The EA888 engine is a masterpiece of engineering, found in an abundance of MQB platform cars from the MK7 Golf GTI and R to the Audi S3 and Leon Cupra. As these cars have become more and more affordable, we have seen more and more on the track, especially the MK7 Golf GTI. That’s why we thought it would be a great idea to gather up a selection of intakes that we sell for this engine and put them through their paces on one of our infamous intake tests.

The easiest way to break the factory intake down is to look at the 3 different parts that it comprises of: Air Box, Inlet Hose and the Turbo Elbow. Each piece of the factory intake can be changed for an aftermarket component, with each piece available at a different price point and offering different benefits. In our test, we use the entire setup available from each brand where available.

The car that we are using for our test is a MK7 Golf GTI. It is stock other than a Unicorn Motor Developments Stage 1 Map and a Clubsport back box exhaust, so pretty representative of what our customers will be driving.

The intakes that we’ll be testing:

• Ramair Proram
• MST
• Racingline R600
• Forge Motorsport
• Eventuri
• GruppeM

The Baseline: Stock Airbox

Before we started bolting on intakes and shoses we needed a benchmark. The car put down 297.4 bhp and 312.9 lbs. ft of torque with a completely stock intake. With an ambient temp of 6°C, the intake temps peaked at at 66°C.

Ramair

The most affordable intake in our lineup is the Ramair which comes in at a wallet friendly £479.48 at the time of writing. The kit includes an open intake with heat shield, a 4″ metal inlet hose and a turbo adapter too. It retains the factory inlet duct at the front. When it comes to providing more noise, this is definitely the loudest on the test.

The Breakdown

1. The Value Kings: MST & Ramair

If you want the best performance-to-price ratio, the MST and Ramair kits are nearly inseparable. Both delivered solid gains of roughly 7-8 bhp. At under £500 for the full kit including the hose and elbow, these are the smart choices for a budget-conscious build. If you want noise, go for Ramair, if you want a bit of extra performance go for MST.

2. The Enthusiast Choice: Racingline R600

There’s a reason the R600 is the go-to in the MQB world. It looks OEM+, offers a choice of foam or cotton filters, and delivered a very respectable 8.8 bhp. While the total kit (including the high-flow elbow and intake hose) climbs to £646.77, the fit and finish are hard to beat.

3. The Showstoppers: Eventuri & Forge

If engine bay aesthetics are as important as the dyno sheet, these are your picks. Eventuri is a highly regarded name in the intake world, and it’ll hold its value when you come to sell it second hand. The Forge intake is arguably the best looking and we reckon that it was the second loudest intake that we tested, perfect for those wanting to hear intake noises!

4. The Powerhouse: GruppeM

The GruppeM system is the undisputed king of this test in terms of raw numbers, delivering a massive 10.2 bhp and 14.5 lbs. ft of torque. However, at £1,436.96, you are paying a significant premium for those extra few horses. We’d be interested to see what this intake is capable of when used in conjunction with an intake hose and turbo elbow adapter.

No matter which you choose, the EA888 platform responds incredibly well to better breathing. Ready to wake up your MQB car up? Check out the full range at Tegiwa!

Looking at the car from the outside, it’s not clear that there’s been much change, if any at all. Dig a bit deeper and you’ll notice that the YSR Dynamic Pro Sport coilovers have been removed and been replaced with a set of Nitron NTR R1 true coilovers. The reason for the upgraded suspension is that this is now Area Motorsport’s dedicated track car so Rob doesn’t have to worry too much about retaining comfort on the road so he can now go for out and out performance. For those people out there who will still be using their Golf on the road, then a set of Nitron’s is still more than manageable day to day, but don’t expect the comfort from Area’s Track Spec Nitrons that you get from the YSR Coilovers.

Power has now been stepped up to make the most of the HPA Motorsports IS38 hybrid turbo kit. A Ti Motorsport remap now sees the car making 360 horsepower, a massive 140bhp more than standard whilst still well within the safety window for track use.

