innit? Wherever you go in the world, you know it’ll be exactly the same – a Big Mac is a Big Mac, the same in Southend as it is in South Shields, South Africa or South Central L.A. And the drive-thru is an awesome invention; when some bright spark came up with the idea in America in the 1940s, they knew exactly what people were about: if we’re going to eat junk food, we don’t want to have to put any effort in. Even getting out of the car is effort. But at the same time, driving off somewhere else isn’t a great option because that massive bucket of Coke in your cup-holder’s going to spill sticky fluid all over…

The modified car world is a massively varied place – it’s one of the reasons we all love it, and for every type of car out there there’s loads of different routes people take when it comes to upgrades. You could be building a road car, a race car, a show car, or concentrating your efforts and money on a certain area of the car: be it the engine, cosmetics, handling, or whatever. But what if you just want it to be, well, everything? In all honesty, most cars that try to be good at everything often end up a bit of a disaster. It’s like they don’t know what they want to be and end up not that great in any aspect. But there’s exceptions to every rule and…

RIVIERA RF107, £1080 Everyone and his pet poodle seems to be squeezing dubs under their arches nowadays. But, forget about all that 7.5x20 stuff - how about a mighty set of elevens instead? Shit, you can even have them in a rather fetching blue if you feel the need. And, what’s more, that’s just one of the top options available with the new RF107 from Riviera. There’s no denying that these are absolute stunners either, especially as they get more and more concave as they get wider. The sharp, dual-five-spoke design is clearly about as sophisticated as it gets, and the price for a set of full-fat 20-inchers is spot on too… and even better when you consider that these aren’t any old cast wheels, they’re actually posh flow-formed items…

As human beings, we are – like any other animal – the product of our environment. Kids raised in remote Welsh villages will have different perspectives on culture and humanity to those growing up in South London housing estates, Manchester new-builds or East Kent coastal towns. And it’s not just about the buildings or the people, but the behaviour, the interaction; principally, it’s down to how people interpret their hopes and dreams and paint them onto the canvas of their everyday lives. You probably wouldn’t park a rally-spec Mk2 Escort on the street in Brixton every night, in the same way that you wouldn’t tear through Cheddar Gorge in a slammed VIP-build Lexus. It’s what’s around us that ultimately shapes us. Take the example of Alan Wei. The fact that…

There aren’t that many cars that take us by surprise these days, but the latest breed of uber hatches like the Golf R, Audi RS3 and the AMG A45 have totally transformed and redefined not only what’s possible in an all-wheel drive hatchback, but also the tuning landscape that goes with them. With little more than fairly straightforward bolt-on modifications it’s now possible to keep pace with - or put the frighteners up - supercars. Jumping into the HP Tuners A45 AMG for the first time is almost a little underwhelming – it’s pretty dark in here with a fairly conservative smattering of carbon and some red accents all over, you could easily be in an entry level model apart from the swanky seats and 200MPH speedometer! How fast can…

Name: Tom Clarke Job Role: Marketer who oversees the UK marketing office, advert placement and key account marketing fulfilment. So after building a ‘90s hot hatch with a modern twist last year, I decided I wanted to do a classic for 2020, and I’ve always had a thing for the Volvo Amazon Coupe, so that’s what I bought. Of course, these cars are quite rare and decent examples in the UK aren’t cheap, and not within the budgets I’m working to on this year’s build. So what did I do? Well, simple really, I gave my colleagues at Meguiar’s Sweden a call and got them to source once for me. I then flew out to Stockholm, picked it up and drove it 1268 miles back to the UK. What could…

“Go on mister, give us another dance…” It’s a phrase Andrew Dharman hears over and over again when he takes his Stormtrooper-chic Tesla to shows. The Model X is such an attention-seeker and when he unleashes the magic beans to make the SUV do its pre-programmed dance (in which music plays, lights flash in staccato sequences, doors open, mirrors pivot and falcon-wings flap), people just can’t get enough. It’s a truly, brilliantly bizarre spectacle. Of course, any Model X can do this. But there are two key hooks here: firstly, this is a 100D, an insanely quick variant at the high end of the model range, whose lithium-ion batteries produce immediate power to enable continuum-warping acceleration. And secondly, most Model X owners don’t turn them into show cars. They use…

The story of the Ford Mustang is a pretty incredible one. It’s America’s best-selling sports car of the last fifty years, and in late 2018 the 10-millionth Mustang rolled off the production line at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan. Since officially going on sale in the UK in 2016, over 7,000 Mustangs have found homes here as well as 38,000 across Europe, so it’s fair to say we’re starting to climb on the bandwagon, but it’s undeniable that the ’Stang is part of the cultural bedrock of America. 10-million is a huge number! The original pony car has always been a pretty diverse offering too; right from its early days you could have it as a saloon or a convertible, with a racy fastback arriving in the line-up…

