310bhp 2008 Volkswagen Scirocco Type 13 R bodykit SRS-Tec
Chris Porter had been meaning to take a little time out from the modifying scene. But this guy’s flow is relentless, and when a bagged Scirocco popped onto his radar, he just couldn’t stop himself… Words: Dan Bevis. Photos: Mark Rodway.
REBEL WITHOUT A PAUSE
Rebellion and the counterculture have symbolised all that’s aspirational for disaffected youths since the dawn of time itself. Twentieth century history shows Teddy Boys preening as fuming dads look on in distaste, mods and rockers pounding the hell out of each other while teachers despair, punks waving two fingers at the late-seventies establishment. Go far enough back through the swirling mists of time and you’ll find troglodytes painting their caves with ram’s blood in defiance of the contemporary enthusiasm for slathering everything in horse dung. Wherever there is conformity, there must surely be rebellion. It’s how humans operate.
You’ll have spotted this behaviour in the car modifying scene, naturally. Here we see it flickering through a fast-paced shutter, fashions blow in at gale-force pace. As soon as Rocket Bunny or Liberty Walk release a wide-arch kit for any given model, the aftermarket pounces upon it to make it even wider. Being the most outrageous is, for many, absolutely the key to success. So where do we go from there? Does everything just keep getting more and more obscene? No, that probably wouldn’t work. That way madness (or bōsōzoku) lies. While it plays well for some to be the loudest, widest, lowest, meanest, it’s not for everyone. For some people, the new rebellion is a pastiche of conformity, a transcendence of doing-it-by-the-book.
The Scirocco you see here is a clear indicator of this new-wave obscenity. You see, rebellion in 2021 isn’t about surface, it’s all about depth. Remember in the 1990s when people were customising their Game Boys, and the way to do that was to have the most colourful case-mod – repainting the shell in candy pink or what-have-you? Well, today’s gamer modifies their gaming experience by tapping into the very data itself, forcing in new lines of code like Morpheus, altering its structure from within. On the surface all seems calm and strait-laced, but it’s a custom job inside. That’s the spirit you’re seeing in this car. Modern rebellion. A radical reworking shrouded in a mask of conformity.
“I’d intended to have some time out from modding, but then I noticed that somebody I knew had a Scirocco for sale!”
It's not all stealth and secrecy, of course – the stance and the footwear are a red flag, while the altered details are immediately apparent to those who know what they’re looking at. But when Chris Porter cruises down the high street, the grannies outside the Co-op barely bat an eyelid: this isn’t an outrageous in-your-face mentalist, but a car which has been artfully upgraded in subtle and clever ways. And the more you look, the more you find. “Watching this build come together has been completely satisfying,” Chris assures us. “I've been into modifying cars for over eight years now, it’s truly something I love and enjoy doing. I've met some great people and real friends over the years through all this.”
The reason for using a Scirocco as a canvas for his whims this time round was more due to fate than artistry, interestingly enough. “I’d actually intended to have some time out from modding last year,” he muses. “However, I noticed that somebody I knew had a Scirocco for sale – I didn't take much convincing to buy it! I just had to have it. I’d owned one a few years ago, and I really have a thing for Sciroccos… so with that in mind, I couldn’t say no.”
«The bodywork needed a bit of love, but I had a vision and I was set on making it how I wanted it to look»
The logic is impeccable, really. The 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 essentially 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 lain 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 there was even a diesel version available which proved surprisingly popular; transmission could either be manual or DSG, and as a halo they offered the raucous Scirocco R which had a frankly bonkers 276bhp. It’s got the power, the agility, the equipment and the quality… but above all else, it’s the way the new-wave Scirocco looks that acts like crack to its fans. You just can’t stop coming back for more.
In fairness, this particular ’Rocco was making a fairly strong case for itself. “It was already on Air Lift suspension,” Chris explains. “The bodywork needed a little bit of love, but I had a vision and I was set on making it how I wanted it to look. Within days of buying the car I had it straight in the body shop! The whole car was resprayed, having smoothed out the front bumper and bonnet, along with the rear bumper and bootlid. The arches were rolled and pulled, the aerial hole was smoothed out, it was all coming together just as I imagined.”
Chris had sourced a set of Recaro CS seats for the build, and these were stripped down to have their shells painted in a matching white by Oliver Exley at Auto Art Bodywork in Kidderminster; JP Cages were mobilised to create a custom rollcage, again finished in white, and these tasteful upgrades really gave Chris a thirst for making the cabin as tactile and attractive as it could possibly be.