Helping to transmit all the power to the tarmac, Rob has now switched up his dry wheel choice with a set of 10J wide Team Dynamic Pro Race 1.2’s wrapped in Yokohama A052’s.

Moving inside the car, the first noticeable change is that the car is now sporting a SW Motorsports bolt-in half cage. Not only does this protect Rob in the event of an accident, but it also helps to tighten the chassis of the car up to make it more rigid. A SW seat delete kit has also been installed to add an OEM finish to the GTI’s interior.

The Cobra Nogaro bucket seats are now equipped with a set of Lifeline Copse Harnesses that help to keep the driver firmly secured into the seat.

Finally, a Garmin Catalyst is the final solution for data acquisition inside the Golf’s cockpit. This nifty tool is the go-to piece of equipment for track day goers and racers alike. Not only does it record video of your laps, but it also gives driver cues via audio to help improve your laps too.

With the car now built to the ‘ultimate track spec’ with the help of companies like HPA Motorsports, Ti Motorsport and Nitron, we hope that we’ve showed the potential that the MQB chassis has. Not only are they great on the road with a few choice mods, but they can give much more powerful cars a great run for their money when on track too. You can check out all the parts that we have to offer for the MQB chassis on our website, here. If you’d like to check out the build progress through images, then make sure you check out our Flickr gallery, below! You can also check out the full build series over on our YouTube channel too.

This is where HPA Motorsports stepped in. They’ve joined forces with us in this build to help us transform the Golf into a fully fledged track day warrior! HPA Motorsports have been researching, testing and engineering tuning parts for over 30 years for VAG cars. During this time, they’ve competed and had a success in various championships and races, demonstrating the quality and performance of their products.

HPA Hybrid Turbo

HPA supplied us with a myriad of parts from their range to help us go faster, the first of which is their OEM+ IS38 hybrid turbo upgrade kit. This turbo features an upgraded and redesigned bearing system that has been proven out on the road up to 420hp. Each turbo benefits from precision CNC machining of the exhaust and intake housings and include a HPA proprietary mixed-flow turbine wheel and CNC machined billet compressor wheel which provides better spool and anti-surge characteristics. What’s great is that HPA promise OEM+ quality, which is vital for us as the car is used hard on track and the stock IS20 turbo has already suffered from a crack!

Jonny, Area Motorsport technician, got to work stripping the car down ready to remove the IS20 turbo. First things first are to remove the subframe to allow access to the rear of the engine from underneath.

It was then off with the old down pipe which is bolted to the old turbo.

Finally, the driver’s side driveshaft was removed to allow more access to remove the required components. With the old turbo removed, Jonny could then check that everything was ready to go with the new HPA Motorsports unit.

The new hybrid IS38 was then bolted into place at the back of the engine and fixed securely, making sure everything was tightened up correctly ready for some increased boost!

HPA Exhaust Downpipe

To maximize performance, HPA Motorsports also kindly supplied their exhaust down pipe to us that mates up to their turbo. The OEM 63mm downpipe has a restrictive catalytic converter as well as a varying array of angles which don’t allow for ideal flow and result in higher back pressure at the turbo, forcing it to work harder whilst generating excessive heat.

The HPA 3” downpipe is designed around functionality and durability using T304L stainless mandrel tubing. The integrated laser cut heat shield located on top of the downpipe also help to keep temperatures to a minimum too. Plus, this downpipe features a 300-cell high flow catalytic converter, meaning it’s compliant with MOT’s here in the UK. Rob has also had the downpipe coated in Immico heat shielding which will vastly reduce engine bay temps too and help the turbo to run cooler.

HPA Performance Series Intercooler

In a bid to keep things as cool as possible, HPA also supplied us with their Performance Series direct fit intercooler. This intercooler design offers significantly reduced charge air temperatures which result in exponential performance gains, particularly for modified cars. The tube and fin design offers a 95% greater total volume, which ensures only minimal impact on air flow through to the factory radiator.