Some police cars are cool, and some aren’t. Dubai’s got the market sewn up really, with their liveried Ferrari and Bugatti patrol cars. And the days of Volvo 850Rs tearing down Blighty’s fast lanes are behind us, as most patrol cars you see these days seem to be boring saloons and hatchbacks that continue the trend of the crap unmarked Mk4 Astras on steels that used to pop up in The Bill. But today’s crims shouldn’t go thinking they’re in for an easy ride. Just look what’s been delivered to police forces across the UK – it’s a fleet of frickin’ cop-spec Ford Ranger Raptors! They’re all equipped with FOX shocks and Baja racer-spec suspension, which means they can chase bad guys at well over 100mph over sand, mud and…

The Jaguar F-Type is one of the prettiest sports cars on the market today; indeed, one of the prettiest sports cars ever made. And we’ll fight anyone who says otherwise. So giving it a facelift was always going to be a risk – but as you can see, the Jaguar design team have pulled it off with panache. The back end remains largely the same; it’s the front where the real changes have happened, and it’s all about the orientation of the headlights. Look, they’re horizontal. On the old F-Type, they were vertical. Makes quite a difference, doesn’t it? The super-slim LED lights give at an almost Mustang-like quality, which is no bad thing. Oh, and big news – there’s no V6 any more! While the V8 in the outgoing…

The 787B was the Mazda race car that won the 1991 Le Mans 24 hours, and is one of the wildest-sounding cars ever made. Featuring a naturally aspirated quad rotor engine, it made 700bhp at 9000rpm, and could make as much as 930bhp at 10500rpm. Despite rotaries having a reputation for bad fuel economy and even worse reliability, as flat out race cars they are exceptional at both, and the lack of pit stops for refuelling and repairs meant the car took the win against much more powerful opposition. So what about the noise? How does a quad rotor engine revving to around 10,000rpm sound like a Formula 1 V8 or V10 engine revving to 20,000rpm? Well, it’s mostly due to how rotaries work. A piston engine fires a cylinder…

TUNING Best Exhaust: Cobra Corsa E VXR Venom This new Venom stainless steel exhaust from Cobra is absolutely chuffing bonkers, and what with the E-shape VXR being one of THE hot hatches of the moment, we reckon these will simply fly out of the door. But that’s not why it’s scooped our Best Exhaust award. Nope, it’s because this one is about as restrictive as the dress code at a Sports Direct themed party! There’s even a warning on the website that reads, ‘this product is designed without a rear box and will be extremely loud.’ Yeah, no shit! www.cobrasport.com Best Excess: PRORAM XL Cone Filter (410) Bigger is almost certainly better, well that’s what the missus is always telling me, so it’s no real surprise that Ramair has won…

The original Focus RS was a hardcore weapon and prices have been on the rise for the past few years; the burly Mk2 was a worthy successor, but the Mk3? Well, that’s in a league of its own and one of the most respected hot hatches on the streets today and it has nothing to do with that infamous ‘drift mode’. So why then? Because out of the box, its arsenal includes an impressive 313hp that enables it to hit 60mph in under five seconds – that’s super-saloon fast. But what if you want supercar fast? Well, that’s easy to sort out. You’ll just need a Revo Performance Pack… What’s a Performance Pack? It’s exactly what it sounds like, a package of performance that is a complete tuning solution with…

So last season Tom’s R5 GTT build just pipped Dale’s awesome W114 build. In our eyes they were both winners but this hasn’t stopped Dale wanting his revenge, so they’re both back with their new projects, and, of course, we’re here to document the builds. Again, the deadline for the finished projects is Players Classic at Goodwood on the 20/06/2020. This might seem like an age away but when you find out what they’ve got planned, there’s really not much time at all. Let the battle commence……

Nothing transforms your interior like a new set of seats. In fact, that’s probably why installing new perches has been one of the more popular mods since pretty much the beginning of time. Whether it’s for practicality, safety on the track or just all-round awesome looks come show time, swapping them out is something us modifiers have been doing forever, and the world over too. I mean, think about it, how many imports have you seen that come straight off the boat sporting an aftermarket bucket or different OEM recliner instead of the original driver seat? Still, what do you need to know to choose the right set for your own modified masterpiece? Well, it’s not always as simple as it may appear… but rather luckily, that’s where we’re here…

It’s all been a bit Supra, Supra, Supra recently, hasn’t it? We were all waiting so long for Toyota to come up with a follow-up to the iconic Mk4 that when the new model finally arrived in 2019, we got a bit over-excited. Tuners have understandably been all over them; if you saw our SEMA coverage in last month’s mag you’ll have spotted that the new Supra was pretty much THE car of the show, everyone’s building ’em. Even back at last summer’s Goodwood Festival of Speed there was a 2JZ-swapped example drifting up the hill. And in all the melee, everyone’s kinda forgotten that it has a sister car: internet bores rejoice in banging on about how there’s a lot of BMW DNA in the Supra, but no-one seems…

