Audi Days
Autotechnique, otherwise known as Audi City J seems to pump out supercharged S5’s and RS4 like the writer has hot meals. Here’s another S5 graced with an APR supercharger which thanks to its all-paw grip makes for a serious traffic light contender.



VCM Suite’s on site Audi maestro and APR dealer, Andrew, keeps parking his stickered and supercharged S5 on our lawn (it should be a Commodore for goodness sake!), but I tell you what; it attracts lots of attention. And so it should given it 12 second flat ¼ mile potential, awesome exhaust note, and fantastic driving manners.




Question Mark
Sometimes the cars that make their way into the depths of the Autotechnique secretarium are of a very, shall we say, high standard. Just like this one. What do you think it could be?




Blue Meanie (again)
They’re sprouting like weeds them there HDT cars. Yep, they’re gaining in the popularity stakes to the point where you have to say the sky is the limit. Or at least Mt Kilimanjaro! Here’s another brand newie getting down ‘n dirty. Well, it will be a bit of a mother when it’s complete thanks to a Harrop puffer and a raft of good gear as big as a barn.

HDT Blue Meanie
A thorough rebuild on one of the company VE’s has seen it morph into a fully fledged HDT VK Group A replica.

Over and above the usual kit that includes a paint colour change, Bilstein coil-over suspension, HDT Aero rims, full VK Retro interior, OTR, cat-back and tune, the build plated ‘Blue Meanie’ comes equipped with a 414 cube, Magnuson HTV2300 topped powerhouse developing just on 400 rwkW (with a mere 6 psi boost!), Harrop Ultimate brakes, and 5-gauge binnacle.

Let me tell you, it’s a nice daily driver – one just waiting to be leaned on with maybe twice the boost and 500 rwkW! Now that’d be nice... Well, it would be nice except for the fact that a prospective buyer is about to lay his hard earned down on the beastie.

By the way, he is just one in a queue of prospective HDT owners with the new VL Retro, Blue Meanie, VC and VH gaining terrifically in popularity.




VE HDT VL Retro
The news has spread across the length and breadth of Australia alerting all and sundry to the release of the new VE HDT VL Retro – with the majority of the motoring media seeming to place more emphasis on how all VL Retros are to be fitted with an original Brock Energy Polariser, than anything else.

Well, the fact of the matter is that the VL Retro is a brilliant car, with Prototype plate No 000 built in the Autotechnique facility complete with an 8/6 piston piston brake package, and, well, all of the fruit. The engine is topped with a little Harrop/HDT TVS1900 supercharger belting out a mild 6 psi into the stock internals for a genuine 355 rwkW. Enough to make it fun – and funky.

LS3 powered HSV GTS
With some 100 or so VCM Cam upgrades performed around Australia each month, it comes as little surprise as to the regularity of excellent results. A recent example tuned on the Autotechnique chassis dyno was a near new LS3 powered HSV GTS, the owner wanting to retain the stock converter; enter a VCM-21 camshaft (217˚/225˚, .600"/.578", 113˚ lsa). Retaining the factory headers only backing them with a 3” VCM cat-back while fronting the engine with a VCM OTR, the GTS delivered a not-insignificant 288 kilowatts to the treads – for an extremely happy vehicle owner.

HDT VE Group A Magnum Ute
Opting for the smallest cam in the VCM range was the order of the day when it came to the desires of a HDT VE Group A Magnum ute. The owner made it clear he didn’t want much of a ‘lump and it was mandatory that he retain the stock converter, which led to the fitment of a VCM-9 (217˚/217˚, .600"/.590", 112.5˚ lsa) and an astonishing 290 rwkW – through the MAF! A VCM OTR, headers and twin 3” system complete a package that – yep – seems to defy logic. But you know what, we hear of this often, particularly when an engine is ‘built on a Wednesday’. In other words, not ever LS engine is equal with some incapable of ever delivering a decent punch, and other that punch above their weight. The VCM-9 and VCM-21 camshafts fit the bill perfectly with non-high stall converter cars, the performance often so significant that they leave much larger camshaft cars in their wake – up to a certain speed of course.



HDT VE Race Car
The official HDT VE Race car – a magnificently presented vehicle driven by HDT manager Darren Gillis –, runs a VCM-6 (233˚/233˚, .597"/.596", 114˚ lsa) equipped LS3 to the tune of a mega-tough 355 rwkW. Mix the power with a totally gutted interior, great suspension and massive brakes, and you have a fun car!

Company Director, Mario Pancione is champing at the bit to complete upgrades to the company ‘club racer’ affectionately known as Penelope (don’t ask why the name!).

The VY Commodore sedan had been running a 5.7-litre engine with VCM-7 camshaft, DiFillipo headers, VCM 3” cat-back and VCM Alloy OTR which was enough to power it around our local track, Sandown, in 1.21’s, which is stout but nothing overly special. So the decision was taken to build a stroker combo measuring 408 cubes with LS2 cylinder heads, and custom VCM camshaft.

With Mario anticipating around an additional 150 horsepower over the old near stock 5.7 he’s hoping to move the car in the teens at Sandown. Mind you, the other director, Greg believes that it will take Mario a lot before he is able to beat him around a race track – let the infighting begin!

Autotechnique together with business partner, DNA Performance, has launched into the Euro arena with a range of world renowned APR parts and tuning options. Exciting additions include product availability of DMS tuning (diesels and a more encompassing Euro coverage), GruppeM carbon fibre intakes, STaSIS Engineering, H&R, KW and Eibach suspension, APR (Audi, VW, Porsche, Skoda & Seat only), Oettinger (Audi, VW, Skoda & Seat only), STaSIS Engineering (Audi only), Corsa, Milltek Sport, Akrapovic and Remus exhaust systems.

Just one example of what can be achieved with nothing more than an APR tune is a Golf R that dropped onto the dyno rollers with 136kW (awd) and left with a substantial 168kW as well as an extra 80Nm of Torque.