17 Years.
ONE CAR.
From a standard S3 bought at 21 to a 9.5-second drag car running full methanol and a turbo the size of a football. 17 years in the making. This is where Hardline was born.
9.5s
Quarter Mile
15X
MPH Terminal
11
Passes — Still Learning
8s
Potential — Unfinished Business
Built by an ENGINEER.
Driven by Obsession.
In 2009, a 21-year-old mechanical and electrical engineer from Essex bought a standard Audi S3 8L. He promised his family he wouldn't modify it.
Two months later he had a Stage 1 map. What followed was 17 years of relentless development — broken engines, bent con rods, dropped cylinder heads, missed mapping appointments, and a drag strip that kept demanding more.
Every setback became a lesson. Every lesson became a faster car. The S3 didn't just get built — it got rebuilt, re-engineered, and reimagined over and over again until it became something the factory never imagined.
This is that story. And it isn't finished.
8L — 1999-2003
THE EVOLUTION
THE PROMISE NOBODY BELIEVED
Bought standard. Promised the family it would stay that way. It lasted about eight weeks. AMD Stage 1 map and a 007p BOV — and an appetite that would never be satisfied. Stage 2 followed shortly after with a Milltek cat-back, high-flow cats, Powertec intake and another trip back to AMD.
FIRST TURBO. FIRST CATASTROPHE.
An MTM K26 turbo conversion. The car was making 32psi on an old map — so lean the mapper sent it home. The intercooler got soaked with a hose on a hot day in July. The engine lasted about five miles. A broken exhaust valve and a bent con rod later, the block was on the floor.
Rebuilt by hand at work on his own time. Bores checked, plastigauged, skimmed head, Wellseal on a stubborn headgasket. The car came back — and it was angrier than before.
THE STROKER BUILD
A full 2.0 stroker on an 06A block — 83mm bore, 92.8mm TFSI crank, JE pistons, Tuscan rods, AEB large port head ported and polished, Ferrea valve train, IE inlet manifold. GTX3071R on a 0.82 Tial housing. Mapped by Badger 5.
Result: 446bhp / 349 ft-lbs, refined to 510hp / 463nm. Pro Race Engineering beginning to take shape.
HTA3586R. STILL ROAD LEGAL. 11.02s @ 135mph.
The HTA3586R — a serious turbo on a car still driven on the road every day. Power climbed, confidence grew.
Quarter mile: 11.02 seconds at 135mph — on a road-registered, road-driven car. Pro Race Engineering established with custom parts being designed off this build.
PTE 6870. ROAD CAR. SERIOUS POWER.
The HTA gave way to a PTE 6870 — and the car was still road legal. Still being driven. Still being developed. The gap between road and strip was closing fast. PRE growing, ambition growing with every pass.
FULL RACE SPEC. FULL METHANOL. FULL SEND.
The road car was retired. The race car was born. Full race spec drag car — PTE Gen2 7685 turbo with 1.28 A/R T4 twin scroll housing. Full methanol fuel system. Extensive PRE custom fabricated parts. Extremely light build.
11 passes since the fresh build. Never slower. Always quicker. Best time: 9.5 seconds with 15X mph terminal. An 8-second pass was inevitable — retired due to personal reasons before that chapter could be written.
Unfinished business.
“11 passes since the fresh build. Never slower. Always quicker. With refinement it was undoubtedly an 8-second car. That chapter isn't written yet.”
Stacey Fenton — Founder, Hardline Motorsport
The
COME
BACK.
The same car. A completely different animal. The new build is road legal, circuit capable, and drag ready — built under the Hardline Motorsport banner with every lesson from 15 years of development baked in.
Custom PRE sleeves. Sequential gearbox. MaxxECU Pro. Turbosmart 6870 twin scroll. Designed to compete at Santa Pod and on circuit — and to drive home afterwards.
The 8-second pass is still out there. This is how we go and get it.
2011 — The Beginning
2016 HTA3586R Engine Bay
2017 PTE 6870 Installed
2020 Race Spec — Full Methanol
UNDER CONSTRUCTION · TARGET: SANTA POD · 8-SECOND PASS