So, we've seen Mk1's with more power, bigger wheels, lower suspension and even louder paint, but as a package, Steve Carroll's home-grown racer has gotta top the lot. Let us explain why.

You might remember Greg harping on (in last months 'Badly Dubbed' column, about how I claimed to single-handedly invent the retro-racing style Mk1 in Project Buzz Box. Although that's not entirely true, it's gotta have something to do with the string of retro racers that have appeared on the scene since. None, however have been quite as dramatic as Steve's race invader. It's in a league of its own.
You know how every time you see a feature or show car there's always something you'd like to change? Well we think Steve's got impeccable taste… The car's bloody perfect!
So, time for a quick history lesson. Steve's 25 and has been in the army for five years. During a tour of duty in Bosnia back in '99, while his buddies were polishing their boots and cleaning toilets, Steve was saving all his hard-earned pennies and dreaming up ideas to fund this very project.

"I had lots of parts before the actual base car arrived," he confessed. Before the Mk1 however, Steve's only real kicks were had at the wheel of a nippy Mk2 Polo 1300 Sport and a B-reg 8v Golf. Think of the shock he's gonna get when the Mk1 finally hits the road - at the time of our photoshoot the car was still missing gear linkage and needed a final mapping session.
So to the base car. It arrived in the middle of 1999 and came in the form of a rather sad-looking 1.1 litre model. Although the body-work was a little shabby, the car benefited from having a solid chassis and no sunroof - just what Steve was after.
Naturally the Dorset lad had big plans, but as Steve put it: "They kind of snowballed from my original budget of £5500 to well over £15000". He must have spent the original estimate on the engine alone.
At first, he was just going to fit a two-litre motor, strip the rear seats and fit a polished half-cage. Oh, how things change.
Amazingly, Steve's completed all the work himself apart from the final top coat of paint and engine development. So, in theory, the £15K outlay is for parts alone. "It's amazing how it adds up," claimed Steve. The worst part, according to him, was having to do all the hard graft in his single garage. "I didn't even have a power supply so had to run 60m of extension lead from my house to the garage," he confessed. Sounds like a nightmare and, believe you me, Steve did have his low points. "It got really bad in the winter, working in the snow, freezing my nuts off with no money", he said. After seeing Buzz Box at GTI International '99, however, Steve was given the final inspiration he needed to not only see his project through, but to take it a step beyond. And boy, did he do just that. (We know when we've been bettered, but we'll be back).

With the original panels straightened out, Steve got on the blower to Autocavan and sourced a glass fibre bonnet and tailgate. These, according to Steve, were an absolute nightmare to prepare for painting. "The tailgate was like a banana and took 30 hours alone to sort out!" With the 1.1 engine mounts moved over into the GTI position (they were different apparently) and the body prepped, it was off to the bodyshop. We're not even going to mention the cage installation, only to say it was a bit of a nightmare.
Now, it might have been a regular bodyshop, but the paint was far from the norm. But then nothing related to the car has been totally straightforward. If it had, everybody would be driving one.
So to the paint. It's one of those fancy House of Kolor shades called Tangerine Candy. Steve's mate, Rolly at CARS took on the job and innocently quoted £1200 to paint the whole car - both inside and out. He'd never used the House of Kolor range before and it took a little longer than anticipated. "What he'd expected to take four days took closer to two weeks," Steve told us. The final job was pretty perfect though and looks absolutely stunning in the sunshine. Black detailing and those tough-looking Compomotive MO's finished in anthracite break up the colour coding a treat.
While the shell was at CARS, Steve ordered a set of polycarbonate windows which also came with sliders thus allowing him to strip the door's internals and save even more weight.
With the shell back Steve could finally start bringing the whole thing together. A Recaro Pole Position Bucket seat (with Sabelt 3" six-point harness) was first on the list. With the dash removed, a Stack programmable tacho was mounted on the remaining panel and numerous gauges, including an SPA Design digital speedo and performance meter, then grafted in.
The lower carbon fibre dash panel and door cards were all cut from sheet supplied by a friend. "1 paid £40 for the lot which had to be the biggest bargain of the project," Steve confessed. The interior is every bit the racer. Also inside you'll find a fire extinguisher, Farley Red Top 40 battery, Sparco Rally steering wheel (with Snap-Off boss) and alloy Momo gear knob. There's also a fly off handbrake for when the going gets tough.
The chassis is a simple but well-thought-out setup. Leda coilovers are used all round with solid top mounts up front and poly bushed throughout. Whooping Wilwood billet alloy four-pot calipers clamp 285mm cross-drilled discs (up front) ith Ferodo DS2000 pads. There's a TAS bias adjuster to optimise set-up and 16v servo plus Goodridge hoses throughout to boost performance.
So to the important bit -the powerhouse. Steve didn't mess around when it came down to the oily bits. In his mind there was only one firm to consider. So Grant Motorsport, based on the outskirts of Bristol, were promptly recruited for the task. Grant Woodhatch has been playing with race engines for donkey's years and, after weighing up the options it was decided that a highly tuned 16v would be best suited to Steve's needs. Keeping the car normally aspirated would mean lag wasn't an issue and tuning the two litre 16v ensures bags of torque across the rev range, especially with a set of 45mm, barrel-chested throttle bodies in tack. At the time of going to press, Steve and grant were talking about fitting their third management system to date. They originally started on a Weber Alpha unit before swapping to the current Lumenition setup which features its own diagnostic system. This lets you know if there's a problem. After much consideration though, it seems the slightly dearer DTA system will be better suited. Grant has confidence that with some serious work to the bottom end, including steel race rods and slide throttles, 240 bhp will eventually be possible.