Special-edition sports cars and supercars are sort of pointless, really. Manufacturers take the very best examples of their model range, the ones that have received the biggest research-and-development budgets to be the very best they can be in terms of performance, handling, equipment and refinement, and then they lavish a load of fancy extras upon them and sell them for a premium in a limited run. And every single one gets bought by a collector, who’ll lock it away in a private collection and never use it. Still, life’s too short to be bitter about that – to be fair, when you buy a car it’s nobody else’s damn business what you do with it. We love a special edition, and Bentley’s latest is particularly awesome because it’s got something…

Over 10,000 of you logged your votes and we’ve got to say you’ve got unquestionable taste. In third place came Charlie Thompson’s turbo’d Clio 182, in second place was Helen Stanley and her wide-arched E30, but taking this year’s top spot as the new FC champion is – drum roll please – Kiran Halsey and his amazing GT86. With a heavily tuned 2JZ swap, air lift suspension, Rocket Bunny kit, WORK Meister S1 wheels and a one-off wrap, we can see why almost 25 percent of the votes went to this beast. A worthy winner indeed. Your trophy and a packet of Hobnobs are going in the post today, Kiran. Pop the kettle on, pour yourself a brew and have a biscuit on us. You deserve it, fella! Sponsored by…

“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” So said Oscar Wilde, and he wasn’t a man to be argued with; bigger-better-faster-stronger has always been a motif of human advancement, and it makes sense to take one’s endeavours to their logical conclusion of excellence and then just keep on pushing for the hell of it because… well, why not? As various other wise men have since reasoned, “If less is more, imagine how much more ‘more’ would be…” There’s an argument to be made that in the modern modifying scene, people who are really good at it often leave themselves wondering where to go next. After all, if you really care about this stuff, none of it’s getting done in a painting-by-numbers style. The ideal build – to many,…

It’s a whole new decade now. We’re firmly in the roaring ‘20s, so it could be seen as something of an irony that some of the coolest new wheels we’ve seen for an absolute age are inspired by hoops from, like, 50-odd-years ago. Yep, what goes around, comes around and a healthy slice of retro chic is clearly the order of the day here. Although these YKWs from entry-level brand White Label may look like leftovers from the days where your nuts were measured in inches, ‘three-and-six’ could buy you a packet of fags and a pint of Best, and your Mum was busy strutting her stuff in a skirt so short that the whole world got to see what she had for breakfast, you’d be wrong. The trick is…

JVC KD-X372BT HEADUNIT, £99 Many of us have the same special woman in our lives. You know the one; she always knows your favourite Spotify playlist, gently reminds you to get your arse up in the morning, and will even tell you a bedtime story, if you ask nicely. Nope, we’re not talking about your mum, we mean everyone’s favourite Amazonian filly (I thought that was your Mum – Jules), the simply wonderful Alexa. What with millions of homes in the UK already having Alexa ruling the roost, JVC have decided that it’d be a rather marvellous idea to be able to order her about a bit in your car too. And they’re not wrong either, especially as it all costs significantly less than you might think. This entry-level single-DIN…

A while back show season was pretty much done by October, but then in 2013 along came Ultimate Stance, a multi-marque show from the crew behind the more VAG-centric Ultimate Dubs. All of a sudden show season was extended until November and there was something to look forward to at the end of the year. Yay! Luckily, a lot of it takes place indoors, so no matter the weather you’re guaranteed plenty of dropped cars to dribble over in the dry. And, those with a coveted indoor space have the Saturday for a setup day, so come Sunday morning the indoor halls (and there’s a lot of them) are filled with more clean motors than you can shake a microfibre cloth at. Also, having a set-up day means Saturday night…

Our very own Slim Jules in the mighty Suzuki Alto, of course! But it was a bloody close call, in fact, it was so close the boys might as well have flipped a coin to decide the winner. It’s a bit of a cheek saying that Jules is a winner at all because, let’s face it, there has been no winners in this build off, only losers! But how did the final challenge all play out? Well, the boys were sent to a secret location in the Kent countryside and told to do car sumo (yes, car sumo Midge, not human sumo) until a victor was crowned. The rules were simple: first car to be pushed out of the sumo ring by its opponent would lose. If you’re wondering how…

Nope. We’re not going to offer you half the trade price for your car, like those websites. Instead we want to give you the chance to be featured in the best modified car mag on the planet! So, if you own a cool-as-a-cucumber car you think is worthy of Fast Car, we’d love to see it. Please send a selection of good quality images and a spec to jules.truss@kelsey.co.uk, with ‘Feature Car’ as the subject. If we like it, we’ll get back to you to arrange a photoshoot. Simples.…

Top Presents We just know you’re all wondering what the top team got for Xmas, so let us enlighten you… Apart from our G buying himself an S3, as you do, the boys, rather thoughtfully, got him some extremely handy reading material. Midge bagged some tools that even he won’t be able to hurt himself with (probably). Glenda, a new lamp… we think he’s holding it right here. And Jules, his favourite ‘experience day’ – yet another speed awareness course. Third time lucky, son, eh? Top Decorations As it turns out, Xmas trees appear to be just like sports cars, the bigger your tree the smaller the package you’ve got to pop under it. Well, we gather that’s what these random horticultural offerings are all about… Top Parties We just…