The stagnant heat of Fontana, CA stirred with the sound of VWs and Audis on full boil, lapping California Speedway as Dubwars 2006 descended on the racetrack for the weekend's events. Hailed as one of the Left Coast's premiere VW/Audi events, Dubwars served up competition both on and off the track offering something for every Dubhead. For the g-force fanatics there were road racing events and a track exhibition. And for all others, there was the ever-popular car show, Triple Crown Audio event and even a model search for the ladies.
Unique in the sense that Dubwars combines both the show scene and racing, creator George Turner Jr. prides himself on staying true to his roots. "Dubwars started off as an event for everyone who was talking trash about each others cars to either put up or shut up, and the fact we still incorporate both the racing and the show makes us different," George said. Despite the unwavering temperatures, tuners from all over made the trek to display their latest equipment.
As we've come to expect, the Streetwerkes crew arrived with its tarmac-punishing group of boosted R32s. Now offered in four stages, the GT kits start at a mild 380hp and climb to a retina-flattening 620hp. The SW crew also debuted its Mk4 Jetta with a turbo R32 conversion.
The Eurosport crew displayed its wide array of tried and true performance parts. And to prove their products perform, both Raffi Kazanjian's marvelous sounding carbed 1.8 20v Rabbit and his brother Vik's boosted Mk3 GTI VR6 took turns hot lapping the course.
Dynamic Racing Solutions also cut some apexes with its ITB equipped high-spinning, solid-lifter 16v '88 GTI. Impressive to say the least, its 200+whp Mk2 could be heard throughout the pits as it ripped off 8900rpm shifts.Newcomer Late Night Tuning also asserted itself well with its new 2.0T intake and power packages that showed promising gains even on our crappy California fuel.
Among the many companies present, Dunlop came out in full force, as did tuners like WRD, Evoms, 034 Motorsport, VF Engineering and KW Suspension. HPA Motorsports even sponsored SoCal R32's track exhibition allowing the club to run two sessions on track.
Like the strong tuner presence, the rest of the event was equally fulfilling as the show attracted nearly 200 cars. Walking the rows of cars, we saw everything from widebodies and Lambo doors to front-end swaps and big turbos. And amidst the many amazing rides, a handful caught our eyes such as Chuck Perez's self-built custom smoke metallic black '98 Jetta VR6. Using a "Dub/Mex style" as Perez coined it, the car featured a Golf front-end conversion, an R32 monowiper, pulled fenders, full Polk Momo system, suede headliner and some 16x9" Schmidt Modern Lines. More than just show, the enlarged 2.9 liter VR6 was fitted with a Z-Engineering stage 2 blower along with some DSR 256FI cams, a polished Schrick VGI, Jetex exhaust and a full Samco hose kit.