Rolling Road Day 2005 – JBS Auto Designs, Chesterfield

Date: Saturday the 26th March 2005

Venue: JBS Auto Designs

An early start for the Derby Region of Club GTI saw Volkswagens descending on the Tibshelf services of the M1 to meet for the run into Chesterfield to the premises of JBS Auto Designs the VAG tuning specialists.

The sunny start in Derby soon made way for the overcast and cold morning that the forced induction boys had been praying for.

The short drive to JBS was achieved without incident and soon the cars were all assembled safely in the car park ready for strapping down on the rollers or polishing for the show’n’shine.

The JBS staff under the guidance of owner James soon had the first car ready for its power run in the immaculate rolling road room that resembled an operating theatre more than part of a workshop! Safety was the first concern and the area around the rollers and immediately behind was cordoned off in the event of anything untoward occurring but I’m glad to say that more frightening than a 16 valve lump trying to climb its way out of an engine bay (worn engine mount) happened on the rollers….

The first few cars had been run when good old Postman Pat of the Royal Mail speedily arrived in the yard to drop the JBS post off. Once the delivery was made he promptly jumped in and reversed straight into the front of James’ immaculate MKI. Luckily a weak handbrake allowed the Golf to ‘roll with the punch’ and jump back with nothing more than a mildly bent front bumper. Once the Postie had tried to pin the blame on James for parking in a proper car parking space (!) and then realised he was hopelessly outnumbered in the witness stakes, he gave in and provided his details.

Several more cars ran without hitch, each being carefully and knowledgably handled, before being returned to the owner with a colour print out of power/torque, an explanation of any problems encountered or how well the car had run. This was gratefully received and showed how useful rolling roads can be for all cars either standard or modified for highlighting unknown or potential problems.

One of the owners took advantage of the REVO free five-hour trial following his car putting out a factory standard 151 bhp and the technicians had the new map in place in minutes. The JBS staff were then talked into re-running the car at the end of the session and despite stating that the trial software only runs at 80% of the proper installation, the car posted a very healthy 198 bhp and there was one owner who couldn’t wait for the run home!

Some highlights of the day were Steve Harrison’s G60 which posted 206 bhp at the flywheel, Rob Holt’s VR6 that hit 176 at the flywheel, Adam Richards standard Passat Turbo that spun its way to 161bhp and Jon Miller’s MkIII 16 valve that knocked out a solid 154 bhp gaining a big grin and thumbs up from the operators.

The crowd was disappointed that the belly-scraping MkII of Matt Holt couldn’t be run as despite getting in on the rollers it was just too low to run safely.

The day finished with a presentation of the following awards:

Show’n’shine – Kindly judged by Paul Renshaw of VW Speed

Standard/Slightly Modified: Darren Marshall’s Pearl Grey MkII Golf GTI 8 valve

Modifed/Custom: James Bown’s Lhasa Green MkI Golf GTI 8 valve

Rolling Road Awards – Kindly selected by James of JBS Auto Designs

Best Normally Aspirated: Jon Miller’s MkIII Golf GTI 16 valve

Best Forced Induction: Chris Pratt’s MkIV Golf GTI Turbo

Most Accurate BHP: Steve Rudd’ MkII Golf GTI 8 valve - 112.3 bhp

Finally, a big thank you to all the regional members who turned out to take part and support the event and also to James, Lee and the rest of the JBS staff for being so welcoming, knowledgeable and professional.

Regional Host