Greetings from across the pond!! The Players Classic Show kicked off last weekend at the world-famous Goodwood Motor Circuit in Chichester England. This will be a two-part journey that will take you through both days of the event. If you’ve never experienced this show, I must say it’s one to put on your bucket list. This two-day event begins with a proper car show and track day. The second day they line up a slew of cars on the main straight and pits so there’s plenty to see for every enthusiast. What makes this show interesting for someone from the United States is you get to see a lot of the European exclusive models and it’s great to see some American cars on foreign soil. This is our third year as a sponsor of the event and the CSF brand continues to grow as we see more cars outfitted with CSF cooling products.
Let’s begin with Ash Stewart’s Volkswagen MK7 Golf R. Ash manages our CSF Europe distribution and there’s no better way to be familiar with our product than to test it. His VW MK7 Golf R is outfitted with our Ultimate Cooling Solution for the VAG MQB platform which consists of a high-performance all-aluminum radiator (CSF # 7084) and high-performance DSG transmission oil cooler / Aux Radiator (CSF #8142). For the first day of the event, Ash tracked his car all day and had no issues whatsoever. These MQB models are known for going into limp mode fairly quickly. The transmission oil gets hot very quickly and the OEM cooler just doesn’t do the job so after one or two hot laps the car goes into limp mode forcing short shifts to prevent catastrophic failure of the gearbox.
Our good friend Paddy (@pmcgphotos) from SpeedHunters brought his Volkswagen Golf GTI to the weekend-long event. He made the journey all the way from Ireland which is just over 10 hours away. Paddy’s GTI has a different track set up compared to Ash’s Golf R. His GTI is running Airlift suspension and sporting Volk TE 37’s. Nonetheless, there is still a need for cooling for his ride. His GTI features our High-Performance Universal Dual Pass Oil Cooler (CSF #8119) and a High-Performance DSG transmission oil cooler. You can see the installation feature on SpeedHunters. After adding the upgraded oil cooler, Paddy saw a 15-20°F reduction in peak temps.
Going back to our relationship with the fellas’ from The Players Show, we’ve grown beyond doing shows together to becoming R&D partners for new products. Not to mention we’ve all become good friends which is the icing on the cake. Jay (@players_jay), co-founder of The Players Show, has agreed to help us fit our new Ultimate high-performance heat exchanger for the Mercedes C63 AMG. To top it off, he has an estate (wagon) model which is not available in the US market. His murdered out C63 Estate on Airlift Suspension broke the necks at the show and was quite the view to look at as it was displayed in the CSF booth. He’s got the bragging rights to be the first ever C63 in the world to have this cooler.
You may know Ryan Stewart (@7.nth) for his BMW E92 M3, but he’s got a new toy, a BMW E30 320i SE. He’s converted it from an automatic to manual and added some rare parts like the Mtech1 sport decklid spoiler and houndstooth Recaro interior with rear bench headrest. I’ve had the pleasure to drive this to and from the show and I’ve got to say, this is a fun well-rounded car to drive, granted it was my first time driving in the UK so after I shook off the jitters and got used to driving on the other side of the road, I was able to open it up on the highway and countryside roads. Cooling is a common issue with E30’s because of their age and insufficient cooling of the original and other aftermarket Radiators. Alongside the radiator, the oil cooler is another component that is critical to swap out and upgrade. Ryan was able to develop a proper solution to fit our high-performance BMW E36 Radiator (CSF #3054) into the straight-six M20 engines which we will be providing instructions on in the near future (check back periodically as we will update this portion once we release it). For the 325i models, the E36 radiator should fit with no modifications. Ryan also installed the CSF M20 High-Performance bar and plate style Oil Cooler (CSF #8092). His period-correct E30 was also in our booth area for the show and drew lots of attention.
So the purpose of me driving Ryan’s E30 to the event was for him to bring his BMW E92 M3 to track and show for the weekend. Like Ash, Ryan also tracked his car all day Saturday. It was a pretty warm day so Ryan, being the speed demon he is, needs to keep his M3 cool while pushing his car to the limit. He’s a very skilled driver and really maximizes his car to its full potential. E92’s also have notorious cooling issues on the track. With the laundry list of performance parts equipped on his E92, one of the first things he added was our Ultimate Cooling Solution for the BMW E9x M3. This includes a High-Performance Radiator (CSF #7059), Race-Spec Oil Cooler (CSF # 8025) and Race-Spec DCT/6-Speed Transmission Oil Cooler. With these cars going into limp mode due to high coolant and oil temps, it’s important to keep them in the optimal temperature range to avoid limp mode and will help improve and prolong the performance of the car as well.