“Once the car was painted, I had the interior retrimmed in white leather and black Alcantara by Samuel Joseph Elston at Nomad Auto Upholstery,” says Chris. “The car was really gelling with the interior and paintwork; it was starting to look how I had envisaged.”
With CR Custom Wheels on the case with the rolling stock, those pulled and teased arches soon found themselves brimmed with a set of super-concave BBS RS II splits in an aggressive 10.25x19” setup – although the increased girth proved too much for the steel at the business end, and Chris opted to swap in a set of wider SRS-Tec wings so that’d he’d be able to do all of those crazy hedonistic things that modern motorists get up to, like going around corners, and parking.
With some camber plates and arms to tuck the rims in, the project was approaching its natural finish line, and there was just one more area to address: the exploding hydrocarbons beneath that artfully smoothed bonnet.
The 2.0-litre TSI motor is a fairly handy thing in a Scirocco even in stock form, bristling as it does with a muscular 200bhp or so. But we all know how tuneable these things are, and substantial percentage gains to peak power are more than achievable within acceptable factory tolerances. DK Tuning in the south midlands were roped in at this juncture, and the results of their endeavours are impressive. The TSI unit has been treated to an Airtec intercooler, a Racingline intake system, a set of uprated R8 coil packs, and a Forge Motorsport recirc valve; in order to chuck all the burnt stuff out the back, a Trackslag 3.5” decat downpipe feeds into a full 3” custom exhaust system (the oversize central tails sitting within a classy Maxton Design R32 rear diffuser). With all of this taken care of, DK Tuning’s custom Stage 2 remap brings the noise to the volume of 310bhp, which is more than enough to keep Chris entertained as he slips under the radar with Stormtrooper forthrightness.
“I’ve really enjoyed this build,” he beams. “The car recently won Sponsor’s Choice for Best Wheels at the Plus Four Four Automotive show, and at Stance Fever I got a top-14 award.” And he’s far from done with it; these still waters run deep, and Chris is already planning a Stage 3 tune to get it over 400bhp, along with a smoothed bay, more interior Alcantara… and then there’s the uprated clutch, RS4 injectors, TTE450 turbo, it’s going to keep evolving. And all in considered and methodical style. This, then, is an exercise in quiet rebellion.
Sure, it’s not exactly tutting in church or rubbing out errant apostrophes on chalkboards outside cafes, it’s a little more in-your-face than that. But the whole point of this is that less is more; rather than throwing a branch of Halfords at the Scirocco, Chris has cherrypicked the optimum upgrades to create a holistic package. And while some on the scene may wrongfully dismiss it as an air-and-wheels build, it goes way deeper than that: every part of the Scirocco has been carefully analysed and painstakingly optimised. Hiding in plain sight, it’s a punk hedonist in a mainstream framework.
DUB DETAILS
- ENGINE: 2.0-litre TSI, Airtec intercooler, Racingline intake system, R8 coil packs, Forge Motorsport recirculation valve and kit, Trackslag 3.5” decat downpipe, 3” custom exhaust system, DK Tuning custom Stage 2 remap, 310bhp
- CHASSIS: 10.25x19” BBS RS II super-concave wheels, 235/35 tyres, Air Lift Slam Series struts, Air Lift Slam double-bellow bags, Viair 444c compressor, 4-gallon tank, Air Lift 3P management, chassis notch, Slam camber top mounts, Hardrace rear camber arms, MTec drilled and grooved discs, MTec pads
- EXTERIOR: Scirocco R bodykit, SRS-Tec wider front wings, pulled and rolled arches, Maxton Design R32 rear diffuser
- INTERIOR: Recaro CS seats, JP Cages custom rollcage, full custom retrim in white leather and black Alcantara — including steering wheel, gear gaiter, handbrake, armrest and door cards
- SHOUT: “Firstly I'd like to thank everyone who’s been involved in this build. Special thanks to Oliver Exley at Auto Art for the paint and bodywork, Samuel Joseph Elston at Nomad Auto Upholstery for the interior, DK Tuning for the engine work, Paul Wilson and Gareth Parker for the work they did on the car, CR Custom Wheels, EuroQlassic, DecentDubs, and Rasl’Bitume for the support.”
«Chris is planning a Stage 3 tune to get it over 400bhp, along with a smoothed bay, and more Alcantara»