Well, there you have it. We reckon Steve's Mk1 is the ultimate road racer to date. If you think otherwise then we'd like to hear about it. In the meantime, watch out for Steve's radical racer which will certainly be invading a track day near you soon.

DUB DETAILS
ENGINE:
Grant Motorsport two litre 16v with polished and ported head, modified valve seats, 002 hydraulic cams (292°exhaust and 284° inlet with 11.8mm lift), GMS steel vernier pulley. Weber Alpha 45mm throttle bodies with Pipercross trumpets and ITG filters (currently running on Lumention management) Goodridge hoses throughout, Hereford lightweight (foam filled) alloy fuel tank, Facet Red Top pump, Mk2 pressure pump, uprated regulator. Lightened and polished rods, knife-edged and polished crank with 92.8 stroke 82.5 pistons, ARP rod bolts, 11:2 compression ratio 8.5mm Magnecour race leads, oil cooler, custom radiator with Kenlowe fan, Samco hoses, Spec-R catch tank and swirl pot. Custom race exhaust with heat-wrapped four-branch manifold. Grant Motorsport close-ratio 'box with quickshift and Quaife torque-biasing LSD, 210mm uprated clutch, cabrio driveshafts, lightened flywheel.

CHASSIS:
Anthracite 7x15" Compomotive Mos with 195/45 Toyo Proxes T1-S rubber. Fully adjustable Leda coilovers with 325lb front springs and 225lb rear. Colour-coded Roll Centre roll cage linking front and rear suspension mounts, TAS spherical bearing alloy top mounts, H&H front and rear strut braces plus lower brace, poly bushes all round, competition quick-rack. Wilwood billet four-pot calipers and 285mm cross-drilled discs, Ferodo DS2000 pads, TAS bias adjuster, 16v servo and master cylinder, Goodridge hoses throughout, Rally Design Fly-off handbrake, Pagid shoes on rebuilt drums (rear)

OUTSIDE:
Re-sprayed House of Kolor Tangerine Candy. Glass fibre bonnet (with Skoda Felcia vent) and de-badged tailgate, all badges removed from body, single-lamp grille with In-pro smoked headlights, colour-coded bumpers and arch trims, clear front indicators, alloy bonnet pins and rear tailgate hooks, Bonrath 'deep' chin spoiler, front and rear wipers removed, polycarbonate side widows (with sliders) and rear screen, colour-coded SOA design door mirrors, de-locked handles, clear rear clusters.

INSIDE:
Seats, trim, rooflining, sound deadener and carpets all stripped, dash removed and existing panel smoothed and sprayed Graphite Black. Recaro Pole Position bucket seat, Sabelt 3" six-point harness, Stack programmable tacho with memory, SPA Design digital speedo and performance meter, Racetech gauges, carbon-fibre lower dash panel and door cards, fire extinguisher, all door internals stripped and lightened, Farley Red Top 40 battery in passenger footwell, Sparco Rallye Steering wheel with Snap-off boss, Momo gear knob, race pedals.

SHOUT: Grant Motorsport 0117 971 7107
CARS 01202 423562
Racing Graphix 0117 941 4198

THANKS: Darren, Paul and Caroline, Flex and Ross, Matt, Malc and Nita, Mum and Dad

Article reproduce with kind permission of Performance VW, August 2001 edition.
Article written by Elliot Roberts.
Photos: Max Earey