Ryan wasn’t the only E92 M3 slating the track, a good friend of Ryan, Josh (@j7josh_m3) came out to play for the weekend for some track time in his fully gutted proper track car E92 M3. He too is outfitted with The Ultimate Cooling Solution for the BMW E9x M3. For more testing results of this cooling kit for the E9X M3’s check out MotoIQ’s feature track-testing an M3 in 100+ degree hot weather here.
Another project that Ryan was involved with was Khyzyl Saleem’s (@the_kyza) Toyota GT86 sponsored by JVC UK. Khyzyl is known for his renderings and this is one of many that have come to life. Thanks to the help of Ryan and Regal Autosport this was well put together just in time for the show. This GT86 is cooled by CSF’s high-performance radiator (CSF #7050), all-aluminum filler neck (CSF #8044), and high-performance dual-pass universal oil cooler (CSF #8110).
Chris Stewart (@chrisstewart100), the head honcho of the Stewart family and owner of Regal Autosport has a beautiful Cobalt Blue Porsche 997 GT3 Club Sport. This lovely Porsche is cooled by CSF’s 997 GT3 3-piece cooling solution (CSF #7047, Left)(CSF #7048, Right) and (CSF #7053, Center). Not only does this car look amazing, but it’s a proper track-built car, and the sound of it as it passes you by gives you the chills.
One of the great things in building the brand across the pond is having the opportunities to work with other tuning and performance shops. Evolve Automotive is a well-known performance shop in the UK and around the globe. Just like the guys from The Players Show, we’ve grown quite close with Evolve that we’ve worked with them on some R&D on certain products and also become good friends with them as well. We’ve been working on developing a high-performance intercooler for the Audi RS3 and they’ve actually acquired one for their development of tunes and Eventuri Intakes. Because they are very thorough with their development and testing process, we’ve decided to work with them to fit and test our prototype version of the intercooler on their RS3. They’ve provided us with the proper feedback and we are near the production phase for this model, stay tuned for more information on our high-performance Intercooler for the Audi RS3 coming soon.
Another car that Imran from Evolve Automotive brought was his BMW F87 M2 which is cooled by The Ultimate Cooling Solution for the F87 M2. This kit includes a high performance triple-pass radiator (CSF #7078), high performance intercooler that comes in black or silver (CSF #8115/#8115B), race-spec dual-pass DCT cooler (CSF #8103) and a race-spec oil cooler (CSF #8104). This GTS inspired look really stands out and is what makes this such a unique build. This M2 was also displayed in the CSF booth for the show. See their installation video and test results on the high-performance intercooler for the F87 M2.
NVMotorsport also brought out his BMW F87 M2 for the track day event. His M2 is also equipped with The Ultimate Cooling Solution for the F87 M2.
This Verde Mantis BMW F80 M3, also brought to the show by Evolve Automotive, was in the BILSTEIN booth for the show. This car is equipped with CSF’s top-mount charge-air-cooler (CSF #8082) and a high-performance front mount heat exchanger (CSF #8075). Check out more info on CSF’s Ultimate Cooling Solution for the F8x M3/M4 here.
Shout out to Imran at Evolve Automotive for bringing these beautiful cars out to the show.
MMR Performance is another well-known shop in the UK that sells and supports CSF. They’ve got several iconic builds that are cooled by CSF. This one, in particular, caught me by surprise. I saw this BMW F87 M2 Competition at the body shop the Tuesday afternoon before the show getting its carbon fiber roof installed. The M2 Competition comes with the S55 engine so this has a custom color top-mount charge-air-cooler (CSF #8082)
Sam (@samratcliffe_) brought his BMW E46 M3 for the track day event on Saturday and was zooming through the corners and made it look way too easy. Cooling was the last thing on his mind especially after upgrading his cooling system with CSF’s BMW E46 high-performance radiator (CSF #7058) and race-spec dual-pass oil cooler (CSF #8025) combo.
As you can see, CSF made a big presence at The Players Classic Show, both on the track and in the show. This is just a sample of a few companies and cars that represent CSF in the UK, there will be much more to come. Stay tuned for more coverage of The Players Classic Show as Part 2 will be coming soon. BE COOL!
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