Rocky Mountain High - high altitude cruising with some CO enthusiasts

[Superfreak]

Background: I’m just west of Denver at about 8k’. I have some fun car enthusiast friends that get together every week or 2 for fun group drives on some entertaining mountain roads, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see how well the golf R can keep up with some high performance vehicles.

The golf has the following mods that greatly contribute to it’s ability to keep pace: EQT Vortex standard turbo, Autotech hpfp internals, stock downpipe, with custom 91 tune. Do88 intercooler, rs3 brake ducts, high temp brake fluid, Eurosport strut camber kit, front and rear sway bars, and 200tw tires. I don’t have a build thread but find that I enjoy posting about the golf being able to perform as well as, or even better than cars that I think should be unable to keep pace with. I hope that you enjoy and please dm me with any interest in joining a drive, or if you’d like any suggestions with driving fun in CO.

Had a lot of fun with these high powered normally aspirated cars last night (9-12k’). Pulling on a v10 r8 is a special feeling, lol. I’ll get a video setup one of these days. Forced induction ftw!

 

[dood.]

Looks like fun! If you want a really solid camera mount, check out Tackform https://www.tackform.com/

 

[Superfreak]

Looks like fun! If you want a really solid camera mount, check out Tackform https://www.tackform.com/

Thanks dood. I had a camera ready but had it mounted to the passenger headrest and was vibrating like crazy. I see that tackform uses the same mounting point but maybe the GoPro stabilizing capability will render that moot. I was thinking I’d like to get a tow hook mounted set of cameras but a they’re a little expensive. Either way, I have to record these awesome drives.

 

[dood.]

I just bought a headrest mount from them and tested it on the street with my iPhone and it worked pretty well. Going to try that same setup for an upcoming track day. Tow hook mount sounds sweet. I always thought that POV was cool as it shows speed really well.

What do you have done to the R?

 

[Superfreak]

Cool, maybe I’ll try the cell phone mount then. I’ve seen some awesome setups but trying not to spend a lot on the setup. Maybe I should stop trying to be so cheap, lol

Just finishing a remote tune on a vortex std with stock downpipe. Front/ rear sway bar, Eurosport strut mounts, RS3 ducts, cup2s. Typical performance mods, nothing crazy. Super happy with most everything, maybe just focusing on some minor suspension bits. So happy with the performance of the Golf and it’s ability to drive with high performance cars.

 

[Superfreak]

I wasn’t aware that the R8 driver captured some of the best drive that we’ve had in awhile. 1:41 makes me happy.

 

[JerseyDrew77]

I wasn’t aware that the R8 driver captured some of the best drive that we’ve had in awhile. 1:41 makes me happy.

At 4:25, was that you trying to pass a cop till he flashed his light on?

 

[Superfreak]

At 4:25, was that you trying to pass a cop till he flashed his light on?

Yeah, that was pretty funny. I was in the lead at the first trooper encounter also, but I didn’t get the radio frequency before we left so I couldn’t let them know. Thankfully it was a slower section and the c7 was holding things up. The second time was the final section up to Mt Evans, which has super narrow and poor surface. We were going to make it before sunset but this utility truck was taking his sweet time, going like 15 mph with a line of fast cars stacking up. The r8 starts revving so I went for the pass. Turns out it was a park ranger or LEO of some sort. Noped right back around and hoped nothing failed on the chase back down.

edit: The chase down was me chasing the r8. The Ranger didn’t care and seemed like he just wanted us to go away. I was glad that the law enforcement seems to be really cool with us having fun from time to time.

 

[Superfreak]

Looks like fun! If you want a really solid camera mount, check out Tackform https://www.tackform.com/

I ended up getting an Insta360 with a suction cup mount for the car and a super long selfie stick for snowboarding. Coolest gadget I’ve purchased in a long time. Haven’t gotten any good footage yet, unfortunately.

Here’s the video that convinced me to purchase:

 

[dood.]

That's a cool POV! Looking forward to seeing your footage with it.

