The Car that started the Hot Hatch. The car that spawned a large number of tuning firms in the 80’s, some of which are still going today.

 

One such Tuning Company was Turbo Technics, of Northampton. The MK1 Golf GTI appeared form Germany, and these guys decided that it would be a great idea to make the original Hot Hatch that little bit hotter !! The Turbo Technics MK1 Golf GTI was born.

 

Turbo Technics was the Brain Child of Geoffrey Kershaw who started turbo Technics in 1981. The Company soon became the class leaders in the field of Turbo manufacturing , supply, and tuning and were associated with motor sport form Rally to Formula one cars. The Company as you can see had some very big business and were at the forefront of this technology as they still are today.

 

Turbo Conversions were developed in the very early 80’s and the first conversion for the MK1 Golf GTI became available for the 1600cc powered car. This kit was to form the basis for the 1800cc engine when it was introduced later in 1982/83.

 

From the introduction of the first kit,  various other cars were worked upon by the Company to produce further turbo powered vehicles. Some of these  vehicles included the Ford XR2, 2.8injection Capri running twin turbo’s, Sierra 4x4, and later on Peugeot 205 GTI in both 1600 and 1900 form.

 

Turbo Technics continued producing these kits for many years, but eventually stopped production of the aftermarket kits and now concentrate on Turbo repairs and providing state of the art turbo balancing equipment.

 

Stealth Racing eventually took over the Turbo Technics kit for the MK2 Golf GTI for a short period of time, but I believe that this has now also stopped producing the kits.

 

All cars running the Turbo Technics conversions are now looked after by the TT dealer in Plymouth, but spares are few and far between, so if you find a Turbo Technics MK1 Golf manifold going cheap—snap it up quick !!