This simply bolts directly on to the car, without the need for any trimming or modification which is always a winner! This proved to be great on track as many aftermarket intercoolers we’ve tried previously have had a large increase in coolant temp! As mentioned by HPA previously, before fitting with their different design this wasn’t the case. Water temps remained stable as per with the stock cooler, but intake air temps dropped drastically.

To help ensure the car is running as cool as possible we also installed a Racingline Performance oil cooler system. This is an absolute must for any hard driven Golf running above stock horsepower. Unlike many other kits on the market, this unit keeps the factory oil to water cooler in position – effectively doubling up on cooling.

Finally, we installed a set of APR ignition coils which provide a greater energy output, ensuring a stronger and more consistent spark. Plus, they’re red too which mean they must be faster than the stock items!

Back to the dyno

With all the new parts installed and fresh coolant in the car it was time to take the car over to Ti Motorsport for a fresh remap to get the most from the HPA Motorsports turbo. For now this was just a base map as we only got the car to the dyno the day before the trackday and time was tight.  After some fettling with the map, this Golf GTI now produces a healthy 345.7 horsepower and 335.8 lbs. ft torque with plenty of scope for even more power in the future.

Donington Park

Of course, there’s no point having a range of go faster parts on the car if you’re not going to use them for their intended purpose. So, we headed back to Donington Park so Rob could put the Golf through its paces again.

The eagled eye readers amongst us might notice a couple of changes since our last visit here. Rob has now switched the YSR big brake kit for an AP Racing system. This isn’t necessarily an upgrade over the previous BBK, but a set simply came up from a customer who wanted a quieter experience on the road, so we decided to back-to-back test them against the YSR BBK even using the same pads from the YSR kit. Braking wasn’t reduced as expected and there was no difference in feel, showing just how good the YSR Kit is for almost half the price.

You may notice that the front of the car looks more aggressive now too. This is because wider front wings have been installed which allow for a wider wheel combination and the use of a 15mm spacer too on the 18×8.5 Wedsports and the 255 Michelins. The wider wings now allow the use of a 18×10 upfront and 265 in the dry.

The British summer weather was doing its usual tricks throughout the morning, with sun one moment and torrential downpour the next. However, the clouds cleared during the afternoon which meant that Rob could get to grips with all 345 ponies he now had under his right foot.

In summary the modifications all performed well and improved feel and lap time further. There was slightly more grip available from the wider tyre in the dry whilst in the wet the car performed amazingly, putting in times relative to current race series Area Motorsport compete in which was unexpected but great to see.

In the dry again we had more pace, the car was now sat at the same power to weight as the golf race cars being 350 HP. Even though this car is much heavier it still achieved an identical straight-line speed on the data overlay. The car gained nearly 3 seconds over the previous day at Donington, mainly from the performance the HPA Motorsports parts have provided. Knocking on the door of 16s in a car that still has a spare wheel, and all of the OEM interior is quite impressive. We’re looking forward to the next day out where the car will be turned up some more to see what it can do!

Welcome back to the latest thread in the Area Motorsport MK7 Golf GTI build series. With a host of chassis and upgrade parts already installed, it was time to head over to Donington Park to put the Golf through its paces. If you’ve not seen what we’ve been up to so far, then you can check it out here.

Prior to the track day, Rob had also fitted a Racingline Performance oil catch tank system. This routes undesirable oil and moisture vapours through a system of internal baffles and into a fully baffled catch can. This helps to keep a purer air/fuel mixture and avoids slowly filling the intercooler with oil. The engine breather plate, which is also included in this kit, also protects the engine by helping to eradicate oil starvation in very high G braking.

The boys at Area Motorsport had also fitted a host of exterior dress up parts which helped to give the Golf an even more aggressive appearance. These upgrades comprised of a front splitter, side splitters, finned rear diffuser and a replica GTI Clubsport spoiler.

