Audi’ s TT gained added luxury from its 3.2-litre six-cylinder VR6 engine
A V6 with just a single head creates a very distinctive head gasket for the VR6
Quite incredible figures with many factory components still.‘ Certainly it’ s been designed pretty strong. When you look at things like the engine block, they don’ t really run into issues. You can run 1000hp easily through one without having to physically strengthen the block. We put a crank girdle on it at that point, which is a plate which ties the centre main bearing caps to the extremities of the block, just to stop block twist if you’ re drag racing it. Other than that, a standard block is absolutely fine. So is the standard head casting. You might want to do a bit of porting work on it if you’ re going all out, but you don’ t have to be welding head castings up.
‘ But to build a reliable VR6 or R32-based track car, once it’ s turbocharged, heat is its enemy. If you want to run them on track, you need to invest heavily in thermal protection: heat management for downpipes, for manifolds, for turbos, and also a very good cooling package. You need a really good rad and intercooler.
‘ The physical mass in the engine bay obviously reduces the air space around it. So you end up with dead areas within the engine bay where you’ re not getting flow through it to keep it cool. You’ re also slinging the turbo down the back of the engine, so you tend to find, when you turbocharge them, that the back three cylinders will run hotter than the front three.’
28 The Engine Rebuilder Issue 05