Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th April saw the SuperPro VAG Trophy begin its fourth season with rounds one and two at Donington Park.

For the third year running, this National B status championship for Volkswagen Audi Group cars enjoys continued support from polyurethane suspension products manufacturer SuperPro.

The 2012 championship, organised and administered by MSVR, features five race weekends, each of them double-headers and therefore hosting two rounds per meeting as follows:

*Rounds 1 & 2* April 28/29 - Donington Park

*Rounds 3 & 4* May 12/13 - Silverstone National

*Rounds 5 & 6* July 21 - Oulton Park

*Rounds 7 & 8* September - 15/16 Brands Hatch GP

*Rounds 9 & 10* October - 27/28 Snetterton 300

As in previous years, the championship is open to a range of VAG models using a floor pan that was in production before 2006.

The cars are then split into two classes, defined by a carefully structured power-to-weight ratio - for both turbocharged and non-turbocharged engines – to ensure close racing.

Eligible cars are:

VW Golf, Vento, Polo, Scirocco, Corrado, Passat, Beetle.

SEAT Leon, Ibiza

Skoda Octavia, Fabia

Audi 80, A3, A4

“We are delighted to be supporting the VAG Trophy for a third season”, said SuperPro General Manager Richard Fearn. “Our wide range of suspension products includes applications for the vast majority of VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda cars. Therefore, this is an ideal championship for us, as it highlights the performance benefits of our products and helps promote them to VAG car owners, trade outlets and race teams.”

Read the full story

The SuperPro V.A.G. trophy has grown substantially since its debut in 2009 which featured just six cars! This event. which caters for Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda models, with pre-2006 platforms. saw up to 36 entries in 201 1 and strong interest is reported from new and returning competitors ahead of the new season, which will be contested over 10 rounds. Read more.

The 2012 Season will comprise of 12 races at 6 different tracks. The single make, tightly regulated event with 2 classes for both 8- and 16-valve models, promises more extremely close racing. Read more.

The successful SuperPro VAG trophy has broadened its appeal by creating a new class within its grid for the ever-popular VW Golf Mk4 TDi/GTi variants.

The new series will be known as the Mk4 Golf TOIGTI Challenge and will be televised during 2012 on Motors TV. Read more.

There seems to be a plethora of choice for replacing suspension bushes on the MX-5, from OE to various polyurethane (PU) brands ranging in price from under £100 to a few hundred quid. It's fair to say that PU bushes are generally seen as 'hard', 'stiff' or 'race bushes', and with a general lack of information and understanding of the products available all PU brands seem to be tarred with the same brush. So, is there a clear advantage in moving to PU and is there a significant difference between your sub-£100 eBay brand to SuperPro that will cost 3 times as much?

Understanding the basic principles of PU

A clear advantage of PU is the resistance from the elements - elements that eventually deteriorate rubber bushes and lead to less than ideal control of the suspension arms. Two design options are available: a copy of OE with a bonded crush tube (technically, a bush) and a bush with a separate crush tube that 'floats' or free pivots inside the bush (technically, a bearing). PU does not have the same twisting properties of rubber, and therefore having a PU bush with a bonded crush tube results in a number of issues. In order for the suspension to work effectively, the control arms must be allowed to move through their whole travel. With the OE bush, the amount of movement in the control arms is a function of the rubber's Shore hardness (there's a reduction in twisting properties the greater the hardness) as it is required to twist to allow the suspension arm to move, but if you were to replace the rubber with a compound that does not allow twisting you essentially stop the suspension from moving. If you think of it as a spring, a OE rubber bush will have a low spring rate where you can move a control arm by hand to some degree whereas a PU copy will have a very high spring rate restricting movement of the suspension arm. This design causes issues with the longevity of the bush where it can be forced to twist in the housing instead, or break the bond of the crush tube. In essence, a PU replacement bush should be designed as a bearing.

Because a bearing, in theory, allows free movement of the suspension arm the PU should be designed to do something different to what the rubber is designed to do - keeping the suspension arms in their correct position. Preventing unwanted movement of the suspension arms enables rigid control of the alignment.

What makes SuperPro Bushes different?

It's important to point out that SuperPro (SP) are firstly suspension engineers, rather than bush manufacturers. Understanding suspension dynamics enables them to engineer and design replacement bushes for the proper function. A bush is not designed until the OE suspension is measured and tested in-housing using their rig. A brief understanding of the process is seen in the first half of their YouTube video.

Read the full story. Click here

Spookworks would like to thank all our partners and friends for their help in 2011 and for making our success possible
In particular, to Alcon for their simply mind blowing brakes, SuperPro for their rock solid bushes, Eibach for their springs, Steve and Gordon at Proflex for their support and advice, Mark Rawlings Photography for the world class imagery, all the guys and gals at RAFBF who have helped the team get to where we are today.  Read more.

In just over 2 weeks, Spookworks will be back in action - in perhaps the toughest fight to date - The Fat Albert Stages.

 With a 73 point lead over our nemesis Phil Bruce, Spookworks will have their work cut out if it is to take the RAF Rally Championship for the 2nd year running.  This is for 2 reasons; 1.  Phil never gives up and 2.  He is pretty quick!  Looking at the current entry list, if Phil wins his class (highly probable!) we will need to finish 4th or higher in our class ( a very tall order against all those WRC cars).... Read more

SuperPro continues to innovate with a new web site

Making it easier than ever to sell suspension parts and polyurethane bushings SuperPro has designed a new web site for both retail and trade customers. Read the article here.
 
Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association magazine – July 2011 issue

Lighter, leaner, smarter SuperPro product

SuperPro gives its customers the edge with SuperPro value add technology. SuperPro claims it likes to innovate and
these latest additions definitely support that claim. Read the article here
 
Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association magazine – July 2011 issue

SuperPro’s years of experience, innovation and use of durable materials are credited with the development of a Bush kit solution for the Land Rover Discovery Series 3 in a report in Junes edition of Professional Motor Mechanic.