 

[Superfreak]

Yeah I’m stoked. I have a much shorter mount but should still get some good footage. I did have it on when me and another mk7 GTI did a little roll race, but I’m not going to post since I’m pretty sure he was stock. I felt bad, lol

 

[mrmatto]

the final section up to Mt Evans

Oh Jesus, I knew I recognized that road... I can't believe you guys were driving that fast on that LOL. That's a slightly terrifying drive for the uninitiated...

 

[Superfreak]

Oh Jesus, I knew I recognized that road... I can't believe you guys were driving that fast on that LOL. That's a slightly terrifying drive for the uninitiated...

Lol, yeah that was a trip. I usually just stop at Echo Lake parking lot but was happy to head to the summit. It was my first time driving it so it was fun to try to stay ahead of that r8 and not fall off the edge of the mountain.

We got our first big snow yesterday so all the fun roads are covered with sand until next spring. On go the dws06s

 

[Superfreak]

So another interesting and fun cruise last week that I’d dub “Diversity and Inclusion”. Among the attendees were a 997 C4S, a C7 Corvette, a C8 Corvette, and a Tesla powered Challenger Satellite . There was also an Evo, mk6 GTI, mk7 GTI, lifted Cayenne, LS swapped RX7, Tesla 3, a New Beetle, and a Focus ST (I think). We did another mountain pass cruise and were blessed with hardly any traffic.

Although it was not a race and tires/ weather/ road temp were factors, I think the only car that could actually keep up would be the c8. I didn’t lead the way up the pass and had to hold back quite a bit, driving behind the c7, C4S, and Satellite. Driving over and down the pass, I took the lead and the only car to come at me was the c8. We both drove a little cautiously and later confirmed that neither of us slipped at all, which is kind of crazy since we did see snow on the way up (temps were probably in the low 30’s, at coldest). It’s always so much fun to drive with other enthusiasts with high performing cars. The C4S driver doesn’t agree that his car couldn’t keep up but that’s crazy talk since he’s normally aspirated, so I’ll do my best to get him to drive behind me and see if he can keep up. I got $5 that says he cannot, lol. Of note: I was really surprised that to learn that the c8 driver was totally stock and his brakes did not seem to fade or degrade in any way, as my stock pads were definitely getting hot and I could feel a little fade. I do have rs3 ducts and high temp fluid. He has the z51 package. I did take a few pictures but was more interested just to drive, so no great pictures on this one. I have some insta360 footage that I’lll try to spend some time on and will hopefully post up sometime.

The owner/ builder of the Satellite is super cool and that car can handle really well. He designed the rear suspension (and much more) himself, though he’s not an engineer. Very very impressive to a simpleton like
me.

The LS swapped rx7 is for sale at a good price, if anyone is interested. Pretty sure it’s fast but I haven’t been able to drive with him without traffic.

Again, sorry for the poor quality pics and thanks for letting me share my stoke. I still can’t believe how well the golf performs. I hope that you folks are getting out and having fun on your own group drives.

 

[Superfreak]

Went for another fun cruise and finally spent a little time on the video aspect. Just swapped to summer wheels, adding a whopping ~9lbs to each wheel , so I guess that I’ll either get used to it, swap back to the s3 wheels, or get something similar. I love the looks of the KPS but at nearly 50 lbs per wheel (with tire), it’s a bit much and definitely does take away some of the fun that I’ve been having prior to the swap. We had a great turnout the other night with some unique and fun cars that joined. The biggest surprise to me was that the Autozam AZ-1 is actually a cool and very quick little car (forced induction 660cc engine). I’ve added it to the list of cars that I might want to own before this golden era of cars goes away.

Anyway, here’s some pics and a first video edit with the Insta360. I’m not super excited about the video quality as the lens protectors have cracked a bit and the display looks like crap. I also don’t know how to fix the direction of the lenses to keep the road in the middle of the picture, but I’ll try to figure that out. I hope you enjoy and will look froward to seeing some of your fun cruises, etc.