Audi Tuning | VW Tuning

Audi Club NA – Northwest Chapter
Saturday May 14 – Sunday May 15
Bremerton Motorsports Park, Port Orchard, WA
Last day to register online: Mon May 9, 2011

Once again it is our privilege to sponsor the Audi Club Northwest’s annual Matt Ammon Memorial Driving School and Teen Clinic for 2011.

Audi Club Northwest and Achtuning are proud to present the Fifth Annual Matt Ammon Memorial Driving School and Teen Driver Clinic at Bremerton Motorsports Park, May 14-15.

Who was Matt Ammon? Matt Ammon bought his ’01 Nogaro Blue Audi S4 in May of 2001 and became very active in local chapters of Audi Club North America in Ohio, Illinois, Virginia and Missouri before coming to the Seattle area in the Summer of 2006. Tragically, he was taken from us in November 2006. In his all too short time with us Matt brought his enthusiasm, skill and knowledge and quickly became integrated with the local Audi community and Audi Club Northwest. When asked what modifications one should make to their car, Matt would be quick to answer, “The first mod should be driving school.”

Saturday’s Driver Education (“DE”) is not the DE we had when we first earned our drivers license. This is an advanced DE course that is encouraged for all drivers, teens, novices or intermediate drivers. It is an exciting opportunity to learn how you and your car work together in real life situations on the street and highway. DE students will participate in a number of exercises (slalom, emergency braking, collision avoidance, skid pad) on Saturday morning and run the DE Autocross in the afternoon.

What is an autocross? An autocross is where drivers navigate through a course by following a route of cones that make up turns, gates and slaloms. Autocross is an excellent way to practice the car control skills learned in the morning’s driving clinic exercises.

More experienced drivers can register for the All-day Autocross on Saturday, which is held on a second course layout. The All-day Autocross is for practiced drivers looking for lots of runs! For enthusiasts, this big autocross is a chance to sharpen your skills for the new season.

On Sunday, we have our All-day Lapping or high performance driving school. What is lapping? Using street rules, with strict passing rules enforced, instructed lapping on a road course puts multiple cars on the course for 20-30 minute sessions. This is not racing; there is no side-by-side braking or fender contact. This is another great way to learn and practice car control. People who have completed a DE course and are 18+ years old are invited to participate. Anyone who drives on the interstate should attend at least one lapping event to practice skills at highway speeds.

The Teen Driver Clinic is discounted to $25 for young drivers 16-19 years old. Register early as there are only 15 spots available! This clinic is designed for the beginning driver, teaching valuable skills such as emergency braking, collision avoidance and car control. A parent, guardian or authorized representative must accompany teens younger than 18 to the facility.

Parents of teen drivers are encouraged to attend the Teen Driver Clinic as a participant! Take the same clinic as your teen; make the day important for you too! Share stories at home! A special package price of just $79 ($25 teen +$54 parent) puts each of you in the same exercises and practice so you can share the experience together. You’ll be able to talk about driver skill using the same terms, and have fun together. Teen and parent must register individually using the selections available in the next screens. You can share one car for this event; each of you will have the same driving time.

Adult drivers 18+ may choose from the following event options:

Two-day price of $225 for Driver Education and Lapping Day.
Two-day price of $195 for the All-day Autocross and Lapping Day.
One-day price of $100 for Saturday-only Driver Education and DE Autocross.
One-day price of $75 for Saturday All-day Autocross.
One-day price of $145 for Sunday Lapping Day.
Registration pricing includes lunch for each day you participate. Guest lunches are available for $12.

Sunday Lapping attendees must be Audi Club North America/Audi Club Northwest members. You may purchase membership at time of registration (best method) or go to the Audi Club North America website to join.

Saturday-only participants are welcome to come back on Sunday to spectate and talk with the new enthusiasts you’ve met. It is okay to bring friends with you too. You may be able to arrange rides with designated instructors on Sunday to experience first hand what a lapping day is all about.

Go to Audi Club NW for forms and information: Audi Club NW

ACHTUN!NG has some exciting news to share for the upcoming 2011 season! As we mentioned in previous installments, we picked up an alignment rack to widen the range of services we can offer to our European car enthusiasts. Since then, we’ve already upgraded!

It’s also been a long-time goal for us to be able to offer our customers tire replacement services, considering our current equipment limits us to new tire mounting on new wheels only. We are one step closer to being able to offer this service thanks to the arrival of our new tire machine!

And remember our ACHTUN!NG A3?

We just ordered an APR “Stage 4″ (completely BUILT) motor and it’s on the way to replace the current APR “Ed30″ K04-powered kit.  APR claims 460 wheel horse power!