‘Road Tyres’

The first test of the day was to see what time was possible in its road going guise. For this scenario we had 18×8.5 WedsSport TC105X fitted with 255/35/18 Michelin Pilot Sport 4’s. This tyre is suitable for both wet and dry conditions on the road and is often deemed as the go to option for a fast road, all round tyre that’s up to light track work too.

With this wheel and tyre combination, Rob achieved a time of 1:21.6 which is pretty rapid for the Donington Park national circuit! Here’s what Rob had to say on this setup:

“The PS4’s felt very good on the car and the balance of the car was really nice. Obviously the tyre will never have the grip of a true track tyre but in terms of pure enjoyment they felt fantastic. After around 12-15 minutes you could feel them really start to overheat but aside from that they performed really well and wear wise you’d definitely get many track days out of them no issue.”

‘Track Tyres’

Next up, Rob swapped the wheels over to a set of 18×8.5 Rota Strikes which were wrapped in 235/40/18 Yokohama A052’s. We knew from the get-go that these were going to offer miles more grip, after all, they’re a performance semi slick designed for track use specifically. With all the extra grip on offer, Rob put in a best time of 1:18.8 which shows just what the MK7 chassis is capable of in the right hands with some mild tuning.

“The A052 is generally what we use on our race cars, so we knew the tyre and how it performs. The balance of the car really stayed the same as it was on the Michelins but the overall grip was much higher, as was the longevity of consistent performance without any drop of grip throughout a 15-20 minute session.”

Also on track was Rob’s good friend and fellow Club Enduro racer, Luke Handley, in his MK7 Golf GTI race car. Although they might look fairly similar, Luke’s Golf is kitted out with Nitron race suspension and a bunch of spherical bushed suspension components as well as a plethora of super racey parts. To give an idea of how the two cars compare, Luke’s fastest time around Donington is 1:16.2.

One notable addition to the car that Rob was super impressed with was the Cobra Nogaro seats. Although they offer an OEM+ look and don’t look like a fully-fledged track day seat, Rob couldn’t get over how well they held him in place during the twists and turns of the track.

Summary

We were really pleased with how the chassis components performed on circuit with both the “Road” and “Track” tyres. The balance of the car was great on both tyres, with the car compliant over bumps and undulations which inspired confidence from the get go. In general, even for someone who has raced for over 10 years, it was a very enjoyable and fun experience, even more so that the car is still very comfortable on the road too.

We ran this day without an oil cooler kit, and with an ambient temperature of 16 degrees and after a 15-20 minute session we were seeing engine oil temperatures hitting 130 degrees and coolant temps rising to 110. Being a racer, the car was driven extremely hard but we would certainly suggest installing an oil cooler kit on any car that does regular track days, especially in summer months.

The cars top speed at Donington was down the back straight hitting 119 mph thanks to the TI Motorsport remap. The map felt really good on track, with plenty of throttle modulation available and smooth linear power. The IS20 stock turbo certainly ran out of steam at high rpm as expected, but we’ll be addressing that in the next episode with a whole host of HPA Motorsports parts and some more cooling modifications. In comparison to our race cars which are 308bhp and also lighter by 70KG than this car, they regularly hit 124-125 mph down the back straight.

The TI Motorsport gearbox map also took care of all the annoying features of the stock DSG gearbox map on circuit with no auto up or down shifts and much improved shifting. We did notice and already knew that on track the GTI DSG gearbox ratios are extremely long (4^th Gear does 132mph), which does take away from some of the enjoyment and gear availability through corners. Again, this is something that we can take care of with a different DSG Box like we have done on the race cars.

Next up in this build series, we’ll be heading back to Area Motorsport as the chaps fit the HPA Motorsports parts in a bid to maximise engine performance and turn up the power as well as a bunch of cooling solutions from RacingLine Performance!  As always, you can check out this build on our YouTube channel too, and all images are available on our Flickr page too!

