The TT Roadster is not a car for everyone. Besides being limited to two seats, critics claim it is more about great design than great performance. Others consider the car to be a rolling work of automotive art. Whichever side of the fence you sit on, the one thing that can be agreed upon is the huge performance potential of the VW Group's A-platform. This platform happens to be one of the most popular for the aftermarket to develop product for, as it plays home to the top-selling Jetta and New Beetle. Further, it plays home to the new darling of the tuning business, the 1.8T.
The basis for our TT Roadster Project is a 2001 180hp FronTrak that was purchased used. The car's previous owner bought it as an interim car until his dealer was able to procure a 225hp quattro in the same color combination. He traded it in the next day, much to our good fortune.
One might argue that we should have started with the TT Roadster quattro with the more powerful 225hp motor. This was a possibility, but after considering that most TTs on the road are the 180hp version and the fact that we wanted a convertible, a 180hp Front Trak was the natural choice.
In the past few months the car has been mostly getting familiar with its new garage, as it was purchased at the end of the summer and this is clearly not the best time of year for this type of vehicle. The car is stock and most of the past few months were spent planning and researching the kind of parts that were going to make their way onto this new project.
At first, the thought was to leave the car as Audi intended it with some upgraded wheels, tires, suspension and maybe a software upgrade. Perhaps it has been the long wintery nights spent out in the garage drinking Hefeweizen and dreaming up the *ULTIMATE* TT because the mild intentions for the TT have evolved quite substantially.
One important aspect about this project is that the TT will not serve as a daily driver, meaning some of the real world factor may have to be considered. Some modifications involved with this project may be considered too extreme for a daily driver, while other modifications may run the danger of voiding the car's warranty.
Using only the highest quality parts available will certainly go a long way to keeping this car reliable. The ultimate goal is to be a high performance street car that will remain on the street. It will also be one that will eventually run with cars that cost much more money to own. We expect the Project TT Roadster series to progress in numerous installments including but not limited to:
-Suspension
-Wheels and tires
-Engine and exhaust
-Brakes
-Exterior Styling
-Interior Styling
Keep an eye out for the upcoming ProjekTT Roadster series because the plan is to start right away.