We here at Achtuning are pleased to announce our support for the Audi Club Northwest for Geschwindigkeit 2010 at Pacific Raceways on Friday, July 16th!

Registration is now open and only 9 spots remain!

This is a new event for at Pacific Raceways. For those of you who haven’t been able to join the Audi Club Northwest for events at Portland International Raceway or Bremerton Motorsports Park, this is a great opportunity to experience an Audi Club event at a world class facility within a short drive from the Seattle area.

With nearly 5 decades of history and located only 34 miles from downtown Seattle, the Pacific Raceways Road Course is a world-class, SCCA and NASCAR certified, 10-turn (9 turns with a “kink” in the main straightaway), 2.25-mile course. The 170mph front straight is at an elevation of 150 feet above sea level. There is a total elevation change of 125 feet, of which 100 feet occurs in 1/2 mile, between turn 2 and turn 3B. Winding through natural wooded terrain, sweeping curves and hairpin turns make Pacific Raceways one of the most unique and challenging courses in the United States.

The one day price of $235 includes lunch and plenty of track time. We will be limiting this event to 60 participants, so we can provide as much track time as possible.

ACNA membership is required for this event. If you are not a club member yet, and you own an Audi, please contact the NW chapter registrar through the above registration link for new membership options. Anyone may join ACNA or renew an existing membership as part of your registration on the following event sign-up pages.

All attendees must be at least 18 years of age.

This event does NOT have a Driver’s Education exercises component. It is for drivers who have attended at least one ACNW high speed lapping event or equivalent from another club or driver’s school. Please indicate your driver skill level as part of the registration process online.

Instructors will be available for those who are not signed off to solo, or anyone wanting a coach. One of the objectives of this event is to practice and refine the experience you gained from attending previous track events with Audi Club Northwest or other car club events.

If you have questions, email the event master, Seth Varty though the registration link above.

Check back here soon for upcoming specials to help make sure you have the right performance products to help make the most of your day at Geschwindigkeit 2010!

We hope to see you out there!

We here at Achtuning are pleased to announce our support for the Audi Club Northwest for Geschwindigkeit 2010 at Pacific Raceways on Friday, July 16th!

Registration is now open!

This is a new event for at Pacific Raceways.  For those of you who haven’t been able to join the Audi Club Northwest for events at Portland International Raceway or Bremerton Motorsports Park, this is a great opportunity to experience an Audi Club event at a world class facility within a short drive from the Seattle area.

With nearly 5 decades of history and located only 34 miles from downtown Seattle, the Pacific Raceways Road Course is a world-class, SCCA and NASCAR certified, 10-turn (9 turns with a “kink” in the main straightaway), 2.25-mile course.  The 170mph front straight is at an elevation of 150 feet above sea level.  There is a total elevation change of 125 feet, of which 100 feet occurs in 1/2 mile, between turn 2 and turn 3B.  Winding through natural wooded terrain, sweeping curves and hairpin turns make Pacific Raceways one of the most unique and challenging courses in the United States.

The one day price of $235 includes lunch and plenty of track time.  We will be limiting this event to 60 participants, so we can provide as much track time as possible.

ACNA membership is required for this event.  If you are not a club member yet, and you own an Audi, please contact the NW chapter registrar through the above registration link for new membership options.  Anyone may join ACNA or renew an existing membership as part of your registration on the following event sign-up pages.

All attendees must be at least 18 years of age.

This event does NOT have a Driver’s Education exercises component.  It is for drivers who have attended at least one ACNW high speed lapping event or equivalent from another club or driver’s school.  Please indicate your driver skill level as part of the registration process online.

Instructors will be available for those who are not signed off to solo, or anyone wanting a coach.  One of the objectives of this event is to practice and refine the experience you gained from attending previous track events with Audi Club Northwest or other car club events.

If you have questions, email the event master, Seth Varty though the registration link above.

Check back here soon for upcoming specials to help make sure you have the right performance products to help make the most of your day at Geschwindigkeit 2010!

We hope to see you out there!

If the name Team Menace means anything to you, then you’d know this B6 Audi S4 owned by one of their members is well on its way to become quite the show-stopper. After being in Donn’s hands for only one week, this S4 now sits on a set of 20″ I-Forged Daytona Wheels complimented with a set of Ohlins SL coil-overs and StopTech’s 355mm, 4-piston BBK picked up here at Achtuning.

By next week it wouldn’t surprise me to see a bunch more new goodies added to Donn’s S4 and judging by the laundry list of things he has planned, it’s going to be fun to follow his progress. Since he promises to keep me updated with the progress, I will do the same here for you!