With the car already on the ramp when we arrived and a multitude of parts laid out on the bench, Area Motorsport technicians, Chris and Jonny, were ready to crack on with the upgrades.

First things first, was to remove the stock dampers and springs and replace with a set of Yellow Speed Racing Dynamic Pro Sport coilovers. These are a fantastic upgrade for the MQB chassis, with many suspension kits well over the £2,000 mark. Representing excellent value for money, the YSR kit includes camber adjustable top mounts (adding up to 3 degrees of camber at the desired ride height) and adjustable drop links are included which are an essential, for just over £800! Not only can these handle track duties but they also retain comfort for the road too, perfect for day to day use as well a trip to the Nurburgring if desired.

Finally, a KW EDC cancellation kit was added to the YSR coilovers to prevent any error messages or loss of functionality beyond the loss of damper control. This kit or a variant of it is essential when upgrading to coilovers on an EDC car as without it the traction control cannot be disabled.

Next up was replacing the tired looking OEM brake system with a host of new upgrades. As you know if you’ve ever been on a track day with standard brakes, they last about 3 laps before you’ll run into issues. The stock calipers, although being a performance pack car, even with some uprated pads and fluid, still suffer with issues on circuit as Rob has previously found out in testing.

Rob has opted for a Yellow Speed Racing 356mm 6 pot big brake kit finished in painted red to take care of stopping power. Priced at just £1,266, these are a much cheaper alternative to the likes of AP Racing and Alcon brake kits whilst still offering fantastic reliability and performance. We put a set of Pagid RSL29 brake pads in too as these will last all day on track and provide great bite without any fade. Plus, replacement discs are much cheaper than others on the market and are super durable!

Meanwhile, at the rear of the car we replaced the discs with new OEM sized Pagid items and upgraded to a set of EBC orange stuff brake pads. We then replaced the spent brake fluid with some fresh Motul RBF 660 and installed HEL braided brake lines too. Area have found this combination to retain a good balance for the ABS system.

Verkline front lower control arms were then put onto the car to replace the OEM items. These tubular adjustable wishbones provide increased stiffness, reduced weight and extra adjustment, and they bolt straight up to the factory parts which means that no modifications are necessary. They’re capable of caster and camber change and give unrivalled adjustment come setup time.

A Hardrace 25.4mm rear anti-roll bar was then installed along with Hardrace rear toe and camber arms with hardened rubber bushes. The camber arms in particular, like all Hardrace components, have been well thought out, squeezing into the assembley a left and right handed thread. This allows adjustment in situ on the car unlike most other brands. The rubber bushes, although much firmer than stock, don’t cause any additional NVH.

To prevent too much engine movement on track, a Creations Motorsport dogbone mount insert was installed as well as Racing Line subframe alignment kit too. These will help offer a more engaging driving experience as they’ll counteract engine movement under hard acceleration and braking. The idle was raised using VCDS, meaning no extra cabin vibrations will be felt, even when idling! The Racing Line subframe collars stop the subframe from moving on circuit over harsh curbs, meaning no abnormal alignment changes from driving on circuit.

With the suspension and brakes taken care of it was time to add a bit more noise. This came in the form of a Scorpion resonated cat-back exhaust with Daytona tips, which will pass all 98Db track days in the UK.

With the wheels now ready to bolt on we could finally see the fruitions of the day’s work coming together. WedsSport TC-105X with Michelin Pilot Sport 4’s were the wheel and tyre of choice whilst Rota Strike’s wrapped in Yokohama A052 tyres will be the go-to option for super-fast laps!

With the Golf now back on terra firma, adjustments were made to the ride height before a full geometry and corner weight setup was carried out. With adjustments made to the camber and toe, the string alignment kit could come out to make the final toe adjustments.

