We are now in the process of building our mk7 GTi into a Production GTi championship spec race car. We thought it would be a good idea to build this small portfolio in order for enthusiasts to follow along the build process. We take no short cuts with our builds and always go the extra mile for every bit of performance possible.

Our race technician Luke who is responsible for the majority of the builds is a race driver himself and knows everything there is to know about these German pieces of engineering. His attention to detail and his knowledge on car set up never fails to amaze.

Now... Because the car has already been used by us for track days and blasting the back roads, we have already installed some performance enhancing parts with future racing in mind.

The car is already fitted with a full Milltek sports exhaust with a race cat, gripper front differential, custom Jabba remap, racingline oil catch tank and team dynamics pro alloy wheels. All of this, we will be keeping on the car other than maybe adjusting the map to suit the PGTi regulations.

As with most race cars, the first step of the build is to strip out all of the unneeded luxuries in order to shed as much weight as possible.

This begins with stripping all the interior such as: seats, plastic trim, carpet, sound deadening, airbags, etc. All

All parts were then put up for sale to generate money for the build!

As we are building this car to compete at the top of the grid, the weight shedding does not stop there.

-The car is first wrapped in a protection film as its now time for the dirty work!

-The Air conditioning fan unit is then taken out with the dash bar and all the other grubbing's under the dash.

-All the tougher rubber sound deadening on the floor and roof is heated and scraped off.

-Luke will then go on to drill/cut/grind out all of the unneeded brackets, fixings or structural supports (roll cage will fill in this job) that are no longer needed.

-The wiring loom is then also stripped of any unnecessary wiring then re wrapped.

You'd be surprised how much can come out!

Now that we’ve finished stripping all that weight out, its now time to add some back in with our roll cage! We’ve chosen to install a full FIA spec cage made out of a high tensile, lightweight alloy called T45. Luke is also fully qualified to install cages to the FIA standards and specifications.

Before beginning the cage installation, the fuel tank is removed as a safety precaution. Then the windows and doors, to help with access and to prevent damaging anything.

The next step is to begin installing the cage with tack welds to ensure that Luke is happy with the fitment. Any adjustments are also made at this time. Watching Luke work his way through each portion of this process makes you realise how much skill and experience is involved in installing a cage properly. A lot of it is done by eye and trial and error but he also uses a laser level at times when its needed. The metal is cleaned and prepared for paint before its installed to make things easier along the line.

Now that we’ve got the cage all tacked in, we need to need to send off a video of the placement of the cage for the certification and to get the go ahead to begin welding it in place. While we wait, we’ll begin with all the other interior fabrication.

INTERIOR FABRICATION

While were waiting for the go ahead, we’ll begin doing some other fabrication in the interior of the car. There’s plenty to do! here’s a list of everything:

Steering rack- For this, we cut apart the steering rack/steering wheel mount from the existing OEM dash bar. We then began to weld it onto the new dash bar which was now part of the roll cage. Luke then fabricated some caps for each end to neaten it up then primed it.

Seat mounts- As we’ve cut out the original seat mounts, we now need to fabricate some new ones for our FIA spec bucket seat. For comfort reasons, we needed get the seat as centred to the pedals and steering wheel as possible. This meant that Luke had to cut into the exhaust tunnel and then fabricate some plates to patch it back up, in order to mount the seat rails another couple of inches to the left. The rails were then fabricated on either side so they can be easily removed if needed. 

Foot plate- A foot plate was then cut to shape, bent and welded into place.

 Fire extinguisher- Mounts for a fire extinguisher were then fabricated and welded into the passenger footwell.

Rear seat-belt mount holes- We then also chose to fabricate some plates to cover up the rear seat-belt mount wholes, just to tidy things up.

We’ve also received and test fitted a circuit pro Sparco bucket seat and a Sabelt Monaco steering wheel.

This was also a good time to cut and test fit the dash so it’s ready for later.

With all that now complete and the go ahead from the cage company, it’s now time to go ahead and start permanently welding in the cage.

INTERIOR PAINT

Now with all of the interior fabrication and welding done, its now time o begin paint prep. The whole interior was first scuffed up with scuffing pads, then cleaned thoroughly using a hoover and pressurised air. The car was then masked up precisely to avoid any overspray before being moved to the spray booth and wiped over one last time. Luke can now begin laying down a coat of primer followed by a couple layers of Nardo grey. It came out great!

INTERIOR RE-INSTALLATION

Once the paint had completely dried, we could now begin re-fitting all of the interior parts. We began drilling holes, fabricating brackets and routing cables on the freshly painted interior of our mk7 GTi, and it’s looking great! There was plenty of bits and bobs to get on with, such as: 

-stripping the interior wiring harness of any unneeded wires and re-wrapping it with motorsport sheathing. 

-Refitting the dash and wired in buttons for the extinguisher and shutoff. 

-Installing a lifeline extinguisher system with cables routing to both the interior and engine bay.

-Installing a battery cage with a circuit cut off and a battery isolator switch.

-Fitting a radio for pit to driver communication

-Refitting the auto handbrake and window switches with a nice bracket fixed to the centre.

-Installing our Sparco bucket seat and steering wheel.

WHEELS AND BRAKING

We chose to use 2Forge wheels wrapped in Toyo R888R tyres for the wheel set up. These are big enough to fit the RS3/TTRS brake set up. This includes Bigger Brembo callipers with a larger rotor set up. We chose to use EBC racing pads and DBA disks.

SUSPENSION

Luke’s installed AST 5100 adjustable coil-overs all round. These are the same we use on all our mk5’s and never disappoint with accurate adjustment and damping options. These have been installed as a baseline in order for us to further develop them with AST Suspension so that we have a track orientated kit to sell and fit to customers cars.

He’s also dropped both the front and rear subframes to install a super pro ‘handling package’ which consists of bushes, anti-roll bars and alloy wishbones.

The underside and components have also been given a good clean to keep everything looking tidy!

Finished off with one of Luke's corner weighting and 4 wheel alignment race set up's.

GRAPHICS

Now that the majority of the build is finished, its time to get it over to Micky at MKS customs for our wrap to go on the car! We have been designing the wrap with MKS for some time now and were extremely happy with the final design. Here is the finished product!