What im getting at is that they all started the same as us... as enthusiasts with a love of trying something different.
:oLong read....
Steve Pitt, was a Post Man for Royal Mail (he liked to call himself Royal mail Health and Safety Supervisor' though
). Had his G40 for about 4years then.
Liam was an Apprentice Machinist, had a G40 for around 2-3years then.
Both had the usual stage 4 chargers, 65mm pulley and jabba chips, exhaust and filters (K&N i think)
Darren @ Gwerks was a Fabricator was into his G60s. Darren also used to work for John Mitchell of JRM (who used to do chargers etc, maybe still does) and also knew Kieth and Jim at Race Power Motorsport through John Mitchell. And all knew Andy Boakes who worked at PVW madazine then as advertising manager and in turn John Haycock (who built Elliotts Silver MK1 Golf Project Buzz Box and a few other before PVW got in with the Phirm)
In 2001, I was based at RAF Cosford along with RichieK, I had my red G40 and RichieK his White one both being recently fettled at Jabba running 145bhp, down the road was Steve Pitt in Walsall, we all knew each other Liam and few others through the G40 meets and RR days.
It all Started with Steve and Liam needing a their chargers rebuilt but didn't want to pay jabba's prices so decided to have a go at porting their own and rebuilding using bits obtained elsewhere on Liam's Gran's Kitchen Table!
. Both had Stage 4 chargers before the DIY porting, then my jabbasport R1 charger was pulled apart on Steve Living room table and we saw the difference between their porting and Jabba's R1, seeing that loads more could be taken out. I then cracked on with my R1 charger porting and polishing it using my uni aerodynamics knowledge. Then they though about the return inlet of the charger, thinking if it could be binned and used as a 2nd filter. Initially it all looked fairly crude to what we all know now but it worked. A few more bits were done to the inlet manifold and throttle body. The Steve, me and RichieK went to Jabba to get Steve's car on the Rollers, came back with 169bhp (i think with crude form of toothed belts aswell), from a 142bhp original stage 4 car! I remember Mike and Brian being gobsmacked about it, though there idea had they continued with their demo G40 was a surpentine belt setup like the G60! Mark hunter playing around with his turbo'd G40 creation replacing a piston in a service station car park with Paul Borthwick at 2am on his way down to Steve's house before an RR day.
It was a fun time, trying out new things, like the belt dressing to stop vee belts slipping and the whine they produced, playing with my vernier pulley and cam and fitting my gemini phase 1 LSD and lightened flywheel (that was awesome!).
I think ive still got a copy of the video produced when Steve, liam and Andy Boakes went to Spa Circuit, Boakesy had just had John Haycock install a Safety devices cage and race seat in his to which he used to recall that Steve joked and laughed at him saying wtf have you done, overkill for a polo and not needed, then Andy proceded to run circles round them on circuit being so much faster in the bends. Steve's G broke though, oil pump failure and had to be RAC'd home! Then on, they got abit more serious about it.
Thats when Liam started with 51mm throttle bodies machining them at work, and looking into toothed belts, I think the 3rd or 4th set was fitted to my old red G after Steve's and Liams. Darren, a mate of Liam's at the time, fabricated the 2wd Cosworth Intercooler with better end caps rotating them 90deg and we had them on mine and Liam's G40s. Liam's and my red G were nigh on identical specs, I remember Liam's G was absolutely brutal and mine was also damn fast after my jabba custom remap. I remember Steve trying out a 62mm toothed pulley on his at a ClubG40 RR day once, and it blew the seals almost immediately, although it was hitting the map sensor limit at 4000rpm or something like it.
About that time, Steve decided to start offering charger rebuilds while living at home with his parents and Liam also doing them between them under the name PSD, business was going well so steve packed up his RM job and moved down to Liams and set up PSD properly. Darren being an ex fabricator also setup along side them in the same unit under Gwerks offering G60 stuff, Karl Tull was also a 'consultant' for them too.
I think Barney was the first 1341cc build. Liam did the engine rebuilds, Steve did the chargers. It grew from there. And then it got messy, different ideas, arguments, legal threats by Jabba, non stop phone calls meaning no work could be done, splits between different G40 camps, secrets.
Thats pretty much how i roughly remember it...
Others had different stories, and wilder experiences, good and bad. Maybe they just got in too deep.
Dont get me wrong I had some good times at PSD when down there, other times really crap but i was more of a Race Power camper and the direct involvement in Racing with Boakesy and getting to know more and more racers, Johhny Moore, Lloyd Allard. Although banter with PSD soon at the time became slander to which I think most of us regret now. Should have just got on with it.
I remember a great day down at Keevil Airfield and also bovington with them and also Team Guru, Steve in his blue ex rally cup car g40 thingy and my black one running knackered cup car suspension, shit on track great on the road and watching Liam driving it like a bat out of hell back to Liams house from the unit.