As mentioned a few posts ago, the Achtuning crew went for a quick trip to Opelika, Alabama to attend the 2010 APR Distributor Conference this last weekend. For most of us, it was the first visit to APR’s 35,000 sq. ft. “campus” and a great opportunity to put faces to names as well as getting to know the APR product in detail.

We took a direct (red eye) flight from Seattle to Atlanta Thursday night, arriving at about 5:30 am. We asked Enterprise if we could have VWs to drive while there, and they were happy to oblige… We should’ve known better!

I can’t say I remember much of the ride from Atlanta to Opelika, as I had passed out in the back seat. However I woke up in time to see Kia’s brand new plant, which had apparently just celebrated it’s Grand Opening!

Shortly after a quick meal at a Waffle House (as frequently found there as Starbucks’ is here), we arrived in Opelika – a small town just outside the Auburn area and in the east, central part of Alabama. While we were eager to check-in to the hotel to freshen up, we headed straight to APR… And what a fantastic facility they have!

It’s even more impressive inside!!

As it was just the beginning of APR’s business day, we didn’t want to be in the way. We rolled back to the hotel to nap and freshen up – then it was on to find a local BBQ joint!

To be continued…

Completion of Jon’s “RS4 Conversion” project is in sight, with the VF Engineering supercharger kit installed and the car running. Over the next few days we will be doing some data-logging for VF to make sure everything is running as it should. Some other minor tweaks are being worked out and then Jon should be ready to drive this to his new home in Santa Clara, CA.

The stock intake manifold is completely replaced with the roots type MP90 Eaton supercharger, mounted with VF’s in-house CNC machined aluminum bracket system. The unit is positioned in line with the original serpentine belt which is replaced with a longer OEM belt. The key to this design is that the OEM active-spring belt tensioner remains fully functional and eliminates belt slip or the need to manually tension the belt.

While we ran into a few small snags during the installation process, over-all we are very happy and impressed with the quality of the parts included in the kit, and from the support we’ve received from VF Engineering.

An order was also just placed to Status Racing for a set of carbon kevlar backed Ring seats which come with FIA approval since Jon intends to track this car regularly. We’ll see if we’ll have this ready for Son of Quattrofest!

Stay tuned as we watch APR’s progress as they tear down their latest VW Mk6 GTI Stage 3 demo car in preparation for this next year’s race season!  (words and pictures by Arin Ahnell)

Months before the MK6 was released we were able to get our hands on a shiny new red MK6, vin number 64. We quickly began developing products after we stopped drooling over the new setup. One of the first items strapped to the vehicle was a shiny new stage III turbocharger kit that put down around 385 ftlbs of torque and 370 HP. The car was fitted with BBS wheels, Sachs performance Suspension, and Alcon big brakes. She was a beautiful car. Then along came APR Motorsport and the 2010 racing season. The MK5′s are now in their third season – it was time for a change. We started by mocking up the new race car and showing it off at our BBQ in October. But this was far from ready to hit the track. We have rules we must follow. That means it’s time to Un-Pimp the auto! The stage three kit was ripped out of the car! Chas got to work on the miles of wires! and EVERYTHING was ripped out of the car in 2 days! Once it was all out, it was time to remove all the small bits. Loads of dry ice were used to remove sound dampening material while Chad cut off all the unneeded bits! Stay tuned for updates! Roll cage and car number two is next!

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Months before the MK6 was released we were able to get our hands on a shiny new red MK6, vin number 64. We quickly began developing products after we stopped drooling over the new setup. One of the first items strapped to the vehicle was a shiny new stage III turbocharger kit that put down around 385 ftlbs of torque and 370 HP. The car was fitted with BBS wheels, Sachs performance Suspension, and Alcon big brakes. She was a beautiful car. Then along came APR Motorsport and the 2010 racing season. The MK5′s are now in their third season – it was time for a change. We started by mocking up the new race car and showing it off at our BBQ in October. But this was far from ready to hit the track. We have rules we must follow. That means it’s time to Un-Pimp the auto! The stage three kit was ripped out of the car! Chas got to work on the miles of wires! and EVERYTHING was ripped out of the car in 2 days! Once it was all out, it was time to remove all the small bits. Loads of dry ice were used to remove sound dampening material while Chad cut off all the unneeded bits! Stay tuned for updates! Roll cage and car number two is next!

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Stasis Engineering just sent us a link to their YouTube video featuring their new B8 Audi S4 exhaust system!! (click topic title to view entire story and video)

Product information and pricing to be added to our website soon…