Finally, a re-trimmed alcantara steering wheel and a set of Corbeau Nogaro bucket seats were added to the interior. We can’t wait to see how these seats perform on track as they take pride of place and give an OEM+ look to the cabin.

Of course, we then moved the car outside and got some awesome pictures of the Golf GTI sat on its new wheels and sporting its aggressive track day stance!

As always, you can follow the progress on our Flickr to get an in-depth look at everything we’ve done so far. We’ll be hitting Donington Park next with these upgrades installed to see how we get on! Make sure you stay tuned for updates and check out our YouTube channel to see our video on this build.

As you probably already know, we love a build series here at Tegiwa with plenty of different flavours tickling our fancy over the years. These builds include a BMW E92 M3, F80 M4, EP3 Type R Trophy and our beloved Honda NSX to name just a few.

This time round, we’ve teamed up with Tegiwa Dealer and good friend of ours, Rob Baker, owner of Area Motorsport, to document his MK7 Volkswagen Golf GTI track build. Plus, we’ve recently listed an extensive list of performance products for the VAG MQB chassis over on Tegiwa Euro, so this build is perfect timing. We’d like to give a big shout out to HPA Motorsports too, who’ve jumped on board this build with us – we’ll be installing all their parts pretty soon, so make sure you stay tuned for that!

The car

The car that Area Motorsport have chosen is this MK7 2013 Performance Pack Volkswagen Golf GTI DSG. The car itself has done just over 104,000 miles and the plan is to turn it into a track car to show what the platform is capable of. As these cars are coming up to 10 years old, there’s plenty of aftermarket parts available and a good option for those looking for something to use on the road everyday as well as the occasional track day too.

The car is currently bone stock, apart from a custom Ti Motorsport gearbox and engine remap to help aid drivability. The car made 300hp which is bang on the money for a stage 1 map!

No stranger to the MK7 platform, Rob has built plenty of GTI race cars including one that he personally races too. This means that he’s tried and tested an array of different parts, so he knows exactly what parts work and what parts don’t.

The build

The GTI will be treated to a tonne of new Tegiwa supplied goodies before it hits its first track day, with plenty of HPA Motorsports parts to be installed shortly after too! Check out the parts that we’ll be fitting before we head to Donington Park:

Chassis

• Yellow Speed Racing Dynamic Pro Sport Coilovers
• Yellow Speed Racing Adjustable Drop Links
• Verkline Front Lower Control Arms
• Creation Motorsport Dog Bone Insert
• Hardrace Rear Toe Arms (Hardened Rubber Bushes)
• Hardrace Rear Camber Arms (Hardended Rubber Bushes)
• Hardrace 25.4mm Rear Anti Roll Bar
• Whiteline Adjustable Rear Drop Links
• Powerflex Rear Inner & Outer Lower Bushes
• Racingline Subframe Alignment Kit

Brakes

• Yellow Speed Racing 356mm 6 Pot Big Brake Kit
• Pagid RSL29 Front Brake Pads
• Pagid Rear Brake Discs
• EBC Orange Stuff Rear Brake Pads
• HEL Braided Brake Lines
• Motul RBF 660 

Interior

• Cobra Nogaro Bucket Seats
• Billet Seat Mounts
• Tegiwa Side Mounts

Engine & Exhaust

• Ti Motorsport Gearbox & Engine Map
• Scorpion Resonated Cat-back Exhaust 

Wheels & Tyres

• Rota Strike 18” x 8.5 ET44 with 235/40/18 Yokohama A052
• WedsSport TC105X 18” x 8.5 ET43 with 255/35/18 Michelin PS4S

Rob and his team at Area Motorsport have got their work cut out getting all these parts installed on the car before we take it to its first track day but we’ll be on hand to document the progress, both on our blog and YouTube channel. Plus, we’ll be documenting it all through our Flickr too, where you can see the full catalogue of pictures. Stay tuned for updates and to follow what is sure to be another epic build!