With construction underway on APR's brand new corporate HQ, the company's annual BBQ was held at a different location for a change: a glorious location, as it turns out.
With charcoal, firelighters and five turbo cars packed into the APR rig, the crew traveled to Road Atlanta for fun and games. The fun was a car show presented by Drtydbs, while the games involved two days of on-track action organized by the Cherokee Chapter of the Audi Club North America.
With so much to offer, only a fool would miss this. We're idiots, not fools, so we took ourselves out to ATL.
Track ActionTime on the track was separated into run groups, with individual tuition for novice and rookie groups, followed by a free-for-all for the intermediate and experienced groups.
APR's SEMA GTI, with its GT2871R turbo was the quickest FWD car on the track, and a delight to drive
Having never seen the track before, we really should have been out with the newbies because Road Atlanta is a challenging circuit. Set in beautifully rolling countryside, the track takes in plenty of gradients and fast sweeping corners. This was one of the nicest tracks we've visited.
The only problem is the blind crests; one straight as you leave the pit, and another on the opposite side of the track as you enter the straight again. Both require practice and commitment, since there's some challenging corners after each crest.
We tried to learn the track from the passenger seat with Stephen Hooks at the wheel of APR's 997 Porsche Turbo. Frankly, he drives like a madman and the rush of the turbos sucking air is something we won't ever forget.
After two quick laps, we learned nothing of the circuit. We were convinced the Porsche was a fully prepared racecar, only to be told it simply had APR software and exhaust, plus some race-spec brake pads. Nevertheless, these minimal changes had created a 650hp monster, which was probably the fastest car on track all day.
With so much speed awaiting us, we began our day in a stock Mk5 GTI with APR's KO4 turbo upgrade. Sitting on all-season tires and lacking chassis upgrades, we weren't expecting much, but we were reminded of just how good the car leaves the factory. It withstood the laps extremely well; we were even waved past a few racecars when we caught them unexpectedly in the corners. The shove from the K04 makes the car far more exciting. It ran trouble-free all day and gave a very healthy turn of speed out of the corners and down the long straights.
We tried a similar conversion in a B7 Audi A4 2.0T, but its quattro drivetrain took the edge of its acceleration compared to the GTI. Admittedly, it got out of corners more tidily, but the GTI was still our favorite.
We got to drive APR K04 versions of the A4 2.0T and Mk5 GTI. Both were great fun |  | 
Like a sniper waiting to ambush, this stock-looking Mk2 GTI packs a VR6 turbo |
Very clean Mk3 GTI VR6 with Kinetic Motorsport turbo conversion |  | 
There was some serious machinery attending the same track day |