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1552 Rabbit
We've been following the build of Florida-based fifteen52's Mk5 Rabbit project for a while and thought we'd bring you these photos since it's coming together nicely.
The company is working in partnership with C2 Motorsports from Maryland because C2 has several turbo conversions for the latest Rabbit 2.5. In fact, we featured the engine upgrades in the 4/08 issue.
Most of the prototype work on fifteen52's widebody is now complete, so we decided to offer up a few details on the car's progress. The flares seen here were designed to offer substantially more room for wide wheels and tires once the stock bodywork has been trimmed; the wheels shown here are 18x10" BBS REs with 265/35-18 tires all round.
Fifteen52 is also working on a GTI/GLI version. It will be narrower and will integrate with the OE skirts and valances for those folks not looking to stuff so much rubber under their fenders.
Until the Mk4 Golfs, all GTIs were offered with black fender flares and trim. So fifteen52 felt the retro design of its fender flares was ideally suited to the classic-themed Mk5 GTI. They tell us the first production runs will use a quality, reinforced fiberglass but if demand is sufficient, they'll move to an OE-style plastic material in the future.
No word yet on pricing for the kit, but the target price for a set of four flares and mounting hardware is $800. We also understand fifteen52 and C2 plan to install a 4Motion all-wheel drive system into the car after Waterfest.
MKC M3
You can expect to see Ryan Charlton's E36 M3 turbo hit these pages soon. Modified by KC Performance near Kansas City, the car's almost complete.
While the rest of the turbocharging BMW world seems to be going for maximum power, Ryan's goal is to build a reliable yet powerful street car that will shine on the road course as well.
The goal is for power in the mid-400hp range, with a torque curve to give him the edge when powering out of low-speed turns. To achieve this, it will have a fully-built bottom end using low-compression, forged pistons, forged rods, ARP fasteners and upgraded cooling system. MKC specializes in engine tuning on its Dynojet, so the shop will manipulate the programmable engine management to get the Garrett GT35R turbo spooling early.