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This is the Wabbit. A 1997 VW GTi VR6, born on 4/97 purchased 6/97. Now, you're probably wondering why I call it the Wabbit. Well, its a long story... Before I bought my GTi,I used to own a Japanese car, a Nissan 200SX SE-R. Most of my racing buddies also own Japanese cars. As fate would have it, I ended up totaling the SE-R and buying the GTi. Once my buddies saw I bought a VW GTi VR6 they couldn't understand why I chose a VW. They thought it was a Rabbit!! Needless to say none of them knew the potential of this car. Every time we went to the track, I heard the same thing "I'm hunting wabbits, hehehehe" in that Elmer Fudd Voice. Once I showed them what the "Wabbit" could do on the track, they had total respect, but the name stuck. No biggie, I kinda like the name....Since I've had the car I have slightly modified it. I started with the simple things right after I bought the car... First was a K&N panel filter. I didn't notice much of a difference but later on down the road it would become necessary to upgrade change the filter anyway. I also modified the stock airbox by removing the cone and prescreen.Next, Tires. I got rid of those crappy GAs and got some Dunlop D40M2s in the stock size 205/50zr15. Man what an improvement that was!! Shit, The wabbit was stickin' like glue to the road! Well not really but compared to the GAs, its much better. I still had to do a few more things... lemme see what's next...... a Chip. But which chip? tough decision but I went with the Autotech Q-chip. I looked at getting the Neuspeed P-chip, AMS, Autothority, but ultimately went with the Q-chip. Compared to the stock ship you do feel a difference. I could pull hard all the way past 4000 rpm. Now it was time to upgrade the exhaust. I wanted something in stainless steel, and a little louder than stock. I ended up getting a custom 2.5" aluminized pipe from the cat-back, cut off the suitcase and middle resonator and finished it off with an OPAK dual DTM style tipped muffler. This thing looks sweet! Remember I said I wanted something a little louder? Well, this muffler is A LOT louder! For those of you that don't like all that noise, don't get it. I kinda like it. but it does become annoying to any passengers. I did all of these mods within the first 6 months. Then winter came and tragedy struck.....Check out all the gory details... My GTi was rear ended at 5am on Christmas morning 1997 by some drunk on his way home from a party. My GTi spent all winter at the body shop, but after I got it back it was time for some more mods. Ever done 140mph on the stock suspension? I did and it wasn't pretty. Talk about floaty! So guess what the next mods were? Yup, a complete suspension package and handling kit. I started with the handling kit. I called up New Dimensions and ordered their ND Sport suspension kit- stage 2, which consists of Neuspeed front 25mm and rear 28mm adjustable sway bars and Neuspeed upper front strut tie bar.  Wow, no more body roll. very flat through the corners and crisp turn in. Very nice! Now that I can take the turns a little better I wanted to go faster, sooooo..... I call Todd at Air & water Enterprises and ordered myself a Garrett chip (08 version). This chip kicks ass! Don't know what I was thinking when I got the Q-chip. definitely the best chip out there. Anyway back to the suspension stuff, so now I'm going faster and I need to lose that 4X4 look. I know Wally's gonna love this, I ordered a set of SPAX 24way adjustable with 60mm drop springs. With this setup, I was ready to hit the road course at Pocono International RacewayPark. Well not yet, before I can really tear up the track, I needed to get a seatbelt harness. So I got ND on the phone again and ordered a Schroth rallye4 4-point harness. Man, the Wabbit handles like a go-cart now. No more nose-dive under braking and I'm able to take turns at speeds I never thought I could! This is an AWESOME setup! I raced with this setup the entire racing season. Gotta love it! just before the season came to an end I did the last couple of mods for the year. I installed an AWE Short shifter and the Turn2 Whipple mount. Big time improvements in shifting. Very solid feel. you definitely feel connected to the car. So far that all I've done to the Wabbit. Future plans include a new set of tires, brake pads, stainless steel brakelines, and cams.... not necessarily in that order :)

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Copyright © 1998 By  Miguel Salvador