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After carrying out extensive testing on Road, Track and Dyno with AEM and Snow Performance W/M injection kits We concluded this kit is the best performing, value for money and user friendly. https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/products/sn...1. What are the benefits of Water/Methanol injection?Greatly reduced EGTs - Decreases of 121°c are common using a 50/50 water/methanol mix. Increased EGTs are an engine killer in today's performance diesel world. Low cost power - Beyond a remap, where …

Round 6 of the MSV Trackday Trophy on Sunday 30th September 2018 in our Ibiza took us to Rockingham in Corby, Northamptonshire We were testing on the Friday, which I wrote about here.After scratching our heads trying to work out why tyre temps were so crazy, we decided to remove the Gurneys on the front bumper. These were fitted to reduce airflow over the tyres, as the turbulence is bad for Aerodynamics. However, we thought that the benefit of getting air over the tyres would be greater than …

With the success of Round 5 of the MSV Trackday Championship a distant memory, and us ineligible to enter Round 6 as it requires an MSA National A licence (we are still a couple away from the 6 signatures to upgrade our B to an A), we decided to enter the Rockingham round of the MSV Trackday Trophy instead. The rules are pretty much the same as the TDC, so our Ibiza was in Class B again. The main difference are the allowed Tyres. The TDC requires everyone to be on the same Toyo R888R GG Compound …

OIL CONTAMINATION What causes oil contamination? If the oil filter is blocked/damaged or a poor quality oil filter is used Excess moisture can lead to premature oil degradation High carbon build up in the engine can quickly contaminate new oil Alternatively, if oil levels are too low or if the wrong grade of oil is used, the turbocharger can prematurely fail. Turbo failure prevention: Using new oil and filters helps to reduce the risk Replacement oil must be the correct grade for the engi …

The end of the summer brought us to one of the biggest VAG Shows at Santa Pod Raceway in Northampton, VW Action 2018. VW Action has always been a great show for us, both from a spectator perspective and for results. It was where we did our best time in the Arosa last year, a 9.7224s @ 146.74mph and Jerome also set his quickest time of 11.183 @ 121.88mph in his Ibiza, so we had high hopes for both cars performing well this year. Saturday The day started out in the one of the 2 …

In 1999, Volkswagen introduced what would become one of the most well known engine designs of modern times - the Pumpe Duse (PD) diesel engine. In a departure from many of its rivals, the PD used unit injectors rather than a common rail system, despite most manufacturers thinking that common rail was the better design. Volkswagen proved them wrong for many years, with these strong, reliable, powerful and economical engines being a huge part of what made diesel cars popular. Their 2000 BAR peak …

After Round 3 and the MSV Extra Race at Silverstone back in June, we missed Round 4 at Oulton Park due to a clash of calendars (with the Goodwood Festival of Speed - a must for any petrol or diesel head!), which meant our next race was Round 5 at the fast and flowing Brands Hatch GP Circuit. The format was changed slightly for this race from the norm, with Classes S and A being mixed in with our Class B and the C & Ds due to the increased circuit limit and packed schedule. More info ab …

High Pressure Common Rail fuel systems are the key piece of technology at the heart of modern diesel engines. The advances in this area over the last 20 years have taken diesel cars from being slow, dirty and noisy to clean, torquey and powerful, with much wider rev ranges and powerbands. While Volkswagen bucked the trend for a number of years with the ubiquitous PD engines, since about 2010, VW joined the rest of the automotive industry and made the switch to Common Rail for all of its diesel …

Before Reading this, please take a look at our ‘Dynos - What to know’ Blog - HERE Many people think a dyno is a tool for measuring peak power and little else - while this is the figure over which many pub conversations are won or lost, the peak power itself is the least important and least relevant part of the graph. This article should help you understand more about dyno testing, what you can tell from a graph, and crucially, what a graph doesn’t tell you. To the trained eye, a dyno …